this. so the state of texas, texas governor greg abbott and the biden administration don't see eye to eye when it comes to border security and border security tactics. and texas has taken the extraordinary step of blocking a federal law enforcement agency from its jurisdiction and not allowing border patrol to enter. now, the biden administration has asked the u.s. supreme court to intervene. texas replied to the high court saying that it is going to work to get access to border patrol to that park that i just showed you. but this shows the ramping up of escalation, and now new scoop this morning from my colleague at the white house, priscilla alvarez about this cease and desist order by dhs to the state of texas asking them, and hear this, not just to give border patrol access to that park, to the area that you see behind me and to miles of river, but to

actual federal land, and i want to leave you with a statement because it's very telling in this letter. t it says some of the barriers placed by texas and the armed soldiers deployed by texas are on federal land. specifically texas national guard is blocking entrances through federally owned and maintained border barriers with armed soldiers, and poppy, and phil, the dhs has given texas until wednesday to give border patrol access. back to you guys. >> rosa flores, thank you. and "cnn this morning" continues right now. the first votes of the 2024 presidential election are now just hours away. >> we want to save america from crooked crooked joe biden, you must caucus tomorrow. >> final pitches and sub zero cold. >> it's on track to be the coldest caucus night in history. >> even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it.

>> we can do this, this starts with iowa. >> i like being underestimated. i like being the underdog. i think that's better. >> i would rather speak the truth and lose this election then win by playing some fake game of political snakes and ladders. >> he's running a campaign about putting himself and his 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 morning, everyone. so glad you're with us. hope you got a lot of rest this weekend. you're going to be up late tonight. it's a big night, the biggest night. i am poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. kasie hunt is live in des moines, iowa, and we are 12 hours away from the start of the iowa caucuses. we will find out how dominant a

front runner donald trump is. forecast to be the coldest iowa caucuses ever. voters will be battling dangerous sub zero temps with windchills as low as minus 40 degrees, to get out and caucus, take a live look at des moines, iowa, where the high today is negative one. >> trump is holding a virtual tele rally after canceling several rallies over the weekend because of the frigid weather. these could be make or break for ron desantis, and he's keeping his ground game going, crisscrossing the state with several campaign events. we have team coverage this morning with correspondents on the ground in iowa. let's start with the aforementioned kasie hunt in des moines. candidates taking the cold seriously. how are the campaigns adapting in the final hours? >> well, we're all just trying to get by. i spent a couple of minutes outside, and with the tips of my fingers exposed and i got to tell you, i think the feeling has been regained in them 10 minutes or 15 minutes after i walked back inside.

the campaigns can't do what they normally would be able to do between the blizzard and now this cold that is quite literally dangerous. iowans are not afraid of the cold by any stretch but this is a particularly different situation, and so they have to adjust their turnout organizations. in particular, the trump campaign calling precinct captains, does your vehicle have four wheel drive, we need you to pick up your neighbors and get them to the caucus site. it's a significant test of the ground game. also enthusiasm. you have to be excited to vote to leave your house when the windchills are down at negative 30 or negative 40 degrees. that's what it feels like here in iowa. so it's just pretty wild. but, you know, i got to tell you, you mentioned tat the top, this is a test of how dominant a front runner donald trump is. that's the right way to look at it. the thing that i love the most about covering campaign politics is that voters often surprise

you. if we've made a mistake in the last few election cycles, it is assuming that we know what is going to happen. we have seen assumption after assu assumption. if those had been true, hillary clinton would have been president. donald trump never would have been the republican nominee in 2016. while it does seem like the writing is on the wall in terms of this republican nominated contest, you just never know. those voters might surprise you. we are finally going to get our first test of that tonight. poppy, phil. donald trump is using his final campaign appearances in iowa to, well, usually insult against anyone who doesn't support him. take a listen. >> but these caucuses are your personal chance to score the ultimate victory over all of the liars, cheaters, thugs, perverts, frauds, crooks, creeps, freaks and other quite nice people. >> the former president also

repeating the xenophobic language he's used to describe illegal immigrants. >> we're taking in people from prisons. we're taking in people from mental institutions. we're taking in murderers and drug lords. we're taking in people that are very very sick with diseases that will be spread all over our nation. we're doing the wrong thing for our country. it's going to be very hard to recover from that. we're going to start on day one with deportation. >> joining the former president on stage yesterday was governor doug burgum of north dakota who had endorsed his one-time rival. governor burgum last month ended his long shot bid for the republican nomination and had a different message just a few months ago. >> would you ever do business with donald trump? >> i don't think so. >> why? >> i just think that it's important that you're judged by the company you keep.

