GOP Rivals Gearing Up For Nevada Fight; Trump Rides Momentum In Nevada Caucus Campaign; John Kasich Live Tonight; Cruz Looks To Build On Third Place Finish In South Carolina; Rubio Says The Cruz Tea Using Dirty Tricks; Giuliani Advising Donald Trump; Republican Presidential Debate Thursday
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you for watching, everyone. Nice to have you with us. Stay tuned; "WOLF" starts right now.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 10:00 a.m. in Las Vegas, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Damascus, Syria. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. We start with the presidential race here in the United States with the Republicans and the Democrats switching battlegrounds. The Republicans hitting Nevada, the Democrats looking ahead to South Carolina. Three of the five remaining Republican hopefuls there in Nevada today. That's the short-term focus. Long-term, it's the March 1st Super Tuesday primaries. Meanwhile, on Democrat side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they're getting ready for their battle in South Carolina, and the next test of how African-American voters are going to break. We'll get to that a little bit later this hour. But first, let's check the pulse of the Republican race for the White House right now. Donald Trump is riding high after his 10-point win in South Carolina. In a stop in Atlanta, he ticked off the groups that gave him the win.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: So, we won with everything. We won with highly educated, pretty well educated and poorly educated, but we won with everything. Tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people. Just won.</s>BLITZER: Florida Senator Marco Rubio collected his best finish so far, a second-place finish in South Carolina. Now, he's taking his message to Nevada.</s>MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will win this election because of the people left in this race -- of the people left in this race, no one can unite this movement or this party faster than I can. And we have to unite. If we're still fighting with each other in September and October, we're going to lose. If we're still divided, we're going to lose. There aren't enough of us.</s>BLITZER: We're following the action in Nevada today ahead of Tuesday's caucuses. Our National Political Reporter Maeve Reston is in Elko, Nevada for us. That's where three of the campaigns are hitting the ground today. Why so much emphasis made on Elko?</s>MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Elko is one of the biggest cities in rural Nevada. And, of course, that will be really critical to whoever wins here on Tuesday. This is a caucus state. And if these candidates can come in and sweep up some delegates in these rural areas, that's what they want to do. So, literally, within a one-block radius, we have Ted Cruz here today. Marco Rubio has a strong crowd inside. It's about to get speaking in there. And Donald Trump, the voters here were expecting to see him, but he's sending his son instead, today.</s>BLITZER: Maeve, talk a little bit about what happened in the GOP contest in the Nevada caucuses. Back in 2012, when Mitt Romney won the state, what lessons can the current candidates learn from that?</s>RESTON: Well, this really is the wild west out here, Wolf. You know, you had only 33,000 voters show up to caucus in the Republican caucus in 2012 when Romney won here. And he won by virtue of a really strong ground organization. So, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, they were all hoping to do the same thing this election year, but Donald Trump has kind of swept in with his momentum, not as much organization, and it really feels like Trump country out here. We've been driving these rural counties for the last week, and almost every Republican voter that we've met is saying that they're supporting Trump. So, the question tomorrow night is whether or not the organization of these other campaigns, Cruz and Rubio, who clearly are competing for second here, can overtake that momentum, turn their people out, and hope for, you know, less of a big turnout for Donald Trump here tomorrow night.</s>BLITZER: All right, Maeve Reston in Nevada for us. Maeve, thank you. Later, by the way, in "THE SITUATION ROOM," I'll be interviewing the Ohio governor, John Kasich. He's one of the five Republican candidates still standing. We'll talk about the results in South Carolina, the upcoming votes in Nevada and beyond. That's later today, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz, he finished a close third in South Carolina but stands second in the current Republican delegate count. He's also in Nevada today trying to gain support ahead of tomorrow's caucuses. Let's discuss a little bit more about what's going on. Joining us, our CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash and our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger. Cruz has got to make his case. A disappointing third-place showing in South Carolina.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: He does. And, you know, I think that he was disappointed with evangelical voters, and I think he's got to start appealing to evangelical voters. He understands that Donald Trump is way ahead there. He's got some money to spend. He's been organized. He's got a really well-organized campaign. So, I think Cruz will continue to make his case, that he's the constitutional conservative and the values candidate. I mean, the one area we saw in those exit polls that Cruz does badly is on shares your values. I mean, that Trump does badly. Cruz does well on that.</s>BLITZER: When they say values, they mean, like, the social issues, right?</s>BORGER: Exactly, exactly.</s>BLITZER: Yes, marriage, gay marriage, --</s>BORGER: Exactly.</s>BLITZER: -- stuff like that.</s>BORGER: Exactly.</s>BLITZER: Stuff like that.</s>BORGER: Yes.</s>BLITZER: Abortion rights for women. The Jeb Bush decision to suspend his campaign, effectively dropping out of the race, the supporters, the money, where are they heading?