Imagination, not yet, for the industry to be seeing me as a lead. Woodruff and its friday. Mark shields and the National ReviewsRamesh Ponnuru are here, to analyze the weeks news. All that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the republican president ial race took another unexpected plot twist today with donald trump collecting a major endorsement from a former rival. It came just days before the allimportant super tuesday contests. I am proud to be here to endorse donald trump for president of the united states. Woodruff in a single stroke, new Jersey Governor Chris Christie put donald trump back on the offensive after his rivals scored points in last nights debate. We dont need another washington politician in the white house, do we . Do we need another first term u. S. Senator in the white house . We need a first class president and were going to have it in donald trump. Woodruff the republican frontrunner then took his turn, blasting both of the senators still in the race first, marco rubio lets talk about our lightweight senator from florida whos losing big in polls. Woodruff and then, ted cruz of texas i have had a lot of difficulties with ted, because he does lie. You know, i have dealt with much tougher. A guy like rubio is a baby, but a guy like ted, he is tougher. Woodruff rubio had spent much of his morning rally in dallas arguing that billionaire trump is deceiving working class voters. You all have friends who are thinking about voting for donald trump. Friends do not let friends vote for con artists. Hes going to americans that are struggling, to americans who are hurting, and hes implying, im fighting for you because im a tough guy. A tough guy . This guy inherited 200 million. Hes never faced any struggle. Woodruff and in nashville, tennessee, cruz questioned trumps conservative credentials. Hes saying donald trump said, i can be a totally different person after im elected, i can be this is donald speaking the most politically correct person on earth. Let me tell you something, sean. The day after im elected president , im the exact same person that i am today. Woodruff those were extensions of the charges and countercharges that lit up last nights houston debate, with rubio and cruz trying to slow trumps momentum. First, on immigration youre the only person on this stage that has ever been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally. You hired some workers from poland no, no, im the only one on the stage thats hired people. You havent hired anybody. In fact, some of the people and by the way, ive hired and by the way, ive hired tens of thousands of people over at my job. Youve hired nobody. Yes, youve hired a thousand from another country youve had nothing but problems with your credit cards, et cetera. So dont tell me about that. Let me just say let me finish the statement. This is important. You havent hired one person, you liar. He hired workers from poland. And he had to pay a Million Dollars or so in a judgment from thats wrong. Thats wrong. Totally wrong. Woodruff cruz also jumped in, criticizing trump for donating to senators known as the gang of eight, who led an Immigration Reform effort. Donald funded the gang of eight. If you look at the eight members of the gang of eight, donald gave over 50,000 to three democrats and two republicans. And when youre funding open border politicians, you shouldnt be surprised when they fight for open borders. Ive had an amazing relationship with politicians with politicians both democrat, republican, because i was a businessman. You dont have one republican senator backing you; not one. You dont have the endorsement of one republican senator and you work with these people. You should be ashamed of yourself. Woodruff in the end, trump waved away both rivals, calling rubio a choke artist and cruz a liar. But despite the strident words from all sides, the frontrunner insisted he can expand and unify the party. I will do very well with hispanics. But im telling you also, im bringing people, democrats over and im bringing independents over, and were building a much bigger, much stronger republican party. Woodruff he gets another chance to prove that, super tuesday night, with more than 600 delegates up for grabs. But first, democrats in South Carolina will have their say in a primary tomorrow. Well take a close look at a vital voting bloc there, after the news summary. The small town of hesston, kansas is now the latest left to cope with a shooting rampage. Authorities today identified cedric ford as the gunman who yesterday shot three people to death and wounded 15. They said hed just been ordered to stay away from someone who sought Legal Protection against him. Within 90 minutes of that order, ford opened fire on random vehicles, stormed into a lawnmower parts factory where he was employed, and gunned down coworkers. It ended when he was killed by police. That particular officer is a hero out of all this. Understand, there is probably 200 or 300 more people in that building, while this is going on. This man was not going to stop shooting. The only reason he stopped shooting was because that officer stopped that shooter. Woodruff the kansas incident came less than a week after an uber driver killed six people in a mass shooting in kalamazoo, michigan. Heavy new air strikes blasted rebel targets in syria today in the runup to a scheduled ceasefire. Activists