>> you just wouldn't do business with him? >> no, i wouldn't. >> governor burgum joins us now. governor, we play all of that mostly because i want to make the point, you campaigned and campaigned both for governor and president this a very different way, tomessage wise than the former president. why get behind him now? >> it's an easy choice. it's a binary choice. president trump is going to win the republican nomination. it's not going to be close. he's going to be up against joe biden and as a governor and a business person, i have had an opportunity to see what it's like under each of those presidents, and i can tell you, in our state, an energy and ag state, we were much better off under president trump. we campaign on three things, economy, energy, national security. those things are all three interrelated. joe biden has taken this country in 180 degrees the wrong direction, and i know that under a trump administration, we're

going to be going in the right direction on that. and so it's an easy decision when the choice is between the republican and the democrat in this case. >> governor, which primary are you watching? because my understanding is it's not a binary choice, there are four, five, maybe six republican candidates. in what world is this a binary choice at this point in time with other candidates still in the race? >> i think you'll see tonight in iowa with the commanding finish that president trump will have today in the iowa caucuses, and then things might tighten up in new hampshire, but then you're going to see across the country, we have never seen this kind of a lead before in a primary, and it's going to be a trump versus biden unless the democrats decide they want to switch horses, but that's what the race is going to be. and the sooner the republicans get behind that and understand that, the sooner we can get towards getting our country going in the right direction because, you know, biden's

policies on energy are, you know, they're destabilizing the world, empowering our foreign dictators, helping our enemies and they're hurting america. we have to get going in a different direction. >> why do you think you're the first former republican candidate to endorse the former president in this primary? >> well, i'm a business guy. i'm a data driven person, and i think that it's not just the writing on the wall. i mean, these are insurmountable odds in terms of just all the things that pundits would look at, and i think you're going to see in a few months that all of the candidates that have been running, they are all going to, virtually all of them are going to say, hey, i'm going to support the republican nominee. i'm the first of many that i'm sure will be supporting the former president in his run against joe biden. >> all things created equal, were there not insurmountable odds. was he not up by 30 or 40 points. do you think he's the best of

the remaining candidates in the race? >> well, i think the voters are the ones who get to decide that, and i think that what you're seeing, in a world that's unstable, wars erupting around the world, and you've got powerful dictators, which are policies, whether it's, you know, folks in iran who are funding terrorism, putin, venezuela, china, i think americans are saying, we've got to have someone who's proven that he can stand up to this. i think we've got in president trump someone who's going to help avoid world war iii. this is kind of a churchill versus chamberlain, the biden administration has been practicing appeasement, and we have seen where that's taken us, and i think americans are concerned about the future, and that's going to be reflected in what the voters say today in iowa. >> quickly before i let you go. does this precede an announcement that you're going to run for reelection as

governor. >> we'll leave that for north dakota politics, and we've got great things going in north dakota. north dakota's got the highest gdp of any republican-led state. our economy is booming. our population is growing. we were just named the best state to start a business in. a lot of positive things going on in north dakota, and it was, you know, when we were campaigning, it was an honor to be able to share that story around the country, a state that like iowa helps feed and fuel the world. but that decision is coming but not going to be made today. >> probably helpful to have the former president's support if you do that. north dakota governor, doug burgum. appreciate it. >> thank you. evangelicals in iowa rejected trump eight years ago. this year, he is winning them over, how they're support could be key to him clinching the caucuses tonight. >> and ron desantis joins us live after visiting all 99

counties, knocking on a million doors. how did "we're going to win" turn into "we're going to do well." >> we're going to win iowa. we're going to win iowa. >> we're going to do well in iowa. i like being underestimated.

