there was nikki haley's address for the republican republican one. but the tea party republican one was given by a guy you've never heard of. his name is wayne alan root. huh? wayne alan root. i had to check twice to make sure that's the order of the words. but that is. wayne alan root. if you want a sense of the schism in the republican party right now, the divide right down the middle of that party, this is a very clear way to show that because the official republican republican response to the state of the union was nikki haley saying don't vote for donald trump. the official republican tea party response to the state of the union was given by this guy wayne alan root, who today debuted as a warm-up act and emcee for donald trump campaign rallies. >> i'm supporting donald j. trump because donald understands this isn't a picnic, this isn't a golf match with muffy at the country club, this isn't badminton, this is a war. you and i love trump because we know he'll go to washington and break it. he'll upset the apple cart. he'll derail the gravy train

on the republican side, republicans rely less on younger voters. younger voters make up a smaller portion of the republican primary and caucus electorates. we're talking about iowa and new hampshire, you're seeing some candidates say, hey, it's time for new leadership. marco rubio, for example, is one of the candidates in the republican -- fernando: well, i want to ask you about that, because he's made that argument in a very clear way. yet, he has, at least seemingly, very little traction in the polling. what do you think is the disconnect there? because younger voters make up a very small portion of the republican primary electorate, that's not an argument right now that's well-served for him, when it comes to taking down ted cruz and donald trump. but once they move to a general election, and it comes to facing the democratic nominee, cutting into the advantage that barack obama has had in the past two elections among younger voters is going to be essential for the republicans if they're going to compete in the general election. fernando: what w

i guess we should be expecting the unexpected now, but to have nicky haily, the republican, the republican response to the state of the union actually take a shot at the front-runner, and accuse him of being divisive. what could have been more divisive that she could possibly have said. >> she put little stink on it. she did not do diatribe against trump. she's allowed to not like donald trump, right? lou: of course, when she speaks for the party, i suppose her personal opinions respect the views and opinions of the party, that would be a new form of politics that only stirewalt knows. >> nikki haley is a valuable commodity for the republican party. lou: she's a terrific governor. >> successful governor of an important state. she's a woman. she is a mom. she is indian american, daughter of immigrants, she has a great story to tell. that's of value to the republican party. does absolute decorum demand that she take no swipe at donald trump? yes. you are absolutely right. absolute decorum would demand she not say anything about fellow republicans. lou: push decorum and good manners and judgm

smart for republican party to talk aboutivity. when they're trying to undo food stamp program all these other things that happens every time they talk about that. but i think you're right. by everything washington based republicans, congress, working on these things. either thehe can find way to score points or at least working on policy decisions while trump is running around the country. >> what's so interesting about this year is that mrs. clinton, on the democratic side, mrs. clinton is the establishment. leader on the republican side is rebuke to the establishment. the establishment using this sloppily in a broadway, is going to have to figure out what to do about this. do we just roll with this? suppose trump brings lot of independence and democrats in virginia. some of the republican party is in the position of happily letting new people in except they don't like the guy that are coming in. it's reallyy- it's complicated and strange year. >> dickerson: one more complexity, charles is quoted as saying the things i'm passiona

with the republican issues conference and there is a bit of a divide with strategy republicans control the house and the senate. very energized to say this is what we will do this is the policy agenda. we just '01 to repeal obamacare it is a replacement on tax reforme and trade and health care reform replacement.mitcg to mitch mcconnell doesn't want a lot of them going off ahead of the elections and he is happy to repeal obamacare. ed to come up with a lot of money with medicare and medicaid. we don't want to take those votes ahead in november. you can see this as the year evolves with the strategy to. >> host: if you have questions we will have democrats and republicans and independents.sion is there the eternal struggle? or is a a lopsided one where the other? >> we ask the question if he is unelectable with a socialist democrats too far left and out of the mainstream, he believes pretty much everything nancy pelosi and harry reid have that same agenda if he is unelectable then what is yours?but but the campaign to have that policycytr differences butw he gaveou sanders a truthhe ser

and republicans had 21 governors. since that time 31 republican governors big majority in the house, majority in the senate, his policies have been rejected by the american people but he doesn't want to hear that. >> dickerson: gun control question, donald trump has suggested getting rid of gun free zones in schools and military bases would you agree with that? >> i think for the military, i've said this before for attacks earlier in tennessee. that it seems ridiculous that military folks can carry a weapon with them. they're trained to do it. the best trained people. i would certainly be in favor of our military folks being able to carry weapons in those circumstances. on the gun free school zones they should be able to look on its own. >> dickerson: your record on assault weapons. when we last talked you said that originally you wanted to keep an assault weapons ban, those who wanted to get rid of it. in 2009 you were still supporter of the assault weapons ban that was after you'd been a prosecutor. >> what i said a

