Rubio Blasts Cruz For "Offensive" Campaign Tactics; Cruz Fires Top Staffer Amid Claims Of Dirty Tricks; Trump: Cruz Is The "Biggest Liar In Politics"; Presidential Candidates Weigh In; Candidate Confusion; Voters Struggling To Name Presidential Contenders.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN AC360 ANCHOR: We got more and all of that over the next hour starting with the Republicans and our Jim Acosta.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Riding high into Nevada, Donald Trump is holding the best hand in the battle for the GOP nomination. For starters, his two main rivals, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are busy attacking each other.</s>SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R-FL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every single day, something comes out of the Cruz campaign that's deceptive and untrue.</s>ACOSTA: Rubio began the day demanding that Cruz fire somebody over a video distributed by the Texas senator's campaign, that falsely accused the Florida Republican of dismissing the Bible. The video misquotes Rubio is saying about the Bible, "Got a good book there. Not many answers in it. But actually Rubio says, "All of the answers are in it. A blatant fabrication. Top Cruz spokesman, Rick Tyler who circulated the video apologized Rubio on Facebook, for quote, "Posting an inaccurate story about him. Well Rubio snapped, that's not good enough.</s>RUBIO: At some point there has to be some level of accountability otherwise your running an operation we're sending the message to people that work for you, go out and do anything you want and if you get caught, we'll just apologize but we'll keep doing it.</s>ACOSTA: Hours later, Cruz stunned the campaign world, announced he's asked Tyler to step down.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And this morning I asked for Rick Tyler's resignation. I had made clear in this campaign that we will conduct this campaign with the very highest standards of integrity.</s>ACOSTA: The bogus attack on Rubio is the latest incident raising questions about how Cruz has conducted his campaign. Trump seized on the flap tweeting, more dirty tricks. Trump is also getting help in the form of an unforced error from John Kasich whose awkward remark about the women backing his first state senate campaign in the late 1970s annoyed one supporter.</s>GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R-OH) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've just got an army of people who -- and many women who left their kitchens to go out and go door to door and put yard signs up for me.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First off, I want to say your comment about the women came out of the kitchen to support you. I'll come to support you but I won't be coming out of the kitchen.</s>KASICH: I got you, I got you.</s>ACOSTA: Kasich later explained it was an off the cuff remark.</s>KASICH: I'm real and maybe sometimes I might say something that isn't artfully said the way it should.</s>ACOSTA: Trump who also commanding lead in the delegate count and his poised to wrap up another big victory in Nevada, is boasting his support comes in all shapes and sizes.</s>DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So we won with everything. We won with highly educated, pretty well educated and poorly educated. But we won with everything. Tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people. Just won.</s>ACOSTA: But Rubio who spent part of his childhood in Nevada and his supporters are getting aggressive. A pro-Rubio Super PAC started airing this new attack ad pounding Trump and Cruz.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump erratic, unreliable. Cruz, calculated, underhanded.</s>ACOSTA: And Rubio is attracting more establishment support picking up new GOP endorsements.</s>TIM PAWLENTLY, FMR MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: This is a three-way race. At the moment it's a practical matters between Rubio, Cruz and Trump. There's some others in the race but I don't think they'll be in the race that much longer.</s>ACOSTA: Some in the party want Kasich to drop out and funnel his support to Rubio. Kasich laughed off that idea.</s>KASICH: I think it's funny. I think it's funny, I think it's ridiculous.</s>COOPER: Jim, what's the fallout of Cruz firing Rick Tyler?</s>ACOSTA: Anderson, I think it's pretty damaging to a campaign to have a communications director step down over a dirty trick. As one campaign veteran once told me, you never want the staff to be the story and that's what happened here. In addition to being untrue, it was just plain dumb. Nobody questions Marco Rubio's faith. And now you have Marco Rubio and Donald Trump slamming Cruz as dishonest. A Rubio spokesperson sent us a statement earlier today saying, "There is a culture in the Cruz campaign from top to bottom that no lie is too big. Trump has been hammering this theme for weeks." And tonight he can come out to this crowd in Las Vegas and say, I told you so. So this was a tough day for Ted Cruz. Tough day for John Kasich, and the beneficiary primarily was Donald Trump. Anderson?