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Early GOP Votes Coming in From Kansas; Cruz Leads in Kansas; Saturday Election Coverage. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 05, 2016 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:03] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're watching that state closely, very closely.

Let's go to Stephanie Elam. She's watching a democratic caucus that's taking place, we see big crowds over there. Stephanie, you're in Roland Park, Jansas. What's going on where you are?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) what I want to show you here is this line right behind me. This line is made up of people who are registering to vote. Maybe some people who moved into the county, there may be some people who are changing parties, or just checking to see what their affiliation is and making sure their registration is still valid.

Why is it important? They have run out of these registration cards here. They had to run and print some more because there is such a big turnout here today. They were expecting a turnout to be strong. They called it this would be like a gentle wave compared to 2008 which was like a tsunami. They said they have no idea how people are going to turn out and vote, simply because they don't do polling.

This, in fact, is their polling right here. One thing they are also urging people to do here, Wolf, is saying if you are a democrat and you're coming to register as a democrat, tell your other democratic thinking minded people to do the same. Because what they have seen in Johnson county is some people registering to be a Republican, thinking that they would help get a moderate Republican in that would be better for the area. They're saying if you're democratic in mind vote like that and you'll actually help out the party here.

So that's another trend that we're seeing here, just in general in this area. Wolf.

BLITZER: You're in a democratic caucus in Rowland Park, Kansas. Does it look like a lot of people are energized at this caucus by Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders or both?

ELAM: Both. You are definitely seeing a lot of people turning out for both. When you go out and talk to what it is, when you talk to the Bernie Sanders people, some of them are saying listen, when it comes to the general election, Bernie Sanders will not be able to beat Trump. But the other - the Hillary people saying if you have a Hillary person, a candidate like Hillary, a moderate may come across and vote for her and actually win.

A lot of people are very afraid of Trump here, and so they are trying to figure out the best way to do that. Now, on the Bernie Sanders' side, some of them have been saying that their concern is that Hillary Clinton has always wanted to be president and they feel like Bernie Sanders has been about the people than is appealing to some of the people who are older and some of the people who are newcomers and this is their first election. Wolf.

BLITZER: Stephanie Elam, at the democratic caucus in Rowland Park, Kansas. Stephanie, thanks very much.

We've got a key race alert right now involving the Republican caucuses in Kansas. Eight percent of the vote is now in. You see Ted Cruz maintaining his lead, 49.4 percent, to Donald Trump 24.8 percent. Marco Rubio is in third with 14.1 percent, John Kasich down at 10.2 percent. Eight percent of the vote is in. Ted Cruz maintains his lead. Chris, back to you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Wolf, thank you. Starting to discuss what do these early numbers mean about what will happen later? One thing certainly matters, no matter what the numbers are, the number of people who come out that turn out is going to be a big deal. Let's start with that idea right now with Michael Ssmerconish.

Turn out is a big deal. It's certainly big for Trump's message. But helpful to all of the candidates as well. How does it play out on Super Saturday?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN "SMERCONISH" ANCHOR: I think turnout is key for Donald Trump, passion remains key for Donald Trump. Trump, despite those two factors, has not done so well in caucuses versus primaries and so you take a look at Kansas and I'm not surprised by the result thus far, even though it's very early that Ted Cruz would be running well. I think the big picture view on the Republican side of the aisle is we're finding out will there be one individual who eventually goes toe to toe with Donald Trump or do they all stay in and does this become more of a denial effort to try and preclude him from getting to 1237.

The more time that goes off the clock I think that's the play for these candidates, although they are not admitting to it.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's fragmentation, not consolidation, that's the shift that's happening among Republican leaders. The idea one of these candidates would emerge big enough to stop Donald Trump I think is fading and they are moving toward this idea of basically trying to partition the country informally and deny him the first ballot majority. Characteristically Ted Cruz is less than enthusiastic about playing well with others in that strategy.

CUOMO: John King demonstrated that very well.

BROWNSTEIN: (INAUDIBLE) Florida.