fernando caucusing differs : between democrats and republicans. for republicans, it is a matter s name on a piece of paper and totaling the numbers. tight. alright. hang tight. hang tight. fernando: democrats do a lot more wheeling and dealing. support one of these unviable candidates over here by sending anybody to help viability, maybe preventing somebody else from another camp, to get another delegate? fernando: goldford explains those caucusing often decide who t want to win and maneuver votes away from them. but he reminds us, while both parties go about caucusing differently, the result is the same. >> it provides an idea of what the local party thinks or their preference vote. >> the caucuses are a completely meaningless event with tremendous politcal impact. fernando: the delegates elected by the caucuses reflect candidate preferences, but they are non-binding. so they can cast their votes differently at the convention. historically, only 3 times since 1972 has the iowa caucus picked the eventual president -- jimmy carter in 1976, george b

republican. that trampleays give you a nomination. what do you think about that? guest: that is a good question. i reside in the junior these days. i come from the state of arkansas and represented arkansas. arkansas has an open primary, so you don't have to register party. you can go in and declare your party affiliation at the time you boat. i think that has been a debate that has gone on a long time. should the party be able to control who the nominee will be by having the members of the party select a nominee? i think there is a strong top republicans selecting the republican nominee and not having democrats crossover or independents influence the nominating process, but i think that is a debate that the people with honest opinions can disagree on. it's not something that will divide is too much and i hope it won't. will get aator rubio lot of democratic support as a go into the general election and i would be confident with him regardless of the process being open or closed. wille primary pr

it happens because the day that any republican candidate stood that climate change is real, that republican candidate would lose campaign contributions from the koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry. and that is a corrupt campaign uinance system is doingt to o country. and i say to my republican colleagues, think about your kids, think about your grandchildren, think about the future of this planet, stop worrying about where you are going to get your campaign contributions. what this campaign is about is asking people to think big not small. understand that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, when we stand together there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. turns out that the united kingdom provides health care to all of their people. germany does it. france does it. scandinavia does it. does it. does it, canada major country on earth guarantees health care to all their people is a right. we do not. now, i have been criticized for this but let me be honest and clear with everybody in this room and with the people of iowa . yes, i do believe that health care is a rig

, republican that. there is a thread there. which is, at this point if this gets to be a real problem, the elephant in the room for hillary clinton, everywhere she goes remains possible she could be indicted for a crime of a very serious nature. >> we're going to get to that. >> no matter what she does, that puts a stink on it. >> it's a pig pen in the peanuts, like, still there. and you're coming back in a little bit. in the meantime, mrs. clinton not only ran against bernie sanders but unloaded a couple times on those guys on the other side of the aisle, those republicans. >> we've got to do everything we cannot to let the republicans rip away the progress. >> karl rove is with us tonight. if you saw this, you could have thought she's looking forward to working with them cooperatively to get things done. >> sort of inconsistent. look. that was a side show. the main focus of her comments was continuity. i'm going to build on the legacy of barack obama. she wrapped herself as close as she could to him.

it is a burning issue in republican party circles and republican voters around the country but i don't think i dok anybody is having a serious conversation about that issue being made, either you giver people a clear path to citizenship or they live in the shadows. none of the republican candidates most likely to win a nomination are seriously finding a nuanced position between the two. it's all let's get them out of here and be done with that when it's not practical politics. >> lennie mcallister, help me understand, when you go to iowa, a lot of the work that gets done day to day in the fields in the stores in the restaurants working on trucks and grain elevators, is being done by people born in other places of the world. >> well there's a difference between being here legally and illegally. number one, the difference between having somebody work for you and everybody benefits from it versus some of the rhetoric that's out there which includes they're taking up our resources or schools or health care system, when you get to candidate rhetoric, you move away from presidential rhetoric

