Trump & Clinton Win Big on Super Tuesday 3; Exit Polls: GOP Voters Angry with Federal Government; Ted Cruz Pins Hopes on Two-Man Race.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is not God's plan that I be president in 2016. Today my campaign is suspended.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to make our country rich again. We're going to make our country great again.</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are moving closer to securing the Democratic Party nomination.</s>GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't let people tell you that you can't think big.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now is the time for Republicans to unite.</s>RUBIO: Do not give into the fear.</s>TRUMP: We're going to win, win, win, and we're not stopping.</s>CLINTON: Our commander in chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and what a morning it is. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, March 16, 6 a.m. in the east. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton taking big steps towards their party's nominations. Strong performances on Super Tuesday the third. Trump capturing three more states, including a rout in Florida that sends Marco Rubio packing. John Kasich, keeping his slim hopes alive with a big win in hometown Ohio. Missouri, still too close to call for both parties. Donald Trump is coming up on the show live to make his case, as a unifier.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: On the Democratic side, a slam dunk night for Hillary Clinton. She's captured four states, and as Chris said, Missouri is still too close to call at this hour. So Bernie Sanders' momentum seems blunted for now, but the Vermont senator says he will continue on. He says the map gets better for him. We have the race covered the way only CNN can, starting with John Berman, with the Super Tuesday scorecards and the new delegate totals -- John.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Alisyn, let's start with overtime in the state of Missouri. Show me a close race in the Show Me State. Donald Trump just 17 votes -- 1,700 votes ahead right now of Ted Cruz. They're going to count the absentees and provisionals there. We're not ready to call it just yet, but you would rather be Donald Trump there. Just as you would rather be Hillary Clinton in Missouri right now. She's ahead by 1,500 votes, but again, they're still going to count the absentees and provisionals. We'll get back to you on Missouri. Let's look at the Republican race as a whole. In Ohio, John Kasich finally on the board. He wins his first state and 66 delegates in his home state of Ohio. But the home-town discount did not work for Marco Rubio, not at all. He was crushed by Donald Trump in his home state of Florida. I want to show you something here in Florida. If you look over here, the only county Marco Rubio won, Dade County. That's where he lives. If he didn't live there, he didn't win it. Let's look at the other Republican states right now, starting with North Carolina. Donald Trump won there, proportional delegate allocation there. Illinois, Donald Trump edged out Ted Cruz there, as well. He's going to win the lion's share of these delegates. And in the delegate race, Donald Trump stretched his lead 640, 405 for Ted Cruz. You can see Marco Rubio and John Kasich behind there. Let's look at the Democratic race right now. Huge wins for Hillary Clinton in Florida. Huge moral victory for Hillary Clinton in Ohio. This one, the Bernie Sanders' campaign thought it would be close. In Illinois, Hillary Clinton wins there, as well. And in North Carolina, a big win for Hillary Clinton there, too. Let's look at the delegate math. This includes super delegates: 1,500 for Hillary Clinton, about 800 for Bernie Sanders. Without super delegates, Hillary Clinton still leads by more than 300. And she did extend that lead last night -- Michaela.</s>PEREIRA: All right. Thank you so much for that, John. At least three more states in the win column then for Donald Trump, but the coveted state of Ohio goes to governor John Kasich. Will Kasich's hometown win create a problem for Trump? Our Sara Murray is live from Miami with more for us. Hi, Sara.</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. Donald Trump proving once again that he can win all over the country, and raising the question whether anyone can stop him.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to win, win, win.</s>MURRAY (voice-over): Donald Trump celebrating another big primary night.</s>TRUMP: I'm having a very nice time. But you know what? I'm working very hard. And there is great anger. Believe me, there is great anger.</s>MURRAY: The Republican front-runner racking up victories in three more states, bringing his total now to 18. The race so tight in Missouri, Trump leading Cruz by less than 2,000 votes, that a winner hasn't yet been declared. Cruz insisting the race is down to him and Trump.</s>CRUZ: Only two campaigns have a plausible path to the nomination.</s>MURRAY: But Ohio Governor John Kasich is still keeping hope alive, clinching his first win of the race in the winner-take-all state of Ohio.</s>KASICH: I have to thank the people of the great state of Ohio. I love you, is all I can say. I love you.</s>MURRAY: And in Florida, Trump putting a nail in the coffin of establishment darling, Senator Marco Rubio.</s>TRUMP: I want to congratulate Marco Rubio on having run a really tough campaign. He's tough, he's smart, and he's got a great future.</s>MURRAY: Rubio ending his presidential ambitions after a bruising double-digit loss to Trump in his home state.</s>RUBIO: While it is not God's plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever, and while today my campaign is suspended, the fact that I've even come this far is evidence of how special America truly is.