GOP Candidates Take Voter Questions in CNN Town Hall
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans running for president taking tough questions on the CNN town hall stage. Who made the best case to voters? Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: So, nice to see you this morning.</s>MARQUEZ: Good morning.</s>ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Another late night, folks. It's Thursday, February 18th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East. Let's talk about that. Breaking overnight: Republican presidential candidates making their cases to CNN viewers in the first of two town hall events. This meet the voter town hall, two of them come as a new national poll shows Ted Cruz edging ahead of Donald Trump by a two point margin. It is just one poll, though. Trump still holding a commanding lead in the next two states to vote, Nevada and in South Carolina, scene of those back-to-back town halls. Chief political analyst Gloria Borger is there. She has the latest.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Christine and Miguel, Republican presidential candidates tried to take a break from the heat of the campaign last night here in Greenville, South Carolina. And some of them, like Marco Rubio, actually succeeded when he tried to present himself as the unifier in the Republican Party.</s>SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My promise to you if I'm the nominee, I'm not just going to unify the Republican Party. I'm going to grow it. We're going to take our message to people that haven't voted for Republicans in the long time.</s>BORGER: But it wasn't all sweetness and like. Rubio doubled down on his charges against Cruz as being a liar.</s>RUBIO: I said he has been lying because if you say something that is not true and you say it over and over again and you know that is not true, there is no other word for it. And when it's about your record, you have to clear up your record, you have to clear it up, because if you don't, then people say, well, then, it must be true. He didn't dispute it. And he's done that a number of times. We saw what he did to Dr. Carson in Iowa, which is wrong. We saw yesterday, Trey Gowdy, somebody came up with a fake Facebook post saying Trey Gowdy was no longer endorsing me, a very popular congressman here in South Carolina. So, these things are disturbing and they need to be addressed.</s>BORGER: And Cruz couldn't resist taking on Donald Trump one more time.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is quite literally the most ridiculous theory that telling the voters what Donald Trump's actual record is, is deceitful and lying. And listen, when I said this morning -- I held a press conference where I read his letter to everyone, and I invited Mr. Trump. I said, please, Donald, file this lawsuit.</s>BORGER: And there was the lighter side of the candidates.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: What do you do to relax?</s>BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Play pool.</s>COOPER: Play pool?</s>CARSON: I love to play pool.</s>COOPER: Are you competitive when you play pool?</s>CARSON: I like to win.</s>RUBIO: I actually grew up listening to '90s hip hop music, especially the West Coast stuff and I really like it. In the last few years, what's happening with EDM, you've got this electronic disc jockeys or these deejays that are taking electronic music and overlaying it with tracks, country music, and all sorts of things. So, the lyrics are clean, the beats and the music is fun, I've gotten into it. So, it's a lot of fun.</s>CRUZ: I actually don't sing music -- I mean, I will sing things like "oh, my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Heidi-tine."</s>COOPER: OK.</s>CRUZ: Which is really corny. But, you know, I used to do it when she put it on speaker phone in her office and embarrass her. You know, I kind of do -- you know, I just called to say I love you, I just called to say I care. I cannot not sing to save my life.</s>BORGER: Tonight, Jeb Bush, Donald Trump and John Kasich take the stage with Anderson Cooper. Back to you.</s>ROMANS: What I learned last night is that Marco Rubio --</s>MARQUEZ: Thanks to Gloria.</s>ROMANS: Thanks, Gloria. That Marco Rubio is color blind. That Ted Cruz --</s>MARQUEZ: Cannot really sing very well --</s>ROMANS: Cannot sing very well.</s>MARQUEZ: But is cute with his wife.</s>ROMANS: Is cute with his wife. And Ben Carson plays pool. That's what I learned last night, among a lot of other things.</s>MARQUEZ: Well, I learned they are all smelling blood in the water on Donald Trump and going after him hard.</s>ROMANS: There's that.