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Counting Underway at Caucus Sites in Multiple States; Trump on Torture: We're Going to Broaden the Laws; Cruz Projected to Win Kansas GOP Caucuses. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 05, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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

[16:59:54] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The problem for Hillary Clinton though, the Bernie Sanders folks are overwhelming the room with Bernie Sanders supporters. This is something that 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, they had so many unexpectedly. So, the question is, can Hillary Clinton overcome Bernie Sanders with those absentee ballots -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Great question. We'll see what happens. Omaha, Nebraska. At least the one high school gym overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders. Chris, back to you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're watching those numbers very interesting in Kansas where you were showing us, Wolf. Kasich is right on the bubble of 10 percent. He falls below that when all the numbers come in. He doesn't get any of those delegates, so that's another fascinating to watch.

All right. So, Gloria, I rudely interrupt before. In the interest of news. But you were making the point about how Maine matters but it's not the huge shock that it may play out right now if he gets 49 percent which is what Senator Cruz has right now.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.

CUOMO: That would be a big shock. But what is the population there, who has won in the past?

BORGER: Well, I think that Mitt Romney of course won overwhelmingly last time. Almost a local boy.

CUOMO: Right.

BORGER: But you had Ron Paul coming in second with 35 percent of the vote. Now, couple of things here. Cruz plays to the same kind of libertarian strain in the Republican Party. But, this is also about organization in these caucuses. This is about really getting your voters out, identifying them, knowing who they are. Right. And this is where Cruz has excelled. And we saw that in Iowa. And I think we may be seeing it again tonight in a state like Maine. This is where Trump has not excelled.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's so interesting, too, because it's been virtually no polling coming out of Maine. So, we don't really, you know, know what to expect. The governor there, Paula Paige endorsed Donald Trump only after bashing Donald Trump and begging his fellow Republican governors not to back Donald Trump. Now Paula Paige like Donald Trump has made some racially charged comments, he is not well liked in the state of Maine. His approvals hovering up low 30s. So whether voters there consider the Governor's endorsement a big deal and really turn out for Donald Trump I don't know. Remains to be seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governors are doing so well.

CUOMO: I want you to know something just in terms of how the democracy of these panels work. You guys don't wait for me to look at you. You say whatever you want.

(LAUGHTER)

Michael Smerconish has been sitting there patiently raising his hand, waiting to say something. I just want you to know. Let him be the example as he has in many classrooms. What do you have?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR, "SMERCONISH": Civility is not working in this campaign on many --

CUOMO: That was your silent protests. The tone of a Trump campaign. Well played.

SMERCONISH: I wanted to make this observation. OK, so it looks like we're seeing yet again that Ted Cruz has good game when it comes to caucuses. We've known this since Iowa. And it's thus far playing itself out in Kansas, perhaps it's playing itself out in Maine. It makes me all that more interested to see what happens tonight in Louisiana. But, while you've been kibitzing I've been taking a look forward to what's to come. Not too many caucuses. I'm not sure where the Northern Mariana Islands are but on March 15, you know, and there are some big states that are about to unfold. Michigan come Tuesday, we all know what's going to happen.

CUOMO: Winner take all.

CUPP: Yes.

SMERCONISH: So we're reaching the end of caucus season, and this needs --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: And proportional season. And proportional season.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: But it's also true that Cruz's argument at least is getting some evidence that it is sort of working, that he might be the one to take on Donald Trump.

CUOMO: Proportional helps him a lot though. And when it goes to winner take all in the, you know, the third Super Tuesday, it's a big deal. But there is another factor -- BROWNSTEIN: Can I say something? Real quick, evangelical season.

There aren't that many more states where evangelicals will be close to or majority of the voters and that's been important.

CUOMO: Now, there is another thing. We have this -- the numbers here and how we're watching them roll in, you then have and what challenges there are in caucuses and these different states for Trump. There is another challenge for Trump that Rubio and Cruz are playing on more now and the establishment as well which is consistency of message. We talked about this a lot, Jeffrey. The new old hot point here is where he is on torture. We know where he was early on at the debate where he said water boarding and much worse. Yes all of his people went. The he started to walk it back. And he said, well, I know that we're a nation of laws.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.

