jared goff the former number one overall pick quarterback by the rams beating his former team. i started hearing his name being chanted as he went off the field, here he is in the locker room after that 24-23 win, he admitted he didn't want this win just for himself but he wanted it so badly for the entire team and entire city of detroit. the final games of the wild card round, winner of eagles bucs goes to detroit next weekend. the game i can't wait to see is that one on top, 17 inches of snow? orchard park over the weekend but new york governor kathy hochul says that yesterday those bills and steelers will play today after yesterday's postponement and here was their field over the weekend. i mean, it looks like lake erie, snow effect snow -- snow effect -- lake-effect snow. check out the bills offensive lineman alec anderson if if we could show that really quickly, helping to pull someone

stranded on the side of the road. if you play the bills, you play the whole city. >> lake effect snow not holding anyone back. i love that video at the end, by the way. thank you, coy. we'll talk to you in the next hour. the next hour of cnn starts this morning. the first votes of the 2024 election are now just hours away. >> do you want to save america from crooked joe biden? you must go caucus tomorrow, the first step. >> new endorsements, final pitches and sub zero cold. >> it's on track to be the coldest caucus night in history. >> can't sit home, even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it. >> we can do this, the fellows are scared, this starts with iowa. >> i like being underestimated. i like being the underdog. i think that that's better. >> i would rather speak the truth and lose this election than by winning and play a game of snakes and ladders. >> he's running a campaign

putting himself and issues first. you deserve a nominee that's going to put you first, not himself first. >> if you will join with us and caucus, i promise you our best days are yet to come. good monday morning, everyone. so glad you're with us, i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. kasie hunt is live in des moines, iowa. the iowa caucuses are here. we're about to find out if the polls were right. can donald trump dominate or can they pull off an upset. >> these are set to be the coldest iowa caucuses on record with dangerously frigid temperatures. this is a live look at des moines where you probably don't want to be outside. the high right now, negative 1. that's so cold, you can get frostbite in ten minutes. in their closing messages, trump

and his opponents made a push for his opponents to get out and k k caucus decespite the winter bla. >> even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it. >> here in iowa, you have the ability to change the trajectory of american politics. >> if you will join with us and caucus, if you will bring friends and family with you when you do it, i promise you our best days are yet to come. >> we have team coverage this morning. correspondents on the ground in iowa. our political analysts standing by. let's start with casey hunt. s -- kasie hunt, she joins us in des moines. the candidates are taking the cold very seriously. how are they changing their tactics? a lot of what was supposed to be in person over the weekend all of a sudden became virtual. . >> right. it had to. i have to say i have done this

enough times, i'm not very good at the cold. everyone is always making fun of me for thinking it's too cold. no one is making fun of anyone right now because this cold is so very serious. there are real potential health ramifications if you spend too much time outside without the proper protection. for the campaigns, that's meant holding tele town halls, they've also had to adjust their turnout operations to think through, especially for the trump team where a lot of their support is out in rural iowa. that means making calls to people who have four by four vehicles that can quite literally drive around and pick people up to take them to caucus sites because especially out in, you know, i know you guys have been on the campaign trail, if you go out to western iowa, a lot of those roads are gravel. they're not plowed yet. people are stuck. that's something they have to think about.

one thing i keep hearing is this question about, nikki haley supporters might not be as enthusiastic, but tha lot of th live in suburbs. they drive large suvs, those are cars that can get them around more safely. that may have an impact as well. >> does it feel like a one-person race on the ground, or does it feel like there's a possibility for a surprise like we've seen in the past because we have not seen this wide of a spread in the polling in the past. >> right. i mean, donald trump is just so dominant here that there is less of that sense of suspense that usually hangs over something, any one of these caucuses. so the trump team is camped out at hotel fort des moines. it was the hillary clinton campaign during one of her rounds of iowa caucuses that i covered that was camped out at the hotel fort des moines. this time it's trump's team, and tha