</s>MARQUEZ: So, now, to assess all of that in the town hall, we are joined by political analyst Josh Rogin. Josh, impressive that you stayed up for the debate --</s>ROMANS: We love you.</s>MARQUEZ: -- and now you're here with us at 4:00 a.m. You are --</s>JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I'm dedicated.</s>MARQUEZ: You are a monster. You are a machine, my friend. Thank you for being here.</s>ROGIN: Anything for you, guys.</s>MARQUEZ: Your takeaway. You watched the entire thing. What did you see that jumped out at you?</s>ROGIN: Well, a couple of things. First of all, there was a big break with Cruz and Rubio when it came to foreign policy. So, two real competing visions for where the Republicans should go. Rubio defended invasion of Libya. He called for more intervention in Syria. And Ted Cruz advocated the exact opposite policy. I think you saw a big break there. I think you also saw a Marco Rubio that was really energized by recent endorsements, by rising numbers in polls. It not clear the endorsements will result in actual votes, but anyway, it's given the campaign momentum. He is feeling the wind beneath his sails. I think you also saw Ben Carson really enjoy the format. I mean, this is a guy who really can't get a word in edge wise when it comes to the debates and everyone screaming. Not suited to his temperament, to his cadence. And there you had almost an hour to really just talk. And people really got to hear Ben Carson's views really uninterrupted and I think that was pretty rare.</s>ROMANS: That's why I really like the town hall format. We're going to get three more candidates tonight in the town hall. Let's stick with Marco Rubio. He got that endorsement from Nikki Haley, who is the governor of South Carolina, who has very high approval ratings in her state, who has been critical of Donald Trump, and how her party has tapped on numerous important occasions, like, you know, giving the counter to the president's State of the Union. Listen to what Marco Rubio said about that endorsement.</s>RUBIO: If you look how far we have come since the 1960s and how South Carolina has come from where it is today to where it was 30, 40 years ago, it is simply amazing. In my campaign for president today, I got the endorsement of a governor of Indian descent who endorsed a presidential candidate of descent and tomorrow will be campaigning alongside the African-American Republican senator. All three are doing that here in South Carolina. That says a lot about the Republican Party.</s>ROMANS: So, I think it's interesting to know, both of them are Gen- Xers. This is sort of the emergence of Gen X players and campaign politics for the first time.</s>ROGIN: Well, that's right. I think what you are seeing here is Marco Rubio make the argument that demographically, he matches up best against Hillary Clinton. He's got youth over experience. He's got -- he's going to appeal to minority voter blocs. That's sort of his frame for why he would be able to carve off in the general election that some other candidates wouldn't. I would not overestimate here the impact of the Nikki Haley endorsement. Let's remember, she came out early for Mitt Romney in 2012.</s>ROMANS: Right.</s>ROGIN: South Carolina went for Newt Gingrich, the first they haven't actually picked a president in quite a long time. So, we're in a year where it is all about railing against the establishment. It's about the insiders. So, having the insider sitting governor is nice, it couldn't hurt, but it's not clear that that's going to make a difference when it comes to vote.</s>MARQUEZ: But the huge piece here is that national poll, that NBC/"Wall Street Journal" national shows Cruz two points up over Trump. That's a tiny margin. He was 13 points down the last time that poll was taken in October. All of those candidates that drop out, their votes seem to be going to everybody but Trump. Is this the end of Trump?</s>ROGIN: I think what you are seeing is Trump and these are national polls.</s>MARQUEZ: National polls, yes.</s>ROGIN: But I think what you are seeing is that Trump has a ceiling. And everyone sort of knew that Trump had a ceiling. Trump was benefitting from the fact that all the rest of the electorate was super split with all of these eight, or nine or 10 or 15 candidates, depending on when we talk about it. So, as the field gets whittled down, all the non-Trump voters, whether or not that's 70 percent in this state, or 60 percent in that state, are going to start coalescing, and it gives an opportunity for all these other candidates to actually go past Trump in the numbers. So, South Carolina is the first real test of that. But as we get further and further down into the later and later states, we're going to see that. If Trump maxes out, and that's the prediction that he's going to match out somewhere, let's say at 30 percent, let's say at 35 percent, if he is against five people, that's good for Trump. If he's against two people, that's really bad for Trump.