Trump, Cruz Call on Kasich to Drop Out
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So it went from telling him to get the hell out to calling him now downright stubborn. New calls this morning from Donald Trump for John Kasich to withdraw from the presidential contest, something Ted Cruz is also calling for. This is what Donald Trump said a few minutes ago.</s>DONALD TRUMP, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he has 32 losses and one victory. That had I spent another day in Ohio, I would have won, but I wanted to make sure I won in Florida. But we won really -- you know what I mean? It's pretty close. He's won 32. So I don't think he should stay. If you think of it, Jeb did better than him, right? Marco did much better than him. Many people did much better than him and they got out. He's a stubborn guy. Let him play the game. But I believe he hurt me than more than the others.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was this morning at a retail stop. CNN's Jim Acosta is joining us from Milwaukee. Jim, you don't see Trump doing a lot of retail politics. He's sure putting up a fight in Wisconsin is what that shows, huh?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. He's concerned about losing the race. On the scoreboard in the campaign, Trump has not lost a lot of primaries. He's loses came in caucus states. So if Ted Cruz pulls this off today, it does change the narrative of this race. It shows Donald Trump is a potentially weakened front runner. Conversely, if he comes from behind and wins the state of Wisconsin, hold onto your hats. This means he is essentially in control of this race and Ted Cruz and him are going to start wrapping things up. Speaking of hats, earlier this morning, Donald Trump was invited --- speaking of the campaign stop you just mentioned, Kate -- invited to put on a cheese head. Ted Cruz apparently declined to do that yesterday. Donald Trump did as well. Listen to the historical reasons that the real estate tycoon laid out for declining that invitation. Here's what he had to say.</s>TRUMP: I've seen too much of Michael Dukakis.</s>TRUMP: You understand?</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The helmet.</s>TRUMP: That was one of the great mistakes of history, putting on the helmet. No, I'll take a pass.</s>ACOSTA: there you go. Trying to figure out what the big deal is.</s>BOLDUAN: Do it. Do it.</s>ACOSTA: Kate, sometimes they're sensitive about the hair.</s>BERMAN: Oh, my.</s>ACOSTA: This is one size too small.</s>BOLDUAN: It doesn't fit on your head. That's how big your head is, Jim Acosta.</s>ACOSTA: It's just a crown.</s>BOLDUAN: It's just a crown.</s>ACOSTA: I don't see what the big deal is. Why can't the candidates put it on?</s>BOLDUAN: I don't know.</s>BOLDUAN: I'm about to tweet that picture out. That's why.</s>BERMAN: Jim Acosta, you are a brave man.</s>ACOSTA: I think it was on just long enough.</s>BERMAN: I think you're right.</s>BOLDUAN: Just long enough.</s>ACOSTA: Let the gifts begin.</s>BERMAN: Winner of the Wisconsin primary. Jim Acosta, thank you so much. Appreciate it.</s>ACOSTA: Thanks, John.</s>BERMAN: I want to bring in Trent Duffy. He's the national communications advisor and spokesperson for the Kasich campaign.</s>BOLDUAN: Who's also going to put on the cheesehead.</s>BERMAN: It might come to that. He knows what a political mistake that is all the time. Trent, how's John Kasich going to do in Wisconsin tonight. Is Kasich going to win?</s>TRENT DUFFY, NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR & SPOKESMAN, JOHN KASICH PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: No, but he's going to win the state but he'll win some delegates, some congressional districts and further demonstrate where Kasich is completing and winning are those suburbs, swing districts that elect the president of the United States in a general election. That continues to be his path to victory by showing he's the only one that with can beat Hillary Clinton. We've got three more months to go, 16 states after Wisconsin. The map starts to favor John Kasich, who's returned to Pennsylvania and to the northeast and mid-Atlantic. And as he continues to get traction, you are seeing these two other campaigns calling for him to get out, so they have a free pass, which is a stark change from what they've been saying, which is let the voters decide. Apparently, they don't want the voters to decide. They want him to bow out and hand the nomination to Donald Trump. That's not going to happen.</s>BOLDUAN: Well, Trent, the voters have decided in a lot of states already. You guys have a Midwestern governor running right now and you have not won in any states other than Ohio. Why haven't you guys been doing better?</s>DUFFY: We have done pretty well in Michigan. The field has been very saturated up until now. I think in Wisconsin, you see the establishment, frankly, aligning behind Ted Cruz. But he's claiming to be the anti establishment candidate. We think John Kasich is the anti-establishment candidate because he's not getting big names like Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and the like. But going forward, since people get to see he has the only record, which is why Donald Trump and Ted Cruz wants them out, because they don't have a record like John Kasich, balancing budgets, streaming-lining government and making it work for the men and women of this country. That's why they want to take the spotlight off him and hope he goes away, and he's not going to.</s>BERMAN: Let's talk nuts and bolts. We both have a hard time understanding how you win the nomination. Let's figure out how you win at the convention.</s>DUFFY: Absolutely.</s>BERMAN: How do you plan to do it? What ballot would Kasich win on at the convention?</s>DUFFY: It's impossible to predict, John. No candidate is going to have that 1,237 we've been talking about for several weeks now. It's going to be very clear after today that Donald Trump's path gets really, really bumpy and then it gets tougher for Ted Cruz. He's not going to be able to do it either.</s>BERMAN: To be clear, it gets more tougher for you than anybody. You say it's tougher for Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. You're trailing Marco Rubio in this campaign, and he's not running.</s>DUFFY: That's right. I was going to get to it, which is we get to an open convention where the delegates who have pledged for John Kasich are for him and then there are others who are unbound, go to other candidates. There are others still to come where they're not bound and you get to a second, third, or some other ballot, and the party delegates, the people deciding the best path forward for the Republican party, representing its agenda, values, and which candidate can best win in November, you take a good hard look and that's John Kasich.</s>BOLDUAN: Trent, going forward, does Kasich win any other states?</s>DUFFY: We're certainly going to work hard to do that, Kate. He's going to Pennsylvania. We're tied for first there. I think you had a Trump supporter earlier --</s>BOLDUAN: You think you can be the nominee if you only have one state heading into the convention?</s>DUFFY: We feel good about going to an open convention and having delegates look at who's best able to represent the party, best able to represent our values, best able to unite Americans, get the country going again, and beat Hillary Clinton in November.</s>BOLDUAN: Uniting Americans, what about uniting Republicans in a primary?</s>DUFFY: They're starting that right now. Three candidates left. It's the first time John Kasich has had a platform, able to talk to people about this record of job creation, cutting taxes. That's just starting to get traction. That's why we're going to do well in Wisconsin and win some congressional districts and move on to New York and Pennsylvania and some other states. There's still a long way to go. Look what happened last week. I mean, you saw an implosion by Donald Trump, the front-runner. What is -- we still don't know about Donald Trump. He hasn't released his taxes. We still don't know a lot about Donald Trump. And I think as the race goes forward, the people are going to realize he's not the guy.</s>BERMAN: Trent Duffy, come see us when you come to New York in the next two weeks. Appreciate it.</s>DUFFY: OK, you got it.</s>BOLDUAN: Thanks, Trent. It's not only a crucial vote today for Republicans, but it's also the battle. And the battle is on between the Democrats. Bernie Sanders' campaign has said a loss in Wisconsin would be, quote, "devastating." How are they setting those expectations? How likely is that? Hillary Clinton isn't even in Wisconsin. What should that tell you? We're going hear from the Clinton campaign, coming up next.