</s>COOPER: Jim Acosta, thanks. We update more now on the Cruz shake-up. As you saw video in Jim -- Jim's report his top opponents, their surrogate supporters have been speaking out. Listen to what Idaho Senator James Risch, Rubio supporter said today in "The Situation Room".</s>SEN. JAMES RISCH, (R) IDAHO: Rick Tyler wasn't the problem, isn't the problem. This thing has gone on for some time. Look, I was there in Iowa on the ground when the rumor started flying that Ben Carson was going to drop out and people should consolidate with Cruz. I was astonished. I asked people, where is this coming from? They said it was coming from the Cruz campaign. So it started then and then there was this apology that came out. Then of course you got the photoshopped picture of Marco Rubio shaking hands with President Obama with their left hands and heads place on the wrong thing. Then the (inaudible). This is a cultural problem within this campaign.</s>COOPER: Joining us now is Cruz supporter and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Ken, I mean, a rough day obviously for Senator Cruz having to get his Communications Director resignation, although he just called him a staffer. Is this a problem -- a more systemic problem inside the campaign?</s>KEN CUCCINELLI, FMR VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: No, we've run a campaign in the highest integrity from the beginning. And when something like this happens, the Senator acted with decisive action, asked Rick to resign. And, in fact, Rick did resign. And this is -- we're never going to be a campaign that questions the faith of other candidates. That's not going to happen. And Senator Cruz made that exceptionally clear in the clearest way he could today by asking for the resignation of the Communications Director. And so, we're trying to turn back to the things that actually matter to Americans lives like getting a flat tax, to wipe out the special interest groups, benefits and to improve our economy. And to address the concerns that people in Nevada and the Super Tuesday states are talking about. And that's, you know, how do we get our economy going again and Ted's plan to do that. As well as fighting ISIS at the border and ...</s>COOPER: So you don't think voters care if a candidate is doing dirty tricks or putting -- photoshopping a candidate's head on someone else's body and putting out flyers or spreading rumors?</s>CUCCINELLI: I think what Republican voters care most about is finding a candidate who's got a track record of fighting against Washington, going down to the Senate floor, telling the truth about what's going on, even among Republican senators.</s>COOPER: So how do you explain ...</s>CUCCINELLI: Including our leadership, when they're wrong? Pardon me?</s>COOPER: How do you explain the photoshopped flyer?</s>CUCCINELLI: You know, that's just graphics. It's making a visual point. It's not a substantive point. Substance is what's your plan to get the economy going again? What is your record in voting and leading in Washington to defeat the establishment?</s>COOPER: So if a news organization put a picture ...</s>CUCCINELLI: Ted Cruz is the only candidate in the history of the world has gone to Iowa and told the good people of Iowa that big corn and ethanol has to go and won Iowa.</s>COOPER: So, if a news organization ...</s>CUCCINELLI: And that's what we need.</s>COOPER: ... superimposed your head on somebody else's body shaking President Obama's hand you'd have no problem with that as long as you thought people knew it was some sort of dramatic representation?</s>CUCCINELLI: My first concern is always going to be, is what they're saying there correct or not. And the substance of what we've been saying is absolutely correct.</s>COOPER: Interesting. So if Cruz's rivals, especially Trump and Rubio, they've obvious been trying to paint your candidate as untrustworthy and response today's news, Trump tweeted, "Wow. Ted Cruz falsely suggested Marco Rubio mocked the Bible was just forced to fire his Communications Director. More dirty tricks." Obviously, for accuracy, it wasn't Cruz himself saying this, it was Rick Tyler in a tweet.</s>CUCCINELLI: Right.</s>COOPER: I mean, are you concerned that the trust question, though, could hurt him tomorrow and beyond?</s>CUCCINELLI: Well, trust is always a big deal. I mean, Americans don't trust anything in politics. They don't trust you all in the media. They don't trust people in Washington. And you need to overcome that, you need a track record. And Ted's track record goes all the way back to when he was a teenager memorizing the constitution and making his way around Texas teaching people about it through being the solicitor general, winning awards as the Texas solicitor general that Democrats supported him getting for what a good job he did defending the constitution. And then moving on to the Senate and continuing that as the only consistent conservative in this race.