</s>MURRAY: Now down to a three-man race, Trump continues to call for unity.</s>TRUMP: We have to bring our party together. We have to bring it together.</s>MURRAY: While Kasich and Cruz make a pitch to Rubio supporters, both pledging to take this fight all the way to the convention.</s>CRUZ: To those who supported Marco, who worked so hard, we welcome you with open arms.</s>KASICH: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. But I want you to know something. We're going to go -- we are going to go all the way to Cleveland and secure the Republican nomination!</s>MURRAY: Now, we're hearing a lot of this talk about a potential contested convention. And if you're Ted Cruz and you're able to keep winning some dates further down the line, there might be a shot there. But I think the big question for John Kasich is where else does he have a chance to win beyond his home state of Ohio? His campaign says they're headed right to Pennsylvania, so we'll see how he fares there. Back to you, Chris.</s>CUOMO: Sara Murray in Miami. As John Berman poignantly pointed out, the only place that Marco Rubio won in Florida. All right. Let's shift over to the Democratic race. Hillary Clinton closing in on a sweep, stopping Bernie Sanders in his tracks. She bounced back, you could say: four big wins. Maybe, maybe she's going to win in Missouri, as well. Too close to tell right now. CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny live in Chicago with more. What's the word, my friend?</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Hillary Clinton didn't just win; she won big. The margin of 14 points in Ohio is the shot in the arm, the boost that the Clinton campaign was looking for. Even here in Illinois, the home state of Hillary Clinton, which she was worried about going into it, they won by two percentage points. You could hear it in the sound of her voice last night in Florida, that she's ready to turn the corner.</s>CLINTON: We are moving closer to securing the Democratic Party nomination and winning this election in November! You know, because of all of you and our supporters across the country, our campaign has earned more votes than any other candidate, Democrat or Republican.</s>ZELENY: Now, if it was mathematically impossible in terms of delegates for Bernie Sanders before, it is going to become politically all but impossible for him. Start waiting for Democratic senators and others to start encouraging him to reassess this. His campaign, of course, says he's going to stay in this race, but he does become more of the message candidate here. Even though he wins delegates going forward in some of those western states, the party now is ready to start taking on Donald Trump. So that is why this moment is so different, Alisyn. That's why last night, such a big, big night for Hillary Clinton.</s>CAMEROTA: Absolutely. OK, Jeff, thanks so much for all of that. As we've been hearing throughout this race, Republican voters are angry, a clear majority of them saying that they feel betrayed, even by their own party. So our Christine Romans joins us now with more of the deciding factors last night. What are you seeing, Christine?</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Well, we're seeing the Republican voters are mad at their party, and they're mad at the federal government. I want to start in North Carolina. Fifty-three percent of Republicans say they are dissatisfied. Forty percent say they are angry with the federal government. And of those who are angry, they favored Donald Trump. Ted Cruz, a distant second. That gap was even wider in Florida, with 59 percent voting for supporting Donald Trump. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, well behind him in that category, in that state. Another issue: where Trump is dominating, an issue he basically created in this election cycle, dramatic GOP support across all five states for Donald Trump's proposed ban against Muslims entering the United States. Look at this. In Missouri, 73 percent of Republican primary voters support banning Muslims from entering the U.S. Of that large swath in Missouri, Donald Trump gets the most votes. But Ted Cruz was not far behind there. In Illinois, 68 percent -- 68 percent -- support a ban on Muslims. Twenty-eight percent oppose it. Trump is their pick for president, as well. He earns 48 percent of the vote in that category. Look, there is this issue here, this ban on Muslims, is a category he essentially created, right? He created this question that we ask now for exit polls. Of all those five states, dramatic support for that Donald Trump proposed ban.</s>PEREIRA: All right, Christine. Thank you so much. Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz doing all he can to paint the Republican field as a two-man race now, despite John Kasich's win in the key state of Ohio. John Berman spoke with Ted Cruz, and he joins us now with more.</s>BERMAN: Yes. Ted Cruz wishes this was a two-man race. I wish I could dunk a basketball. Neither things are true as we stand here today. John Kasich still very much in this race. And Ted Cruz overnight used some of the sharpest language I have heard yet about John Kasich.</s>BERMAN: Senator Cruz, thanks for being with us. What's your best assessment of this final Super Tuesday?</s>CRUZ: Well, I think Tuesday night was a good night. What we saw Tuesday night is the field has continued to narrow even more. And we now have a clear one-on-one choice between me and Donald Trump. There are only two candidates that have any plausible path to winning the Republican nomination. Only two candidates that have any plausible path to getting the 1,237 delegates. And so I think that was very beneficial. And head-to-head, directly with Donald Trump, we beat Donald Trump -</s>BERMAN: I can't help but notice you call this head-to-head and one-on-one. John Kasich won Ohio.