said russian planes carried out the attacks. A barrage of explosions cracked the skies over suburbs of damascus. Monitoring groups said the area was hit 40 times and dozens more struck north of aleppo. Despite the onslaught, russian president Vladimir Putin said in moscow that his government is committed to enforcing the truce deal. translated from midnight damascus time on february 27, syrian forces, Russian Forces and the americanled coalition will halt all military actions against the groups that have declared their readiness to cease fire. Military actions against them will not be conducted. The Islamic State group and the nusra front, linked to alqaeda, are not parties to the cease fire. But a special u. N. Envoy said today that if the truce largely holds, peace talks will resume on march 7th. This was election day in ireland, and antiausterity parties hoped to gain ground. Prime minister enda kenny and his centerright party are seeking a second fiveyear term. But, there are signs that his coalition may lose its majority, leaving a hung parliament. Ballotcounting will begin saturday. Dow chemical will pay 835 million to settle a longrunning lawsuit, now that the Supreme Court has lost its conservative majority. The company said today the death of Supreme CourtJustice Antonin Scalia makes it less certain of winning classaction cases. A lower court convicted dow of fixing prices for polyurethane, a widely used industrial chemical. World soccers governing body, fifa, has elected a new leader to lead it out of scandal. A swiss candidate, gianni infantino, was tapped by a majority today in a vote in zurich. The delegates also adopted reforms to make fifa more accountable. Infantino said he wants to start anew. We will restore the image of fifa, and the respect of fifa, and everyone in the world will applaud us and will applaud all of you, for what we will do in fifa in the future. We have to be proud of fifa, and everyone has to be proud of fifa and what we will do together. Woodruff the new president replaces sepp blatter, also swiss, who resigned amid charges of massive corruption. Dozens of soccer officials around the world have been indicted and fifa is reviewing how russia and qatar won the right to host the next two world cups. The United Nations is out with a warning that 2 5 of bees, butterflies, and related pollinating species are heading toward extinction. The warning follows more than two years of research around the globe. It cites a range of factors, ranging from Pesticide Use to Climate Change to habitat loss. Wall street finished this friday without much momentum. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 57 points to close at 16,640. The nasdaq rose eight points, and the s p 500 slipped three. But for the week, all three indexes were about 1. 5 higher. And, a 23yearold hawaiian man is 75,000 richer after winning a rare, giantwave surfing contest in hawaii. John John Florence was one of 29 brave souls tackling the massive waves thursday, off oahu. The contest is held only rarely, when waves reach 40 feet in height. Yesterday, some of them topped 60 feet. Still to come on the newshour the crucial African American vote in the democratic election; mark shields and Ramesh Ponnuru give their take on todays surprise endorsement of donald trump; irans elections, a key test for the moderates in the wake of the nuclear deal; solutions for the oscars diversity problem; plus, a president ial serenade. Woodruff now to South Carolina donald trump scored a commanding win there last weekend on the republican side; tomorrow, democrats head to the polls. I just got back from the palmetto state, where victory hinges on a key group of voters. For Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, South Carolina represents not only the largest electorate theyve faced so far, but the first big test of popularity among a crucial democratic voting block African Americans. In the last election, they accounted for 55 of the primary vote here. Its no coincidence both candidates have been targeting their messages almost exclusively at that audience. Somethings wrong, when African Americans are three times more likely to be denied a mortgage than white people are. When African American youth unemployment is 51 , you know what . Were going to create jobs and Educational Opportunities for our kids. Not more jails. Woodruff clinton has a long connection with this state, dating back when she was a young law student, working on juvenile justice issues, and continuing through her husbands presidency. The mayor of the capital city, columbia, Stephen Benjamin says many African Americans think of the clintons as champions of the disenfranchised fighting for criminal justice reform. Fighting for education. Fighting for healthcare. Woodruff that affection has given clinton a solid base in this state, particularly among older, African American women the voting bloc that turned out at the highest rate of any group in 2012, and which is expected to do so again this year. Its one of the reasons why women were prominently featured at nearly every clinton event in South Carolina this week. State representative Chandra Dillard was in the audience when clinton spoke to her black sorority group. I see her as someone who can bring people together, which will enhance policy making hopefully with our congress. Because secretary clinton has been in that