</s>COOPER: If, you know, if your candidate doesn't win Texas, is that it for him?</s>CUCCINELLI: Obviously, a home state is absolutely critical. We're not going to make any bones about that. You have to win your home state, really, to have a viable path forward. And right now, with Ted's popularity in Texas, we see him heading to -- cruising in his case, with a see to a victory there. And we expect to do well in Super Tuesday. He's invested, I think, more time than any other candidate in the Super Tuesday states. And we have more cash on hand than all the other campaigns combined. So we're prepared for that next week's worth of battles in all of the states as the race goes from one state at a time to national.</s>COOPER: Ken Cuccinelli, appreciate it. We'll be covering it all. Thanks very much from Las Vegas. More now on tomorrow's caucuses. They re joining us is Adam Khan, chairman of the Washoe County Republican Party, also CNN political commentator and former senior Mitt Romney advisor, Kevin Madden and CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger. Gloria, I mean, the shake-up at the Cruz campaign, Rick Tyler and we've had him on this program a lot, you know, on the heels of this -- the photoshopped picture and the other things, how do you see it playing out in Nevada and beyond?</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, you know, Trump, according to recent polls is the prohibited favorite in Nevada. It's a caucus. So who really knows what's going to happen? Because, you know, the ground game really matters in a caucus. Trump has spend a bunch of time in Vegas and his name is on the top of a hotel there. So he's well known. I think what this whole Cruz Brouhaha does, is it reinforces a pre- existing condition which is the story line that Cruz is a liar, which, like many things in this campaign, the tempo was set by Donald Trump who originally called Cruz a liar. Then Rubio sort of picked it up and ran with the same theme. And Cruz found himself on the defensive to the point where today he had to fire someone and I think as a result, he may have sort of stoked the flames of the story line rather than extinguishing it.</s>COOPER: Adam, what do you think about this? I mean because you just heard from Ken Cuccinelli said "This isn't what Republicans care about."</s>ADAM KHAN, CHAIRMAN WASHOE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: You know, it really is then I here in Nevada, Gloria brought it up, you know it's all about the ground limits about the issues that matters in Nevada voters. I saw just recently Ted Cruz put on that saying that he wants to return federal lands. You know, anyone who's from Nevada knows 85 percent of Nevada's lands are owned by the federal government. So the things it's smart for candidate like Ted Cruz and even Marco Rubio said at a rally earlier up today that we want to return those lands to the, you know, to the Nevadans. So it's going to be interesting to see what plays out tomorrow. But one thing that needs to be said is, you know, Donald Trump's popularity, you know, maybe he's got a tower in the south but he's not as popular as people might think. And in a state where the ground game is crucial, I tell you someone is being working on the ground here. The Rubio and Cruz campaign are much more organized and they've been here for months doing the work that's Trump should have been doing back in October.</s>COOPER: Kevin, do you think Trump is vulnerable in terms of ground demo?</s>KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, certainly vulnerability. I think that's the -- I think Donald Trump is trying to continue in many of these contest the old model with his new model. The idea that you can go in there and dominate earned media, that you can dominate the local television coverage that the momentum at a critical time like this is probably more important than whether or not you have people out knocking on doors. So it's, you know, if that, when he tried to test that approach in Iowa, he didn't win. But now that he's got the momentum with big wins in New Hampshire, big wins in South Carolina, I think he does have a certain advantage. He has the wind at his back as he goes into Nevada.</s>COOPER: And Adam you're expecting the record turnout?</s>KHAN: Yeah, we know, we go to the rallies. You see the candidates, their events. We're going to have an all-time high. What's interesting though is I think that Cruz and Rubio are going to be the reason why we have that high turnout. Even organizing they've been clung their voters, getting their support together. And I just don't see -- and, you know, Kevin is talked about the wind at the back of Donald Trump. I don't see as he won South Carolina with, you know, with 30 some percent. I see that 65 percent of South Carolina did not vote for Donald Trump. And I think that, you know, you looked around the country. He's really hit a ceiling. So I think he's going to have an issue going into Super Tuesday. And he starts losing some of the southern states, I think there's a big issue in the Trump campaign.