that's where all of the action is. it's also at the 801 steak house. one of the traditional places. you run into people, senator joni ernst of iowa was there last night, and while there is the general sense of excitement, you know, events like this are a lot of fun, especially for political reporters like me. it's different than when there were these real big questions about who was going to win. that, i think, really sort of underscores the hill that ron desantis has to climb. for more on this, let's bring in cnn's elalayna treene in des moines at a different site. you kocover the trump campaign y in and day out. what are you hearing from them about how they're approaching the final days, and how first time caucus goers are reacting to the circumstances? >> reporter: right, well, that is the big question heading into today. i know from my conversations with donald trump's team and his advisers that they had been

growing increasingly concerned in recent days about potential turnout here during the caucuses today. and that's in part due to the dangerously frigid conditions that we're seeing across the state. but it's also in part, due because he has such a commanding lead in the polls. we have seen donald trump repeatedly, not just this weekend but over the past several weeks now, really urge his supporters not to get complacent ahead of the caucuses, and last night, he told them, warned them really not to fall for dirty tricks and has been trying to give them information on how and where and when to caucus, really ramping up that rhetoric as we came into today, and look, i think that his team recognizes that they think he'll win by a large m margin. they anticipate he will win and have a big victory. the question is how much. that's what they're looking at heading into the caucuses today. the question really is do we need to lower expectations, and

i know in the past week, they have been working to lower expectations, not only with the media and general public but also with the former president himself, they're saying, you know, it might not be as big of a lead as the polls are showing and trying to deal with that a bit as we head into tonight. >> managing donald trump's expectations is a whole game in and of itself. it's smart, though, i think to kind of underscore your point, if in fact, there were to be some sort of surprise where trump was down in the low 40s or god forbid, the high 30s from their perspective, it would be a huge surprise that could rattle the race. alayna treene, thank you very much. >> the freezing temperatures, the snow in iowa could make conditions pretty dangerous for many voters heading to caucus tonight. it has not, for the most part, kept the candidates from the campaign trail as they try to capitalize on voter enthusiasm to drive turnout. phil is back at the magic wall. who's best positioned here?

because the weather actually plays a part in who could get a boost from it. >> organization matters in caucuses. you talk about polling. donald trump has a huge lead. you talk about enthusiasm, donald trump has a huge lead there. organization matters. if you want to know why, this is the map. it is not filled in. we're going to see that start to fill in when we count votes, thankfully, over the course of the hours ahead. go back into 2016. you want to know if organization matters, donald trump is leading the polls here, not by as wide a margin as he is currently. ted cruz who went to all 99 counties. precinct captains who were ready and operational throughout the course of months leading up throughout the race, ted cruz won narrowly. who's doing that this time around. donald trump clearly has a better operation they had in 2016, but it's ron desantis who's following the cruz model, has been to all 99 counties, has not done hundreds of thousands, his team says millions of doors, getting tens of thousands of caucus commitment cards trying

to say that he is the one who can pull an upset here, going all in on iowa. in fact, his deputy campaign manager says the weather should help them because of that. take a listen. >> we knew it was going to be a cold night regardless of the temperature, probably not this cold. we knew it would be cold, and we knew it was important to have volunteers, fellow indowans in place across 721 iowa caucus locations to be prepared to not just speak on governor desantis's behalf and help organize their neighbors and make sure they show up that night. that's an advantage no one in the campaign has. >> as donald trump shifts the game a hlib, where evangelicals were a ted cruz stronghold. trump will be calling over the next couple of days, not just cam campaigning, they know organization matters in iowa. >> and they've got such an

improved organization on the ground in iowa. what about his legal challenge, and the ones he chose to attend, how has that affected their ground in iowa? >> it's fascinating, this is a much more professional operation. this is a different operation than they had in 2016. it's a more professional operation. if you want to look at the campaign stops in iowa over the course of january 2023, donald trump has the fewest at 25. ron desantis, 137. we have been talking about his operation. vivek ramaswamy all over the state. the thing i want to watch over the course of the night, watch these socounties here. i'm fascinated by sioux county. donald trump came in fourth place. if he turns things around in this area, these counties in the northwest, making it close with ron desantis or winning the

counties is a blow out kind of night for donald trump, watch that amongst all the other things we're watching in the coming hours. >> like your zoom in ability there. >> for donald trump, the key to victory could be convincing voters who are skeptical of him last time around, how trump is expanding beyond his blue dollar base next. the cnn presidential town hall l live from newew hampshir tomorrrrow night a at 9:00 on n.

