found. richard quest, cnn, new york. >> that's it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." for viewers in north america, "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. >> wolf, thank you so much, great to be with you on this tuesday. i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. we'll call it super tuesday the sequel. right now, voters are hitting the polls, which means we are mere hours away from knowing the answer to this question, will donald trump breakway with an even bigger lead or can an even bigger candidate slow trump's surge to ultimately party's nomination? ted cruz showed that was possible just a couple of days ago. today on the republican side, you have hawaii caucusing and then you have idaho, mississippi and michigan, all of those

states are holding primaries, a total of 150 delegates are at stake. it's also a big day for democrats as well in both michigan and mississippi. voters are choosing between sanders and clinton with 166 delegates up for grabs there. let's see what's happening in two states. i have cnn's jean casarez, at a polling place in the city of warren, michigan. let's begin with cnn in jackson, mississippi. sounds pretty busy. >> yes, absolutely. comes in waves too, brooke. no question that this primary is heavy on the minds of people here and also in the headlines. in fact, local paper today, you can see the whole line from both sides of the aisle. rubio, clinton, sander, cruz. brooke, you may have noticed somebody's missing. the republican front-runner mr. donald trump is actually taking up most of the headline which has been the case most of the selection cycle. this because he actually visited the area just yesterday. he had a big rally, only about

15 miles north of where we are here in this polling location. we're continuing to see people come and go. we've seen people of all walks of life, people of all ages. one 90-year-old woman i met a little while ago said she has never missed out in voting in a presidential election and of course this time, it's not going to be any different. of course, there are many people who want to do it because they feel it's their duty and what's interesting, too, there's almost a certain strategy some are turning to. i spoke to one woman who traditionally votes democrat, except today when she walked in, she picked up her ballot from the republican table. shep says it's not so much about who she wants to win, brooke, but about who she wants not to win. she voted for kasich today because she fears trump has obviously too much support. come the general election, she said she'll pick up her ballot today from the democrat side. it's going to be interesting to see who exactly comes out on top and which candidate can claim mississippi today. >> appreciate the note on the

90-year-old woman. paolo, thank you so much. 150 delegates are available today. it's really the biggest grab bag here. jean casarez is at a polling place in warren, jean, how are things looking right now? >> i tell you, people are coming in. i mean, it's just streaming all day. and such a diverse community we're seeing. along with younger voters. older voters. and everyone in between. you know, this is warren, michigan. this is the heart of the auto industry. it is the largest suburb outside of detroit. and this is a community that truly knows what it's like to suffer with the auto industry and all the struggles that they have had. the reagan democrats were born right here in 1980 and 1984, so we've been talking to a lot of people and we're hearing the names on the republican side of trump and kasich.

we have not heard at all marco rubio or cruz. at all. although one lone person was standing out there for cruz, handing out brochures. but we're not hearing that people are voting for him. on the side of the democrats, we're hearing clinton. we're also hearing bernie sanders. more sanders though, then hillary clinton because they believe bernie is for the people and with the people. something we're learninging now which is highly unusual, they say even for here. i've been told by someone who is working with the polling here that at least 30 voters today over 30 have come in, they've said they're registered to vote, but they don't know what party. and so they try to say anything they can so they can tell them and remember what party they're with. they don't know that, but they have the name of a candidate. one name and that's the person they know they're going to vote for. and they can't refuse them to vote because they are registered to vote, but they are aware of

this and are a bit concerned and just want the education out there that this is happening right here in warren, michigan. >> okay, jean casarez, thank you so much. we'll check back in with you. on these candidates, we know today, ted cruz responded to a fresh attack from donald trump who said senator cruz, quote, comes in bible high, end quote, and then lies. here's the response. >> typically, when he goes down to attacking people's faith, it's a sign that donald really is. i understand last election day was a very bad day for donald. he came in proudly expecting to sweep all four contests. instead, he got clobbered. >> let's bring in our panel to talk about that potential clobbering. i have the author of "george h.w. bush the american president series" and also professor at nyu tim naftali, also the

director of the nixon presidential library. also with u.s., former congressional candidate clay aiken. and our next guest, who drafted the people for ryan, trying to get paul ryan into the white house, which we'll get into. first, we just heard from ted cruz. i want to begin with you, after this weekend, seeing it was two and two with regard to wins for both trump and cruz. the question is, is this the didn'ting of sort of trump losing any kind of ground game or is this finally coalescing against the nontrump candidate? >> i think it's all about how reality is different from expectations. >> how do you mean? >> before saturday, pollster, pundits, they expected trump to win maine and he didn't, cruz won maine. they thought that -- >> kansas. >> kansas, some people said rubio might win and others said trump. cruz was a surprise. the margin was a surprise. the other thing is that trump was supposed to win louisiana

big. and, in fact -- >> and on super tuesday -- >> it was called for him early, but his lead went from 22% down to 4 by the end of the evening. it turns out that later voters were voting for other people, they were voting for cruz, not for trump, so it's all about the expectations. these are still proportional delegates. so you can win a couple of states and end the night with i tooer delegates than the next person. so you can win a couple of states and end the night with fewer delegates. saturday, cruz got more delegates than trump. that's what we're looking at today. >> i'm thinking -- you can just rip that out of your ear, you don't need that. susan, michigan, it's an important state. i know it's proportional but the big grab bags with michigan and mississippi. we know kasich, for example, has really -- this is a neighboring state, this is sort of more his

wheelhouse. he's put a lot of muscle into michigan we know. might that be a name who could surprise us after today, and what about trump and michigan? >> well, at this point, it doesn't look like kasich's on target to actually win the state, but he certainly is going to stop trump from hitting that 50% which makes it -- in which case trump would have all the delegates, if he reaches 50%. it's also interesting, that rubio may not hit 15 and he may get nothing to the point about proportional delegates. >> i'm reading kasich is grabbing some rubio supporters. >> kasich is interesting because don't forget after new hampshire he said, i'm going to go to the midwest. i'm not going to do the super tuesday, not worry about the southern primaries. so to look alive and look good for ohio next week, he must, must, must do very well in michigan. >> rubio has been promising he will win his home state of florida. this is obviously an incredible, incredible, important win for him. i'm wondering, though, if you

think, clay, that he's put so many eggs in the florida basket, he hasn't spent enough time in some of these other states. >> he certainly is right now still not on track to win florida. he's still polling below trump. to your point earlier, not only will trump not get -- you're being generous to say kasich keeping trump from getting 50%. trump is keeping trump from getting 50%. he's hovering around that 35% to 40% everywhere. cruz picked up rubio supporters. cruz picked up rubio supporters on the day of voting. >> trump being trump or cruz being cruz? >> cruz is certainly making an aggressive push to take rubio's people. trump's numbers aren't changing. don't think they'll change in florida. i think rubio's trouble in florida is going to be cruz. he's not going to get trump voters to move to him. cruz is making a big push for florida right now. rubio's spent a lot of time there and don't know if it's going to pay off for him because

of cruz's work. >> this is american future fund and this is an effort to oust trump. >> i went to an ivy league school, i'm very highly educated. i know words. i have the best words. listen, your [ bleep ] they're going to sue his [ bleep ] said he's a [ bleep ] we'll beat the [ bleep ] out of them. they're ripping the [ bleep ] out. what the hell are we doing? you're not going to srecess [ bleep ] i have the best words. and you can tell them go [ bleep ] >> so this is an idea. when i fly to florida tonight, i can't wait to turn on my tv to really see the barrage of ads that floridians are getting pounded by. here's one example of an anti-trump ad. a lot of times negative ads backfire. >> i think the issue is whether trump has a ceiling or not. clay just talked about, his problem is he's hovering around