CUOMO: Now he just said something else today, not coincidentally while he's trying to rev people up again. Here is what Donald Trump just said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As far as the waterboarding is concerned, we have stay within the laws, we have to stay within the laws, I hey, who here thinks that ISIS who chops off heads, who drowns people in a cage, who here thinks that is stays within the laws, right. We're like a bunch of babies. But, we're going to stay within the laws. But you know what we're going to do, we're going to have those laws broadened. Because we're playing with two sets of rules. Their rules, and our rules. And those laws are going to be broadened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Jeffrey.

LORD: When he was talking about, he was talking about the Geneva Convention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And Humanity. Basic humanity too.

LORD: But let's just stick with this small level here. The Geneva Convention.

Yes. We know what he's doing here, works with the crowd.

LORD: Right.

[17:05:26] CUOMO: Is this dangerous for him, given this new observation of where he is on policy, whether he understands what it is to be commander-in-chief, all of these military people getting nervous about him giving illegal orders. It's just the right move?

LORD: I don't think that he makes -- politically speaking that he makes a mistake when he does this because he's talking to his base, he's energizing his base and all of the folks you've just cited, good folks I'm sure and certainly they have a point, but they are in this context, the establishment. They are the elites.

CUOMO: The military command?

LORD: The -- sure, leaders of the military are part of the establishment, are they not?

CUOMO: I don't know. That's my question. Because I don't think they get thrown in with politicians, you know, big generals who come out and say this is the wrong thing to do.

LORD: I'm saying in terms of political pitch, right, his people understand what he's saying. And certainly there is a feeling that there are two sets of rules, right. I mean when you're dealing with enemies that are cutting people's heads off --

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We should be just as bad as them. I mean, this is phenomenal to me. No, no, I mean, this is sort of a moral level phenomenal. And you may very be right that this plays to his base then, you know what, shame on him for stoking that fear and anger in his base. And you know what, I'm sorry, but you know, this is phenomenal that this sort of anger I keep hearing from Republican voters about this imperial President Obama who doesn't -- who breaks the law supposedly in order to you know, give -- sorry not citizenship but the right to work and stay in this country to immigrant kids that is an imperial presidency but no, no, no, Donald Trump should just go flout the law and torture people.

LORD: Did we flout the laws of Pakistan when we got Osama bin Laden?

Wait, wait, wait. Sally is right. Sally is right.

LORD: Did we flout the laws of Pakistan when we went for Osama bin Laden?

KOHN: You're talking about someone running for the presidency of this country and saying, he wants to break international laws and change the law he doesn't like in order to torture human beings.

LORD: I'm talking about an incumbent president of the United States who went in there and shot somebody in the face, right? And broke Pakistan law, to do it. And you think that's fine.

PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: There's an enormous small difference between going after the world's worst terrorist and torturing someone who is strapped to a table.

CUOMO: No, no, no. Jeffrey is making a good interesting point though. You're making a moral equivalency argument here. And he's saying either you do it or you don't. But I'm saying even by comparing it that way, you're making that a legitimate basis and Jeffrey's point is hey, if it's OK sometimes and don't yell at him now for giving in a different context. What's your take?

CUPP: Well, in addition to this being morally reprehensible and we can argue about the legality of it. There is the other thing that I never understand why Trump supporters don't have a problem with Trump clearly making promises he cannot keep.

LORD: Yes.

CUPP: This is one example. Right. He says he's going to do something really grandiose, someone probably whispers in his ear you can't do that, you're not going to be able to do that. And so he comes out and says, well, we're going to stay in the laws, but, wink, wink, under President Trump, I'll magically be able to change not only our laws with the help of Congress I presume, but also international laws. I mean, if you are an ardent Trump supporter, don't you want to believe that he can actually do all of the things he says he is going to do. That doesn't bother you that he will come up against Congress, the Supreme Court, international law. I mean, it just -- I can't move these folks on the morality. And I don't know that they are going to care about the legality. But don't they care that he is going to fail on all of his promises?

BROWNSTEIN: That was a very interesting point about from that quote which was that he was acknowledging that he would have to go to Congress at the least, you know, to begin to do this. And he says -- it's an issue that exists really across the board. You want to build a wall, Congress is going to have to appropriate the money. If you want to deport 12 million people that is enormously expensive. I think the best estimates you are getting about 500,000 a year without going to Congress. If Paul Ryan with his views about immigration going to appropriate the money for Donald Trump to deport 11 or 12 million undocumented immigrants. Right. So you have the question over and over where he talks about things that he wants to do but talks very little about the process of actually getting it through the political system.

