race, nbc's hallie jackson in upstate new york where ted cruz just wrapped up an event. hallie, i never thought i'd say the democratic race is nastier this very moment, at least for the last couple of hours. >> reporter: it's funny, and the fact we're talking so much. normally it's the republicans leading the hours on msnbc and now it's the democrats. but ted cruz and donald trump are still locked in a battle here in new york. the battle trump appears to be winning. polling well above ted cruz dead last in this state and here at this event that's wrapping up just outside of new york. this is upstate new york where the cruz campaign thinks they could peel off some delegates for trump and the campaign said there were about 1800 people packing this gymnasium. the line was set a couple of hours outside this school before the event began. and i want to just highlight for you some of the comments, some of the energy that cruz is bringing here. here's one moment played again and again and again part of his stump speech. we hear it all the time but

hallie jackson is in indiana with the cruz campaign. she'll be interviewing carly fiorina live here on this show later in this hour. i'm also joined by super lawyer ben ginsberg, rick tyler, and presidential historian and reagan biographer craig shirley. the last time a president tried something like this, it was ronald reagan. he named dick swik ert as his running mate in an attempt to try to pick off delegates at an open convention that year. but let me move over and check in with hallie jackson and see what the crowd, the reaction in the room, how big was it, it looked good on television. hallie, what's it sound like in the room? >> reporter: looked good on tv. a couple hundred people filling the space. i want to see if we can get our camera man to pan over, as fiorina prepares to do some interviews, including one with us that we'll be doing in a couple of minutes. they had these signs ready, cruz-fiorina. the website is already redirecting to cruz-carly.com. as the campaign tries to fund-raise off today's announcement. it felt like

hallie jackson, nbc news, new york. >>> hey, guys. >> reporter: i'm kristen welker. both candidates in the democratic campaign sharpened their attacks. >> i noticed under the scrutiny here in new york, senator sanders had trouble answering questions. >> as most of you know, hillary clinton vote for the disastrous war. >> reporter: her delegate lead could become insurmountable, all but securing the nomination. adding to sanders' tough odds, independents aren't allowed to vote in the new york primary. his strategy now driving up turnout. >> when there's a large voter turnout we win. >> reporter: meanwhile, the top democrat who didn't get into the race, vice president joe biden was asked if he would like to see a female president. >> i would like to see a woman elected. >> that's it? >> that's all right. the president and i will not going to endorse because when we ran we said, let the party decide. >> nbc's hallie jackson and kristen welker reporting. >>> the nation's top health experts they're warning that the zika virus appears to be spreading much faster and this th

who is sticking with him. >> you'll never ever change me. >> reporter: hallie jackson, milwaukee. >>> i'm kristen welker traveling with the clinton campaign. bernie sanders is looking for a win, but nothing would do much to dent hill libertarian's -- hillary's insurmountable delegate lead. sanders' message is resonating with throngs of voters on the heels of winning five states, sanders is gaining momentum. the race increasingly combative. >> he's already under a lot of pressure. so don't tell her this. but i think we win here, we win in new york state we're on our way to the white house. >> reporter: the reality, clinton is ahead by double digits on her home turf of new york. but sanders is slowly narrowing the gap. campaigning here as the state passed a minimum wage increase. clinton took a veiled swipe at sanders again painting his policies as unrealistic. >> feelings have to be matched with politics. >> reporter: another reality check -- his campaign is acknowledging to "the new york times" early missteps which are now creating a drag on the campaign. saying sanders initially fail

jose, back to you for now. >> hallie jackson in indiana, thank you very much. i appreciate that. >>> donald trump won big majorities in all five states last night, his victories downsizing the possibility of a brokered convention. here's what he said on "morning joe." >> i think we're going to do great in indiana, i think we're going to do great in california and ike there's some states in between that we're going to get. >> are you going to start turning your attention now to hillary clinton and the general election? >> a little bit. i want to finish off the final two leftovers. two guys that shouldn't be here and, you know, for the sake of the republican party they shouldn't because we want to unify the republican party. but i have two people that are still here hanging around, as the expression goes, and not going to get anywhere. but it's going to take time. >> let me bring in rory cooper, a senior advisor to the never trump super pac along with msnbc political analyst and former senior advisor to rand paul, elise jordan. rory, looking at the results last n