34%. you cannot be the nominee of a major party if you're just winning 34%, 35% of the delegates. the reason in the past that we saw people win after perhaps a third of the primaries was that the organization of the party coalesced around this person. no one's predicting that around trump. they might coalesce around cruz. we'll see. the fact of the matter is, these ads may not and probably won't effect the people who vote for trump but they'll effect the people who are undecided or looking for a winner. remember, trump's big argument is he's looking for a winner. >> you say you're going to go to florida tonight. one thing you're not going to see are a response to these attack ads. trump has not gone -- just recently went on the air. he sees the gaps closing. depending on this debate on thursday, that's going to be

very significant. and rubio can change numbers. eight points in a week with a debate and other things happening, absolutely, rubio can close that gap. >> you can't under estimate that fact that to me it's going to look like a pro-trump ad. a lot of people are -- he's not a typical politician. and the attacks against him i think have backfired as well. i mean, my mother is -- she votes republican typically. shee she's not necessarily thrilled with trump as a candidate because he fired me on "apprentice." >> that alone is reason enough. >> she watched the debate, the most recent debate and decided. a number of people i've spoken to have decided to vote for trump because the establishment is attacking him and they're tired of typical politicians. he's not a typical politicians. i think that it's certainly not going to raise him above 40%, 45% at the most, but it's going to help him in some way. >> where can he grow a base?

there's no one that's going to go to him who isn't already there. >> let me move off republicans quickly. i do want to ask you about paul ryan because it's super important. but quickly, tim what do you think of dems, michigan in particular, do or die for bernie sanders? >> it's all about the margin. how many close does senator sanders get? secretary of state clinton is going to win michigan. at least if the polls are right. so how close is he? >> he says he's in this, he calls it a movement. >> it's also when they take apart the votes to see if his -- if he's expanded his base at all. and take in some of the people he would have to take to be a national candidate. so michigan's important. he's going to lose to massachusetts, again, if the polls are right, but mississippi, it's really the margin by which he loses, and the kinds of voters he's picking

up. is he just sticking with millennials, is he getting older people. we'll have to see that. >> whether he's losing -- if it's 90/10, if he's still going to the convention, he's not going to let hillary clinton off the hook and go center which is where she desperately wants to be. and that's a really important thing to remember when we're dealing with bernie sanders. >> final thoughts. >> bernie sanders started his campaign to send a message, to make a statement. he was surprised with success and thought, wait, maybe i can win this. now i think he's moving back to what his central purpose was at the beginning, to go to the convention, have influence on the platform, get hillary clinton to move a little to left. i think he's getting what i think he always hoped he would. >> we have a little time for cleveland and we'll talk to you about this whole notion. tim and susan and clay, thank you all so much on this super tuesday, the sequel. it is a huge week for politics here on cnn. we have full coverage of today's four-state contests. tomorrow night, 9:00 eastern, cnn will simulcast a democratic

presidential debate hosted by univision and "the washington post." so that's the dems. and then it's miami. it is the cnn republican presidential debate down in miami, florida, five days ahead of a massive primary contest winner take all there. next, they could be the wildest rallies in the history of presidential campaigns. pushing, yelling, protests. we will take you behind the scenes of a donald trump event. plus, word of a secret meeting from some of america's top business giants and powerful lawmakers. the topic, trump, of course. find out why, what was said. a top isis leader believed to have been killed by an american air strike. hear who the target was and where. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. because covering heals faster. for a bandage that moves with you and stays on all day, cover with a band-aid brand flexible fabric

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>> not even mile, much closer to where vice president joe biden was meeting with israeli prime minister and israeli president shimon peres. he just arrived, landing at the tel aviv airport. the attack, accord to peres and his spokespeople, happened just a short time later. an attacker with his knife stabbed four people right at the port which is a very full place, then the attacker moved northwa northward, stabbing people, running along the street, reaching into car, apparently with a knife, trying to stab people who have open windows. you then see police following the attacker. police say they shot and killed him. police haven't released too much information about the attacker but they say he is a 22-year-old from the northern west bank. as itened sta ene stands, one h killed, an american tourist, and at least ten more injured. we're still getting information and will absolutely keep you

posted. >> horrendous, please do. we'll stay in close contact with you. thank you. coming up, back to politics. all in on florida. despite trailing in the polls here, marco rubio guaranteeing a victory in his home state, saying he's under pressure to stay in the race. plus, mitt romney, still using his voice, now working the phones in four primary states today on behalf of the stop trump movement. we'll talk with the rnc's henry barber. next, they could be the wildest angryist rallies in the history of american presidential politics. cnn will take you behind the scenes of a donald trump event. covering is caring because covering heals faster. for a bandage that moves with you and stays on all day, cover with a band-aid brand flexible fabric adhesive bandage.

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if you have watched a donald trump rally any time lately, you have probably heard these words, get them out. cnn witnessed at least nine different groups of people being kicked out, while being verbally scolded by trump. here's cnn's gary tuchman reporting from the campaign trial. >> reporter: the crowd eagerly anticipating his arrival. in the back of the room, a man wearing this t-shirt. >> this man doesn't deserve to have the launch code for nuclear weapons. he can't even control his twitter account. >> reporter: it would have been likely this protester would have

been booted out during this rally but it didn't happen because he got booted out before the rally. call it a preemptive strike against one of the increasing number of donald trump demonstrators. it's happening at trump rallies with increasing frequency. and often playing out quite dramatically. >> yes, get that guy out of here, police, thank you, get him out, come on. >> get him out of here. out. >> get out of here, please. get him out. >> out. out, out, out. >> reporter:ed an today's event, trump spoke for 40 minutes and was interrupted from the beginning to the end. >> oh, we have a protester. we have a protester. we have a protester. out. out. bye. go home to mommy. go home to mommy. tell her to tuck you in bed. bye-bye. >> reporter: the u.s. secret service protects trump but private security is increasingly

evident of the rallies to keep a check on outside agitators. with local law enforcement in place to aid private security when people are kicked out. the sheriff's department here saying this is considered a private event and the campaign has a right to do this. what do you think of that? >> i loved his comment. back in the old days when you could fight and punch them right in the nose and carry them out on a stretcher. that's fine with me. >> bye-bye. good job, fella. like to punch him in the face, i tell you. >> reporter: other presidential candidates have people kicked out their rallies too. i about the trump campaign takes it to a next level. the real estate mogul who says he will be a unifier seems to revel in supporters who boo and cheer those get the heave-ho. >> if you see somebody getting really to throw a tomato, knock the crap it's out of them, would you. >> reporter: people find it

rather unlikely that donald trump will ever be a unifier. in a sense, he is already proven he is. at this rally and many others, he has unified the majority of people who love him against the minority of people most avidly don't. at this rally, we saw at least nine different groups of people kicked out during trump's speech, an average of one every 4 1/2 minutes. >> if you're going to demonstrate against him, yes, you need to do. >> reporter: so you think it's okay for donald trump to encourage -- >> yes, he can do anything he wants to, he's our future president. >> reporter: the final ejection during trump's final words. >> we are going to start winning again. we're going to win a lot. >> reporter: gary tuchman, cnn, concord, north carolina. >> gary, thank you. let's talk to two of our folks who have covered many, many donald trump rallies. political reporter m.j. lee. and chris frates, with the cruz campaign there in rall raleigh.