HENDERSON: Yes. I mean I do think this is a new phase for Trump and for Mitt Romney it was in some ways the etch-a-sketch phase when his aide -- got on air. And said you know, he is saying things in the primary but, you know, in terms of changing in the general you just kind of do like an etch-a-sketch and change. That very much hurt Romney in Louisiana, a state that he wasn't going to win anyway but Rick Santorum made a big deal out of it. You do see Donald Trump trying to be the leader of the party and in that way he's called Paul Ryan, he's changed some of his views on some of these very core issues.

CUOMO: Is this have anything to do with Cruz being in the lead right now in any of these states? Because there is a renewed examination of what Trump says and whether it's a flip flop -- you can't give me anything?

(LAUGHTER)

You can't take a nibble?

BROWNSTEIN: I think we're waiting for a primary, not a caucus.

CUOMO: I wanted a nibble. I wanted a nibble.

KOHN: -- That there is rational thought going on frankly in the minds of Trump voters. I mean, I think whether he knows -- I'm sorry, I'm sorry but you know what --

CUOMO: That is a very dangerous thing to say if you want to win an election. I'll tell you that.

[17:10:42] KOHN: You know, what? I'm sorry but I'm going to say it. When you are angry -- no, when you're angry, when you're scared, right? When you're in that fight or flight mode, we know this from brain imaging, you don't use the thought process, you go, oh, I wonder if he could actually do that.

CUOMO: A lot of them agree with him on these issues. When you call his people stupid.

KOHN: They want to hear an angry, and he's going to do something about it. And I'm going to hurt those -- I'm not calling them stupid. It's very, very smart people who have been told to be angry and to not think about anger and that this man can turn their anger into something that magically --

(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)

SMERCONISH: I take him literally and I think this week we saw a great example of that. Because in the debate he was given the opportunity to say, I did not say that to "The New York Times." I never told "The New York Times" that my position behind closed doors with them is different than what I've been saying on the campaign trail. Hear him go, I accept the fact that he must have said at "The New York Times," don't pay attention to what I say on the stump. I think his audience knows that, I think that they appreciate the fact that he is willing to say these things that they don't think he'll literally implement. I mean, he literally

BORGER: I don't think he is winning with very conservative voters. Who would disagree with him on many things including Planned Parenthood for example which he says works well for women. And so, you know, that's the -- that's really the question is these conservative voters who support Donald Trump who says he's going to work with Congress and he's flexible, so that's kind of the interesting disconnect on his supporters, so I believe it's got to be something much larger than sort of the usual politic lanes we've been talking about when it comes to --

CUOMO: Something larger which gives birth to an expectation that could well be something lower, which is --

BORGER: Right.

CUOMO: -- look, everybody that we're listening to right now on both sides of the party, they have been there, they've done it, they say these things and nothing happens. Donald Trump is the only one to his supporters and those on the fence certainly in the GOP who represents something potentially different. In their minds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's what they are looking for.

CUOMO: So, that's the thinking right now how it plays out in each states, that's why we're here today -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Good discussion, guys. Thanks very much. We're monitoring the votes across the country right now. On this Super Saturday, a critical day for both Democrats and Republicans, they are battling for their party's nominations and we could be on the verge of being able to make some projections. We already have votes out of Kansas, showing Ted Cruz with a sizable lead. Right now, minutes ago, the clock at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, and all of Kentucky, the Kentucky caucus sites shut their doors. At 7:00 p.m. Eastern, we could call project the race in Maine, the first votes out of that state are already in.

They show Ted Cruz ahead of the pack at least for now. At 9:00 p.m. Eastern Nebraska and Louisiana, they take their turn in the spotlight, Bernie Sanders certainly hoping for a win in Nebraska. While Republicans and Democrats are both waging contests by the state. It's a big day we're calling it Super Saturday. CNN will be tracking everything throughout the evening, you won't want to miss a minute. Keep it right here. Right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:17:58] BLITZER: Welcome back. We have a key race alert. I want to update our viewers right now. Take a look at Kansas among the -- in the Republican Presidential Caucuses, a third of the vote is now in. And Ted Cruz maintaining a significant lead at 48.9 percent over Donald Trump who was in second place 24.7 percent. Rubio is in third place. Only 14.8 percent. John Kasich in fourth place with 10 percent. That's in Kansas. The Republican presidential caucuses in Maine. Only five percent of the vote there is in. But similarly Cruz maintains a lead of 48 percent.