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. >> very high risk, high reward proposition there. that was president trump over the weekend, urging his supporters to turn out to vote in iowa even if it's quite literally the last thing to do. trump supporters are the most enthu enthusiastic tonight. we're going to see if the enthusiasm will transfer into votes. here's where his base is coming from. it's important to note, as we look at the map, it's all gray. we have been talking about polls, projections, ground games, it's about to fill in, and that's what actually matters. when people start to vote. if you flip back to 2016, you'll remember ted cruz absolutely upset trump. trump was leading in the polls going into the day, cruz ended up winning because of a ground operation and the large reason why he won was in places like up here in the northwest part of the state, also down here as well. what are these places more known for? these are the more evangelical areas of the state. also the areas where the

education level is lower. let's take a look at the actual evangelicals, the darker parts of the state, the dark brown, these are the heavier evangelical populations. these were areas cruz was able to take significant advantage of pulling off evangelicals from trump. that has started to shift over the course of the last several years. you can see it in the polling where trump is leading in polls of evangelicals, so what does that mean for desantis. he's going to have to hope in places like up here where ted cruz not only beat trump, he dominated trump in the northwest part of the state. can he actually have an impact there to hold on to votes like that? the bigger issue as well is not just where evangelicals are, also in the rural parts of the state. those that don't have college degrees, this has been trump's base, white, rural, less educated. can desantis peel off those votes as well? it's an open question. there is no question at all, donald trump heading into the

race with a major advantage in the polling, writ large and with sub groups like evangelicals. >> we'll see if he can beat those numbers tonight. phil, thank you very much. and evangelicals in iowa shunned trump eight years ago, but the latest polling shows they are embracing him this time around. 51% of evangelical caucus goers plan to vote for the for the former president. ron desantis has about 22% of them. and 2016, for context, evangelicals made up 2/3 of republican caucus goers. that's when ted cruz beat trump to win on the state. "the new york times" asked several pastors which way they were leaning and why. we are joined by two pastors, pastor travis decker a pastor in ottumwa, iowa, and dr. tim vubenis, he supports ron desantis. gentlemen, i so appreciate you joining us this morning for this important conversation, and dr. lubenis, let me begin with you. how does your faith inform your

support for ron desantis, and why is it him over the former president? >> well, like everyone, our faith informs any of our decisions, and my faith is a christian faith, and so the object of the faith is jesus. and i'm informed by studying the bible and our community of other believers, and my faith looks for somebody who is somebody of integrity, who is principled, and who's a proven leader, and that is the description of ron desantis, and he's also a lot more presidential than the other candidates. he's a governor who's disciplined, and has shown himself to be the kind of person that we can follow. >> pastor decker, what is your response to dr. lubinus, and why you support trump? >> okay. so, you know, first of all, i want to make sure that everyone knows jesus is the savior,

righteousness exalted the nation, and we're not voting for a pastor or a sunday schoolteacher. i have often said none of these candidates could be a sunday schoolteacher in my church. they're not on the same page. i don't hold any of them as a role model for our family or congregation, and none of them beat that bar to me bib all get to speak and have an opinion. we don't have to hate each other to disagree with a little bit. >> pastor decker, to sounds lie you disagree with chris christie that character is the single most important trait for the presidency? >> is he one to speak. character is an assessment that

we all have to make about the candidate for ourselves. i like this fact about president trump. from ronald reagan on, i saw some statistics that showed each president went into the office and came out significantly wealthier than they went in. president trump went into the office and came out with less money that he went in. he also gave his paycheck away to charity every single time that he was in there. so i know that there's some rhetoric that he has on television. i think that he tries to get people's goat and i don't like a lot of the language that he uses for sure. but down deep inside i think he loves america. i think he loves our country and wants the very best for our country. >> i'm not going to dissect trump's finances right now, there was just a report out from congress a couple of weeks ago that showed multiple ways in which we benefitted, profited during his time in office. to the core issues gentlemen, let's speak about abortion if we could. this is what trump said at a fox

news town hall last week on abortion restrictions. >> now, i happen to be for the exceptions, like ronald reagan, with the life of the mother, rape, incest. if you talk five or six weeks, a lot of women don't know if they're pregnant in five or six weeks. >> i'm wondering to both of you, let me begin with you, pastor, decker, when you think when you hear that, do you think trump is pro life? >> president trump, you know, despite what he said there, president trump has done more to protect life than probably any other president that we've ever had. with the appointing of the judges that ultimately overturned roe v. wade, i believe that if congress enacted a law that had a federal ban, i believe trump would sign it without question. i don't think that that's going to happen. and so for a candidate to say i'm going to do something, they can't do without congress, you have to be careful about making promises. >> dr. lubinis, i should note,