you been at trump events, you've covered them, m.j., just turning to you, two main things of who is attending these rallies, the people who are angry and the people who are extraordinarily loyal, yes? >> right. and having covered trump and some of the other republican candidates, i think it's completely fair to say there's this electric energy and passion -- >> you feel it -- >> walking into the arena. >> you completely feel it, right. it is not just about crowd size. it's not that he easily draws thousands of people to his events. it is that these people are angrier and rowdier than the people you might see at a marco rubio rally or the folks saw at jeb bush rallies. i think we really saw these emotions manifest themselves in some of the races we've already had. when you looked at the exit polls coming out of states like georgia, alabama, arkansas, trump really performed the best of all the republican candidates among people who said they're angry or dissatisfied. >> he's tapping into that very

successfully. >> the other emotion i think that's also important and very key to trump's popularity is the sense that people are feeling like they're betrayaled by republican politicians who have already been elected to office. so when they look at trump, they see him as being the polar opposite and not being a part of the republicans who are already in congress in washington, who they feel like they elected to do something else and be something else. >> sure, chris frates, i want you to tell me, either at the rally we just saw that gary tuchman featured in the piece, what is it you see that we don't by watching it on television? >> there's a lot you don't see just by watching donald trump on politics. i've done three presidential cycles. nothing like these trump rallies. we talked about the protesters. there were about nine on that -- just yesterday with gary tuchman. that's about normal. that's not a lot of protesters. usually, you can get over a dozen protests. and what's interesting, too, is

the way that trump kind of works the crowd. i mean, he's almost like an evangelist. yesterday, i called it the church of trump. people are coming to hear him. there's hardly anything that trump could say that these folks would be turned off by. i had one woman tell me, maybe if he said he was a crackhead or a coke addict, maybe. that's a big maybe. >> maybe? >> the other thing he likes to do -- maybe, right, exactly. the other thing he likes to do, he always targets the media. he always has the crowd turn around and he points out that he loves the protesters because that allow the cameras to pan to show the protesters and show how much of a crowd is there, now, of course, there are cameras that are always filming the crowd. they don't always turn when trump commands them to. the head-on cameras, as you and i know, they're never going to turn, they have to stay focused on donald trump. he gets the crowd whipped up a little bit. he likes to, you know, say that we're the most dishonest, you

know, the most terrible people ever. you see these -- i've been given the middle finger. i have, you know, been shouted at. that kind of anger permeates. when you see these folks getting kicked out, sometimes it looks almost a little dangerous. >> it makes me nervous watching some of this. >> here's an example, we were out at a trump rally. there were two young protesters. they were close to donald trump, behind him. they got his attention. he seeped to be listening to them. what looked like a trump volunteer. he was in a trump t-shirt and lan yard issued by the campaign, basically tackled the young protesters. it was a bit of a brouhaha that occurred. and everybody got kicked out,

the volunteer and the protesters. they're bringing in private security now to police the grounds. these plain clothed private security guys. they're trying to get protesters out even faster. we've seen more and more of these protesters attending. >> the protesters and supporters as well. they want to go see him speak. they believe in him as we saw from the piece. m.j. and chris, thank you. lifting the veil on the donald trump events. comie ing up next, mitt rom still making his voice heard, working the phones in four primary states today, but on whose behalf. and our next guest says there will likely be no republican nominee by the convention in cleveland. we will talk to the rnc's henry barber. because covering heals faster. for a bandage that moves with you and stays on all day, cover with a band-aid brand flexible fabric adhesive bandage.

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voters in four states are casting their ballots at this very moment but you will not find marco rubio come ampaignin any of them. instead, focusing his attention on winning that all-important state of florida. that is one week from today. shape up as truly a must win for the florida senator. today, mitt romney has got some support headed toward marco rubio and also the rest of the map. the former nominee recorded some robo calls for rubio, pushing his bona fides andnd taking sho at donald trump. >> hello, this is mitt romney, and i'll calling on behalf of marco rubio for president. >> romney is also making calls on behalf of john kasich in michigan today.

let's talk more about marco rubio. i have henry barber with me, a member of the republican national committee there in mississippi and a big marco rubio supporter. thank you for joining me. >> glad to be with you. >> so let's just get right to it. the news with regard to marco rubio, i know the campaign is absolutely refuting it, but cnn is reporting that some aids in the campaign are worried, they're saying rubio should drop out ahead of the primary. what can you tell me about that or your response? >> those rumors are false and what's going to happen is next week marco rubio is going to win in florida. just as in 2010 when he decided to run for the u.s. senate against a sitting governor. er toeverybody told him he couldn't win. marco took on the establishment, brooke, and he won. that's what's going to happen next week. he's going to take the folks on who are atempting to defeat him in florida, namely donald trump, and he's going to beat them.

>> florida is a must win, yes? >> yes, look, absolutely, got to win your home state. ted cruz faces that some dark consequence a week or so ago. it will be marco's turn next week. >> what about the all-important south, where you are? you know, we know that trump did extraordinarily well in the deep south super tuesday. yes, he won louisiana over the weekend, not by a whole heck of a lot, but where is marco rubio in the south? what if he doesn't have a good day today? >> well, look, this is about getting to delegates. you have to have a majority of the delegates at the convention in cleveland. don't believe anybody is going to have a majority of the delegates on that first ballot. we have a front runner who is opposed by about two-thirds of republican voters, that's donald trump, and he needs, trump needs, 60% of the delegates that are remaining, 853 delegates he need, and that's 60% of the

remaining bound delegates. that's a very high hurdle. it means he has to win all these winner take all states. i think when we get to cleveland, we're not going to have any candidate who has the required number of delegates, so i think we'll end up with an open and contested convention. >> you are potentially quite spot on on the map and on delegates. we heard from rubio talking about his potential of a brokered convention. here he was. >> so this is just a very different election year. this is going to take a long time. i don't think anyone has a clear path to the delegates so buckle up your seat belts. this ride has got a few more turns. >> so from the brokered convention, though, i wanted to ask you about jeb bush. as we talk about florida, winner take all, you say rubio's got it but, you know, cnn's reporting there have been a couple of phone calls between these two, mentor and mentee. i understand there is still bad

blood. do you think a jeb bush endorsement ahead of the florida primary, would that even matter? >> well, look, jeb bush is believed in florida. probably the greatest governor that florida has ever had. certainly, it would matter, but generally speaking, endorsements don't mean much. people are -- people who want to stop donald trump and in florida have one choice, and that's marco rubio. with two-thirds of republican americans opposing trump, it makes it -- i think people are going to coalesce behind rubio in florida and i think that could give him the momentum that we saw reagan had in '76. he lost six primaries in a row, won in pennsylvania, won in texas, closed it out, took it to the convention in kansas city in 1976 where he and ford were in a tie. so i think my man, marco rubio, can take that same path to cleveland, ohio.