Trump is in second place with 35 percent. Rubio down at 8.6 percent. John Kasich is in fourth place with 7.4 percent. Also want to share the results of a straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference. That is been going on here in the nation's capital over the past few days. Take a look at the CPAC straw poll. Right now the results are final. Ted Cruz wins with 40 percent, Rubio comes in second with 30 percent, Donald Trump in third place with 15 percent, John Kasich in fourth place with eight percent. So that's the CPAC straw poll indication of conservative activists who have come here to the Washington, D.C. area for the last few days. They clearly like Ted Cruz more than the others.

I want to go to CNN's Miguel Marquez, he is in Omaha, Nebraska for us, he has been watching a democratic caucus site. I take it Miguel, some results are now in from that site where you are.

MARQUEZ: They are in. This place took forever to fill up. And took about two minutes for everybody to clear out once it was done. Hillary Clinton had 145 supporters here, and 109 absentee votes. Bernie Sanders only had 24 absentee votes but he filled the house, 389 supporters Amir Said who is been crunching the numbers for us has the actual percentages, so in this one district, this one of 149 caucuses, Sanders with 62 percent of the vote, Hillary Clinton with 38 percent of the vote. Something that we have seen in other places, clearly a lot of energy for Bernie Sanders. These caucuses really bringing it out for him -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Miguel, thanks very much. I want to go to Rosa Flores right now. She is at a Republican presidential caucus in Wichita, Kansas. A lot of volunteers behind you. I guess they are wrapping up, they are counting the votes.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are, so they finished counting the individual votes, now they are counting the batches of 100. But Wolf, I want to show you visually who has the most votes here because we can count the boxes that they put the votes in. Let me show you. The first box right here is for Ben Carson. One box. You can see that the volunteers are counting them there. Now we have Fiorina. One box. As well. And then we have the next box here is for Marco Rubio. Is it one box, ma'am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One box.

FLORES: One box. So, one box for Marco Rubio. We come over to Donald Trump. Donald Trump has two boxes. Two boxes and they are counting the stacks of 100 votes right now. Now, we move over to Kasich, Kasich also has one box. Here in Wichita, Kansas. So one box for Kasich. And you're also seeing these numbers on the screen. They are populating on the screen so you can see them. Now here is the big reveal. Ted Cruz, you can see on the screen. Fifty one percent. Check out the number of boxes that Ted Cruz has here. In Wichita, Kansas.

You have two, four, six, seven volunteers counting his boxes because he has -- one, two, three, four, five boxes and Donald Trump of course you can see on your screen at 38 percent. But here's the big deal, folks. All of these boxes equal votes. And now you can see these piles of 100. Only so many fit in each box and again, Ted Cruz, one, two, three, four different boxes, Wolf. We'll just have to see how many votes we see at the end of the day -- Wolf.

[17:22:06] BLITZER: One caucus site there in Wichita, Kansas, Rosa where you are. We'll get back to you. At least at that site that Ted Cruz doing really well.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Obviously very well. And the Republican chair of -- the Republican state chair there in Kansas has said earlier that at the beginning when Ted Cruz is doing quite well it was just this sort of outer areas, not the big population centers where he was doing well. Wichita is a very important population and he is doing quite well.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, listen, Ted Cruz is having quite an afternoon and evening so far. I mean, he is ahead in the vote counting Maine, he is clearly doing well in Kansas. This is something to start paying attention to in this way. Which is can Ted Cruz begin to emerge as the non-Trump consolidator of the conservative movement? If he can, that is going to create slightly different dynamic. Now, we all know we've circled March 15th on our calendar. That is going to be where everything is projecting forward to right now --

BASH: Florida, Ohio.

CHALIAN: Florida and Ohio.

BASH: Right.

CHALIAN: And that's critical. So, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves yet. But these contests matter. As you build up today and then in Michigan and Idaho and Mississippi on Tuesday, these contests before those big contests on March 15th matter in setting the course and Ted Cruz, is going to have an argument to make out of here. I think a stronger argument than he has had thus far.

BASH: Yes. And they are already starting to make it. I was just texting with a senior Cruz source who was saying, you know, Donald Trump campaign there this morning which he did. He didn't come to CPAC here in Washington, instead he went to Kansas. And Marco Rubio was campaigning there as well. But speaking of CPAC, Wolf just announced that the results of the straw poll from there. You and I were joking earlier that the past however many election cycles the Paul family, Ron and then Rand have been able to really kind of stack the decks and organize in a way that they did well.