and, republicans versus republicans. is there a civil war in the grand old party? plus -- >> i' m angry that it is so fernando: any candidate running for office needs to send a voters. and if you live in iowa, new hampshire or south carolina, you have already seen more than your share of ads. which ads are effective, and which will backfire? peter fenn, president of the the winners and losers. peter: we are seeing commercials in iowa and new hampshire. fernando: what is your take so far? peter: the closer you get to the election, the more ads you will see, going after the last-minute deciders, folks who haven' t quite made up their mind, who are leaning toward one candidate or the other, and no candidate wants to be left out. so it' s kind of a war of campaign ads. but i tell you, i think in this cycle ads have played a much less important role than they have in the past. fernando: and what' s your theory, why is that? peter: well, i think that the debates have gotten huge audiences. i mean, you know, you get 24 million, 25 million, 18 million people watching these

here's a united states senator, republican, doesn't have support of one other republican senator. there's something wrong there. and i can tell you, they like me, those guys. and there's nothing wrong with that, folks. i told you, he's trying to paint me as part of the establishment. and somebody said establishment? well, how commissary ra palin just backed him? and you know what, there's a point at which, let's get to be a little establishment. we have to get things done, folks, okay? believe me, don't worry, we're going to make such great deals. but at a certain point, you can't be so strie gent. we've got to get along with people. >> and here's ted cruz's updated stump speech in new hampshire today where he has magically transformed donald trump into now the leader of the republican establishment. >> donald just a couple of days ago drew the difference between me and him. and he said look, ted won't go along to get along. he won't cut a deal. so if as a voter you think what we need is more republicans in washington to cut a deal with harry reid and nancy pelosi and chuck schume

it sounds to me like, doesn't necessarily mean that the republican party doesn't -- and the republican establishment doesn't have an interest in going after donald trump. but given that that's his appeal, the absolute wrong way to criticize him is by saying he's intemperate or an inappropriate personality. that will help him. that won't hurt him, because that's part of what people like about him. >> that's part of what people like about him. but then not just saying what you said, but taking the actions, as we -- as you reported several weeks ago, a few -- actually, last month in december, the secret meeting in washington between the leadership and mcconnell and others talking about what to do about donald trump. well, the answer to that is nothing. let the primary voters work this out on their own. they haven't cast a vote yet. so we still don't know exactly whether the numbers we're saying right now, rachel, will translate into turnout, into votes and caucuses, et cetera. that's to come. but every day there's more and more attempts by those who don't want trump in the lead here to ta

it's a way for republicans to rally their base. they want to show that they're the toughest candidate against this challenger or democratic general election nominee who republicans think will be pretty tough opponent. it's also frankly not something that the clinton campaign is all that upset with. they sort of figure that anyone who is voting in the republican rimary is probably not a gettable vote for hillary clinton. having her attacked so much in the republican debates gives them a way to boost their own base, to send out fundraising appeals and get their own people excited about a general election by striking that contrast. >> karen, you had mentioned the republican establishment that sort of people that are -- what was interesting last night was the rubio-chris christie battle. it's been bubbling up for weeks and all about new hampshire where both men are competing pretty aggressively. did you sense any, when you were there, what was the mood like in the room? did it feel like chris christie got the better of that exchange be

and republicans had 21 governors. since that time 31 republican governors big majority in the house, majority in the senate, his policies have been rejected by the american people but he doesn't want to hear that. >> dickerson: gun control question, donald trump has suggested getting rid of gun free zones in schools and military bases would you agree with that? >> i think for the military, i've said this before for attacks earlier in tennessee. that it seems ridiculous that military folks can carry a weapon with them. they're trained to do it. the best trained people. i would certainly be in favor of our military folks being able to carry weapons in those circumstances. on the gun free school zones its own. >> dickerson: your record on assault weapons. when we last talked you said that originally you wanted to keep an assault weapons ban, those who wanted to get rid of it. in 2009 you were still supporter of the assault weapons ban that was after you'd been a prosecutor. >> what i said at the time that i was not inter

iowa, if you are a republican, you have a republican candidate. if you look at a democrat ballot, you have democrat, independent, farm labor party, green party, democratic socialist, so on and so forth. white? is that -- why is that? i never understood. can you answer that? guest: if you are talking about the general election ballot in november where the entire country is coding, all of the candidates who are listed on that ballot are the candidates eligible in iowa to be listed on that ballot. while you may think of some of those as more left-leaning, if you think about the green party that candidate have to qualify to get on the ballot. there could be other parties that would organize to also get on the ballot, but the fact that there are multiple parties represented means there were not organizations, petitions signed, the paperwork done for this candidate to get on the ballot. was a huge there number of people who filed with the fec to be considered candidates for president. i think it is over 1000. not many of them are going to end up doing t