trump called ron desantis's six-week abortion ban a terrible thing and a terrible mistake. is desantis's six-week ban in florida, part of the reason, a big part of why you're supporting him? >> yes, he has a strong pro life stance, and he's moving the needle forward in florida, and i hope representing the pro life community as president. and so, yeah, that's one of the reasons that i would support him. i would be concerned about some of the other candidates, including president trump who are inconsistent. they say one thing one time and another thing another time. and it's that consistency and discipline and principledness that desantis has that leans me toward voting for him tonight. >> before we go, i would like both of your takes quickly, if we could, something trump posted on his social media site. this is made by a fan of his, and it is been criticized for

having messianic overtones, here's part of it. >> god looked down and said i need a care taker, god gave us trump. god said -- >> pastor decker, your response to that, does it concern you at all? >> again, he didn't create it. i don't think that he thinks that. he posts lots of things, and i think he does it to troll people, honestly. you get down inside, he is very clearly stated behind the scenes that he is, you know, he has the fear of god. and wants, you know, he's not there yet as far as i'm concerned. i would love to see him become and grow more of a conscience in a lot of areas, but i think he has a proven track record of being a good president and especially on abortion. >> quickly, dr. lubinis, any concerns about idolatry? >> it's not so much about what

president trump does, it's the people who follow him. there are some that are way over the top that almost anything he would do, and of course, he said, anything he would do people would support him. that's concerning to me, and it is getting close to the definition of idolatry. >> i really appreciate this conversation to both of you. i know you're probably going to get out and caucus tonight. bundle up and thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. today marks 100 days since the deadly october 7th terror attacks in israel and hamas, releasing an ominous message about some of the hostages still in gaza. also, the state of voting rights in america on this martin luther king day where laws are getting more restrictive. six decades after dr. . king dedelivered hihis famous i h ha drdream speechch.

i'm free to explore.

i'm free to learn. i'm free to forge my own path. contra costa college is free for full-time students, which makes you free to explore all the incredible opportunities unleashed by higher learning. start your future and apply today at contracosta.edu/free

a live look at the skyline, look, the sun's coming up here in des moines, iowa. iowans this morning, being met with gbrutal cold ahead of the caucus, which starts in less than 12 hours. i just ventured outside the mars cafe here in des moines to show you exactly how cold it is. watch. >> okay. so here's some water. here's a window. let's see what happens. >> one more time, ready? >> so it froze immediately. i obviously raced in, back inside, as soon as possible. my apologies to the mars cafe. they went out to try to clean

the ice off the window, the cleaning solution. it's so cold the chemicals are freezing on the window. joining me to talk about what it means for the caucus, lisa lair, and editor and chief for the iowa capitol dispatch. so grateful to have both of you here. this is by far the coldest caucus i have ever covered, the coldest one you have lived through. >> in coldest one in history. it's really remarkable. and i know you have been kind of digging into the numbers, and thinking through kind of what this means. i'm curious on the enthusiasm question. we can put up and show people in the latest poll, 88% of donald trump supporters say they were mildly or significantly enthusiastic about getting out to caucus. that number drops quickly, 62% for desantis, 39% for haley. you can see it there. what does this tell you about what this cold is going to have

in terms of an impact? >> you start off with a low level of enthusiasm among your supporters and you add minus 7 degrees and icy roads, that adds up to nothing good, especially for nikki haley. what's interesting to me behind those numbers is nikki haley, half of her supporters are not even republicans as they're headed into the caucus. they're independents and democrats. so that tells me that, you know, they're not really nieceecessar all that excited about nikki haley, but they don't want donald trump. they're taking the opportunity, fact that the democrats are not having a presidential preference at the caucuses and they're going to try to, you know, support a candidate that they think would be less scary than donald trump. >> basically try to take him down in the primaries. lisa, that's an interesting way to look at it. i read your piece on the front page of the times on sunday. and, i mean, it's just kind of apocalyptic level stuff.