</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Rubio campaign is trying to get them big time. Not everybody has really decided where they're going to go, if they're going to go anywhere else. I'm sure most of them will, eventually. But that is really the race right now. John Kasich would probably like to have some of them. They tend -- they are the more establishment Republican supporters and donors. And that is the key right now. But I think to your point about Ted Cruz -- first of all, I don't think a lot of them are going to go for Ted Cruz or Donald Trump. I mean, Donald Trump is self-funding.</s>BORGER: Yes.</s>BASH: But to your point about Ted Cruz, you know, as the night was going on and on and on, on Saturday night, the one thing that the Rubio campaign was starting to push already is, Ted Cruz doesn't have a lock on the south. Never mind a lock, I mean that he didn't get any delegates. Nobody got any delegates in South Carolina, except Donald Trump which is pretty astonishing.</s>BLITZER: He got all 50.</s>BASH: But -- yes.</s>BORGER: Right.</s>BASH: Which is really remarkable. But Ted Cruz has spent a lot of time going through -- I mean, campaigning in the so-called SEC primaries, the ones that'll happen on March 1st. He's did a bus tour there in August when everybody was thinking, what are you doing?</s>BORGER: Right.</s>BASH: So, I think that there should be and is a lot of focus on those March 1st states and it will tell us a lot about Ted Cruz's viability. the reason why that's important is to figure out whether or not Marco Rubio can be the only guy left standing, effectively, against Donald Trump.</s>BORGER: Can I say something, to add to what Dana is saying about the donors? I was talking to a bunch of donors over the weekend --</s>BLITZER: Bush donors?</s>BORGER: Jeb Bush donors. And, first of all, they say, Jeb Bush hasn't sent any kind of a signal to anybody. He's taken some time off and he's not going to send a signal. There is this kind of Shakespearean fight that we've seen between the mentor and his student, you know, Bush and Rubio. So, there still are some hard feelings. So, people aren't flocking to one candidate or another. Somebody said to me, many will go to Rubio. Obviously, Rubio campaign says they've gotten a lot. But in Texas, for example, there may be some donors who decide to go to Cruz. And also, Kasich is making a play for some -- for some Jeb Bush donors.</s>BLITZER: We just got a clip in. This is Senator Rubio. Dana, listen to this. He was asked about Ted Cruz's so-called dirty tricks that are -- that he supposedly is playing out there against some of the other Republican candidates. Listen to this.</s>SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm saying, someone -- at some point, there has to be some level of accountability. Otherwise, they're running an operation where you're sending a message to the people that work for you, go out and do anything you want. And if you get caught, we'll just apologize, but we'll keep doing it. That seems to be what's happening here.</s>BLITZER: It seems to be what's happening here, he says there. This whole notion of dirty tricks, what was going on maybe in South Carolina, or Iowa for that matter, potentially could be plaguing Senator Cruz.</s>BASH: It could be. Potentially, it was one of the things that hurt him in South Carolina. And the Rubio campaign is really going after him. I mean, you and I both were at a rally that Marco Rubio was having in South Carolina, when one of his top aides started to hand out a piece of paper that showed a clearly photoshopped photo of what appeared to be Marco Rubio shaking Obama's hand. And the Rubio campaign clearly thinks that that is a negative for Ted Cruz which is why their campaign, and the candidate himself, keeps pounding away on this dirty tricks notion. Because they think that it opens up a wound that hadn't been there before, for Ted Cruz, and that he was coming across successfully as a true conservative, as somebody who was above it all and outside, kind of, a political -- the whole political idea of doing things the way that people in Washington do it. Well, he's trying to poke a hole in that.</s>BORGER: You know, and so, his strength is values.</s>BASH: Yes.</s>BORGER: And part of values is ethics. And if they can weaken him on that, that would be a good thing for them. And, by the way, they're joined with Donald Trump on this --</s>BASH: They are.</s>BORGER: -- who keeps calling Ted Cruz, what, sleazy and a liar and everything else. So, Donald Trump is on Rubio's side in this. And this way, he can attack Cruz, be on the side of Donald Trump, and avoid for, what, maybe another week or two, attacking Donald Trump.</s>BLITZER: What do you make of Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, being quoted in "The Washington Post," saying he's given some political advice to Donald Trump?</s>BORGER: It doesn't surprise me, actually. I think these fellows go back a long way in New York. Trump says he's strong on ISIS and fighting terrorism which is the number one issue in the Republican Party. However, I do recall that Rudy Giuliani actually ran for the presidency and didn't --</s>BASH: Yes.</s>BORGER: -- do so well. And so, maybe it's more foreign policy advice and less tactical advice that he's -- that he's giving.</s>BASH: And it's a perfect example of how Donald Trump just -- there are different rules that apply to him because one of the main reasons Rudy Giuliani didn't take off is he had, historically, not had strong enough position against abortion.</s>BORGER: That's right.</s>BASH: You can certainly say the same thing against Donald Trump. He said it in the clip that plays over and over again but it doesn't matter.</s>BLITZER: He says his position has evolved --</s>BORGER: Exactly.</s>BLITZER: -- all these years later. All right, guys, thanks very much. Don't forget, this Thursday, the five remaining Republican candidates meet in the next Republican presidential debate. It's in Houston, Texas. I'll be moderating. The debate begins 8:30 p.m. Eastern Thursday night only here on CNN. Up next, with a win in Nevada, Hillary Clinton prepares for the next vote in South Carolina. Will she change her strategy? And the fight between the FBI and Apple heating up again over the San Bernardino shooter's encrypted cell phone. What would a win for Apple mean for you?