welcome back, i'm kasie hunt in des moines. it is caucus day here in iowa. and with the final polling in, it's becoming a little clearer, entirely clear almost, just who is making up the candidates voter bases. among the highlights, former president donald trump firming up support with the state's influential evangelicals and college-educated conservatives. nikki haley bringing in support from independents and crossover democrats. let's bring in now ron brownstein, cnn senior political analyst, and senior editor at "the atlantic,". >> good morning, dawn's early light in iowa. >> still working on the coffee. >> 9th caucus for me. >> is this one the most exciting, the least exciting, there's not a lot of suspense? >> there isn't the engagement

we've seen among the candidates in the past. we have asymmetrical warfare. on tvelevision. i think he spent $30 million on negative ads against the two of them. they spent 38 million on negative ads against each other, 1 million on trump. >> says it all, right? >> desantis has development an argument in the final stages. it's idiosyncratic, aimed at a narrow slice of voters. basically he's saying that donald trump can no longer be trusted to deliver the america first agenda. he attacks him for not deporting enough undocumented immigrants, not finishing the wall. no longer reliable on abortion. that positioning, i think he's going to see the limits of that tonight. people talk about his execution and that has gotten better. the conception of the candidacy left him with a narrow space. you have haley, she has to give

her credit, she has out maneuvered all of the guys to likely be the last one standing as a viable alternative to trump, but she too has been extraordinary cautious about making an argument. i saw in her in ames. the hard truths that republicans have to face is donald trump was the right president for the time, i agree with most of his policy but chaos follows him rightly or wrongly. if those are the hard truths, what does ducking the truth sound like, so, you know, ultimately, look, there's a case to be made, she needs to focus on squeezing out desantis first, iowa is conservative terrain. she, i think, the lesson we're going to get tonight. she needs a stronger argument to reach beyond her base of the voters who start with an inclination not to vote for trump, and she needs to find a way, engage with him, i think n a way that allows her to appeal, our friend whit harris calls the

maybe trump voters that are sympathetic to him but open to an alternative. >> there's a piece in the "new york times" about conservative college-educated voters, and it does seem, if you look at the polling from a year ago, they were very open to somebody else. the polling now shows they are much more interested in donald trump. what is going on here? >> it was a good piece, but i would offer a couple of thoughts of context. in the competitive part of the republican primary in 2016, donald trump got about 40% of the total vote. he's polling about 60% of the total vote now. he has gone up with everybody. definitely improved with college-educated republican voters, and also improved with noncollege republican voters and evangelical voters. our friends at 538.com, they keep a kind of average of the cross tabs of all the major polls. his vote is up about 50% between college and non college republicans since 2016.

so i think he does have a broader base within the party, but it is still true that if haley, who is the most likely alternative is able to build momentum against trump, it's going to start with the college voters. you're going to see it in the suburbs of des moines tonight and southern new hampshire. that will have to be. it's not enough for her to win. she's going to have to go beyond it. that is the first place she can make gains. >> if ron desantis comes third in iowa, and looks back at the campaign, what is his biggest mistake? >> the failure of conception and not execution. he believed there was a constituency he could peel away by arguing donald trump is not sufficiently conservative. the analogy is trump is a mack truck, he has left this room in the center of the party. ron desantis trying to squeeze past in the shoulder, on the right, in the 6 inches. conception as much as execution.

>> ron brownstein, thank you so much, hope to continue this conversation in new hampshire. >> good to be with you. >> and beyond. poppy. >> nothing better than you and ron brownstein in a des moines cafe on a chilly morning, seriously, i live for that. we'll get back to you soon. also following other news this morning, it has been 100 days in captivity. israeli families growing increasingly desperate, demanding hamas release their loved ones. we have the latest on the fate of more than 100 hostages still being held.

i think he's having a midlife crisis i'm not. you got us t-mobile home internet lite. after a week of streaming they knocked us down... ...to dial up speeds. like from the 90s. great times. all i can do say is that my life is pre-- i like watching the puddles gather rain. -hey, your mom and i procreated to that song. oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. i know what year it is.