then a choice between a dark republican party or a native republican party. or somebody who wants to open up the company. somebody who said yesterday's candidate wants to take us back to yesterday. you would have a generational -- the video you showed of the clinton rally i thought was so powerful. i thought that rally looked old. it felt old. it felt lifeless. bernie sanders, i agree with matthew. >> we're talking about trump's chances. i think a lot of -- look back, we're going to look back at this one and, again, see a media malpractice. that led our media to tissue he's a right wing -- >> there's no question he is leading. here's the question i have. i have interviewed him 20 times since june. he's been asked every single tough question. come at him. he's done things that would drive other candidates out of the race, in a heart beat, but it hasn't happened to him. why? >> if you want to -- we talk about bernie sanders out of sync with the majority. which i believe he's not. donald trump is in sync with right wing populism. the other day, he said medicare

then a choice between a dark republican party or a native republican party. or somebody who wants to open up the company. somebody who said yesterday's candidate wants to take us back to yesterday. you would have a generational -- the video you showed of the clinton rally i thought was so powerful. i thought that rally looked old. it felt lifeless. matthew. >> we're talking about trump's chances. i think a lot of -- look back, we're going to look back at this one and, again, see a media malpractice. that led our media to give him obsessive coverage, tissue he's a right wing -- >> there's no question he is leading. here's the question i have. i have interviewed him 20 times since june. he's been asked every single tough question. he's had every single attack come at him. he's done things that would drive other candidates out of the race, in a heart beat, but it hasn't happened to him. why? >> if you want to -- we talk about bernie sanders out of sync with the majority. which i believe he's not. donald trump is in sync with right wing populism. the other day, h

and republicans had 21 governors. since that time 31 republican governors big majority in the house, majority in the senate, his policies have been rejected by the american people but he doesn't want to hear that. >> dickerson: gun control question, donald trump has suggested getting rid of gun free zones in schools and military bases would you agree with that? >> i think for the military, i've said this before for attacks earlier in tennessee. that it seems ridiculous that military folks can carry a weapon with them. they're trained to do it. the best trained people. i would certainly be in favor of carry weapons in those circumstances. on the gun free school zones they should be able to look on its own. >> dickerson: your record on assault weapons. when we last talked you said that originally you wanted to keep an assault weapons ban, those who wanted to get rid of it. in 2009 you were still supporter of the assault weapons ban that was after you'd been a prosecutor. >> what i said at the time that i was not interes

that's republican line. -- republican line. caller: the one highlight of his legacy is getting bin laden. i give him credit for that. economy is doing wonderful in new york and d.c. the jobs being created are not jobs people can survive on. i hope republicans and independents go to the polls. trump as thenald nominee. host: charles in baton rouge, louisiana. democrats line. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. we're very excited to welcome the president to baton rouge on thursday. i'm extremely proud of the president for his work on health care and for confronting the nra on gun violence. let me touch on health care again. if we don't do something about providers not accepting medicaid patients, we will end up with a segregated health system. we will have to combat that. one last point i want to make. we understand you are the party of fear and fright. democrats and independents will not be scared into voting for four more years of war rhetoric and wasting $7 trillion like we did in afghanistan and iraq. host: the wall

on the republican side, republicans rely less on younger voters. younger voters make up a smaller portion of the republican primary and caucus electorates. we' re talking about iowa and new hampshire, you' re seeing some candidates say, hey, it' s time for new leadership. marco rubio, for example, is one of the candidates in the republican -- fernando: well, i want to ask you about that, because he' s made that argument in a very clear way. yet, he has, at least seemingly, very little traction in the polling. what do you think is the disconnect there? steve: well, look, i think that very small portion of the republican primary electorate, that' s not an argument right now that' s well-served for him, when it comes to taking down ted cruz and donald trump. but once they move to a general election, and it comes to facing the democratic nominee, cutting into the advantage that barack obama has had in the past two elections among younger voters is going to be essential for the republicans if they' re going to compete in the general election. fernando:

donald trump's numbers with republicans were terrible before he got in the republican race. he's a very talented brander who is good at changing the perception of him and changing the way voters think about him. he's got republicans to forgive him for so many things. this is a guy who was avidly pro-choice. >> they're running an ad in iowa which is dominated by evangelicals of him saying i'm very pro-choice over and over. >> it doesn't mean to matter. he used to be for a 13% wealth tax. his old positions are a litany. >> the issues aren't what's driving -- >> he was also for amnesty. >> the issues aren't what is driving who he is playing to now. when he expands out past that. >> it's not just republicans who can be appealed to on nebulous feelings stuff. >> the voters base doesn't necessarily think ted cruz is that odious. >> it's the people in the establishment who despise them. thank you both. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, we'll have continuing coverage of this donald trump event. we'll tell you what happened the last time trump held a fund-raiser for veterans. bernie san

i would argue a case of the republican primaries since the republicans are hitting the same base being, obama is week we must be strong, i don't see differentiating among the republican candidates. the other question is will it change turn out. we'll different people come to the ballot box because the form policy. i do not see that is true. the final thing to keep in mind is most people already know who they're going to vote for. they may not know it but they do, all of our social science research indicates that people who tend to vote democrat, and those who vote republican stay voting with the party of their choice. if you go back to the 60s perhaps 15% of voters in a presidential election from cycle to cycle may switch. now it is is maybe 5% or 7%. so they are open to be moved is a lot smaller. >> i think that's a very good point. if you look at the overall numbers, we have never had more people who self identified as independence. at least in our work and i think cnn is the same thing that if you look at leaners to the republican party and leaders to the democratic party we are not

and no other republican republican is going to be winning. the people in this country are amazing. they're amazing. they're really smart. they really know what's happening. >> and as for cruz, not one republican senator has endorsed him. now presidential candidates mitt romney and john mccain, neither of whom were born in the u.s., got a senate resolution to announce their eligibility for them to run for president. yet mitch mcconnell has refused to bring such an action for ted cruz also not born in the u.s. so the establishment doesn't want their own two lead candidates to win. this person not conservative enough for you, and this person not republican enough for you, and this person doesn't have real values. now let me ask you something. do you think that the establishment -- whoever they are -- even cares about you? do they think you even like you? folks, this is the one hand washes the other washington two-step. might the establishment be looking to maintain its status quo, keep their donors and lobbyists happy while they feather their ow

republican line. caller: good morning. first, i am a republican. i'm 74. i have never voted for a democrat. maybe to my displeasure. i don't particularly care for hillary clinton. but if donald trump is the candidate of the republican party, i will be happy to vote for hillary clinton. this is a man who should, in my case really scares me. he's a racist and this is reminiscent of germany. it's starting to look like germany in 1932 and adolf hitler. his rhetoric is similar. it wasn't apparent to the people in germany until it was too late. mexicans or calls hispanics rapists, it's along the same lines as hitler referred to the jews as vermin. we better start looking and thinking about what this man is saying. if we don't, it's going to be a very, very long years in front of us with him. i just can't believe that it's come to this point where he's a it's -- he's leading -- unfathomable. it really scares me. host: donald trump leading in polls in the republican party. questions about donald trump leaving off last night's debate on fox news with the debate mod

but, news flash, donald trump is still the republican frontrunner and could be the republican nominee. do you want your republican nominee -- you talk about sort of the appeal to working class people, but this is different. this is raw politics. >> i want the republican party and the conservative party to talk about values for real. this is all a bigger part of the values conversation. president obama has been critiquing and using the new testament to mock republicans, saying we don't care about widows and orphans lately. on immigration he says we need to have concern for sojourner and wanderers, and quotes hebrew scripture. the hebrews had 600 additional laws. i wish he would quote the entire torah. >> you just took my question and took it in the exact direction you wanted to. that was impressive. >> let him finish. >> so president obama and the democrats, they're all too willing to use the judeo-christian tradition to invoke the power of the federal government. i just watched christian bale as the new "moses," a great new movie. i don't think jesus was best buddies with pilate. go b

contrast that with the republicans. the republicans debated last night. that was their sixth debate. they've still got another one scheduled before iowa. and then they've still got another one scheduled after that between iowa and new hampshire. but for the democrats, no. it's just this sunday night of mlk day weekend. and that's it until mid february. it's just amazing. but we've got these new viewership numbers today for the republican debate last night. we also got some very intriguing news from the closed-door republican party winter meeting that they held at the site of their debate last night in south carolina. turns out at that meeting a member of the rnc, a man named holland redfield, great political name, holland redfield got up at that meeting and made an impassioned speech to the rest of the national republican party and reportedly to reince priebus himself. the party chairman. he was apparently in the room when this happened. he was sort of the person to whom this speech was directed. but this rnc official, holland redfield, got up and in impr