CUOMO: The idea of consolidation versus what was the other word - fragmentation, that is in reverse, though, if you are coming from Trump's perspective. He says I'm all about consolidation. I'm the consolidation guy, Brownstein, you forget about trump. He's bringing them all together.

Let's look at the tweet that his son, Eric, one of his son, put out, which says the story in the pictures of the mascots of the parties. On the bottom, this isn't working. Let's be honest. Neither side pick a good mascot to start with. But then he says look at the top, it's the lion, the suggestion there is he is a movement, he is own party.

[16:05:00]

NIA MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: He is the new thing, this new invention that hasn't been able to draw from democrats, from independents, and then in some ways unify the different lanes of the party. Everybody in the beginning are all obsessed with these lanes, evangelicals, the Chamber of Commerce folks, the moderates, and then the tea party folks but he has been able to do well with all of those roots and you saw him there (INAUDIBLE) a sort of victory press conference, (INAUDIBLE) he called himself a unifier.

I think for Marco Rubio this is a problem. If you would have said six, seven, eight months ago that Marco Rubio would be struggling at this point, the guy who was on the cover of "Time" magazine as the GOP savior, to put W's on the board at this point in states that Romney won. I mean Romney won some of these states last go round. He won Kansas, he won Kentucky, Alaska, he won Maine last go around but Marco Rubio pulled out of a lot of these states going up to this, he pulled out of a rally in Lexington and in Baton Rouge so he's got all of these marbles on Florida and now you see Ted Cruz trying to make inroads there.

CUOMO: But in so comes this other strategy, Sara Elizabeth, which is we're going to go to convention. Now you know, that is a very interesting tweet. His son's just saying get around Trump. Trump is a great guy. Other than getting sued by whales, you know, for a line like that (INAUDIBLE) figure. You know, he's make an interesting point.

The party has to figure out who it is right now. And it seems like it's trying to reject who is most popular. Never a good situation.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this is what is so frustrating for Republicans, conservatives because the lion is running as an elephant. He is not running independently. He's running as a Republican.

CUOMO: Of course, he's riding on top of the elephant. Triumphant.

CUPP: I mean as a lion straight to the White House.

And so for those of us who are worried about, you know -

UNIDENTIFED MALE: The lion. CUPP: Future of the Republican party, the future of the conservative movement, he's essentially giving a finger (INAUDIBLE) he's essentially to saying I am what people - they are large, they're not small. But anyway. No, and -

HENDERSON: The voters, that's what they - they are --

CUPP: And so I don't bemoan the democratic, you know, the democracy at work.

CUOMO: But you can't even say it.

CUPP: I don't bemoan democracy at work.

CUOMO: But.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You are a young conservative.

CUPP: Right. Youngish.

BORGER: Say Donald Trump, youngish, you're young, trust me. So say Donald Trump wins the nomination. OK. He becomes the standard bearer for the Republican Party.

CUPP: No, no, let me stop you right there. He cannot become the standard bearer for the party.

BORGER: So maybe in that case the - your wing of the Republican Party would form another party.

I remember everybody wanted Donald Trump - OK, everybody wanted Donald Trump to pledge not to run as an independent. And he did. And he's not by the way. But, maybe the Republican conservatives/establishment, I don't know what you - coalition. Reform a party.

CUOMO: You got Begala's knees bouncing up and down.

Hold on a second. How excited would you be at the prospect of three parties? Well, but nobody wants to sacrifice this election on the right side. This is their turn to win in terms of the cycle. You have the court at stake. You are galvanizing nobody wants to give it up. But if it goes to three parties, if, if, huge if, we're very early, we're waiting, we're only four percent in Kansas. So stay with us. If they go to three parties, what does that mean?

BEGALA: Well, that means Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, presumably, is our president.

The Republicans very well might fracture. Keep in mind the left fractured in 2,000. Ralph Nader ran as third party candidate, made it close enough to steal the election from Bush. So this has happened on my side. It may on the other side.

CUOMO: How did Perot play out? BEGALA: Perot drove equally. He (INAUDIBLE) equally from the two.

HE did not swing the election one or the other - Nader did. If Mr. Trump, and another Republican runs as a third party they would fracture. It could happen.