first to nbc's hallie jackson. hallie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. even with that big lead here in new york, donald trump is arguing the delegate system is stacked against him. these new yorkers lining up for hours tonight want trump, and donald trump wants the win in his home state, where our new poll shows him over 50% now. ted cruz, far behind in third. his campaign tells nbc news they're hoping to stop a sweep because if trump gets all new york's delegates, he'll only need 55% of what's left to lock up the nomination. trump knows if he wins at home and in the nearby states voting next, it's easier for him to avoid a contested convention. that's where cruz may have the delegate advantage after cleaning up in colorado. >> now they're trying to pick off those delegates one by one. that's not the way democracy is supposed to work. the system is rigged. it's crooked. >> reporter: while trump won't get the votes of two of his own children, who missed the registration deadline, he's adding staff to get a better handle on the system he's railing against.

hallie jackson, a who. thank you. kasie hunt, thank you, dear. you're everywhere, and you're often in the cold. >> i get very cold. i get accused of acting like i'm -- >> the place for politics. life from the nbc newsroom. see it all around us. this is the real thing at 30 rockefeller in new york. >>> well, welcome back to msnbc's special election coverage of the new york primary just over at midnight. joining me now is an actor who played pastor isaiah on the good wife. he also stars in an upcoming film, independence day, resurgence. anyway, sequels are great. you are a bernie guy. >> i am. as of the last debate. >> where does bernie go now? he got whacked today -- yesterday. >> it was a rough day, rough week. but bernie persists. i mean the thing is he's got a lot of supporters. the numbers are increasing as far as the number of people coming out to support him. he's got a real message that resonates. he comes across authentic because he believes what he's saying. >> i think so. he's got a philosophy. he's got an ideology. he's a democratic soc

hallie jackson, your guy. >> ted cruz. we talked a little about -- >> he was in pennsylvania tonight. the constitution center. i thought that was interesting. that's his thing. >> that's his whole spiel. on the campaign trail. it was interesting. tonight's speech, you like to say intrepid. it's a meum. >> the declaration, yeah. >> it was a museum feel. it was like 150 people there. this was not a big rally. this was sort of ted cruz behind a podium delivering, by the way, a brand new speech. you talk about change and tone changing. this is a new message from ted cruz. he said not yes, we can, but yes, we will. it was empowerment. it was inspiration, optimism. he's trying to hit all these notes. diametrically opposed to the worlds on fire message. >> next tuesday -- >> he's probably going to lose donald trump -- >> he has pennsylvania, maryland, connecticut, rhode island, delaware. he could lose five. >> he's looking ahead to the contested convention, right, just like john kasich is doing. he wants to be able to make the ar

hallie jackson in brooklyn. a bit of 2016 came to capitol hill. a to trump advisor held talks with republican lawmakers trying to drum up more support. you might say more support for the front-runner. rnc chairman met with party members the explain delegate rule to try to reassure them that the process isn't rigged. that's charge donald trump has been flinging about. congressman, thanks for taking a few minutes. let me pick up on what we're just talking about with hallie. two weeks ago ted cruz said it was a turning point. he talked about the stop trump forces consolidating around him. here we are now ted cruz looking at finishing third not just tonight but in a whole string of state next week and being 400 delegate behind donald trump again. what happened to that turning point? >> i'm going to disagree with that analysis and people who think wisconsin was not a big deal. let's bear in mind there's two camps now among the delegates. if you add up the anti-trump numbers they exceed the trump numbers. donald trump is behind in the race for delegates

hallie jackson, nbc news, new york. >> hey, guys! >> reporter: i'm kristen welker covering the democrats. with hillary clinton commanding a double-digit lead in new york, both candidates sharpened their attacks today. >> i have noticed that under the bright spotlight and scrutiny here in new york, senator sanders has had trouble answering questions. >> most of you know, secretary clinton voted for that disastrous war. >> reporter: if clinton wins new york, her delegate lead would become nearly insurmountable, all but securing the nomination. adding to sanders' already tough odds, independents who typically favor sanders, aren't allowed to vote in the new york primary. his strategy now? driving up turnout. >> when there is a large voter turnout, we win. i meanwhile, the top democrat who didn't get into the race -- vice president joe biden -- was asked today if he would like to see a female president? >> i would like to see a woman elected. >> that's it. the president and i are not going to endorse because we both when we ran said "let