you where there has been comparisons to the civil war, quote, some see a parallel in the clash of two americas, not north and south now, but red and blue. what did you hear from voters on the trail about just how significant they view and how they're looking at this election because it's really different than the times i have been here in the past. >> it's really different. everyone can say, normally you come out here, and voters are talking about health care and taxes or abortion. this is an entirely new category of discussion. people are talking about fundamental tenets of democracy. they're worried that the american experiment is teetering. they're worried that the country is so divided they're going to pull apart and will have some kind of civil war. i mean, it really feels darker, it feels grimmer than, you know, anything i have ever seen in doing this. and that's a bipartisan sentiment. i mean, clearly the parties view this completely differently, like a trump voter views what has happened to the country. i mean, radically different, n

a different planet, a different reality than what biden voters see. they both have this shared dark concern for really the core of the country. >> yeah, i mean, i think that the candidates are driving a lot of that as well. i mean, you can't hear a donald trump stump speech without hearing about world war iii, and how he thinks joe biden is going to start world war iii. i would say that, you know, candidates are picking up that mood. >> so you think that world war iii messaging is coming from president trump himself? >> i think that a lot of messaging comes from president trump, and you look at -- i mean, foreign policy isn't usually what drives voters, right. but he's arguing, you know, we wouldn't have this war in ukraine if donald trump were president. that, you know, that china is being emboldened by joe biden, and that tends to play on people's fears, and fear is a

powerful motivator in an election. >> i'm sorry for the noise, it's snow blowers going by on the sidewalk. thank you both very much. >> fascinating as iowa, back to the iowa caucuses soon. five things to know. three of the hostages held by hamas, 100 days after the war began. it's not clear when this was filmed. the caption reads, quote, tomorrow we will inform you of their fate. israel has not commented yet. a short-term deal to keep the government out could come up with a vote as soon as tomorrow. chuck schumer reaching a deal to extend government funding into march. today, an unofficial u.s. delegation in taiwan after it elected a pro democracy president, critical of china overnight. the pacific long island cut diplomatic ties, saying it supports the one china principle. crews are trying to save a town in iceland after a volcano

erupted again leading to evacuations after the lava spilled into the town and set some homes on fire. the principal who defended students during the shooting at perry high school in iowa has died. dan marburger's daughter says he distracted the shooter to give students time to escape. >> you can get more on these stories on cnn.com, and download the podcast wherever you get podcasts. our coverage of the iowa caucuses continues. ron desantis joins us in moments. stay with us. five things, brought to you by c carvana, , carvana, t they drive you u happy.

there is a lot of information out there. hamas is a terrorist group oppressing the palestinian people. hamas refused a continued ceasefire, a continued pause in fighting and more aid from israelis in exchange for just freeing more hostages. instead, hamas resumed attacks. not to protect the palestinian people or obtain peace, only to destroy israel. we must stand against hamas and stand with palestinians and israelis for basic human rights.

we're now less than 12 hours away from the start of caucus night in iowa, just as life threatening cold could impact turnout today. >> let's go to dana bash, cohost of "state of the union" with florida governor ron desantis in iowa. hope he brought his snow boots. this is not exactly florida weather today in iowa. i know he continues to crisscross the state. dana, take it away. >> reporter: thank you so much, they were saying this is not florida weather. that is an understatement. thank you so much, we're here in your headquarters here in urbandale, iowa, appreciate you

having us here. someone from your superer pac told me this weekend that they have knocked on over 930,000 doors. they have almost 1,700 precinct captains on caucus night tonight. do you feel confident that your organization and the people who support you are going to come through tonight? >> i think so. i mean, you know, they have been doing this over many months, building relationships with people, so getting them committed to caucus by the tens of thousands at this point. but then also staying in touch with them, ensuring they're going to come out, and so they have a huge number of people that they're going to be able to turn out tonight, and then having those caucuses organized in the precincts, people are giving speeches at these things. i think some people have underestimated the extent, there's fluidity. but, give them a reason to support me and that could be the difference. i think you're going to see fluidity in the caucus sites itself, and that's why this is kind of an interesting process. it's not just going in punching a ticket and leaving. people are going to think about