</s>CRUZ: Yes.</s>BERMAN: John Kasich is staying in this race.</s>CRUZ: Yes.</s>BERMAN: What is your message to John Kasich?</s>CRUZ: Well, listen, I congratulate John Kasich on winning his home state, but it's mathematically impossible for John Kasich to become the nominee. At this point, he had lost 20 states before Ohio. And it's mathematically impossible for him to go forward. And so if you actually want to defeat Donald Trump, there's only one campaign that has done so over and over and over again. Nine different times, all over the country, we have beaten Donald Trump, all the way from Alaska to the other side to Maine and states all in between.</s>BERMAN: Your message to Governor Kasich is "get out"?</s>CRUZ: Well, I think any candidate, if you don't have a clear path to winning, it doesn't make sense to stay in the race. And I would note, every day John Kasich stays in the race benefits Donald Trump.</s>BERMAN: You've made a career in Washington of sometimes fighting against Washington. Is it time now to reach out, perhaps, to some of the senators, even Republican senators, who you may have alienated in one way or another over the years, including the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell?</s>CRUZ: You know, we are welcoming support from across the Republican Party. We have seen Republicans coming together and unifying the past week. Carly Fiorina endorsed our campaign. We saw Mark Levin endorse our campaign. We saw Senator Mike Lee endorse our campaign. We're going to continue, though, to keep the focus of the campaign exactly where it is, that has gotten us to this point. Head- to-head with Donald Trump. And that is focused on the American people, not on Washington. Listen, people are frustrated. Washington has betrayed them. Career politicians in both parties have lied to them, have made promises, and then not done what they said. And I believe this Republican primary will come down to who people trust to stand up to Washington.</s>BERMAN: Senator, I read your campaign memo tonight. I know you still think you have a path to get a majority first ballot delegate count. You think you can go to the convention with more delegates than Donald Trump, but if that doesn't happen, right now, Donald Trump has the delegate lead. A pretty significant delegate lead. If Donald Trump goes to the convention with a delegate lead but not a majority, are you prepared to fight on the floor for the nomination?</s>CRUZ: Well, No. 1, I believe we're going to win 1,237 delegates. And win the majority and win it outright before the convention. Going forward, each of these states will have a clear choice. Do you want Donald Trump? Do you want...</s>BERMAN: But Senator, if you don't...</s>CRUZ: ... a candidate who funded the Gang of Eight...</s>BERMAN: But if you don't -- but if you don't have the most delegates, will you fight it out?</s>CRUZ: Well, look, there are many in the Washington establishment who are right now having fevered dreams about a brokered convention, about a deadlock convention, where they parachute in an establishment candidate who suddenly saves all of the fears of the lobbyists. I think that would be an absolute disaster. I think the people would, quite rightly, revolt. I think the way to beat Trump is at the ballot box. That's what we've been doing. Beating him all over the country. And the way to beat him is get to 1,237 delegates. Now, if it ends up happening that we get to Cleveland and nobody has 1,237 delegates, that Donald has a whole bunch of delegates, and I've got a whole bunch of delegates, and we come in neck and neck, then it's up to the delegates to decide.</s>BERMAN: Senator Ted Cruz from Texas, thanks for being with us.</s>CRUZ: Thank you, John. God bless.</s>BERMAN: So just to be clear, Senator Cruz opposes the idea of a contested convention, unless he is contesting the convention -- Chris.</s>CUOMO: Well-played! Well-played! He can dunk a basketball, by the way. Lots to discuss. Let's bring in CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston. We have, of "Meet the Press" fame, David Gregory and CNN political commentator and senior contributor to "The Daily Caller," Matt Lewis. David Gregory, let's vet what Senator Cruz just said to J.B. He says, "Look, we're going to beat him, we're reaching out. We're getting a big tent, and then he names Carly Fiorina and Mark Levin. Is that part of the problem for him in terms of being a consensus candidate?</s>DAVID GREGORY, FORMER MODERATOR, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": Right, I don't think he's a consensus candidate. He's got a lot of work to do. And if he's getting any establishment support in Washington from the likes of Lindsey Graham and others in the Senate, it's because they're so afraid of Donald Trump, not because they love Ted Cruz. The problem for Cruz, who wants so desperately to have this one- on-one matchup, is that he's not consolidating parts of the party that he should. You know, unless he pulls out Missouri, of all the states that are heavier on evangelical voters, he's not winning those. Didn't win those last night. And now the map, I think, gets more formidable for him, more blue states, where he's had a harder time even hitting, I think, 30 percent among non-evangelicals in other contests so far. So I think that's a difficulty for him. And the fact that Kasich is still in does hurt. Because Kasich is doing well in the more moderate wing of the party among highly- educated people within the Republican Party, it does split up that anti-Trump vote. And Trump wants other people out of the race, because he wants to lock this thing down. But having both Kasich and Cruz helps him at this point.