CUOMO: Hold on. Just to do a ballot check of what we're seeing on the screen, in front of everybody right now. We're actually at eight percent returns. Cruz has a big lead. What would the numbers look like?

Last time around it was about 30,000. This time they are expecting 60,000 and they're just making (INAUDIBLE) more ballots. So let's say the ballots are going to go much bigger from here but let's use it as a template. If Ted Cruz wins in Kansas, does that mean that the no Trump or never Trump hash tag is working, Jeffrey (INAUDIBLE)?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. First of all, as someone said I think, Ron, that he has or Michael, he has a problem with caucuses, so I think when we - this is --

CUOMO: Who does?

[16:10:00]

LORD: Donald Trump.

CUOMO: And why?

LORD: You know, organization, ground game, all of that sort of thing. This is why you have momentum. This is the importance of momentum.

Because you can, I mean Paul, if I'm correct, Bill Clinton managed to lose a few along the way in 1992.

CUOMO: Sure, a lot. You don't have to win them all.

LORD: What you have to do is have momentum. And in terms of the fracturing, back in this - this has already happened back in 1980 when moderate Republicans got angry with the fact that Ronald Reagan won and they left and they followed John Anderson. And Ronald Reagan still won in a landslide, in a three-way race. So you know, you can go down that road as well. It's not necessarily going to mean -

CUOMO: So which slice of history would appear. That's what we're asking now. All right. So let's get back to Wolf. Because we have returns in Maine, we're going to take a look to see if Trump the lion stays atop the elephant.

BLITZER: All right. Chris, standby. I want to go to CNN's Polo Sandoval, he's in Lewiston, Maine for us, watching the Republican caucuses underway there. Looks like they are starting to count some of those ballots, Polo, behind you.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Wolf. It is a complex democratic system but it all boils down to piles. Here's why. About 10 minutes ago voting wrapped up here in Maine, at least at this location. And what we're seeing right now are deputy clerks sorting what are at least 2,000 ballots that were casted here. What they are doing now, they are essentially separating all of these ballots, putting a pile for Trump, they're putting a pile for Cruz, a pile for Kasich and also for some of the ones that were perhaps written in. So as soon as they are able to determine exactly which pile is largest, it will begin to sort those into stacks of 50, Wolf.

That would essentially make it a lot easier to count them. As you can see, there are several people that are involved in this process. You may be able to make out representatives from each perspective candidate as well. We have folks that are essentially just watching making sure that everything is done correctly. But essentially again as we mentioned it boils down to a fairly simple process when it comes to sorting them all. So we could potentially find out who came out the winner, who came out on top as soon as they are able to decide which pile is larger and organizers calling this essentially a hybrid caucus primary.

Today was the first time that individuals, what they had to do was essentially provide an I.D., get a ticket, get a ballot and get accounted. Today for the Republicans, tomorrow for the democrats. Wolf.

BLITZER: Democrats have their contest in Maine tomorrow. Polo, we'll get to that (INAUDIBLE) standby for that. I want to update our viewers on the numbers coming in from Kansas on the Republican side. The Republican presidential caucuses in Kansas eight percent once again of the vote has been counted. 50.3 percent for Senator Ted Cruz, 25 percent for Donald Trump, 13.7 percent for Marco Rubio. John Kasich at 9.9 percent. Once again, only eight percent in Kansas is in. Much more of our special coverage coming up right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:15:46]

BLITZER: Democrats are getting ready to start counting their ballots in the democratic presidential caucuses in Kansas. We're watching that very closely. On the Republican side huge numbers showing up as well. CNN's Kyung Lah. She is in Louisville, Kentucky actually for us right now. Watching what's going on in Kentucky on the Republican side. What is the latest over there, Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest is that about 15 minutes ago this caucus officially ended. They had in the words of the caucus chair, "phenomenal turnout." I want you to take a look, though, even though this room is empty and it's quiet, now the hard work of vote counting continues. You can see that there is a worker there, they've asked us to stand back here so we don't listen to her as she is calling in the count right now.