That's now -- they are not players right now but look at that, we just had it up again if we want to put it up one more time. Ted Cruz won, 40 percent. Marco Rubio 30 percent. Donald Trump 15. John Kasich eight percent. Well, to your point about Cruz consolidating perhaps conservatives I was there this morning interviewing Marco Rubio on stage, and every time I mentioned the name Donald Trump, it was like -- like I was mentioning the worst name in the world. I mean, the crowd, it was definitely not a pro-Trump crowd.

CHALIAN: Anti-Trump crowd.

BASH: A very anti-Trump. So, it's not a big surprise that he didn't go this morning because they knew that.

CHALIAN: Yes. I think it was a really wise decision.

BASH: Right.

CHALIAN: Obviously he knew. But we should put this in context. This is a survey of about 2700 or so active young conservatives I think the average age of the voter in these straw polls is in their 20s. It doesn't mirror the primary and caucus electorate that we're seeing across the country. We should also note that even in 2008, at the CPAC straw poll, John McCain who emerged with the Republican Party nomination did not win the CPAC straw poll. Mitt Romney did. In fact it was the day Mitt Romney dropped out of that race.

BASH: That is right. I was there. I remember that.

CHALIAN: But so you are right to mention Rand Paul and Ron Paul, this is been their kind of libertarian street crowd. But again Ted Cruz, this helps him make his argument, right, that he is emerging as the one candidate not named Trump who is starting to be able to build some sort of coalition that perhaps could take on Trump here. We just shouldn't overstate the straw poll result.

BASH: No question. But to your point and Wolf, you've covered CPAC for many years as well, it does provide historically a psychological boost, a momentum boost to the person who is doing well there especially when you're looking at the grassroots. And at this moment in time when this was, you know, just a straw poll but there are actual real voting and polls going on today, it's something that Ted Cruz can, you know, kind of put his hat on and maybe send some more fundraising appeals out.

BLITZER: Yes. And what you told me earlier, a lot of young people at the CPAC conference today.

BASH: A lot of young people.

BLITZER: So that was impressive. All right. Guys, stand by. We're watching the votes coming in in Kansas. We're watching the votes coming in in Maine. We're going to update you on all of the latest as soon as we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:34] BLITZER: Welcome back. We have a few race alerts coming in.

First in Kansas on the Republican side, the Republican presidential caucuses, 41 percent of the vote is now in Ted Cruz, maintains his lead at 49.4 percent, Donald Trump in second place 24.4 percent, Marco Rubio at 14.7 percent, John Kasich, 10 percent, Cruz doing very well so far with 41 percent of the vote in, in the Kansas Republican caucuses.

In Maine, only 5 percent of the vote is in but Cruz is doing well so far at the same time 48 percent for Cruz, Trump in second place with 35 percent, Rubio gone in third place only 8.6 percent, John Kasich, 7.4 percent in fourth place.

Now, I want to go to CNN's Stephanie Elam. She's in Roeland Park, Kansas. She's watching the Democratic caucuses underway right now. We know they've had huge turnouts. What's the latest Stephanie?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I want to show you this right here, Wolf, because if you turnover here you can see that there are people signing papers. What happened here is what they were planning to do at this Democratic caucus. They were going to separate people into groups. If you were supporting Hillary you are going to go to one side. If you're supporting Bernie, you'd go to the other side.

Well, there were too many people here. They were at capacity and there still so many people outside that they had to change the plan. They estimate that they had about 2,200 to 2,300 people here. So we called to that.

They are asking people to sign a form. They're calling it a candidate statement of support. They are asking people to sign it. There's ones floating around for Hillary, there's another one floating around for Bernie Sanders. And they're saying sign this, and then as you leave we'll put a check mark on your blue band that you got saying that you were a valid voter here today, that you are really ready to caucus. And then we'll take that as you leave.

The idea of being - because there many people outside, they said, as inside that they are trying to get some out, so that other people can get in. So now, they are signing and leaving, changing things up instead of sectioning them out into groups, Wolf.

BLITZER: You are also getting some numbers in, right, Stephanie?

ELAM: Yeah, but the problems with the numbers that we're getting here, well, it looks like it's definitely going to be in the favor of Sanders at this early point. The problem is now it's going to be a different thing. We are expecting them to count people and wave to 40 for each side. That's not happening now.