>> before i let you go, i just have to ask about your very popular, you know, two consecutive term mississippi governor, uncle haley barber, you know, state bleeds deep, deep red, this is someone who really represents establishment republican party. i'm curious what does he think about this race? >> well, he thinks we're going to beat hillary clinton in november. he realizes republicans have got to win the white house in november. we cannot afford four more years of barack obama. it's somebody like rubio who has to get in there and undo the left wing policies that president obama has hurt the country, shed economic growth and given us weak foreign policy. >> has he said anything about trump? just curious. >> does he say anything about trump, is that what you -- >> yes, sir. >> now i have an ear piece

issue. >> yes, trump, has he said anything? >> yes, ma'am. well, i will tell you, healey's focus is on making sure we win. i can tell you that's where his focus is as a former rnc chairman. >> got it. henry barber, thank you, ear piece and all. appreciate the sense of humor. thank you, thank you. speaking of donald trump cancel live appearances this morning on multiple morning shows last minute, decided to call in instead. what happened? we have the back story for you coming up next. covering is caring because covering heals faster. for a bandage that moves with you and stays on all day, cover with a band-aid brand flexible fabric adhesive bandage.

donald trump join us on the phone right now. mr. trump, good morning to you. >> donald, good to have you on board. morning. >> thanks for being here. >> thank you very much. >> matt lauer, robin robert, coffee mugs and donald trump, what do they all have in common? you can't wake up without them. this morning at the last second he actually scrapped plans to do tv interviews on camera. why? let's bring in cnn's brian

stelter and michael calderon. what happened? >> i was just hearing from a source about this. some angst about this in tv news circles this morning. they had a satellite arraigned. at the last minute, after a couple of these tv interviews, he said, don't like the way it looks, doesn't sound right, there are all these problems. so he decided to call in instead. one of the networks said thanks but no thanks, we don't take phone interviews. we were not going to start. so "cbs this morning" said no, everybody else said yes. he had already chosen not to appear on cnn. all the other networks were on the phone as he's done many times. it's essentially become a new sort of trump rule. and the question is whether it's appropriate or not. >> okay, pause, to you, sir. because this whole notion of appearing on camera versus calling in for the viewer. why do they care? what's the difference? >> the difference is trump

oftentimes he calls on the phone, he's able to get around the questions. we're sitting here like this. >> i've got you, michael, i can cut you off. >> you can vet me. the problem is too many times i've watched these interviews with where they go on for 10, 15, 20 minute, and it seems trump is able to skirt around the questions. able to get out of specifically answering his policies and stances. sometime these phone interviews are good. they can pinpoint and get him in real time to respond to something. but too often it felt like trump dictates the terms of his interviews. it's trump who says all the time he has dleverage because he has ratings. >> you can see a person sweat, right, you can see what a person is like when they're on camera. counterargument is other candidates should be learning from trump. >> why aren't they calling in? marco rubio, call in right now, we will take you live on this show right now. >> that's the thing, trump has changed the dynamic. we can love it, we can hate it,

but he's changed it. what i don't understand is why other candidates aren't taking more advantage of this. >> because candidates have said, hang on a second, people are covering trump too much but trump is making himself available. >> he's uniquely accessible. >> he's calling in. >> he's running much more of a television and media campaign then all the other candidates. what's surprising to me is others haven't learned from it yet. >> you're seeing this all the time. ted cruz is on sunday criticizing trump. the amount of media he's getting from -- >> meaning we cover -- >> yes, he's getting millions of dollars from going on tv. and, you know, to me the issue of him appearing, you know, for 15, 20 meants on each of these shows calling in, part of a broader pattern where trumpance conferences are covered live, his rallies are covered live, so it seems like he just blankets tv coverage. other candidates can take advantage of this. i wish hillary clinton would come on more than she does. >> people who are covering

hillary have gotten frustrated. >> it's good that donald trump is accessible but i think it's incumbent upon the networks to question, you know, what they're getting out of this versus maybe what he's getting out of this by playing by his own rules. >> well said, sir. michael calderon, thank you so much, brian stelter as well. "reliable sources. he's your man. >> 11:00 a.m. sunday. >> the most important day of the 2016 presidential campaign thus far with voters heading to the polls in four states here. and what about the race for second place? we have reporters fanned out across the country. do not miss a beat. we'll be right back. if your family outing is magical for all the wrong reasons. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin®. because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. try zyrtec®. muddle no more®.

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how one community has come together to take on poverty in the struggling nation of ukraine. >> political unrest and economic decline has hit ukraine's poor hard. residents struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy. thousands of elderly young and displaced families can't afford the basics. >> they really do not have any other chances and it's fairly challenging. >> winter presents the biggest challenge. >> during the went, the cost of the utilities going up means that biggest part of the pension goes to cover utilities. >> the committee is trying to support the poor of ukraine. >> is the help can be very basic like food, medications, very basic supplies. we provide them with the

blankets, warm clothing. we do our best in order to support them. >> for 96-year-old liza, the support is a god send. >> translator: if it was not for them, i can't imagine what my life would be like. here we go, hour two, you're watching cnn, i'm brooke baldwin. right now, voters are hitting the polls which means we are hours away from knowing to answer the question will donald trump break away with an even greater lead after tonight or will another candidate slow trump's roll toward a potential nomination. ted cruz showing a little bit of possibility of doing that just over the weekend. today on the republican side, michigan, mississippi, idaho, hawaii, all holding primaries. for democrats, it's also a truly significant day. we're looking specifically at

michigan, mississippi. choosing between hillary clinton and sanders with 1 6 delegates up for grabs in those states. first to the polling places to get a feel of what's happening there, let's go to cnn in jackson, mississippi, jean casarez is in warren, michigan, gene, to you first, the state with the most delegates at stake there for both parties. so important. set the scene for me. >> and so important because of the momentum that it may give to the rest of the midwest. the michigan primary, wear in the heart of the midwest, and the first of several midwestern states. it is busy here. look behind me. there are a lot of people. it's just been steady all day. and so many different types of people. i mean, really, a diversification here. i just spoke to the first voter that i found that voted for ted cruz. and i asked why ted cruz and she said because he's religious. her son in new york had told her he is the religious candidate