They are a bit behind, they have been doing this counting since about 1:00 Eastern Time. It has been ongoing but because of the number of ballots they say they are going to be at this for some time. The state does expect, the state party, that is - does expect they will have results right at 7:00. Wolf.

BLITZER: 7:00 Eastern or 7:00 p.m. Central?

LAH: 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

BLITZER: We'll watch it very closely together with you, Kyung. They are counting votes in Kansas, Kentucky, I want to go back to Dana and David. Both of these states maybe there can be some surprises tonight.

DANA BASH, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There could be. I think what is most interesting is that in Kentucky this is a new phenomenon for them. It was done on purpose for the candidate no longer in the race. We saw Brian Todd do an interview with Rand Paul.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Rand Paul. Exactly. He wanted to preserve his option to run for Senate in case the presidential campaign didn't work out. That's exactly what's happening. Because you could not be on the primary ballot for both he Senate and the presidential race. So, what did he do? From his own bank account, he helped the state party pay for changing the system to a caucus system so that he could preserve this option and it's playing out exactly like that. I guess he was right to preserve the option.

BASH: Well, at least he's participating.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: He is no longer in the presidential race.

BASH: He is participating in it. You know, Kentucky is a place that elected Rand Paul back when the tea party was just forming. And so, it is I mean, obviously a lot of states have this kind of fervor going on. It has been going on in that state for a long time on the Republican side. So, perhaps it could break for somebody like Donald Trump but maybe more likely for one of his colleagues in the Senate.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: You are right though to point out that screen we've seen in Kentucky. Remmeber Mitch McConnell experienced it in the last cycle. That was after the tea party had already established itself and he had a real threat that he wanted to deal with and contend with.

BASH: HE fended off a primary challenge from the right.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Completely. I think the way this presidential race is splitting up I would say if that tea party fervor shows up today one would imagine it probably will help Donald Trump more. I think Kentucky is a state that is a little more made for Donald Trump than maybe a Kansas is which may look a little bit more like Oklahoma where Ted Cruz won on super Tuesday.

BASH: That's right. Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much. They are counting the Republican caucus ballots in Kansas right now. Momentarily, they are going to start counting the democratic ballots in Jansas. We're going to update you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:10]

BLITZER: All right. Let's update you right now. Eight percent of the votes in. Ted Cruz maintaining his lead. 50.3 percent. Donald Trump in second place with 24.5 percent. Rubio in third place, 13.7, John Kasich 9.9 percent in Kansas.

Let's go to Kentucky right now. Brian Todd is in Bowling Green, Kentucky, watching the Republican caucuses there. What's the latest, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a very surprise move here in Bowling Green by the caucus chairman, David Graham. He is right there, because the turnout here has been so massive, David has decided to start the vote count early. Start the ballot count early. We're in a room that no one else can go in except the counters. These are the counters. There is one announcer here, who will announce the vote, two talliers who will verify it.

You can hear them now calling it out. They're calling it out, they're pulling the ballots out of that box. Now, we're going to swing over here. Sorry. William, our photojournalist. William Walker and I are going to show you the reason that they are doing this, Wolf. Got to cut out of here and through the ball room here moving fast to try to catch up to the lines.

Here are some people exiting the polls right now. We're going to cut through this ballroom to the lines. The reason that we're in this situation where they have to start the ballot counting early, the caucus chair David Graham told us that he was just concerned that he would get behind in the reporting when the polls closed.

He did not want to be in that situation because this turnout has just been so massive. Again here we're seeing it. Look at this line, these are people scrambling to get in before the polls close in about a half hour, Wolf. The turnout much, much more than they expected. The turnout in this precinct, Wolf, twice what they expected according to the caucus chair.

[16:25:00]

What we can tell you an official exit poller here, we cannot give numbers yet because the poll aren't close yet but this exit poller told us Ted Cruz doing very well in this precinct, Wolf. Check this out. The line snakes around, people will check in, about 30 minutes here before the polls close. And really a move that we have never seen before in any of the caucuses or primaries that we've covered when they actually start the vote count early because of such a dynamic turnout.