hour hallie jackson who follows the cruz campaign joins me now from the bronx. we have the new poll out, hallie. it shows cruz should be dead last in new york, followed by trump at 58%. he also had someone escorted out. talk about that. >> we'll start there, thomas, because i think we have some video we can show you. a couple minutes ago, there were some hecklers. they were taelling him his policies were discriminating. they were escorted out of the building. cruz met with some faith leaders in the bronx. he is shaking hands with some people. i can see him out of the corner of my eye. you talk about the monmouth poll. he finished in wisconsin and notch aid big win for him there. now it's new york, delaware, connecticut, pennsylvania, places that look better for donald trump. donald trump now breaking 58%, senator cruz ahead of john kasich. it is a potentially bumpy ride for cruz here, but he's going to upstate tomorrow to albany. he's also looking to play to some of these smaller congressional districts who don't have a bigger play of republicans who can go door

hallie jackson tried to get ted cruz to confirm it as he always does. he dodged that question but i think we have hallie jackson on the phone right now. now, we are confirming the fact this is going to happen at 4:00. it seems interesting he would announce a running mate the day after having a loss at these five primary elections. >> reporter: right, erica. a high level source familiar with these discussions is confirming it will be fiorina to be rolled out as part of the ticket with ted cruz. that will be the announcement in indianapolis. the timing is interesting. the timing raised eyebrows within the republican circles. this is an opportunity potent l potentially for cruz to change the conversation away from donald trump's dominant win. you might ask the last time this happened a running mate was announced so relatively early before somebody has locked up the republican nomination, the last time it happened, one of the more famous types it happened was 1976, with ronald reagan when the campaign made that pick the focus of their opening rules at the c

wayne. >> hallie jackson on her way to ft. wayne. going to turn now to msnbc's kasie hunt in indianapolis. kasie, one of the theories that's floating around out there about why ted cruz turned to carly fiorina is maybe that in a way he was trying to bait donald trump. donald trump had said that very nasty thing about carly fiorina before. he's gotten into trouble for the way he talks at women before. maybe this would make him slip up again. get into trouble. talking about a female opponent again. trump talking about issues again this torning on the "today" show. what are you hearing? >> hi, steve. that's right. of course, donald trump way underwater in all of our polling with women who seem to basically tell us -- tell pollsters they don't like donald trump. of course, as we know women make up the majority of the electorate in the united states. that's a little bit of a challenge. donald trump was on the "today" show this morning with matt lauer talking about it. >> 70% of women in this country say they have a negative view of you. d

we have it all covered starting with nbc's hallie jackson, who is in wisconsin this evening. hallie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. donald trump has thousands of people packing his rallies here in wisconsin, but he'll need more support than that to avoid a loss to ted cruz. but it's not trump who has to win in this state. it's the never trump movement needing a victory now more than ever. closing in fast, the wisconsin finish line less than 24 hours away. the last push through a state that matters more than anyone thought it would, not just for its 42 delegates but for the momentum it could give the stop trump movement. >> they realize that donald screams and yells a lot, but he has no solution. >> reporter: it's a dramatic reversal from only a month ago, when this looks like trump country. blue collar, more moderate, an open primary. but since then, ted cruz has surged more than 20 points, fueled by the stop trump movement making milwaukee ground zero, led by a group of conservative talk radio hosts, like charlie sykes. >> this is not a conservative candida

as hallie jackson reports. >> reporter: inside of a connecticut theater, donald trump insisting it is not an act. >> when i'm speaking, who is not different than when you are in a private room. >> reporter: even his advisers say he'll work to be more presidential. >> presidential is easy. you know what presidential is -- i walk on. >> reporter: confidence in classic trump style -- >> i sort of don't >> reporter: he is ramping it up against his rivals and birthers against ted cruz. and ted cruz targeting trump's elect ability. >> do we want to nominate a candidate who is a phony? who is telling us he's lying to us. i have to give donald credit. he's betraying us before he got elected. >> reporter: to stop trump, cruz is looking to meet with delegates and getting back-up from one anti-trump group endorsing him there and indiana but backing john kasich in three other states. kasich camp frustrating they are not doing more to happen. an adviser telling nbc news, it is just lip service. stop trump forces and getting off the side line in time for tuesday primary. one pac saying it will spen