But right now the early tally looks like it's in favor of Sanders. We're going to keep our eyes on it.

BLITZER: All right, we'll see what happen. Stephanie, thanks very much.

I want to go to Brian Todd he's in Bowling Green, Kentucky for us right now the Republican presidential caucus site. What's the latest over there Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a very dramatic close to the polling here to the caucus here in Bowling Green. They just announced the close of the polls and they had to turn people away at the door. They had more than twice as many people as they expected. They believe there were at least 5,000 people who showed up here. A dramatically very just high turnout much more than they expected.

Now, the process of counting votes begins in this. I take you around the room. Here you can hear people counting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cruz, Trump.

TODD: That's an announcer who calls it out. They you've got two talliers at each table who verify that count. What we have just been told by caucus officials here they polled 930 people in their own exit poll here Bowling Green. According to that exit poll, these are caucus officials giving us these numbers Ted Cruz 35 percent of that vote, Donald Trump 25 percent, Marco Rubio 20 percent here, John Kasich 19 percent, uncommitted for Rand Paul and others that's 1 percent.

That's a poll of 930 people who they took. That is of course not the final count, it's not the official count. It is not necessarily reflection of how the state will go. But I heard David and Dana talking just a moment ago about Ted Cruz's surprisingly strong showing elsewhere looks like in this precinct as well. Ted Cruz does very at least according to the exit polls, Wolf.

BLITZER: And as you pointed out, still very early in the process in Kentucky where you are almost the on top of that story with Brian.

I want to go over to John King who's taking a closer look at all these numbers. Kansas, for example, right now, and you got it up there, Cruz doing well at least so far.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's doing well. I think we're getting close to the point where we might be able to call this one, let me tell you why.

We've been waiting on the third congressional district in the eastern part of the state because just moments ago we had no votes in. Now we're only up to 2 percent. So we want to take it a little bit higher but it's tracking the rest of the state.

You see Ted Cruz at 51 percent here, Donald Trump at 23, Marco Rubio at 14. We were waiting because this is blank and you have Kansas City, Kansas. This is Kansas City, Missouri, you see in the map. But Kansas City, Kansas and the suburbs is a big population center lot of votes. We were waiting. They are just stating to come in.

Again, you see 51 percent in this congressional district. You move over here 47 percent in the Topeka area this congressional district. Ted Cruz getting 49 percent in this congressional district and he's getting a bigger number 53 percent down in this congressional district.

[17:35:12] So our decision team was looking to make sure we got some votes on this major population center, Wolf, to see if they track the rest of the state. And now as you pull out to the statewide result that's very impressive. Right now, up to 43 percent statewide, Ted Cruz at 49 percent, Donald trump just shy of 25, Marco Rubio just shy of 15. So the Kansas results filling in and looks like a good day for Senator Cruz. That you call out to the national map, something interesting you see here, Cruz won Texas and Oklahoma last week.

Looks like he is about to add Kansas and remember he won Iowa. This is Marco Rubio up in Minnesota, kind of anti-Trump line, if you will, right down the middle of the country taking form but Donald Trump still winning over here, Ted Cruz leading in Maine. We talked about that. We're waiting of course Brian Todd which in Kentucky, Louisiana's way tonight.

But at the moment, the one we think we're close to, Wolf, Ted Cruz 49 percent of the vote in the state of Kansas, adding potentially to his list as he tries to make the case that is 43 percent of the vote in trying to make the case he is emerging as the primary alternative to Donald Trump.

BLITZER: John King, thanks very much. And CNN is now ready for its first projection of the day.

CNN camp projected Ted Cruz is the winner of the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses. Ted Cruz picks up another win, this is his 5th win so far, Ted Cruz wins Kansas. He's doing really well in all of the numbers that have been coming in. Let's share those numbers with you. Here is the vote where it stands right now with 43 percent of the vote is in, Ted Cruz is ahead of 49 percent to Donald Trump 24.7 percent, Marco Rubio with 14.8 percent, John Kasich only 9.9 percent for Ted Cruz.

With almost half of the voters in, you see he is way ahead right now. Ted Cruz, CNN projects, will win the republican caucuses in the state of Kansas.