BLITZER: Impressive numbers there in Kentucky. On the Republican side. All right, Brian, thanks very much.

Polo Sandoval, he's watching the Republican caucuses in Maine, for us. He's joining us from Lewiston, they are counting votes already? Is that right, Polo?

SANDOVAL: That's right, Wolf. Keep in mind that there are 22 locations across the state here and this is just one of them. At this point what we've seen since the polls closed about 20 minutes ago is all those ballots were sorted out. There was a pile for Ted Cruz, a pile for Donald Trump, a pile for Marco Rubio as well and then even some write-in candidates.

This is essentially the table that's been established for Senator Ted Cruz. Over here behind me, Wold, this is the table that has been established for Donald Trump and I have to tell you that initially when the stacks were added up, obviously this is just a very early indication of who may have come out on top. Only at this location alone, of course, Ted Cruz leading the pack here.

But again, they still have to count this. They've set up about separate packs, rather stacks here of about 50, and now they have to hand count these stacks, one at a time. And the eventually they have to count it again. Eventually try to find out exactly and confirm who came out the winner here, Wolf.

But finally it's important to remember why it's so important here in Maine. The candidate who has the majority would essentially get all 23 delegates, if that is not the case, then essentially those delegates would be distributed proportionately. So again, it's really just starting here, Wolf. There's still a lot more left to go for the folks here in Maine.

BLITZER: Let's check back with you, Polo. Thanks very much.

Stephanie Elam is watching the democratic presidential caucuses in Kansas right now where they are counting ballots but there are still huge numbers of people waiting to cast those ballots, right?

ELAM: Oh, yes, there's a whole bunch of people who are just waiting to get inside here, Wolf, where we are in Rowland Park, Kanses. In fact, the line is some five blocks long or so outside of where we are.

People trying to get in. They closed off that line at 3:00 local. 4:00 Eastern Time. There is a woman who is the back of the line there, not letting anybody else in that line. Btu we know for the people at the front of the line it took them about an hour and a half to get in here, so with that in mind, the caucus chairperson telling us that the previous estimates that they had of when they would start sorting people for this caucus is now, "blown out of the water." He calls it a huge turnout here today, Wolf.

BLITZER: Fascinating. Huge numbers. All right, Stephanie, thanks very much. She's watching the democratic presidential caucuses in Kansas. We got another key race alert.

Take a look at this. On the Republican side, 11 percent of the vote now in. Cruz maintaining his lead 49.9 percent, Donald Trump at second place 24.9 percent, Rubio in third place at 13.8 percent, John Kasich in fourth place, 9.7 percent. Long lines in Kansas on the democratic side, the republican side. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:32:19] BLITZER: Welcome back.

Let's check in to see how the Republican presidential caucus results are coming in from Kansas right now. Eleven percent of the vote is in. Ted Cruz maintaining his lead, 48.8 percent, 25.7 percent for Donald Trump, 14 percent for Marco Rubio, 9.8 percent for John Kasich. But remember, this is still very early.

I want to check in with CNN's Rosa Flores. She's in Wichita, Kansas, watching them count the votes there at the Republican presidential caucuses.

What's the latest behind you over there, Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, turnout is the story here. I want to show you what's happening because these volunteers are counting the ballots, you can see they are in sections of ten, then they rubber-band them and these are 100 here, that ballot on top says Ted Cruz. Here we see Ben Carson, John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump right here at the end.

But let me walk over here so you can see that they have more than a dozen, more than a dozen volunteers counting because of the turnout.

Now, here's the story in Kansas. I talked to the GOP chair, he tells me that in 2012, they had about 30,000 people cast ballots during the caucus, this year, they printed 60,000 ballots and, Wolf, they had to go to Kinko's to print more because of the turnout. Now, who will that benefit? Will that benefit Donald Trump, will that benefit Cruz, Rubio? We don't know just yet, of course.

You're seeing the numbers coming in. We're seeing the ballots come in in boxes. You can see more volunteers here behind in this first table. They are also coming in and starting to count them. They are in groups of two because both of these volunteers count them and then they recount them to make sure that they are official.