she spent more money on the republican primary than the victorious republican candidate spent on himself. she did it with was an attack ad against him. this is how claire mccaskill chose her own opponent. this was her attack ad that she ran specifically as a way to try to sway republican primary voters. >> i'm claire mccaskill approve this message. >> the most conservative in our state, todd akin. he would privatize social security. his pro-family agenda would out law many forms of contraception and he says president obama is a complete menace to our civilization. todd akin, missouri's true conservative is just too conservative. >> missouri's true conservative. technically, that was a negative ad against todd akin run by the senator. clearly, it was a negative ad that was basically begging hard core republican primary voters to vote for the true conservative todd akin and missouri republican voters did just that. he became the republican nominee and senator mccaskill shotgunned a beer in her pjs and her opponent went onto talk about legitimate rape in the election campaign and say a will

it won't be republican votes. it not going to hurt the republicans and besides, what will the laws tell you? who runs those debates? the republicans and democrats. if you can't get into the president debates how does the message get out? thank goodness for the inter-nate because we're able to get our message out. >> and thank goodness for cable television. >> i agree. >> thanks for coming on, sir. appreciate it. >>> next, who, what, where, why, today's headlines including why meteorologists are tracking an atlantic hurricane in january. ibs-d. you know the symptoms when they start. abdominal pain. urgent diarrhea. now there's prescription xifaxan. xifaxan is a new ibs-d treatment that helps relieve your diarrhea and abdominal pain symptoms. and xifaxan works differently. it's a prescription antibiotic that acts mainly in the digestive tract. do not use xifaxan if you have a history of sensitivity to rifaximin, rifamycin antibiotic agents, or any components of xifaxan. tell your doctor right away if your diarrhea w

again guy back, if he wins the republican nomination a lot of republicans unhappy. can he unify the party and bring it together. the plurality of americans today are independents and the states you rattled off. >> it's growing. >> it's going to grow more and more. don't understand. >> some republicans didn't like him. all right. they didn't stay home -- they didn't vote. if all the republicans would have coalesced around romney he would have won the election. with a 7% of republicans not like trump it could happen. >> it's not just republicans. it's independents and democrats. as richard nixon found out there was a silent majority that he turned into landslide. ronald reagan converted a lot of democrat and turned it into a landslide. have to watch the game. for anybody to say he can't win is absurd. >> you believe then that the republican establishment is making a mistake by coming out so vociferously against trump? >> just let it run its course. >> compete? >> at the end of the kay. >> that's three at the end of the days, you know that. that means 300 to do so woun

and republicans had 21 governors. since that time 31 republican governors big majority in the house, majority in the senate, his policies have been rejected by the american people but he doesn't want to hear that. >> dickerson: gun control question, donald trump has suggested getting rid of gun free zones in schools and military bases would you agree with that? >> i think for the military, i've said this before for attacks earlier in tennessee. that it seems ridiculous that military folks can carry a weapon with them. they're trained to do it. the best trained people. i would certainly be in favor of our military folks being able to carry weapons in those on t gun free school zones they should be able to look on its own. >> dickerson: your record on assault weapons. when we last talked you said that originally you wanted to keep an assault weapons ban, those who wanted to get rid of it. inin 2009 you were stiti supporter of the assault weapons ban that was after you'd been a prosecutor. >> what i said at the time that

for republicans, a vote is about. anywhere you can get a republican vote is valuable to you. there are vote rich republican parts of the state especially the west and northwest in particular. but the more urban areas like des moines and cedar rapids and davenport are places with plenty dates andican candi campaigns tend to be relatively broad unless they have a specific strategy where they go after a specific order who can be identified in a particular part of the state. it is a little different. the delegates i mentioned that they were elected precincts are preset. that is the number of delegates preset the caste based on the democrats voting strength in the prior general election, not based on how many show up. this is true for republicans as well that does not have the same impact because they report the vote count. the democratic party will not report the vote count. they will report delegate count. what that means is you could have massive turnout in a precinct in iowa city if you are bernie sanders. that will increase the number of delegates elected from a precinct. in