things and some minds will be changed. >> reporter: define success tonight? >> i think you guys will know it. >> reporter: we'll know some things, but how do you define it. >> i think there's been a lot of narrative trying to say that we haven't been doing well when i think we were doing things on the ground that may not be as flashy, but that are going to come to fruition. >> reporter: what's your narrative? >> i think people are going to say, there's only two possible nominees, donald trump or governor desantis, we're the only ones that have strong support amongst bedrock republican conservative voters. to win a republican nomination, you have got to be able to do that. i think iowa will show that very clearly, and here's the thing, i mean, a lot of these voters that are still undecided, it's almost all deciding between trump or me in terms of what they're doing. that's just kind of where the party is, and i think that will be apparent. >> reporter: i met some voters, actually more than i anticipated who are deciding between you and nikki haley. >> that's great. get out to caucus and caucus for

me. here's why, because ultimately, you know, nikki haley could not possibly beat donald trump. she doesn't have enough support among core conservatives, i'm somebody that has delivered on these issues, incredible electoral success and policy success. caucus for us and you won't regret it. >> reporter: you said you're not going to totally define it but you did say that you think it's going to be donald trump and you, what if you come in third? >> we're going to do well. >> reporter: what is well? >> look, we have created people that are ready to go, that are going to go. and i would just say everybody out there, you know, we want you to participate in the process. this is an important opportunity. you're never going to have an opportunity as a voter to have your vote pack as much punch as it is going to be tonight. because, you know, 186,000 people in 2016, it's probably going to be less than that, and may even be significantly less than that. if you go out and bring family members, and neighbors, that's going to be a make huge difference for us. we're asking people to do it.

we're going to do well. look, i think that sometimes these expectations get set, and that can be bad for some candidates, too, and i think that you'll see an interesting story emerge with that. >> marco rubio who of course is the senator from your state, fellow republican, endorsed donald trump this weekend. was what a gut punch? >> no, i think donald trump is the candidate of the washington politicians. i mean, he has gotten a lot. me, on the other hand, i have gotten support from state legislatures in iowa, the governor, kim reynolds, new hampshire, south carolina, i have more endorsements in south carolina from state officials than donald trump does and way more than nikki haley does, and i think it's a different viewpoint. i think the washington folks, they're scared of donald trump primarying them or whatever he's going to do. the state folks, they're concerned about the top of the ticket. they want to see a strong performance, and then they look at what we've done in florida, been like, man, this guy is a leader, he gets things done. it's interesting. donald trump is the party of

washington, d.c. establishment. they have lined up behind him. i am the candidate that would be a change agent in washington, d.c. and i like that contrast. >> reporter: i was at donald trump's event yesterday, and he was boasting about the fact that he pushed to have an early strategy to crush you. even before you were officially a candidate. they spent a lot of money on ads to define you before you could define yourself. does he have a point, and do you think looking back that maybe you should have gotten in a little bit earlier to push back against some sof that? >> here's the thing, i won the biggest victory any republican governor has won in the history of florida. i delivered on all of these things republicans wanted to do. i go into the legislature session with super majorities, universal school choice, all the stuff any republican has dreamed about, what is donald trump doing, in his home state, is he cheering us on because we're doing so much great stuff for the people, no, no, no, he's attacking me.

it just shows, he puts trump first rather than the cause first because any republican in florida was ecstatic by the fact that we were in there getting all this stuff done. we did things that he promised and never delivered on. here's the thing, i made promises to the voters in '22. i had to deliver on those. yes, i could have just turned around and launched a campaign, but i had to do what i said, and i can now say i've dleelivered 100% of my promises. i got elected to do those things, not just run for another office. i couldn't have been true to myself. >> reporter: you said you can be the strongest, most successful, but if you don't kiss that wrong, donald trump's ring, then he'll trash you. respectfully, to use your term, you were kissing the ring a little bit when you were running for governor, and he talks a lot about that. was that something that you regret now? >> no, no, no, look, when he was president, i supported his

policies. he was under assault from the left and the media, and so i was happy to do that. he was our chance to get things done in a positive direction. now you're in a situation where somebody like governor reynolds, he's out there launching attacks against her. why? she's done a great job. iowa republicans universally acknowledge that. why does he do that? it's all because she's supporting me. that's a different situation when you're in a primary situation. i want republicans to do well. if someone's endorsed me, great, if they haven't, if they're doing a good job, i'm happy for that. i want our party to do well. donald trump is not that way. he wants to trash governor reynolds who's gold in iowa, simply because she's on my team. >> reporter: just a couple more questions. you leave here, and you don't go to new hampshire, which is the next contest state, you go to south carolina. >> we're doing a town hall on your network. >> reporter: no, i know. >> but the day after iowa, we will be in both south carolina