</s>CAMEROTA: Matt, Trump had a huge night, as we've been saying, and he talked about how he did it despite everything that was thrown at him, despite all the negativity and the negative advertising from super PACs. So let me play what he said last night.</s>TRUMP: Nobody has ever, ever, in the history of politics, received the kind of negative advertising that I have. Record, record, record. By the way, mostly false. It added up to over $40 million. And you explain it to me, because I can't. My numbers went up. I don't understand it. Nobody understands it. My numbers went up.</s>CAMEROTA: There you go, Matt. I mean, that is true.</s>MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, his numbers went up. It's too dumb to fail, you know? That's basically what we have. I think Donald Trump, first of all, has enjoyed all sorts of free media attention. We know that. Even at a time when he didn't deserve it, right? When he was -- this summer, before he was the front-runner, he really dominated the airwaves, because he's so compelling; he's so charismatic. And his message, you know, really does resonate. I think that's the big takeaway for me right now, is that this is an angry time. Marco Rubio's a candidate of optimism, and Donald Trump is a candidate of pessimism and a vessel to express our anger. And that's what's happening right now. I would also say, yes, a lot of money has been spent against Donald Trump in recent days, but he really enjoyed months where Republicans, the anti-Trump Republicans, were attacking each other, and mostly leaving him alone. So, yes, it's a great talking point, but I think that, if you put it in context, you know, Trump has done pretty darn well in terms of the way he's been treated.</s>CUOMO: You have a screen of nodding heads coming at you right now, Matt Lewis, especially when you talk about that they waited too long. Maeve Reston, there's an old expression: scared money never wins. And you had people who didn't want to go after Trump for a long time. And now they're trying to disqualify him after he's already the front- runner. Not working too well. He's now saying his task is to unify. How do we see that happening, Maeve Reston?</s>MAEVE RESTON, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't -- I think that's going to be a very difficult task for him going forward. And it's exactly right, what you said. I mean, you have Donald Trump, who's been building a brand for decades. And these anti-Trump forces came in. There was kind of a siren call to donors a couple of weeks ago. And they had a window of just a couple of weeks to try to change all of that branding that he's been working on for so long. I think, you know, the fact that we saw a closer contest in Missouri than some people were expecting was, you know, a little bit of a win for them there. But it does tell you how difficult that is going forward. And Donald Trump as a unity candidate, I just have a really hard time wrapping my mind around that. I think we all do. His rhetoric has been so divisive. He has such high unfavorables, even within his own party, which is why, when you look at this general election matchup with Hillary Clinton, other candidates like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were actually looking stronger up against her. So, I think, actually, you know, maybe the story going forward, over the next couple of weeks, is how much work he will have ahead of him, if he does actually make it to become the nominee.</s>CAMEROTA: David, let's talk about John Kasich. He long promised he was going to win Ohio, as Marco Rubio promised he was going to win Florida, but John Kasich delivered. He won. He won big. And he was feeling very exuberant last night. So let's listen to his win.</s>KASICH: We want to bring the country together and not divide this country anymore. That's why this was such a big victory tonight, because what it does is it says, you want to go and divide 'em? OK, you came to Ohio, you threw everything you had at me, and guess what? It didn't work. Because we know that we need to unite this country and be Americans and not spend our time dividing people in this country.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, so his argument has always been that it's not just Ohio; now this will give him momentum.</s>GREGORY: That is the argument. You know, it's interesting how the contrast with Marco Rubio, who talked last night about, he rode into Washington, rode into Washington on a Tea Party wave. The problem is the extension of that Tea Party populism is ultimately what crushed him; and that wave was a bigger wave and it was Donald Trump. Kasich is on a different part of the beach here. He's playing to more moderate voters within the Republican Party, but that's really his problem. A lot of that momentum that he argues that he can win in states that might be winner-take-all or even proportional, states that are bluer in nature, more Democratic, where he can get more of the moderate vote, the difficulty is it's very hard in a Republican primary to win without having more of the bedrock conservatives; and that's what he up against.</s>CAMEROTA: All right, panel. Thank you very much. Great to get your perspective. We have a big hour coming up, as well.</s>CUOMO: And this turn in the narrative that's coming up with Trump saying, "We're got to unify. Now we've got to get the party together," that's new talk from him. He's going to come on the show this morning and make the case to you for why Donald Trump means unity -- Mick.</s>PEREIRA: All right. Meanwhile, on the other side, Hillary Clinton is celebrating a dominant performance on Super Tuesday. So is her path to the nomination now set in stone? We'll take a closer look at that ahead on NEW DAY.