on the republican side, republicans rely less on younger voters. younger voters make up a smaller portion of the republican primary and caucus electorates. we' re talking about iowa and new you' say, hey, it' s time for new leadership. marco rubio, for example, is one of the candidates in the republican -- fernando: well, i want to ask you about that, because he' s made that argument in a very clear way. yet, he has, at least seemingly, very little traction in the polling. what do you think is the disconnect there? steve: well, look, i think that because younger voters make up a very small portion of the that' s not an argument right now that' it comes to taking down ted cruz and donald trump. but once they move to a general election, and it comes to facing the democratic nominee, cutting into the advantage that barack obama has had in the past two elections among younger voters is going to be essential for the republicans if they' re going to compete in the general election. fernando: what would be that argument that would convince millennial vote

the case of the republican primaries, since republicans are hitting the same basic theme, obama is too weak, we must be strong. i do not see differentiating on the republican candidates. i do not see any evidence that is true. the final thing to keep in mind, most people already know who they are going to vote for. they may not know it, but they do. we look at all of our social science, research. people who tend to vote democrat generally tend to vote democrat. indeed, sort of the movable middle has over the years shrunk in size. to go back to the 1960's, perhaps 15% of voters in a presidential election from cycle to cycle may switch. now it is 75%. that's a very good point. if you look at the overall self identification numbers, we've never had more people self identify as independents, at least in our work. if you look at leaners to the republican party, the democratic , we are divided but the middle is not nearly as big. they call themselves independents because they do not want to be associated with independent political parties. >> there are people that have some deep-seated psych

that's the problem i think the republicans have. >> republicans have to figure out who and what they want to be when they grow up. >> and what they stand for. >> i got to say tidbit in "the new york times" i guess you knew this had to be coming. michael bloomberg, billionaire former mayor of new york, here thinking of the possibility that donald trump could be the republican nominee. hillary clinton the democratic nominee has done some polling i'm told that polling shows a legitimate three-way race. do you think -- >> please god. please god. yes but mayor bloomberg shall >> out it in a sports metaphor. [ laughter ] >> you got me. you got me. opportunity -- if ted cruz or donald trump are the republican nominee and hillary clinton is the democratic nominee you'll have the most unelectable candidates competing against each other. it creates a lane for a third party. i don't know that a billionaire billionaire -- >> our puzzling. >> lyndon johnson. >> first was harry truman. >>> up next two of america's top >> announcer: catch this week all line on abcnews.com/thisweek, on facebook and

hurting the republican party. and in the "rewrite" tonight, how a dead man endorsed donald trump today. what john wayne and donald trump really have in common. and later, triumph, the insult comic dog is back on the campaign trail. he will join us live from the campaign trail in new hampshire. [ music ] defiance is in our bones. citracal pearls. delicious berries and cream. soft, chewable, calcium plus vitamin d. only from citracal. its intelligent drive is msystems...ng. paradigm-shifting. its technology-filled cabin...jaw-dropping. its performance...breathtaking. its self-parking...and self-braking...show-stopping. the all-new glc. mercedes-benz resets the bar for the luxury suv. starting at $38,950. for my frequent heartburnmorning because you can't beat zero heartburn! ahhh the sweet taste of victory! prilosec otc. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. >>> donald trump doesn't want you to know this, but we have marines with names like amir hekmati. he's a former u.s. marine. he spoke to reporters to

and republicans had 21 governors. since that time 31 republican governors big majority in the house, majority in the senate, his policies have been rejected by the american people but he doesn't want to hear that. >> dickerson: gun control question, donald trump has suggested getting rid of gun free zones in schools and military bases would you agree with that? >> i think for the military, i've said this before for attacks earlier in tennessee. that it seems ridiculous that military folks can carry a weapon with them. they're trained to do it. the best trained people. i would certainly be in favor of our military folks being able to carry weapons in those circumstances. on the gun free school zones they should be able to look on its own. >> dickerson: your record on when we last talked you said that originally you wanted to keep an assault weapons ban, those who wanted to get rid of it. in 2009 you were still supporter of the assault weapons ban that was after you'd been a prosecutor. >> what i said at the time that i