and so she voted for him. and i think one of the things that makes this area unique is this is an open primary. you can be registered democrat, but you can vote for republican. you can be registered republican and vote for a democrat, which we actually have seen here today. but when you step up to get your ballot, you've got to ask what ballot you want, either a republican ballot or a democratic ballot. they're not on the same sheet of paper. and you go into the polling booth behind me and you make your marks. now, here's what's interesting. i spoke to a life. long republican this morning. lifelong republican. and he said he's voting for bernie sanders. he said it's the first time he had ever switched parties but he was going to do it. we've also talked to people from the auto industry that are for donald trump. they say we want jobs back. we can't go through what we've gone through before and we believe he's the man that will do it. hillary clinton voters in the same breath, they say it's bill clinton. bill will be with her and this

country's prospered under bill clinton and they believe that can happen again. bernie sanders supporters say he's the one who's truly for the people. >> okay. jean, thank you. paolo, what's it like in jackson, mississippi? >> very similar situation here, brooke. you have democrats that are voting republicans. i spoke to one woman who traditionally votes democrat, in one word, she wanted to use her vote. she wants -- she essentially came over to the republican table today, picked up her ballot and ended up casting her ballot for john kasich, in her words. was the most presidential on the debate stage during one of the most recent gop debates. that's what we're seeing here. a steady turnout. it comes in waves, really, i just checked in with the staff here. already 425 gop ballots have been cast. 341 on the democrats side. and these numbers obviously something they want to see go

even higher. just last year, during the last election, 380,176 ballots cast here in hines county. what's interesting, we've seen people of all ages, a lot of older folks as well, many people who participated in several presidential elections. one woman i told you about, 90 years old, never missed another presidential election. she said it was not going to be the first one. lastly, i should mention, yes, of course, folks here agree michigan is the grand prize but they don't feel forgotten. obviously in the headlines today alone, you can see that most of the presidential candidates were listed on there. then of course donald trump taking what is the first page here. just here yesterday, just speaking to voters here. hoping that he can continue with that momentum. but of course ted cruz who happens to have the endorsement of mississippi's governor also on the ballot as well. we're going to have to see exactly what turns out and what

happens once these ballots start getting counted after 7:00 later tonight, brooke. >> paolo, thank you so much. paolo sand aval and jean casarez. a fresh attack from donald trump who said cruz comes in bible high and in the end he lies, end quote. here you go. >> typically, when he goes down to attacking people's faith, it's a sign that donald is really, really worried. i understand the last election day, supersaturday was a very bad day for donald. he came in proudly expecting to sweep all four contents. instead, he got clobbered. >> so does more trump so-called clobbering lie ahead? let's bring in our panel here, chief political correspondent dana bash, anna marie cox, senior correspondent for mtv news, and todd spangler, the washington correspondent for "the detroit free press." i want to hammer home why michigan is important in terms of kel gat count, delegate count, in terms of who on the

republican side folks could be turning out and voting for, and wondering if the possibility is there we could see a rubio fourth place in michigan which would be the headline certainly come tomorrow. >> yes, i think there's certainly a good possibility. the way the polls seem to be going. that senator rubio could end up in fourth place here and not even hit the 15% threshold that would allow him to get any delegates. >> that's a possibility, dana bash, then of course it's the whole how will donald trump do. it seems for a while he had incredible momentum. seemed a tad vulnerable over the weekend. two and two wins, ted cruz taking the other two, margin of victory not as significant. do you think he's losing ground or do you think people are coalicing behind ted cruz? >> we'll see what happens tonight. even people from opposing campaigns and superpacs, people who do not like donald trump, but many of them think he will probably do well, likely win in

michigan tonight, and same goes with mississippi. we'll see if that happens. and in fact some -- i was talking to a source who is pushing an anti-trump superpac who is concerned that that kind of process story line, the idea that if he does well tonight and gathered more delegates and, you know, adds that up, that that will hurt the efforts of all of these anti-trump forces, which are really trying to get him on substance and on issues and tried to push things that make voters think twice about whether or not he's the one to vote for. >> anna marie, what about john kasich, let's not count him out, you know, he's someone who not a lot of people talk as much about. but let's talk about john kasich. he's been dubbed the adult in the room. he's put in some time certainly in nearby michigan. how might this play out for him? >> well, if he can pull off even a second place in michigan, i

think he deserves his place at the table. as long as he stays standing, as long as he continues on through ohio and hopefully wins his home state, you know, he will be an alternative to trump. the longer he stays in, the better he looks. let's face it, he's not a dynamic personality. he's not someone who comes across with a lot of charisma or a lot of big ideas. but, you know, compared to donald trump, he does seem like a nonpsychopath, you know, he doesn't seem like someone who is going to embarrass the country. so i think that he is definitely getting some people who are having to take a second look at their gut instinct to go for trump. i think trump does appeal to a wide range of people. not just racists. and i think there are some people who like him as an outsider, who like what he has to say. as you see these debates devolve into name-calling and vulgarity, anyone who can walk out on to the stage without embarrassing themselves is going to get a second look so i think kasich

has a shot here. >> there's a real possibility none of these candidates could reach that magic number of 1,237, you have a brokered convention. there's a whole movement now, draft paul ryan, the u.s. speaker of the house. let's just back up, how would that even work, bringing in, you know, outside names like that in cleveland? >> well, he's actually going to be, because his role as speaker of the house allows him to be the chair of the convention, last time around, john boehner, he was house speaker, so he was the chair of the convention. he, you know, usually the past however many election cycles, it's been ceremonial. you gavel in, you gavel out and you're done. if there's an actual contested convention, he will be the person presiding over that, so it might be, you know, a bit awkward but stranger things have happened, if somebody puts his name in the hat, how would it happen? well, if there is a contested convention, the first round of

ballots is -- the people who come as delegates to, you know, the convention because they're supporting candidate x, y and z, they kind -- they have to stick with that. after the first ballot, they're all free to vote for whomover they want. so that's how things can really get interesting and dramatic after that. and then there's ballots -- i mean, there have been times -- >> it can go rounds and rounds and rounds. >> exactly, like 35 ballots. it hasn't happeneded in a very long time. certainly not in our -- in our generation. and in our lifetime. but -- or at least our conscious lifetime. but it certainly could. >> we'll save that conversation for when we get to cleveland because i have a feeling that's going to come back. todd with regard to michigan on the dems side, bernie sanders, is this do or die for him? >> it's certainly a very important state. there's a lot of delegates in michigan to be aportioned to the democrats. he needs turnout in big college