and new hampshire, and i think some people are reporting that we're not doing new hampshire at all. we had always planned on doing the cnn town hall, and our own town hall in the afternoon. the question is we didn't have anything scheduled for the morning, we're like, you know what, we haven't been to south carolina yet this year. let's go, and a way to highlight, and i mentioned earlier, we have like 84 endorsements from current and former state legislators, that's five times what haley has. she is the governor of the state of south carolina, it would be inconceivable to come to florida -- >> you're trying to make a point about nikki haley by going to south carolina. >> general speaking, south carolina is not a good electorate for someone who doesn't do well with core republican voters, and i think obviously she has to perform here in iowa. there's a lot of real estate between now and then, but i think that that's a great electorate for me, and as this thing get the closer and people are paying attention, we've got a lot of runway there. >> reporter: one last question, you have been on the trail with

your three small kids, madison, mason, and mamie. too young to understand, can you give a sense of what it's been like, and what do you think they will or should remember about this experience? >> they remember some of the things like going to the field of dreams movie site. they remember their first snowfall. they had never seen snow as floridians before coming up here. they got to go to farms, a lot of stuff. in that sense, they had fun. they like riding on the bus. we don't want to put them in an environment where they're not having a good time. i don't think even our first grader understands what it is. they know i'm governor. they know we're running for president. it's better that they're at that age, a lot of the nonsense that gets thrown at you, kind of goes over their head. if they were teenagers, they would take it a little more personally. governor, thank you so much. thanks for inviting us in here. are you going to eat some of those doughnuts?

they're well fed here. >> always get an a ovation wherever you go. we'll be back with you throughout the course of the morning and afternoon. >> if any candidate needs an inspirational comeback story, look no further than today's morning moment, the day detroit lions fans waited 3232 years fo. well, , it came, n next.

this morning, america honors the life of the late martin luther king jr. on the same day that iowans head to the first in the nation caucuses, it's hard not to notice the pivotal moment this country is in when it comes to voting rights. 11 states enacted 13 restrictive voting laws. >> that's in part because the supreme court has chipped away at the 1965 voting rights act, the landmark legislation that king brokered with lyndon johnson. sunday, when alabama state troopers beat and bludgeoned people looking for voting rights after crossing the pettis

bridge. it galvanized the opinion. acts against racial discrimination are expected in the lead-up of the 2024 general election. more of dr. king's work could be on the line in the coming year. >> selma is a reckoning, a right to vote. a threshold of democracy and liberty. with it, anything is possible. without it, without that right, nothing is possible. and this fundamental right, remains under assault. >> if you were alive, martin luther king would have been 95 this year. "silence of the lambs" was a couple of months away from oscar of best picture. text messaging had not been --

now, i know why i am reading this part. and trying to navigate the second grade. i was in third. that's how long detroit has waited for last night's win over the rams. the long wait for this lions fan. that's benjamin cassy. a lions ticketholder for 66 years. he was a ticketholder a decade before the super bowl existed. >> just look around. they are packed. they are cheering for us. we knew what it meant when the season started to get in the playoffs and to get this win. it's just the beginning for us. we have road left. >> that's the best environment i've ever been in. that was electric. i was coming down for pregame warm-up. and you could feel it. the building was humming. i swear you can feel the electricity down the tunnel from where i was coming down. it only just grew from there. >> also the first playoff win

for lions general manager, brad holmes. working his way from the bottom as a scouting assistant, holmes became the gm for the lions, despite zero experience. his first move, acquiring jared goff and a trade for the quarterback that goff just beat, matt stafford. they will take on the winner of the eagles and the bucs. just two wins away, from the first super bowl appearance. we just jinxed them. >> you didn't. it is a great story. cnn's coverage of the iowa caucuses is all day here. "cnn news central" is next.

there is a lot of information out there. hamas slaughtered more than 1200 innocent people, holds innocent hostages, and raped countless innocent women. and now hamas is trying to hide sexual violence against women. they don't want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them stand with palestinians and israelis for basic human rights. stand for all women.