u.s. central command says it has shot down an antiship cruise missile filed from the houthi controlled region of yemen. a u.s. fighter jet shot down the missile. it was aimed in the southern region of the red sea. no injuries or damage reported. the biden administration says it expects its iran-backed militant group will likely respond to the strikes carried out by the u.s. and uk last week after repeated houthi attacks on commercial ships in the area. and new overnight, hamas released a video on sunday shows

three israeli hostages in captivity in gaza. cnn cannot verify and when where the trips were. the tape shows each saying their name, age, and place of residence while looking directly at the camera. tomorrow inform you of their fate was written on the video as well. hostage families are growing more desperate by the hour. it has been 100 days since their loved ones were taken by hamas. in that time, gaza has been devastated by israeli defense forces. nic robertson is live in tel aviv. nick, 100 days, it's unfathomable for a loved one or a family missing a loved one. is there any update on whether or not a new hostage exchange deal could be reached? >> reporter: there isn't. there are ongoing negotiations. everyone involved is saying they're not giving up. there isn't light at the moment

in that direction. we've heard from the u.n. over the weekend marking 100 days. a top u.n. humanitarian envoy wrote to the u.s. secretary general a scathing account of the situation in gaza for the people living there. he talked about bodies being seen at the side of the road by u.n. workers, people in the north of gaza, close to starvation. he said that the south of gaza was a real potential flash point if there's a ground offensive there. more than a million people could make a rush for the border. protesters in washington, d.c. in support of palestinians calling for a cease fire. similar protests in london. police say they arrested six people from the protest who were planning to disrupt the london stock exchange, but the big, really big crowds gathered in tel aviv over the weekend. it was a 24-hour gathering to mark the missing hostages. 100 days of hell it was titled. there was music, speeches being

given but the real passionate pleas to the government to get the hostages back. this is something we heard from families of those hostages. >> we hope we come back. we wish he came back, every day, every night, every hour, every minute that passed, it's harder. >> this was crime against humanity. not crimes against israel. i want to say to the leaders of the world, this is your responsibility to make sure they're coming back home, all 136 people. >> but to that video of the three hostages released by hamas on sunday, typically when they release videos like this in the past, the government here has called a psychological war tfar an attempt to undermine the psychology of people here. hamas saying today now that they will give more information about these three. of course the concern is when hamas has done this in the past, they have announced that these

hostages they're talking about are dead. but here it could be something else. psychological torture for those families. >> nic robertson, thank you. the numbers that really matter at the iowa caucuses are the votes tallied, right, at the end of the night. there are also a few other numbers that help tell the story of where the candidates stand. how the frigid cold temperatures could afaffect turnonout. iowawa by the numbers, nexext. >

morning," live from the mars cafe in des moines, iowa. republicans here getting set to brave life threatening temperatures, sub zero windchills to cast their ballots in the closely followed caucuses to today. at stake, iowa's 40 delegates and probably more crucially, momentum heading into the new hampshire primary, and of course, as we know, iowa is an expectations game. so where do we start here? donald trump, the far and away front runner, he's really taken so much suspense out of the caucuses here. 50%, if he is over 50%, that is exactly what is the expectations that his team, honestly, they have been trying to lower. if he's above 50, nothing about this race changes. if he starts to creep below 50

as he did in the iowa poll, and it's falling further down, i think you're going to see conversation around that as we head into new hampshire. the person for whom tonight is going to be everything, ron desantis. he absolutely needs to come in second place. i mean, the end. if he comes in in third below nikki haley, there are going to be significant questions about what is next for him because it's going to be haley that's going to get another shot at donald trump in new hampshire to the point that desantis announced he's going straight from here on to south carolina, which is the following contest. nikki haley was the governor of south carolina, and she, at this point, expectations are higher for her than they were, which is a risk for any campaign. the final iowa poll showed her moving into second place over ron desantis for the first time in that particular poll. however, as long as she doesn't collapse, haley is really going to get another shot in new hampshire.