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democrats to republicans, 924. democrats to republicans -- republicans to democrats, 640. democrat, 1960. it could indicate the nailbiter between mitt romney and rick santorum. areconditions on the ground that citizens and registered voters, are they largely the same? caller: the same as 2012? it is hard to say. the field is so big. rick santorum shooting past everyone else, or mike huckabee coming out on top. ishink the general feeling that it will probably be cruz and trump. see someone rise to come close to third or fourth place. i think that is where the drama will be. days andthese closing arguments, what storylines are you following up? in cedar rapids, most of the candidates are passing through this weekend. .e are covering each candidate one thing that you look forward to is, did they say anything new or different than they have said in the past -- six months over a year? , at this point, people are ready for the caucuses. the crowd that you see -- are they excited? sometimes you can feel the energy at this point. energydon't feel the when you are a candidate, that

of candidates but on in the republicans? >> disconnect between many of the republicans in washington and the grass roots. i lectured my fellow congressmen and senator until 3:00 in the morning saying drive outside the beltway you'll find that no republican really wants us to raise the debt ceiling without significant budgetary reform. we did the opposite. we raised the debt ceiling unspecified amount and we gave up on the budgetary caps. not one republican outside the beltway supports that. that's real disconnect if you see republican leadership working with president obama to raise the budget caps. but it's because some on the right want more military spending or more welfare spending they both get together we raise both. as consequence we have $19 trillion debt. >> dickerson: way to fix that, that disconnect this you're bad? >> term limits. really needs to be more turn over in office if you had that all of a sudden people would be more enthused, i think that's why the republican electorate is they're tired base you cannily

they have become fairly reliable republicans for cultural republicans and charlie pierce, here comes donald trump who is going we're going to build a wall, keep immigrants out, negotiate tougher trade deals. whatever you want you white republican voter who hates the establishment. they still can't make sense of the gap he is exploiting. >> yeah. i'm a little bit alarmed. there seems to be a creeping element of coherence to the trump message all of a sudden. used to be it was throwing out any idea that came to his head. the mental radio of donald trump has been on scan for a while and finally found station. it has wrong footed everyone he's running against. i'm old enough to remember when there was a republican consensus on things like medicare and social security. it was called the 1950s and '60s before the republican party moved south and west and the conservative movement took over and blew up those consensus. it's possible that one might come back that the consensus might be reestablished. i agree with michael in the sense i don't think donald trump is in it for that particular re

i think for three republican conventions in a row republicans will not hear from a former republican president. >> that of course meaning the only living former presidents are the bushes. >> if jeb is the nominee, i think he wants to be his own man. if cruz or trump or christie, i don't see it. >> my prediction on politics is it's going to be a three-way race. there will be aung establishment republican. if trump doesn't get the nomination, somebody else, trump, maybe somebody else runs instead to show how mad they are at the establishment. >> basically you'll sea there would be two republican/conservative. >> the party is too split to hold. >> is that a guarantee that hillary -- >> likely. that's not part of my prediction. >>> nikki haley has been given the economy room to flourish, shown grace in leadership. she also understands the dyna c dynamics of the grassroots versus the establishment. when he ran for governor, she was opposed. she will be the republican nominee for vice president. >> it's a republican state, used not go for ohio or florida? >> el they need somebody who can s

so-called establishment republicans. that's where rubio wants to land. the most recent poll has him 15 percent, consistent with internal rubio campaign data and believe they can bet to 17, 18 percent here, the crowds in the closing days have been getting larger and ladies and gentlemen of thlarger a lotof ed for rubio's campaign it is all about the distance between ever else vying to be that establishment or mainstream alternative, a lot of distance between chris christie, john kay situate, kasich jeb bush here because they believe that will translate to momentum into new hampshire. >> he hopes to he in nernl south carolina as the alternative to ted cruz or donald cruz. >> dickerson: nancy cordes and major garrett, out on the campaign trail, thanks to both of you. >> you're welcome. >> dickerson: we will be right back with our politics panel. >> ah, perfect. valet parking. evening, sir. hello! here's the keys. test. >> dickerson: and we are back with our panel. joining us today, "wall street journal" columnist, kim stras

and republicans had 21 governors. since that time 31 republican governors big majority in the house, majority in the senate, his policies have been rejected doesn't want to hear that. >> dickerson: gun control question, donald trump has suggested getting rid of gun free zones in schools and military bases would you agree with that? >> i think for the military, i've said this before for attacks earlier in tennessee. that it seems ridiculous that military folks can carry a weapon with them. they're trained to do it. the best trained people. i would certainly be in favor of our military folks being able to carry weapons in those circumstances. on the gun free school zones they should be able to look on its own. >> dickerson: your record on assault weapons. when we last talked you said that originally you wanted to keep an assault weapons ban, those who wanted to get rid of it. in 2009 you were still supporter of the assault weapons ban that was after you'd been a prosecutor. >> what i said at the time that i was not inte