Let's go to CNN Sunlen Serfaty. She's covering all the Ted Cruz campaign. She's in Idaho right now, at some point he is going to be speaking there. Right, Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Any moment Senator Cruz will come out on the stage in Iowa - Idaho, excuse me, certainly feeling very good about that win in Kansas, going into tonight, the Cruz campaign said that they did not expect to win specifically any state, it was really all about delegates so clearly this help their case going forward.

A Cruz campaign official telling me that this was a state, Kansas that Donald Trump should have run away with, and he didn't so the fact they are counting that the win tonight really encourages them going forward.

And a Cruz official says that they did look at their internal numbers and see effects after the debate in Detroit. They saw some late breaking votes going toward Cruz over Donald Trump.

So that will be part of the message going forward leaving here tonight. The messaging tonight, at Cruz campaign official says, will really be all about what we've been talking about that Ted Cruz, they believe can be the alternative to Donald Trump.

So expect to hear that coming from Senator Cruz when he takes the stage here just a few minutes. They want to turn this into a two-man race with Donald Trump for so long and they feel emboldened to push this message forth going here tonight, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Sunlen, that of course have live coverage of the speech that Senator Cruz is about to deliver behind you over there. Sunlen Serfaty reporting for us.

Dana and David, first projection of the night a projection for Ted Cruz.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. And David, I just, right before that happened, got a call from a senior Cruz source who said that their internal polling up until just before today, the last time they did it, showed that this was a neck and neck race.

CHALIAN: In Kansas.

BASH: In Kansas. And so, even for them it was a surprise as to how much of a swing it was. Obviously the suggestion inside the Cruz campaign is that something is shifting as we've been talking about, perhaps something shifted especially after the Thursday night debate were they felt that they did better than Donald Trump. Perhaps, the Cruz campaign is -- and Ted Cruz is in particular is benefiting from how Marco Rubio is going after Donald Trump.

Now, having said that, that is the spin from Camp Cruz and it's too early to tell whether not this is really kind of a thing that's happening, big picture or whether this is just ...

CHALIAN: Let's keep watching Maine, because before the votes were coming in, one Cruz advisor, Senior Cruz Advisor told me earlier today. You know, they were feeling decent about Kansas and I understand what you saying about it might have been a tight race. But they understood that was a state that did them well.

BASH: Sure.

CHALIAN: Maine where the governor is endorsed Donald Trump, that there is that real rebellious element inside the Maine Republican electorate that may play into Donald Trump. And they start seeing movement in Maine, that's when they are going to start thinking, there maybe something to this notion that there might be a reassessment of Trump right now, please be careful with this.

BASH: Really, be careful.

[17:40:00] CHALIAN: We saw tens of thousands come out for him in Orlando today. We know how sticky and loyal and committed his supporters are to him. So we really - but this will be what we're watching for all night long now is to see if, indeed, Ted Cruz specifically but more broadly if just Donald Trump is having a moment with Republican primary and caucus voters now after that debate, after starting to take sustained attacks, if indeed there is a reassessment going on.

BASH: And obviously it's not just from his rivals, it's from finally, you know, the people in the donor class in the Republican Party. They are coming out and they are finally spending money on super PACs and really going after Donald Trump. So it will be interesting to see Maine, Wolf.

The Cruz source who I spoke to, he also said that the -- excuse me, the internal polling leading up to today also had neck and neck races in Maine as well.

BLITZER: Very interesting. All right guys, thanks very much. We'll be hearing from the winner of the Kansas Republican Presidential Caucus has as Ted Cruz, he's getting ready to speak, live coverage coming up.

(OFF-MIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why I'm supporting Ted Cruz.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:45:11] BLITZER: CNN projected Ted Cruz is the winner in Kansas in the Republican Presidential Caucuses. He's in Idaho right now. They have their contest coming up next Tuesday. He's getting ready to speak. Let's listen in to Ted Cruz.

He's just walking in over there and his supporters, obviously, they are in Idaho right now, very excited as we await. Ted Cruz's first win, is the first projection we've made of the night that Ted Cruz wins in Kansas.

He's doing well by the way also in Maine right now. We'll see what happens there although only 5 percent of the vote is in this at least ahead with 5 percent. But let's listen to Cruz.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God bless the great state of Idaho.

Let me say to Rod and to Steve, thank you for your incredible leadership. Thank you for your friendship, to our tremendous leadership team here, to my friend Congressman Raul Labrador, thank you for your support and thank you to the patriots who are gathered here from the great state of Idaho.