And you can see if you look right here to the right, more boxes, and Wolf. More of these boxes. And some of these ballots printed at Kinko's because of the turnout -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Good news is that Kinko's is his Saturday. Rosa, thanks very much.

Chris, back to you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I'll tell you, Wolf, when you hear about them running to Kinko's and the volunteers, it's exciting and another time confusing.

Can you believe we still vote this way? That we need to go to have this -- Gloria, I mean seriously. The idea of efficiency in this process has almost no chance. There is almost no chance you can have no problems through an election.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Do you remember Bush versus Gore?

CUOMO: Very well. I spent quality time in Florida. I know a hanging chad.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: Right, and --

CUOMO: Placement on the ballot. Whose name was too close to whose name.

BORGER: Exactly. The infamous butterfly ballots where people didn't know who they were voting for and cast votes for Pat Buchanan when they wanted to vote for Al Gore.

[16:35:05] And we have seen lines that people -- there's been an election commission, a national election commission about reforming the way we cast our ballots in this country. But the issue is that it's run by the states, it's not a federal issue. So, if you could wave the magic wand and say, let's have it all computerized, whatever, these are run by state election commissions so there's no one --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Hold on. I don't want you to down this road. This is digration (ph). We'll talk about this at the commercial.

Let's talk about what's happening now and hope the system works. With all we're seeing, 11 percent, Wolf is right it's still early. But 11 percent is not 3 percent. You look at the state differently.

If Cruz stays in the lead in Kansas, what does that say? Is this a reflection of dump Trump, is this a reflection of Cruz always been strong there? What's your read?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: We have to -- I think we need more evidence.

CUOMO: No, you're going on what you have.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWNSTEIN: Kansas that is the dump trump. I mean, Kansas is a state with a big evangelical population and also it's a caucus. As Jeffrey said before, caucuses are a particular problem for Trump. The idea that Trump is relying on this big infusion of Democrats and independents just isn't supported by the data, though. Every state that he's won in the exit poll he has won plurality of Republicans.

So, he is winning within the core of the party. There is clearly resistance to him and I think you've seen parts of the party, evangelicals on the one side, college educated on the other.

CUOMO: He says he's grown the party.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, the turnout is high. The share of Democrats is not going up in any manner through these states, in the Republican electorate. I think it's uncertain that he is running the party.

The bigger challenge for those who want to stop them, the idea this is a hostile takeover from the outside, just so far is not supported by the exit polls.

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there is evidence that he is growing the Democratic Party, though. I think that's --

CUOMO: Why? You don't see it in turnout.

KOHN: But you didn't before and that was when people sort of said Trump cannot be the candidate. Trump can't be the candidate. They must be more sane than that. They won't --

CUOMO: But you got red arrows going down in the Democratic side.

KOHN: I think we're going to see record turnout.

CUOMO: For Democrats as well?

KOHN: Part was people turning out for Bernie. He was certainly motivating new voters. I think you're seeing those lines, that turnout look, it's early, it's encouraging but I think more and more as Trump looks like he may be inevitable you're going to see more Democrats who may not have been motivated by the candidates to get out, now they are going to turn out just to register their opposition.

CUOMO: Quick button, Jeffrey.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: When you add Ted Cruz and Trump together in these Kansas returns that's almost 75 percent of the vote. And establishment Marco and John Kasich are barely hitting 20. I mean, so the message is, however this works, the outsider establishment vote is huge.

CUOMO: The battle within the battle.

LORD: Yes.

CUOMO: All right. We're going to take a break. When we come back, they are starting to count votes out of Wichita. You're going to have both to look at. Stay with us.

All those volunteers counting ballots, the rest of your life on line.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:11] BLITZER: Welcome back to the CNN election center. We've got a key race alert right now. I want to update you on the Republican presidential caucuses in Kansas.

Seventeen percent of the vote is now in. Ted Cruz maintaining his lead, 49 percent to Donald Trump 26 percent, Marco Rubio is in third with 13.7 percent, 9.7 percent for John Kasich.