the real thing that iowa could be for her, if sthe gets second is a spring board. that would send her to new hampshire with momentum that i don't think any of us particularly expected, because she hasn't made a big play for iowa until here in the final weeks. >> thank you, back to you soon. today the campaign dollars, the poll hours all combining and coming to a head in iowa. let's take a look at the numbers that shaped today's first in the nation caucuses. and the most fascinating numbers over the weekend in "the new york times." the first up, number 28, how many percentage points former president trump is leading by in the final iowa poll by the des mo"des moines register." it shows trump with 48%. that's the largest lead seen in any final "des moines register" poll. double the largest number of victory for republican in previous iowa caucuses. ron desantis at 16%.

the next number you want to focus on is 61. that's the percentage of likely republican caucus goers in iowa who are mildly enthusiastic or not enthusiastic at all about nikki haley, the "des moines register" polling, 39% are extremely enthusiastic about her, compare that to trump, who boasts enthusiasm for 88% of supporters. haley says those numbers don't reflect what she is feeling on the ground. >> the momentum and energy on the ground is strong. we feel it. we know that this is moving in the right direction, and to me, the only numbers that matter are the ones that we're going up and everybody else went down. >> up next, 99, that is how many counties of course there are in iowa. that is how many counties ron desantis has visited, the full grassley, all of them. the pro desantis, super pac, never back down says it knocked on more than 940,000 doors in the state alone. desantis is relying on that

ground operation to push turnout and defy his recent slip in polling. >> we've got a huge number of people that have committed to caucus, and we expect these are the people who turn out. there as lot of excitement on the ground. we're in this for the long haul. >> and this will put a chill in your morning, the next number is negative 35, as in degrees fahrenheit, a potential windchill for des moines, iowa, tonight. according to the national weather service, those life threatening temps can cause frostbite on exposed skin in ten minutes. how will that impact turnout, that's a big question on the candidates' minds tonight. here's what trump thinks. >> you can't sit home. if you're sick as a dog, you say, darling, i've got to make it. even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it. >> it's not worth it, by the way, but you get the gist. up next, two, how many times nonincumbents have won on to win the iowa caucuses and went on to secure the nomination, 2000 in

george w. bush, and '96 with bob dole, and a number nikki haley's team is focused on, the number 8, the number of days until the new hampshire primary. it's a big day today. it's all just getting started, phil. nikki haley can ride momentum into second place, where does that leave ron desantis? probably not in a great place. we'll discuss, next.

welcome back, former president trump making his closing arguments to voters in iowa informing them to show up. doesn't matter if it's cold, doesn't matter if it's snowy. show up no matter what. listen. >> the caucus will be filled with a lot of great people. i say if you're single, you'll probably meet your future husband or wife. you can't sit home.

if you're sick as a dog, you say, darling, i got to make it. even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it. >> you're either going to get married or you're going to die. >> one of the two options could happen tonight. the former president stressing how important it is for him to not only win in iowa, but win big in iowa. it's one of three critical questions that caucus goers could answer tonight, could trump run up the score and meet the expectations or exceed the expectations his high polling has set. can haley's recent momentum propel her into second place. governor sununu has called a strong second. if she does, the desantis campaign will face a tough questions, whether he can survive and if he has a path forward, given the lackluster polling in new hampshire. joining us john avlon, alice stuart and jeff duncan.

given all of your experience with the last three folks to win in iowa, what does an actual win look like? not only for trump polling at 54%, and nikki haley, the polling got a bit better. >> lessons learned pr prfrom prs campaigns. o o overplaying your expectations gives you the momentum heading into new hampshire. what she has the benefit of that i don't think desantis has is she has a ground game outside of iowa. we have been talking about iowa for so long. it is the first in the nation caucus but it is not reflective of the nation. people in iowa, they're white, more evangelical, they're more faith-based. you go into new hampshire, it's a different demographic. it's a different focus, same going into south carolina as well as nevada. nikki haley will resonate in these other states whereas ron desantis doesn't have that benefit. he's skipping new hampshire, going right to south carolina. so she benefits from having a more general election type of