And while we're at it, let me say God bless Kansas. And God bless Maine.

Now, it's a little bit early, we don't know final election results yet. The votes are still being counted. But as of today, the networks have called the State of Kansas for us.

And right now, as they're counting the votes, we have roughly 50 percent of the votes in the state of Kansas.

And you know, Maine it's still early, they're just starting to count. But right now on the count in Maine, we have roughly 50 percent of the votes in the state of Maine. And the scream you hear, the howl that comes from Washington, D.C. is utter terror at what we the people are doing together.

Let me say the last couple of weeks have been extraordinary. The journey we've seen if you think back a year ago. A year ago, we had 17 candidates in this race. It was a terrific, talented, deep field, young, inspirational dynamic candidates.

And then over the course of the year, the field narrowed, and it narrowed and it narrowed. And then we saw on Tuesday the Super Tuesday results that we're extraordinary and then today on Super Saturday, we seem to be seeing a continuation of that very same path.

And what we're seeing is conservatives coming together. What we're seeing is Republicans coming together. What we're seeing is libertarians coming together. What we're seeing is men and women who love freedom and love the constitution coming and uniting and standing as one behind this campaign.

Every one of us here understands that our country is in crisis, that we're bankrupting our kids and grandkids, that our constitutional rights are under assault each and every day and that America has receded from leadership in the world and it's made the world a much more dangerous place.

(OFF-MIC)

That is exactly right.

And I am here today with the word of hope and encouragement. All across Idaho, all across this country, people are waking up. I believe this election will center on three correct key issues, jobs, freedom, and security.

Let's start with jobs. I want to take a minute to speak to all the single moms here who were working two or three part-time jobs, 28, 29 hours a week because you had your hours forcibly reduced because Obamacare kicks in at 30 hours a week.

I want to talk to all of the truck drivers and plumbers and mechanics and electricians, all the men and women with callouss on your hands, who've seen wages stagnate year, after year, after year, cost of living keeps going up.

[17:50:06] But the wage is somehow don't seem to keep pace with the cost of living. I want to talk to all the young people coming out of school with student loans up to your eyeballs, scared, am I going to get a job? What kind of future is there? What -- am I going to be able to provide for my family?

And, you know, the media tells us, this is as good as it gets. This is the new normal. Well, let me tell you that is an utter lie.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to continue to monitor Ted Cruz. He's delivering a victory speech of the first projection of the night. Ted Cruz is the winner of the Republican Presidential Caucuses in Kansas.

We're going to be hearing from all the Republican and Democratic candidates throughout the course of our coverage tonight. Let's take a quick break, much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:55:09] BLITZER: Our first projection of the night, Ted Cruz is the winner of the Kansas Republican Presidential caucuses. I want to get some immediate reaction from Jim Acosta. He's covering the Trump campaign. He's joining us from West Palm Beach right now. Any immediate reaction to the Cruz's win in Kansas, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not just yet, Wolf. Sort of a reaction from the Trump campaign, you know, talking about these days that are coming up on the calendar.

Corey Lewandowski, the Trump Campaign Manager, sent me an e-mail saying that, you know, all of these dates are big, all of these elections, all these primaries and caucuses are big.

You know, maybe that's just a little bit of the early spin because obviously, you know, this is not shaping up to be a sweep, a Super Saturday sweep for Donald Trump. But, Wolf, clearly the date that is looming on the calendar that seems to be overshadowing everything right now as March 15th, that is the Florida primary.

I'm hearing from a Rubio source that the Rubio campaign is planning to hit Donald Trump hard with his associations with Charlie Crist, the former governor, in the past was a Republican became a Democrat.

I'm hearing Donald Trump is also from another source doing very, very well in Kentucky right now. Obviously those results are not in. So the Trump campaign feeling positive about Kentucky, but it could be a long night in some of these states. We'll have to wait and see.

BLITZER: We'll going to get right back to you, Jim Acosta, stand by.

I want to just remind our viewers in Kansas we've projected the winner in Kansas. The winner had being Donald Trump he's got at right now with 54 percent of the vote -- excuse me, Ted Cruz is the winner in Kansas. Donald trump is in second place.

Donald Trump also in second place in Maine right now, Ted Cruz with 5 percent of the vote in. Ted Cruz is ahead in Maine. But so far, it looks like a very good night for Ted Cruz, the Senator from Texas.

Much more of our coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)