So, it's pretty steady. Cruz maintaining his lead, 17 percent of that vote is now in.

In Kentucky, right now I want to go to Louisville. Kyung Lah, she's watching the Republican caucus there as well. They of are counting ballots. What's the latest, Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are continuing to count those ballots. It's taking sometime. Even though they started early about 1:00 Eastern Time here, starting to count those ballots, they had such a response and remember, even though they switched everything up, even though this caucus is the first time that the state has done it though it's a different time they still had tremendous response t chair saying that this was in her words phenomenal turnout.

It is at about 50 percent turnout. The vote counting is going on. You can see they have asked us to back up because they are continuing to call in some of the numbers.

We, though, here, did do an informal CNN exit poll. We talked to as many voters as who would speak with us. Over the entire hours that this caucus happened.

And what we found is that it is Ted Cruz, the voters who did speak with us, 30 percent of those voters say they voted for Ted Cruz, Rubio and Trump tied at 27 percent, John Kasich down at 15 percent.

So, at least just in this one room, Wolf, Ted Cruz appears to be slightly edging the others.

BLITZER: Key word slightly. And once again, not a scientific exit poll, just an exit poll right there that we did informally.

Kyung Lah in Louisville, Kentucky.

All right. Let's go back to Dana and David.

You know, turnout is impressive but these are also what we call closed contests.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: And that's really important because in the past starting in, really in Iowa, but more importantly in New Hampshire and on down, most, not all but most of the contests so far have been open meaning people could show up that day and say I want to be eligible, I want to vote in the Republican contest or the Democratic contest.

This is different, because all of the caucuses. So, for example, all on the Republican side only Republicans can do that. That benefits the tried and true conservatives.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: So, we have two competing data points here, right? One is that every contest today that the Republicans are voting in is a closed contest. You are right, when it is just closed to Republicans and independents are not coming in and playing, that cuts off a universe of what has been a potential wealth of voters for Donald Trump.

[16:45:03] So, that is one thing. But the other data point that we're getting anecdotally from our reporters and when you are seeing how officials are talking about today's turnout in the state is that there's a large turnout. Ands we have discussed in the past that Donald Trump has been a part of bringing more voters into this process.

So, you're seeing large turnout, but these are closed contests. I'm not sure you could take either one of those pieces away depending on which campaign you are. You might choose to focus on one or the other. But again, when we're you know, Kansas, this is a state that I'm not sure Donald Trump was ever going to be dominant in. So, I don't think what we're seeing there so far is a huge surprise.

But I do think what we are seeing and it's important to note something to watch throughout the night, Ted Cruz has been the only candidate not named Trump that has been posting some victories on these nights that we've been having these, consistently, right?

BASH: Right. That's exactly right. I think -- certainly, I know that the Cruz campaign argues that that proves that the energy in the conservative base is there for him, and that's why he should be the nominee because it will keep the energy up through the general election.

But, Wolf, of course the Trump argument which is also you know, a legitimate argument, is I'm bringing new people into the fold and if you want to win in November you have to back me as the nominee on the Republican side because I will broaden the base.

So, you know, both have good arguments, and but it is a very different kind of approach to never mind winning the nomination but thinking to November.

BLITZER: Coming into the Super Saturday, Trump won 10 states, Cruz four, Marco Rubio one. They are counting the ballots right now at the Republican presidential caucuses in Kentucky. We'll take a quick break. We'll update you when we come back.

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[16:50:58] BLITZER: Let's update you on the Republican presidential caucuses. The results so far in Kansas right now, take a look at this. Twenty percent of the vote now has been counted and Ted Cruz maintains his lead of it 48.5 percent to Donald Trump's 26.2 percent. Marco Rubio is down to 13.6 percent, John Kasich at 10 percent.

Cruz you can see he's got 3,300 or so vote advantage over Donald Trump right now.