message moving forward out of iowa. which will help her in this all important delegate race. so doing well out of iowa gives her momentum. donors will pay attention. voters will pay attention, and they will say, let's give her a chance. she's the non-trump candidate we have been looking for. >> nikki haley is the only person who has a chance to actually beat donald trump. we'll see at the end of today, how likely that chance might be. >> what tells you that? >> she's got momentum behind her. ron desantis has fumbled since right out of the gate. he had all the money he needed to at least be a player, and then he just never figured out how to be likable. his trajectory is going downwards, donald trump below 50, nikki above 20. that parlays into momentum builds and the math gets tough and difficult but that's the only play. i think the frustrating point sitting here, we knew that the play was to consolidate support

behind one person that could take on donald trump. you look at the gaudy numbers of what they carpet bombed each other, it's unfathomable how much they spent to call each other bad names. >> nikki haley has sustained millions of dollars in attack ads and seems to be moving. that's a positive for her because she's going to have to be able to sustain that particularly from donald trump because he does not like running against women, and certainly not women of color, let me tell you. so that will be really important. but the other thing that alice mentioned that is so critical, now begins the race for delegates. so it's not just about -- it's about winning, it's about momentum, but it's all about racking up the delegate, and for trump, his whole goal is to be unbe unbeatable by super tuesday. 40 delegates coming out of iowa. 22 in new hampshire. so, you know, keep an eye on that as well. >> the big issue on that front, the rnc and the trump campaign

early on made all of these states winner take all, not proportional. that benefits donald trump, they knew that. the expectations game, the marker we look at coming out of the early states, the burden is on donald trump. momentum is at nikki haley's side, but trump's lead is so big, people have been saying it's virtually inevitable that he would win by large margins. the bar is so high, there's a lot of pressure on him. if he doesn't blow it away, 50% being the reasonable threshold, i think that's some erosion. >> name names, john avlon. >> phil mattingly. >> however, we know this rodeo. clearly it was rigged, stolen. get ready to hear that. it's not just about the 2020 election. get ready for the 2024 election. he's starting to see the ground with the narrative.

>> i was going to ask you, the scale of the desantis operation, the super pac ran a lot of it. this is a new experiment for a lot of people. the amount of time, resources, door knockers, calls, caucus commitment cards, is there a chance we're missing something. is there a chance the organization is turning something? >> so often times, what's going on behind the scenes, it's not being covered in the news. and desantis had the benefit of all of the money at the very beginning. his pac raised tremendous amounts of money. jeff row knows how to lay the ground game in iowa. they did all of these door knockings and mailings and phone calls, and a tremendous footprint. the question is, how much of that infrastructure did he take with him. he did take some. the reality is desantis has the help and support of bob vander plaatss and the family leader organization, many faith leader

across the country regardless of whose name is at the top of the pack. of the infrastructure that those in the pac put forward stayed there. >> and that got me a trump ad that trump shared. for some folks in the faith-based community that will seem adoll trous. >> we're to ask evangelical pastors from iowa about that. why do you think trump holds on to 51% evangelical voters, compared to ron desantis's 20% in iowa. >> a great book about this dynamic, what swe have seen is, and he saw this with his father. idolatry around trump and supplanting america has the top of the ticket in your heart should always be jesus christ and that messaging. that's a real problem for a lot of evangelicals who are actually trying to be based in the bible.

people saying we've got to pump the brakes here. there's a wisdom to render under cesar, not render under trump. >> i think at the end of the day, nikki haley, and ron desantis and the rest of the crowd have done a poor job in explaining donald trump. he was the bright light for the republican party in 2016. it's turned out to be a train coming down that tunnel. and donald trump is the swamp. right? i mean, i think they've done a terrible job of explaining that he is the swamp. he is what he ran against in 2016. >> desantis has said that. i think the challenge is having gone up against donald trump is a lot harder than you think. you would think a direct frontal assault is the way to go. ask chris christie, it doesn't work. with his faithful, they are not willing to let go. i think nikki haley's approach, running as a woman will be more successful. >> trump is certainly not the poster child for how to be a christian but he has their support for several reasons,

what he did with the supreme court, roe v. wade, he made promises and kept them with him. that's why he's standing by them to . today is martin luther king day. president biden is scheduled to arrive in pennsylvania to participate in the martin luther king day of service. it's his third visit to the state in two weeks. remember, biden's reelection campaigngn joins us s to talk a ththat and whahat t they're wat in iowowa. that's's next.

welcome back to "cnn this morning", and president biden is scheduled to arrive in pennsylvania this morning to participate in the martin luther king jr. day of service. it is the president's third year in a row volunteering at the hunger relief organization in philadelphia. it's also his third trip to the keystone state in less than two weeks which of course highlights the importance of the state to his reelection campaign. joining us now is communications director for the biden campaign, michael tyler. it's great to have you. >> good morning, thanks for having me on.