centers in ann arbor, in east lansing. whether that's going to be there or not, it's really hard to say. i think that secretary clinton has a lot of institutional support here in michigan, particularly in african-american areas in flint and detroit. she's going to be tough to beat. >> hillary clinton, anna marie, she has said essentially the sooner i became the nominee, the sooner i can start hitting back on the republican party. i mean is she essentially saying, you know, bernie sanders hint, hint, drop out so i can truly take on trump? because by the way bernie sanders is, like, i got money, i'm staying in, this is part of my movement. i mean what do you think of what she said? >> well, i don't think it's too subtle. i'm not sure if it's a hint. she has every right to say that. i have to say, you know, again sort of the longer the contest goes on on the republican side, the more dignified the democrats look. i personally look at what's happening on the democratic side and it's such a comparatively low drama, i don't think there's

going to be a big rift to heal between the sanders camps and -- well maybe the camps specifically. i think voters are not going to have a huge problem switching sides once the nominee is determined. again, the relative decorum happening on that side is sending a message to voters, even if they are not actually able to campaign on the general election messages, if hillary clinton's not the actual nominee, the message coming from the democratic side is that, you know, we know how to conduct ourselves in public and we know how to decide our nominees. remember, we thought there was skull dug gary happening on the democratic side. compared to what's happening on the republican side with this conversation of a brokered convention the democrats actually look like they're having, you know, a democratic process. >> you're not the first to point that out on this show, anna marie cox, thank you so much, please come back, and dana bash, thank you, i will see you in miami of course ahead of our big republican debate this week. todd spangler, thank you so much

as well. this is a massive week at cnn with regard to politics. we'll have complete live coverage today as results roll in from different state contests. then tomorrow night, 9:00 eastern, cnn will simulcast the presidential debate hosted by univision and "the washington post." you can watch it right here. and thursday, please tune in, it will be a huge night, the cnn republican presidential debate live from miami, five days ahead of the critical primary in the state of florida. coming up next, though, let's talk michael bloomberg says nope, i am not going to run for president. but you know what, that's not the headline. the headline is why he's not running. we'll talk to someone from his inner circle on why he made the decision. plus, word of a secret meeting among some of america's business giants. and powerful lawmakers. the topic, donald trump of course. find out why. and breaking news, a top isis leader believed to have been killed by an american air

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welcome back, you're watching cnn. it is not so much that billionaire, former mare of new york city michael bloomberg decided not to run, it's the why. for months, flirted with the third party candidacy and now admits he can't pull it off. bloomberg also fears he could have tips the race to one of the two republicans, saying, quote, as the race stands now, with republicans in charge of both houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of donald trump or senator ted cruz, that is not a risk i can take. the former secretary and communication s director for bloomberg, now tasksed with researching the possibility of his self-funded campaign, mark, welcome. >> thanks. >> how close did it get? >> when it appears sanders had a good chance at the nomination, we were getting very close.

you know, race sanders, trump, bloomberg, we felt very confidence that mike could win that race and win it clean by clearing 270 electorate votes. we did some really detailed polling. more extensive than anybody else had done. once it became clear clinton was probably going to be the democratic nominee, it became clear that due to our political structure, the system basically dictates we have a dual-opoly. the reason being, even if you have a strong candidate, mike bloomberg would have been the strongest probably in the history of this country, maybe dating back to teddy roosevelt -- >> okay, you're a little biyalsed. >> no would be was going to get up over 270 electoral votes. the house chooses the president, in this case, the house controlled by rls, and very often might have been trump. that was a risk he did not want to take. >> other than the fact that it

looks like hillary clinton will be the nominee, to me, which reading this from bloomberg was he just by jumping in he would fear, to your point, it could be' trump or a cruz presidency. was that ultimately what it was? >> that was the decider. >> that was it? >> that was it. he didn't have any plan whatsoever coming off his may oral candidacy and run for president. he was running his company, going back to being one of the world's greatest fill thphilants but he watched a race that had rhetoric on the right and on the left end of the spectrum and that created a rationale to run, that he does not believe the country should be governed by the extremes, b, a path to run. we put a lot of work into this. it was a really fascinating look at what the process is. just getting on the ballot is really -- >> cannot imagine. >> incredible.

the state party set up extraordinary barriers to entry that really dictate only somebody with a lot of resources can actually even get on the ballot as a third party candidate. and unless the two parties nominate candidates that are very much on the extreme ends, there's not enough room for an independent to get through. that was almost the case with senator clinton. that is not the case -- dhe not want to run the risk of the deadlock election being decided by the house and possibly putting trump in the white house. >> bloomberg and trump, obviously they know one another. at any point during bloomberg marinating on a run, did he ever pick up the phone and call mr. trump? >> no, they never spoke. they know each other in passing, you know -- no acrimony between them ever in their lives. we did a little business with him when he was mayor. they worked on a rehab of a golf course. the trump folks did a wonderful job on it. not much of a relationship there, but no acrimony.

he saw the campaign he was running and he was, frankly, disgusted by it, and that sort of triggered a look into this. the more and more we looked at it, the more and more real it became, that wait a minute, he can win this. with senator clinton's rise, it just does not leave the possibility open. >> this is so fascinating. take me behind the scenes of, you know, you talk about looking into, you know, polling and state election rules, et cetera. how many people were involved in this sort of core nucleus that was the would he, should he run? >> noumerous pockets of what you're looking at. number one is to get yourself on the ballot. need somewhere in the range of 900,000 signatures formally to get on but you need way more than that actually because who controls secretary of state's office, county election office, that viewed the signatures of whoever's in control of that executive branch of government, right so you're going to get challenged, sued, the second you file petition signatures. we estimated he probably needed somewhere in the range of 1.2

million signatures in various states and the rules are different in each states. it's complicated. you need a petitioning process to be able to go through and build out that number of signatures. you need a legal team. now there are serious constitutional questions, right, about if the election doesn't -- if no one clears 270, what happens. never really been tested in very firm way. never been stress tested. >> who were his advisers? who were the people on the bat phone for mike bloomberg when he really needed the advice? >> kevin chiccy who's been a longtime -- >> high-powered people, folks would know? >> that's his team, the same folks for a long time. in the end, you know, mike bloomberg makes decisions based on data. >> he didn't talk to the vice president? >> i don't know if he did or not. this a guy who makes decisions based on data. he gets good people around him to bring him the best data. it's in god we trust, everybody else bring data. we saw real rational based on

the numbers. a real path based on the numbers. based on the rhetoric of the campaign. but that pathway closed to the point that he could have finished in the three-way race with secretary clinton, donald trump and mike bloomberg. he could have absolutely finished as the top vote getter in that race. he would have won a number of states. he would not, we don't believe, gone to over 270. secretary clinton would have finished with the most electorate votes probably in that circumstance but she wouldn't have got 270 either, we would have ended in the house and that would have been a disaster. >> the front row seats to all of this. thank you, appreciate it. for mayor michael bloomberg. thank you. coming up next here, anti-trump ads blanketing the air ways in florida. and gearing up to use his comments about women against him. we'll debate whether the attacks can make an impact.