. >> reporter: i'm hallie jackson, and today colorado looks more like cleveland. the state picking its gop delegates, previewing what a contested convention this summer in ohio could look like, and if ted cruz heads there in second place, he'll need to have his support shored up starting now. the campaign deploying what an aide tells nbc news is their secret weapon, a delegate strategy designed to outmaneuver donald trump. in colorado, cruz's top volunteer has been on the job eight months. >> the cruz campaign knows what they're doing and they're organizing well. >> reporter: trump's counterpart only started wednesday. >> it's been like drinking from a fire hose. >> reporter: the front-runner, hunker the down at home, now playing catch-up, but his team argues that doesn't matter. >> this convention process will be over with sometime in june. it will be apparent to the world that trump is over the 1237 number. >> reporter: that's the public spin from a long time delegate wrangler. but privately his recent hiring shows trump's team is more worried than they're letti

reaching out to msnbc hallie jackson. i know ted cruz is the only republican candidate who's there right now. he's expected to make his pitch about 25 minutes or so from now. how likely is it he's going to sweep all these delegates in wyoming like in colorado? >> the chances look pretty good. donald trump's own advisors are sayi ining he believes cruz wil sweep. trump has not committed resources or time in wyoming. cruz is. he's coming here in about a half an hour. we will hear him make his pitch. john kasich has a surrogate but the candidate is in new york. cruz, the chances look good. while cruz is working his delegate strategy as we have been talking about to be in place and prepared for a possible contested convention. a top campaign aide said none of this matter if he locks up the magic number by june 7th and the important date when california goes ahead and holds its primary. all of this, of course, is contingent upon keeping donald trump below that 1237 thresholds and having the delegates in place to move forward.

hallie jackson covering the cruz/fiorina campaign. jacob rascon joins us from evansville, indiana, where the republican front-runner is set to hold a rally, his happening in about two hours. donald trump saying he got the greatest endorsement in indiana history, which came from a very well known guy, bob knight and jacob, he allowed him to upstage him a little bit. >> reporter: he did. as you talk to the crowd out here, been asking him, who are the bobby knight fans and one man looked at me in disbelief, are you kidding? this is indiana. he could run for president and he would win. one opiniperson's opinion. as hall lie was pointing out, more important for cruz to win than him. look at where mr. trump is spending his time, after his event right here he's going to california. he's already moving out there and he'll be there for a couple of days. cruz will be spending all of his time here. that's part of what trump's thinking is in indiana, he's already ahead, though only by single digits. he thinks he's going to be doing well and he's

. >>> joining us now, nbc's katy tur, she covers the trump campaign and also with us is hallie jackson covering the cruz campaign. some of us who listened to the trump speech tonight thought we were hearing a strong rebuke to the new jeem in -- regime in his campaign. paul manafort promised a more presidential candidate. this one went on at no length, no teleprompter, got in the shots at hillary clinton that we saw. what's going on inside that campaign in terms of the candidate's presentation? who's winning the battle on how he's supposed to take the stage? >> i think it's a day to day thing with the campaign right now but certainly the -- by all appearances at least for tonight, corey lewandowski seems to be winning that battle. lewandowski came and spoke to reporters before donald trump took the stage. he said that he would never change donald trump. when i asked him if he's trying to evolve the candidate. meanwhile, lewandowski was relatively close to trump. a couple people away from him, standing on his left side. paul manafort on the other hand was far down the right side, behind