>> there are other swing states of course on the map. why now, why p.a.? >> well, pennsylvania there's no doubt that pennsylvania is going to be incredibly important towards our pathway to 270. the president is going to continue to visit the state, he's going to continue to travel across all of the battle ground states. we are now in january of 2024, the beginning of the election year, and we're kicking this off, making sure we're communicating exactly what's at stake in the election, what the president did in valley forge, charleston, i think it's going to provide a stark split screen between what we're going to see in iowa tonight, where we have the most extreme slate of maga republicans candidates in history running for the republican nomination. that's what's going to be on full display today for the american people to see. >> so, michael, you're in des moines but of course democrats move their calendar around this year, and made south carolina the first in the nation primary, took iowa off the map all

together, and next up is new hampshire, where the president has had to mount a write-in campaign because he's not on the ballot, and he's facing a far off but challenger nonetheless, congressman deen phillips. are there any concerns about how the write-in campaign is going as nikki haley shows signs of life that could draw independents and maybe even demo democrats into the republican primary instead? >> well, listen, this campaign has made clear we're going to follow the rules put in place by the democratic national committee. that means south carolina holds the democratic primary. we're happy to campaign there. if you want to talk about the enthusiasm for the democratic base, look no further than the fundraising announcement. we raised $97 million in the fourth quarter, that's $235 million since the launch of this campaign. largely driven by grass roots donations, about 97% of the contributions that we got in the fourth quarter were under $200.

right? those are folks like teachers and nurses who are giving 5, $10 at a time by going to joebiden.com. they're doing so because they understand what the president has done to fight on behalf of them, and they also understand what's at stake in this election, whether or not we're going to hold on to what the president referred to as a sacred cause of network, which is our democracy. we're excited about the enthusiasm we have seen in the race. we're excited for the fight ahead. we'll be watching closely to see who emerges tonight in iowa. we're ready to provide the american people with a stark contrast between the president fighting for more freedom and democracy, and maga extremists like donald trump who want to tear down the fabric of democracy. >> "the new york times" is reporting on possible divisions in the biden campaign, this kind of story, as we should say, often par for the course, but here is the specific version for biden 2024. quote, so far, almost none of the people in the president's inner circle have left for campaign headquarters in wilmington, delaware.

prompting some donors and strategists to worry that too much of mr. biden's team remains cloistered inside the white house. this is a challenge for any white house that doesn't headquarter its campaign in the washington, d.c. area. i understand that, but it does mean that some of the top voices and decision makers are not in wilmington where, you know, all of you guys are showing up to work every day. and with the trump team showing that they have actually learned from their mistakes back in 2016 here in iowa, and presumably also in 2020 against the president, how concerned are you that the campaign is ready to take on former president donald trump if he, in fact, emerges as the nominee? >> this campaign is absolutely ready to take on donald trump if he emerges as the republican nominee. we have been gearing up for that fight since launch in april of 2023. we are scaling our operation to meet the moment and meet the challenge presented by donald trump and the threat he

represents to american democracy. the stakes are abundantly clear. there is a strong sense of urgency from this campaign, from the president himself. that's why he was adamant about getting out on the trail to kick off 2024 to lay out he hais vis for the future. the threat has never been stronger, that has been embodied by donald trump, when he's talnot talking about banning abortion, he's ruling for the economy to crash. he's pledging to rule as a dictator on day one. there's a sense of urgency in the work of our campaign reflects that urgency. >> if that's all the case, though, why are many college-educated republican voters open to somebody other than trump, why are they turning toward him and away from biden? you won over some independents in 2020. you're going to need them. >> well, absolutely. and i'm very confident that this campaign continues to do