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you're watching cnn, i'm brooke baldwin. right now, hillary clinton allies are plotting, assembling an arsenal they hope will bring down the man poised to become the republican nominee, attack ad using donald trump words against him about women. it wouldn't be the first time we've seen trump's words come back to haunt him. case in point, this ad from a conservative superpac entitled best words. >> what the hell are we doing? i have the best words and you can tell them to go [ bleep ]

>> joining me now, the communications director at emily's list which supports pro-choice democratic women running for office. and scotty hughes with us, a trump supporter, chief political correspondent with usa radio networks and journalist for western.com. take me behind closed doors in the strategy, what are you ladies plotting here? >> it seems to me that the best way of running against donald trump is to use trump's words themselves and themselves they are completely powerful. there's no shortage of misogynistic hateful things that trump has said against women towards women in describing women and so, you know, the reality is that what he's -- the republican front-runner and we have to take him very seriously. for us we want to make sure we are spending time looking through this and making sure he

owns those words. it's not just trump who owns those words, it's the republican party and everyone with an "r" next to their name on the ballot. >> so, scottie, as the trump supporter, as a woman, and you do know some of what mr. trump has said, how would you defend him? >> well, think it's very interesting that the democrats are already try to take out mr. trump and we've not actually made him our primary winner yet so that just shows how scared they are of him. when you look at the commercial, the words and phrases he's saying is not necessarily in regards to women or tearing down women. >> that's a different ad, let's be clear. that was from the conservative superpac. that could have been confusing. they're actually putting together a separate ad, continue. >> right, we don't know the details of what they're going to say in that ad. like everything else in this election, actions speak louder than words. yes there are people angry there are people frustrated. when they hear commercials like that, that just says yep, your

right, i wish i could curse at what's going on in america today as my family is hurting and suffering. it possibly could have a reverse effect and help and just secure his base even more. >> i was talking to someone just this morning marcy about, you know, putting together campaign ads and making the paint that sometimes these negative ads backfire and specifically have negatives for women. do you worry about that at all with this? >> not at all with donald trump. there really is -- he has entered new territory when it comes to republicans. in 2012, we saw the largest gender gap in that presidential between obama and romney that were 20 points. in the latest cnn poll, between trump and hillary, we're looking at 41 points, potentially double that gender gap. donald trump has a problem with women that has been decades long of these types of remarks towards women. he's going to have to wear these to the ballot box. will have to wear these for the rest of his candidacy and campaign. i know a lot of women, quite frankly, a lot of republican women, who will either stay home

or they'll cast a vote for hillary clinton because they want someone who's actually going to offer some solutions to the challenges that they're facing in their lives -- >> scottie, i see you shaking your head. i'm distracted. what are you thinking? >> well, because i'm listening to her talk. i'm association vote for somebody more than just because they have a uterus. you look at mr. trump and you look at eye vaivanka, his wife,s more people head of the company that are female than most fortune 500 companies do. his actions show he supports women. instead of sitting there and saying we already know the other side, no matter who criticizes hillary clinton, was going to play this feminist card. with saw him do it against bernie sanders the other night. let's put more substance to it. let's actually see if their actions back that up. when you look at hillary clinton, her treatment of women has been far worst in her actions than anything mr. trump has done. >> let's give emily's list a bit

more credit here. it's more than having a uterus, please. >> absolutely. it's hard to take someone seriously when they use words like dogs, bimbo, fat pigs, words he's used to describe women in the past. >> he also insults men too. >> look, we at emily's list -- >> he insults men too, not just women. >> at our sister organization, american women did a poll, 73% of republican women who we talk to said they wouldn't even think about voting for a candidate who's used those words again women if they supported those policies of that candidate. we are in unchartered territory. i'm sorry, this is not about gender politics this is about someone whose character is completely out of line when it comes to women. >> it is uncharted territory, it is unprecedented. that is fact. so many different ways you can cut it for now. thank you so much. different perspective, always wanted right here on cnn.

next, the country's biggest tech ceos reportedly gathering for some sort of secret meeting over the weekend about donald trump. i'm talking about heads of apple and google and space x all in the same room with karl rove. we have the details on what went down behind closed doors.

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in the war against isis, cnn has learned u.s. air strikes may have taken out a top leader in the terror organization. u.s. officials say his name is omar the chechen. the strike happened in syria and was targeted a commander wanted by the state department. a top u.s. commander telling

lawmakers today that he needs more troops to recapture key cities in both syria and iraq. so let's get you straight to the pentagon, to our correspondent barbara starr for the latest on both of these developing stories. barbara, first to this air strike. tell me what you know. >> hi, brooke what we do know is that on march 4th, the u.s. was targeting abu omar al shashani, also known as omar the chechen, a top isis leader. u.s. air strikes moved in over the town of sadati, the area between the syria -- on the syria/iraqi border, a town isis often uses as a border crossing. fighting had been heavy in that area. we don't know what intelligence the u.s. had that drew them there, thinking that shashani was there, but they did target him there. now, u.s. intelligence agencies and the u.s. military are looking at the results of the strike, trying to determine once and for all if they did get him.

that is often very difficult to know from air strikes, if you don't have troops on the ground, it may be difficult to know if you were successful in exactly killing the person you were going after. but clearly they were going after him. top operative, $5 million reward on his head by the u.s. state department. someone who is said to have been involved in holding foreign hostages and isis' financial operations, and it really does come full circle. as you just pointed out, the top u.s. commander for the war against isis was on capitol hill today saying if you want to retake raqqah, isis' capital in syria and mosul, iraq's second largest city, still under isis control, he's going to need more help, more troops, more special operations, to make all of that happen. brooke. >> barbara, thank you so much. barbara starr at the pentagon. ahead here, word of the secret meeting among some of america's business giants and powerful lawmakers talking about

donald trump. why, what are the results of the meeting. we have that for you next.

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today is the second super tuesday in this presidential election season, with today's primaries, four of them, among the most critical thus far, because they could determine who among those still standing in this race will survive to fight another day or who's next to fall out of the race and head home in defeat. cnn's john king shows us what's at stake as both parties close in on the nominee. john. >> four states with primaries on our second super tuesday of the campaign, two for the democrats, four for the republicans, hawaii, idaho, mississippi and michigan, 166 democratic delegates at stake, 150 delegates at stake on the republican side. just mississippi and michigan voting on the democratic side. let's look at the state of play in the republican side. donald trump with the delegate

lead but cruz closing in on second. he says he has momentum. marco rubio won puerto rico over the weekend. he says he's still in the hunt. a lot of questions about that. let's look. on our second super tuesday if trump sweets with about 35% of the vote in those wins, he'll start to pull away a little bit. ted cruz hoping for maybe a surprise in mississippi, maybe a little closer than you would expect in michigan and watch the smaller battles in hawaii and in idaho. sometimes if you do get a surprise, that's where you get it. if trump sweeps, he'll start to pull away a little bit on the delegate side. donald trump has won 43% of the republican delegates to date. if he can win 54% from here on out, he'll clinch the nomination. that's not as hard as it looks in the sense that we begin to move next week into winner take all, big prizes like florida, big prizes like ohio. if you can win them all, you'lled an add to the numbers. a little steeper hole for ted cruz. you see marco rubio in third place. john kasich in fourth place. they need to change the dynamic