we'll go to hally jackson in a moment. i do want to play quickly, something that he said at the town hall this morning. again, this is donald trump at the town hall talking about nor north carolina's so-called bathroom law. >> i heard one of the best answers was from a commentator yesterday saying leave it the way it is right now. north carolina what they are going through with all the businesses that's leaving and all the striekes, that's on bot sides. there is been few complaints of the way it is. >> a moment ago in the campaign trail in maryland. ted cruz blasted trump over those statements, this is what he said. >> donald on television this morning said gosh, he thought that men should be able to go into the girl's bathroom if they want to. now, let me ask you -- have we gone nuts? this is the political correctness, this is basic common sense -- let me ask you, are there any parents of daughters here? i am a father of two little girls. here is basic common sense, grown adult men, strangers should not be alone in bathro

let's start with hallie jackson. i apologize, i'm holding a microphone in my hand now because we lost my mike. ted cruz is trying to make a big mark today, at least look like he's got presidential ambitions, he's naming a vice president. >> reporter: he's trying to get everybody to talk about something other than donald trump decisive victory in the northeastern states, not just winning but winning big and coming out with this announcement he will be talking about carly fiorina on his ticket if he gets the nomination. this is something cruz has been trying to drum up intrigue all day today. he came out about 9:30 this morning and announced that announcement and refused to say what that would be because he wanted folks to show up and see for themselves. this is a line of people waiting to get into the event set to start at the top of the hour, 4:00 p.m. in indianapolis. if we talk about fiorina, i know you were with her and covered the campaign in the fall before she went on a hot streak before she dropped out. look a

when we talk about carly fiorina, she spoke yesterday with hallie jackson. i want to listen to a little bit of what she had to say and get your take. >> you know, i think donald trump clearly has a problem with women. clearly. i mean, the week we had a terrorist attack in brussels, he attacked heidi cruz. so i think hillary clinton sometimes says to people vote for me because i'm a woman. i'm offended, frankly, when democrats talk about womens issues because we're the majority of the nation. and every issue that faces this nation is a woman's issue. >> hearing carly fiorina speak like that versus of course donald trump and in some ways against hillary clinton, how well will that argument play? will her argument play with those female republican voters that are so desperately needed and wanted? >> that's certainly an argument that many on the right make, that all issues are womens issues and womens issues are not relegated to issues of reproductive health and equal pay. what carly fiorina said there is quite in keeping with many conservatives. she was very to

hallie jackson in indianapolis for us. >>> kasie hunt is following the stop trump movement, also taking a look at this stop trump alliance. it is not about stopping trump so much but is it expected to impact any of these stop trump efforts at all? >> reporter: that's where there's a little bit of confusion, if you're an naindia voter, you have these two candidates saying we will work together to try to accomplish this common goal, then saying i'm not ready to tell my supporters who to vote for. john kasich was on with savannah guthrie and matt lauer earlier this morning. he had a hard time answering that question. it's possible we do not have that sound. you ref reynolds on the "today" show he wouldn't say necessarily who indiana voters should back in this upcoming primary. talking to sources on the ground in indiana, the question that they're asking, particularly those who have been working on behalf of kasich is whether or not this deal is going to influence those voters. they say as they talk to people, they're getting a couple different reactions. they're getting at first sound disa

hallie jackson and jacob rascon are covering the gop side of things for us. good morning to both. let me start with you, jacob, in new york city's capital. we now know what happened over the weekend in places like colorado. but weren't these private meetings and strategy sessions that trump's been having supposed to prevent this from happening? >> well, they're all going on at the same time. when he was not in colorado and not in california, which he canceled those events, he was meeting some of that time with his team. i want to show you around, if you don't mind. this is the arena we have, that trump is going to have his event tonight in albany. seats many thousands of people. police have already started blocking off some of the street. i want to show you the first supporter we have so far, and his car. we'll go over and show you how it says go trump. his name is steve. we'll talk to him in just a minute. he does this over and over for different events, for different singers, for hockey players, and now for trump. here he is right here. so steve, why do you do this for trump? >>