They are counting votes in Lewiston, Maine. That's where CNN's Polo Sandoval is joining us right now. Polo, what's the latest over there?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, those numbers tallied up by officials here in Androscoggin County, Maine. I can tell you that the numbers have not been finalized. Trump, rather, Senator Cruz leading at 48 percent with Trump following with 35 percent, and Rubio with 9 percent of the vote here in Androscoggin County. And it boils down to 662 votes for the Texas senator, we're laid out here a few moments ago.

They are now beginning to stack them up because they will be driven about two miles from here by law enforcement where they will then be added to the rest of the results in Maine to eventually become the official tally. Again what I can tell you, at least the Republican caucus here, Ted Cruz leading with 48 percent of the vote.

They also add in the mail-in ballots, which include the ballots that were submitted by disabled vets, and also active military, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Polo Sandoval, in one county over there, Cruz doing well. Cruz also doing well so far in Kansas.

Chris, back to you.

CUOMO: All right. So, you have the numbers, you have the policy and you have the intrigue, and we have developments in all three fronts.

Ron Brownstein, you're scouring the Internet. You're looking at the numbers. You have pushed back on the idea about Trump doing well with independents and crossover voters.

But your eyebrows went up when you saw that even in one county, remote in Maine, Ted Cruz.

BROWNSTEIN: Maine is different. Maine is different than Kansas. I mean, Kansas is a place you would expect Louisiana, Kentucky, high evangelical populations, 14 percent of the adult population in Maine are evangelical Christians.

So, if Ted Cruz is able to win there, it is a sign of doing something he has not done to this point, which is in fact bring in economic conservatives to his base of social conservatives. As I said before, he has not won more than 18 percent who are not evangelicals in any step except Texas. If he is winning Maine, he would have to be exceeding that threshold.

BORGER: There is strong libertarian.

CUOMO: All right. Hold on, Gloria, we'd rather work with real numbers. We've got some coming in right now from Wolf.

What do see now, sir?

BLITZER: All right. We have a key race alert, Chris. Let's update our viewers right now. This is Maine, first numbers we're getting in 5 percent of the vote in the Republican presidential caucuses are out, now in this official numbers.

Cruz is ahead with 48 percent, Donald Trump with 35 percent, Marco Rubio at 8.6 percent, 7.4 percent for John Kasich; 5 percent of the vote is in. But ted Cruz ahead right now the main Republican caucuses.

Let's take a quick break. Much more of the numbers when we come back.

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[16:58:08] BLITZER: We've got a key race alert. We want to update you right now.

Take a look at this -- in Kansas, the Republican presidential caucuses, 21 percent of the vote is now in. Ted Cruz maintains his lead with 49.7 percent, Trump 25.2 percent in second place, 13.2 percent for Marco Rubio, John Kasich at 10.2 percent in fourth place. Republican caucuses in Kansas.

Take a look at the Republican caucuses in Maine right now. Five percent of the vote is in. Cruz here, too, maintains a lead, 48 percent, Donald Trump in second with 35 percent, Rubio down at third place, 8.6 percent, John Kasich, fourth place at 7.4 percent.

I want to check in with CNN's Miguel Marquez. He's joining us right now from Omaha, Nebraska, where the Democratic presidential caucuses have been taking place.

We see a lot of people sitting in that gymnasium. Are we getting initial indications yet, Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A huge number, we do have initial indications. I can show you the sides of the room. They voted with their feet. They moved all of the Bernie Sanders supporters to this side of the gym, and then moved all of the Hillary supporters to this side of the gym.

I can show you they are still counting the Bernie supporters here. You can see this woman here, she is counting them. As they count them they sit down. They are just about done.

On the Hillary side, they had 153. They are still counting the Bernie side but well over that.

The other issue here are the absentee votes. In this caucus if you get your vote in early enough you can vote absentee. A senior campaign official with the Sanders campaign told our Jeff Zeleny that Hillary Clinton has used that absentee process to her advantage. She may not have had as many here but she's getting a lot more absentee votes in.

The problem for Hillary Clinton, though, the Bernie Sanders folks are overwhelming the room with Bernie Sanders supporters. This is something we saw here. We've seen it in other parts of the state. The officials here at this particular caucus said they were up until 1:00 a.m., counting those absentee ballots.