of the race fundamentally. trump and cruz on the top of the pack looking for tomorrow and beyond to show they can add up some more delegates. here's where we start. this is pledge delegates. hillary clinton with a 200 delegate lead over bernie sanders. she's favored in both contests tomorrow. if she picks them both up, number one, she'll start to stretch out her delegate lead. number two, she'll send a very important message to bernie sanders, i'm beating you in the south and now i'm proving i can beat you in the big industrial northwest. michigan is a huge test for bernie sanders not only for momentum and the message of the midwest but also because of the math. clinton has won nearly 60% of the delegates to date. if she wins the same percentage of the pledge delegates meaning on primary and caucus day here on out, she'll clinch the nomination. bernie sanders has a steeper hill. he needs to win 66. and this math for hillary clinton is actual a tad misleading. this she would clinch if she won only the pledge delegates. she has some superdelegates in her back both so bernie sanders

needs to make a statement and make it soon, the midwest would be right place to do that but the polls show clinton with the lead. >> john king, thank you so much. also today, we are learning about this top secret meeting where tech ceos, billionaires and top members of the republican establishment met in secret to discuss how to stop donald trump. this elite circle gathered over the weekend on a remote island off the coast of -- excuse me, coast of georgia. the huffington post is reporting this hush hush gathering was attended by apple ceo tim cook, google founder larry page, tesla founder elan musk, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and house speaker paul ryan just to name a few of the folks in the room there. let's talk about this with one of the authors of the huffington post story. he's a washington bureau chief for the huffington post and rona is here with me, global analys and of course wonderful over at

"time" magazine, assistant managing editor. ryan to you first, tell me more about the -- what were the meetings about exactly? >> sure, this is the kind of thing that every powerful person in the united states was at this meeting. something like 54 private jets were needed to fly these -- >> wow! >> i guess that's kind of a loose understanding of the word "need." that's the way they decide to show up at the island. they spent a lot of time talking about a lot of things. if you get five people in a room anywhere in america today, they're going to talk about donald trump. that's what was dominating the conversation from what people told us. there were kinds of two camps. the camp of starching their heads, scratching their head, wondering how this happens and the others wondering what we can do to stop it. on a private jet, meeting with a lot of billionaires, figuring out why but on the other hand, you

had karl rove who presented attendees with his ideas for how they could undermine trump going forward. >> so here's what i'm curious, wouldn't that have been funny picture to see at airport, side note, i'm turning to ewing why do you think of elon musks and tim cooks talking politics and the conversation on donald trump, why -- why were they -- >> it's interesting because you think of those guys as being democratic camp. >> sure. >> but these are exactly the people that would be affected by a trump foreign policy that might -- >> jobs overseas. >> jobs over seas. trade policy imagine a done presidency and what that would mean for china, trade, currency. these guys are afraid we're going to have a trade war or currency war that could kill their businesses overseas. they're very much worried about this. >> so i'm clear, did all of the folks get together specifically to discuss donald trump or that was sort of inherently how the

conversation turned? >> no, this is an annual gathering. >> okay. >> one senator told me it's his favorite weekend of the year. everybody looks forward to it. even though they keep it as private and secret as possible. and so it just handed it coincided with this period though karl rove, obviously did plan a presentation and planned to talk about donald trump and so did a lot of the other republican senators. >> what are, r 0. na, unanswered questions megatech leaders would have about donald trump. >> well, what u.s. trade policy going to look like in a trump presidency? what will that mean for the ability of a company like apple to keep putting jobs in china and keep selling products there? what's going to mean for intellectual property law and visas? we heard trump come out both sides of immigration.

now saying maybe we need more visas for high-tech workers. nobody knows who his economic advisers are as well, for these guys who like to be way out in front of everything and spending money in washington, that's anxiety provoking. >> i was talking to someone the other day about how the teams are being formed, especially on foreign policy in washington, ahead of a potential nomination be and i haven't heard of a trump team. when does that need to start happening? >> i mean, legally, i guess when he's sworn in. you're right, he doesn't -- a lot of the president. campaigns create all of the advisory committees, partly that's a way to reward donors, like if you raise enough money, you can be on this committee and tell people that you advised me. but it's intellectual infrastructure for a campaign which trump doesn't have, you know, because he feels like he has the answers already. and if he doesn't have the answers, he'll give you one anyway, and if he doesn't like that one, he'll come back a

couple of days later with a different one. he often will say, well, why did you say x? he said that was the first time i was asked about it, as if that excuses never having thought about it, never having advisers to tell you what the different options are to choose from. >> listening to you, ryan, makes me wonder, rona, if this is something we have our big cnn republican debate thursday night, and the fact that all of these mega, megaleaders got together over the weekend and this is how the conversation went, i wonder if this is something that could be brought up on the debate stage. >> i hope it will be brought up on the debate stage. i think that the big question for the business community, anyway, what they want to know is, the republican party used to be party of business. big business in particular. trump is presenting an entirely different base. he's the populist side of the republican party and i think that is very worrisome for big multinational businesses that have depended on republicans to

stick up for their trade agendas, for their tax loopholes, et cetera. who knows what donald trump's going to do. just so we have no idea what his platform truly is or who his advisers are. these are big questions. >> tapper will try. knowing that jake tapper. thank you so much. just reminder, miami debate thursday night. hours from now, polls will be closing in four states. live on the campaign trail with all six candidates still campaigning to be president of the united states. hear what's at stake for each tonight. [bassist] two late nights in tucson.

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front runner thus far, but donald trump has been toying with the idea of running for president two decades when they formed an explorer to committee in 1999.

what people then thought of a donald trump candidacy, it turns out some of the same qualities that make him popular today were massive turnouts back then. >> that's the most ridiculous thing. what makes him be eligible and qualified to run the country? >> idiotic. he has no experience in politics. >> a lot of celebrity and well-known people are starting to do this. it seems to be like it's in fashion. >> i don't think so, no, sorry, donald. >> stick to the casino. >> any way possible you'd ever vote for him? >> i think overall i'm tired of people with a lot of money getting into politics. >> i don't trust him. >> he's rich, works deals, and he's a power broker and i don't trust him. i would never, never vote for donald trump. >> i think he'd be good, republican. that's big business all of that sort of thing. i would -- i'd vote for him.

>> 1999, how about that? thank you so much for be with me. i'm brooke baldwin in new york. we'll take you to washington. jim sciutto in for jake tapper. "the lead" starts now. super tuesday ii is under way and the stakes couldn't be higher. ted cruz gains on donald trump in the polls and bernie sanders needs a win in the biggest prize of the day, that is michigan. "the lead" starts right now. good afternoon, welcome to a special edition of "the lead," i'm jim sciutto in for jake tapper today. it is super tuesday ii and the stakes are very high. donald trump continues to lead in most polls across today's contests, but ted cruz is coming off a strong weekend, winning two states, and splitting the delegate count in louisiana, with trump. tonight, michigan, mississippi, idaho, hawaii up for gra