nbc's hallie jackson is live to us in casper this morning, hallie? >> we're on a bit of a lunch break, folks are milling about here while the ballots are getting ready to be counted. the process will take a couple hours but when it's over later this afternoon we will know the 14 delegates of the 26 plus three unbound headed from wyoming to the national convention in cleveland come july. right now it looks as though ted cruz has the edge. he was the only candidate to speak here today and i want to show you the shirts all over here. "cowboys for cruz 2016." we've been seeing these on a lot of people. cruz has a big presence at the convention, at that particular state convention. one gentleman is preferring a couple people here. they picked cruz delegates or kasich delegates or trump delegates. you can choose undecided delegates and i spoke with one gentleman who said that is his pick why he wants wyoming to be wooed at the national convention. he wants toll pigss to drill down into wyoming issues. as he said, hey, if you give him -- we want the dinner

hallie jackson is following the cruz campaign in madison. hallie, bigger picture here, obviously ted cruz needs to win in wisconsin tomorrow but what about that idea of turning the tide, reversing the momentum in other states? how confident are they they can make that happen? >> reporter: so let's take bra he can that down into a couple different pieces. let's start off with what's happening here in wisconsin because that's got to happen first in order for ted cruz and his campaign to make the argument they want to make which is they are best positioned in the calendar moving forward. two reasons why wisconsin is different and key for ted cruz. number one, it's an open primary and number two you're seeing a more moderate conservative in this state. that is something that cruz has not been able to sort of lock down at least in previous states that he has won. essentially this state, wisconsin, looks different than other states that cruz has done well in. his one campaign aid said to me it looks more like michigan than iowa. iowa cruz sailed t

hallie jackson covering the cruz campaign. wisconsin was supposed to be the turning point, now the day after new york maybe this feels a little different. what's the game plan for the cruz campaign? >> reporter: listen, bracing for a rough week after donald trump dominated last night in new york. he looks poised to do very well next week in the northeast and midatlantic states but cruz is keeping an eye on those 54 unbound delegates in this state. a campaign aide telling us they expect to get two dozen of the delegates, so 24, plus pick up another six in maryland. those are the states that cruz will be focusing on. here in hershey, there's a kiss mobile out front, home of hershey chocolate. this is the delegate slate that the cruz campaign is looking to put out there. these are people who have committed to supporting senator ted cruz if this does go to a second ballot or even a first ballot considering they are unbound in pennsylvania. cruz himself is talking about his path to victory here, his path to the nomination. remember

i believe we have hallie jackson standing by. actually, we're going to go to kasie hunt. she's standing by with the latest on the sanders campaign. and kasie, you know, we make so much about whose turf it is in new york. hillary clinton obviously considering this her second home. and she was senator representing this, but this is also supposed to be bernie sanders' home turf as well. so when he is behind 14 points, what does the campaign say about it? >> the numbers are tough for bernie sanders right now, tamron. but we should expect over the course of the next couple of days a show of force from the sanders campaign in terms of what has been their ongoing advantage all the way along. that's the people who are willing to show up. i want to show you, this is the line to get into his event in syracuse. you guys have been standing here for how many hours? five hours. four hours. she's a half hour. sorry. there were people here this morning at 7:00 in the morning. well before that 2:00 start time for this event. now we're also expecting several really large rallies in the cit

nbc's peter alexander and hallie jackson are out on the trail this morning. peter, with more on the potential truce this morning, what do we know? >> reporter: so you know about that meeting obviously, megyn kelly made her comments, this was a strange stand off, this would have been her first first interaction in months. one of the videos they play to introduce the candidate begins with megyn kelly saying and here he is, that always ee policities boos at these events, donald trump in the recent past has called her overrated, said things like she is crazy. we do have some reporting that's coming from "the new york times" as well, they talk about what may be a desire to mend fences more broadly for donald trump with fox news, the fact that according to the "new york times" trump went to fox news' headquarters on the avenue of the americas and met for lunch with the fox news chairman roger ailes as well, you can see some of that reports there. but that's notable is megyn kelly isn't just a large television star, she's also representative of what's been a real ch