position to bring parties together shes done it that she can do it again. Woodruff dillards colleague, state representative justin bamberg, acknowledges clinton has a builtin advantage, but he hopes that when people listen to sanders message, they will do as he did and switch their support. Younger folks arent thinking about history as much. Theyre looking forward. Theyre thinking im in my early 20s and im going to have more Student Loan Debt than if i had not gone to college and i had just bought a house. Woodruff sanders promise of Free College Tuition and a plan that he says will narrow the income inequality gap, has helped him gain some traction in the state, bamberg says. As has his tough stance on wall street donors. I dont think hell waiver to special interest, with the large groups with a lot of money who can cause decisions to be made that arent in the peoples best interest. Woodruff sanders supporter Gloria Bromell Tinubu is even more pointed in her criticism of the clintons relationship with big money. Its clear that they are the leaders of what is called the new democrats, which is probig business, probig money, pro war, right . Antiwelfare, antigovernment that will support poor people, but always for a government that will support the rich. Woodruff university of South Carolina political scientist todd shaw says while sanders still lags in the polls in this state most show him more than 20 points behind clinton his predominently young followers seem to be more enthusiastic. Sanders supporters say he has the vision thing going on. Hes visionary. These are bold and idealistic questions but they should be questions were raising. Hes appealing to the frustration of what hasnt occurred. Woodruff shaw says clinton has been wise to tie herself closely to president obama, whos enormously popular among black democrats here. Its a pretty smart move. Of course, she can make the claim having been the secretary of state, she can say it was hillarycare before it was obamacare. And heres where im going to carry the football forward. Woodruff 20yearold Jada Williams says thats why shes volunteering for clinton, and not sanders i dont think we need a big revolution. I dont think we need to make America Great again. I feel like were doing well. And i think hillary is the person who will make us continue to do well and put us towards the american dream. Woodruff the other factor at play here and in next weeks super tuesday contests is a focus on Racial Injustice. Its an issue keenly felt in a state where a white gunman killed nine black people worshiping in church, as well as several highly publicized cases of alleged police misconduct. This past week, clinton campaigned alongside the mothers of victims of violence, including sybrina fulton, the mother of trayvon martin. We have the opportunity to have someone thats going to stand up for us as African Americans, for us as women. I say my vote goes to Hillary Clinton. Woodruff and in a prominent tv ad, narrated by actor morgan freeman, clinton tackles the issue head on she says their names trayvon martin, sandra bland; and makes their mothers fight for justice their own. Shes saying she wants to help African American in this community. I want everyone to come together because we do have a problem here and it needs to be addressed. Woodruff sanders tackles Racial Injustice in part by linking it to his central rallying cry of economic inequality. Vouching for him, movie director spike lee 99 of americans were hurt by the Great Recession in 2008 and are still recovering, and thats why i am officially endorsing my brother Bernie Sanders. Woodruff but he also stresses his lifelong activism for civil rights, going back to the 1960s. He was there when dr. King marched on washington. Unafraid to challenge the status quo to end racial profiling, take on police misconduct, and take down a system that profits from mass imprisonment. There is no president who will fight harder to end institutional racism. Hes consistently fought for rights for all people equality and justice. And its not just a passing thing with him. Its something hes done for close to 50 years. Woodruff sanders camp acknowledges shes ahead their goal is to hold down the size of her margin here as they to try to pick off some of the delegaterich super tuesday states. But with African Americans making up a significant portion of the states coming up, clintons advantage with blacks here in South Carolina amounts to a serious and enduring challenge for him. And that brings us to shields and pannuru thats syndicated columnist mark shields, and Ramesh Ponnuru of national review. David brooks is away. Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you, judy. Woodruff so hold that thought about the democrats and South Carolina. I want to ask you about that, but, mark, i have to start with the donald trump endorsement by Chris Christie today. What did you make of this, the timing of it, the fact of it . Judy, the old line of speaker tip oneal said all politics is local, all politics is personal. Chris christie, who was going to be the tell it like it is candidate in 2016, was eclipsed totally by donald trump and blames his defeat where he concentrated all his effort, energy, attention and resources in New Hampshire, where he finished sixth, he blames it on marco rubios super pac which ran a negative ad on christie as christie was just starting to