</s>ROMANS: His supporters have said you have under estimated him from the get-go.</s>ROGIN: That's also true.</s>ROMANS: This is one poll. It's a national poll. This is a guy who is getting people out. This is a guy who has amazing support. We will hear from him tonight. He is one of the three candidates tonight. Listen to what Cruz -- I want to listen to what Ted Cruz said. You know, it is almost impossible to watch this presidential election with say grade school kids. There is all this calling back and forth of called liars, you know, all these bragging and liars. You hear so much of this. It's just -- it is such an odd and different political season. And that's something that Ted Cruz remarked about. Listen.</s>CRUZ: This is a strange election season, in many ways. Both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio are following this pattern that whenever anyone points to their actual record to what they said and voted on and what they have done. They start screaming liar, liar, liar. I mean, it is the oddest thing. I cannot think of any precedent. Now, from my end, I have not and will not respond in kind. If they want to engage in personal insults, if they want to go to the mud, I'm not going to say the same thing about them.</s>ROMANS: You know, I mean, the lying accusations flying. Does that hurt or help these candidates? Sort it out.</s>ROGIN: Yes, it is interesting on two levels. On the one hand, if you are Ted Cruz, you are trying to lump Marco Rubio and Donald Trump in the same camp.</s>MARQUEZ: Yes.</s>ROGIN: They are both saying the same thing. Therefore, they're both. Therefore, I'm the best alternative. But it's interesting. It's important to note here that Rubio and Trump haven't approached in the same way. Rubio is calling out specifics and Trump sent a letter. A cease and desist letter to Ted Cruz ask about his ad which simply showed Trump expressing support for the pro-choice position many years ago. So, if you watch Ted Cruz in the town hall last night, he was very specific and very verbose about the legal implications of sending a cease and desist letter. You know, Ted Cruz is very comfortable talking about this stuff. Donald Trump, a businessman, who's very litigious. But Ted Cruz is a litigator. He knows this stuff. He argued before the Supreme Court. So, Donald Trump has gone farther than Marco Rubio. I think he's weighted into Ted Cruz's wheelhouse here. I think he really sort of stepped into it because if he wants to get into a legal battle with a lawyer who has argued before the Supreme Court, that is a legal battle he's going to have tough time winning.</s>MARQUEZ: Yes. And hammer and tongue there going after Donald Trump's credibility as a conservative. Josh "The Machine" Rogin, thank you very much.</s>ROGIN: Anytime.</s>MARQUEZ: We really appreciate it. Three candidates down, three to go, it'd be very interesting to how Donald Trump does tonight. One more CNN Republican town hall live from South Carolina tonight. John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump will answer directly to voters. Coverage begins tonight at 8:00 p.m., only here on</s>CNN.  ROMANS: All right. A Republican heavyweight speaking out in favor of President Obama getting the chance to name Antonin Scalia's replacement. On the Supreme Court, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor says, quote, we need somebody in there to do the job and just get on with it. Meantime, conservatives are slamming the president's decision not to attend Justice Scalia's funeral on Saturday. The White House is not giving any reason for the decision but says the Obamas will pay their respect as Scalia lies in repose tomorrow.</s>MARQUEZ: Now, happening today, the White House will officially announce President Obama's plan to visit Cuba next month as part of the trip around Latin America for President Obama. The Cuba visit comes as the U.S. rebuilds ties with the communist nation after a half century of sanctions and estrangement. CNN's Republican last night, Cuban American candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz both criticized the president's plan, saying he should push for a free Cuba. Apple refusing to help the government unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino terrorist. Presidential candidates weighing in on that battle. We'll have that coming up.