kasie hunt, katy tur, and hallie jackson as well. first to you, kasie. bernie sanders, the overnight flight to the vatican. we don't know whether or not he'll see pope francis but already, he has had the paparazzi around him and he's talking about, you know, why he left the campaign trail to speak about economic justice in rome. >> a brief address to this conference he's there attending and focusing on the things we've heard from him all across the course of this campaign talking about global financial deregulation that he says has driven a lot of the problems that the country and frankly, the world face. standing on a stage that, you know, he probably wouldn't have had the chance to stand on had he not mounted such a spirited insurgent campaign against hillary clinton and you have him explain this trip that way saying this was essentially a bucket list item, this is something if he didn't do it, he would just regret it for the rest of his life. there, you can see him getting off the plane in rome. they flew overnight after the debate and after that spee

hallie jackson, kristen welker and kasie hunt. it is a beautiful day but it's even nicer for me when i get a chance to work with you. >> in person. >> i know. >> let me turn to you hallie first. we've mentioned trump and the other candidates. >> let's talk about cruz and then john kasich. ted cruz today not even in new york which is significant about what he thinks his chances are here. instead he's in philadelphia where he'll be watching the results roll in. the campaign believes pennsylvania is a place they can pick up delegates. maryland too they'll look to but also look ahead to indiana on may 3rd. that's a place they believe they can slow trump down and the stop trump movement might get involved as well. for john kasich, i just got off the phone with a top strategist for his campaign and this source is saying that, hey, places like connecticut and rhode island could be very good for john kasich. he's polling in second place in new york city here. >> and there, by the way, as we speak, sorry to interrupt you. there's mr. trump

here with us now, one of the reporters who also deserves combat pay, hallie jackson, who covers cruz. >> for the record, not my camera that hit you in the head. >> so you say. >> allegedly. >> one of your many cams that was there almost hit me in the head. so you asked about what i was going to ask about if i had been called on, which is cruz talking about new york values as a negative thing. how does a guy who trashes new york, including today a little bit, mostly trash new york liberals. >> that's what it is. >> appealing to new yorkers. >> for two and a half months, you said it mark and you heard it from him today. he is shifting a little bit, right. he is calling it liberal democratic values that just so happen to be here in new york. so he is trying to make the case to conservatives in places like western new york. which is another place he talked about. did you notice that? he said, hey, people in western new york, they get what i'm talking about. it's the same argument that he made against donald trump months ago and talked about pennsylvania, which is another place he wants to

i want to turn now to nbc's hallie jackson. if you were with us at the top of the hour you saw hallie was there at that press availability that senator ted cruz had just moments ago. we saw her ask twice to get some reaction to this word of collusion and, hallie, you couldn't really get an answer out of the senator on that one. >> reporter: what he did, erica, i'm going to speak in a bit of a golf whisper because we are at his event and it's a rather small room and we don't want to be too disruptive, but he continued to pivot to point donald trump as a sore loser and a whiner. he didn't address this as to whether this is collusion, an attack line donald trump and his aides have pushed already. so what cruz is trying to do is push trump to debate him here in indiana. that is why he continued to pivot to that. he said that donald trump keeps complaining and keeps whining. this is a line that we've heard in the past. he also acknowledged that this teaming up between his campaign and governor kasich's campaign could do what they ul

hallie jackson in the bronx. thanks for that. joined now by tim miller, a senior adviser to the anti-trump, our principles pac. he was with jeb bush's campaign before that. so there's that term, a turning point. cruz said it was a turning point last night in wisconsin, but i'm looking ahead to new york and there's a chance based on those poll numbers, donald trump goes 95 for 95 for the delegates in new york, and what comes after that? the northeast, maryland, connecticut, rhode island, pennsylvania, tell me if i'm wrong. we get to the end of this month and we say, what turning point? donald trump just swept the rest of april? >> you guys always need different turning points and different inflection points to talk about on cable news. so we'll see what happens. but here's what was a turning point last night. is after donald trump getting whooped in wisconsin, it is very, very tough for him to get to the 1,237 delegates he needs to become the nominee. and basically, what wisconsin did was guarantee this is good news for you guys,

steve. >> jacob rascon in albany and hallie jackson back in the studio. if ted cruz -- the strategy obviously to win the nomination is to do what he did in colorado, if he can do it elsewhere, pick off delegates -- >> iowa, south carolina. >> technically they could do that, but this argument that trump is hiring back with, this idea this is undemocratic, if trump comes in there with the most votes, the most delegates, the most states won, is the cruz campaign thinking at all about how that looks if that's how they win it. >> and the messaging on that because that is something that the cruz campaign is going to have to do is explain what is a complicated delegate system, they don't have the advantage of your big board to be able to break it down for people. when you ask them about the messaging the campaign will say and has to see me think of it kind of like a football game. it's this idea just because you made it to the red zone doesn't mean they should give you the touchdown. you have to make it over the goal line. the rules are the rules. will that be a