</s>COOPER: And yet Gloria, as long as there are multiple other candidates out there, that vote that's not going to Trump is divided.</s>BORGER: Right. And you know, conversely, Rubio has to start winning somewhere. Trump may lose somewhere but Rubio has to start winning. And that's, you know, that's really his issue. And Rubio has kind of coalesced or the beginnings of the so-called establishment coalescing around Rubio. Some of the Jeb Bush money. Former donors for Jeb may go to Rubio, and that's, you know, that's good for him. He's organized but he's still in this tight race with Cruz over second place. And at some point, you have to win somewhere. And Rubio hasn't won anywhere yet. And, you know, he's somebody who spent his childhood in Nevada, right? So he has a story to tell in that state which he's been telling about growing up there to a degree. So maybe the voters of Nevada will see him in a way of kind os a favorite son to a degree. We just -- we don't know.</s>COOPER: And Kevin, Kasich says, look, he laughed about the idea of him getting out. How big a problem does he oppose for Rubio?</s>MADDEN: What -- I think it depends on the state. If you look at a place like Nevada, you know, John Kasich and Adam could probably attest to this. He's not as well organized there. He's got limited organizations in some of these March 1 states. But the simple fact that he has, you know, 8 or 9 percent in some of those states that Marco Rubio would love to have in order to try and take on Donald Trump, you know, he is an important factor. I think he's going to continue to look at March 15th, John Kasich is, March 15th and his prospects in Ohio. And that is a crucial window where Marco Rubio really has to consolidate some of that anti-Trump or the alternative to Trump vote if he's going to start to pick up the momentum he's going to need to start overcoming -- overtaking Donald Trump in the delicate fight.</s>COOPER: Adam, I got to ask you this one. Are you officially endorsing a candidate?</s>KHAN: Well, I'm going to officially endorse the Republican nominee. And I think that Nevadans are sophisticated voters that need to realize that, when they go to the caucus tomorrow, they need to vote for the person that's actually conservative and someone who's going to unite this country instead of perpetuate the divisions that we've seen over the past seven years.</s>COOPER: And this your personal -- go ahead.</s>KHAN: I'll attest to what Kevin said about Kasich. You know, every candidates, you know, in Reno today or tomorrow and they've been in yesterday. The only candidate that has not come to Nevada this past week is John Kasich. So I think he's not really too worried about Nevada and he's looking at those Super Tuesday states and hoping his donors can keep him well until mid-February or mid-March can get those midwest states.</s>COOPER: And I understand your entire family is Muslim. What do you make of Donald Trump's comments about temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States?</s>KHAN: Well, I think it shows that he has a rudimentary knowledge of the constitution. I think anyone who studied history knows that the people came to this country. They came here for religious freedoms. So the most un-American thing that you can do is persecute someone for who they believing. You know, that's no better than the country that my father came from. They're hanging people on the streets for, you know, they're worshiping your god that's not theirs. So we can be like them and, you know, I support those type of that type of rhetoric or we can decide that, hey, we're going to stick to the constitution and we're not going to do those things. So I think voters have a lot to look at tomorrow.</s>COOPER: So if Trump is the nominee, I hate to put him in spot, but if he's the nominee, would you support him?</s>KHAN: I will support the Republican nominee. And I think that what's more important and I think is making sure that the Clintons aren't allowed to move back from the White House. There's nothing that can be worse for American prosperity than a Clinton administration. And I think the American voters realize that. And I think that the Republican nominee will be a true conservative that's willing to lead this nation.</s>COOPER: Adam Khan, is good to have you in the program, Kevin Medden, Gloria Borger, thank you again. A reminder, Thursday night, CNN Republican Debate from Houston. Wolf Blitzer moderates. Begins 8:30 Eastern time on CNN. And just ahead tonight, the Democrats going into tomorrow's South Carolina, CNN Town Hall and Saturday's Primary there, including Bernie Sanders who umped up his attacks in Hillary Clinton's campaign financing. And later, what's in a name, namely Donald Trump's name. It's on buildings and properties around the world. The question is how much if he does really own? Drew Griffin tonight looks at that his business ahead on Thursday.