. >> nbc hally jackson is in delaware where trump is scheduled to speak in a few hours from now. what's the reaction to cruz? >> reporter: we'll see what trump has to say here at 4:00 this afternoon a couple of hours away. will be surprising if trump did not talk about this. he's on top of the headline and he likes to come out and defend himself at times at rallies like this one. we had a long line of people waited to get in and they are all headed inside now. we can talk about it though, what cruz and his campaign is trying to do and take trump on. cruz, you mentioned of the new facebook video. let's play omnivosome of that a we'll talk about it online. >> guess who's joining the ranks of the pc police? >> people go and use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. >> donald trump cannot be trusted with common sense. why would we trust him in the white house? >> so kate, this is an attack on trump on two fronts. one on his conservative credentials. something that cruz had been for months now since january when he let go of that and embraced of what he's been doing in 2015. he'

the gop race tonight and covering the cruz campaign, hailey hallie jackson standing by in milwaukee tonight. >> reporter: i'm here with one of ted cruz's spokesmen. we heard again and again from the governor and ted cruz is turning point. how do you see this victory in wisconsin as it propelz you moving into states where ted cruz doesn't look like such a natural fit, new york and pennsylvania? >> there's some important lessons to learn from the election results here tonight. three weeks ago we were down by 20 points and two weeks ago we were down by 10 points and a week ago things started to change and we started to move ahead and the reason why that happened is that voters in wisconsin got to know ted cruz. ted and heidi engaging people directly. when people got to know him, they embraced him and rejected donald trump. did shows when we engage those numbers turn around and we expect to see that in every state where we engage going forward. >> do you feel that the field is more difficult as you move forward. you look at new york and while aids are telling us there are maybe some districts w

nbc's hallie jackson has why on trump says the system is not fair. >> reporter: on message -- >> it's a rigged, disgusting, dirty system. >> reporter: -- on repeat. >> we're not going to take it anymore. it's a corrupt system. >> reporter: donald trump railing against the rules and his rivals insisting the system's stacked against him. >> when everything is done, i find out i get less delegates than this guy that got his [ bleep ] kicked. give me a break. >> reporter: trump frustrated getting outmaneuvered in the delegate hunt. the head of the republican party responding. >> this is an organizational process that candidates have to be involved with from the very beginning. it's date by date, contest by contest. there's nothing mysterious about this. >> reporter: nbc news analysis shows trump benefits from the system as it stands now. he's won 37% of the popular vote, but has 45% of the delegates, because of how rules work. still, trump's tirade sparking outrage about the process on both side of the aisle. this moment from "morning joe" going viral. >> why does the democratic party eve

meanwhile, hallie jackson with the cruz campaign. hallie, play this out for us. obviously, ted cruz needs to win wisconsin tonight, but beyond that, to go forward, get momentum out of this, deny trump the nomination and win it for himself. where would ted cruz go from tonight if he gets the win he's looking for? >> look at where he's talking about, even as he's in wisconsin, steve. you heard him say that he believes wisconsin looks a lot more like indiana and pennsylvania than other states where he's done well. which is a hint to where the campaign is looking to moving forward. also looking to a place like new york, obviously, the next primary up. even though a campaign aide has acknowledged that looks pretty bumpy for ted cruz, like a more natural fit for donald trump. i'm told the campaign is certainly not conceding new york to trump, even though it is sort of his home state, at least one of them, that and florida. the cruz campaign is feeling optimistb about their chances in wisconsin. they think they will pull off a double-digit win. that's key moving forward