morning, everyone! so glad you are with us on a beautiful monday morning here. >> and a beautiful diner here. >> and this is out of central casting. i'm poppy harloe, phil mattingly. we're at marian's diner in new hampshire. we're so happy they let us in before they opened, because it's kind of a big weekend. >> and grateful they had coffee ready. >> yes, they did. a big shake up ahead of tomorrow's primary here in new hampshire, ron desantis bowing out, hopping on the trump train. how his supporters feel about going along for the ride. >> nikki haley sharpening her attacks on the former president, going after trump's age, his mental fitness after he confused her with nancy pelosi. today trump is back in a new york city courtroom by day and coming back to campaign by night. will trump take the stand in the e. jean carroll defamation trial? we'll try to figure it out.

c "cnn this morning" starts right now. . all right! let's take a look at where we stand by the numbers. this is now a one on one race, with everything hanging on new hampshire. the final countdown is on. some polls here opening in 18 hours. donald trump and nikki haley are the only two candidates left standing after ron desantis dropped out late yesterday afternoon. >> we're going to make sure that we fight all the way until the last second. i'll leave you with this. may the best woman win. four former rivals have now endorsed donald trump on a seemingly inevitable march to the republican nomination. the latest, ron desantis, who dropped out yesterday. >> we don't have a clear path to victory. accordingly, i am today suspending my campaign. it's clear to me that a majority of republican primary voters want to give donald trump

another chance. >> three candidates have now called it quits after trump's landslide victory in iowa, just last week. today, hailey is blitzing new hampshire with five campaign stops. and trump is once again spending the day in a courthouse in new york city, before heading back to the granite state for a rally tonight. now, hailey is looking to pull off pretty much the equivalent of a political miracle in new hampshire. a cnn poll shows trump widening his lead to 11 points. omar jiminez starts us off this morning live in manchester, new hampshire. this is it. it's all on the line for nikki haley. what do we expect? >> it really is. what we've got, one less candidate in this race, but the super pac supporting ron desantis still has its bus here in new hampshire. a reminder of the campaign that was. it's running, so it, too, may get out of town soon. but really, at this point, the question is, with the stage set, with just these two candidates, a day before the primary, what message will new hampshire

voters send? >> thank you, new hampshire! >> reporter: it's officially a two-person race for the republican presidential nomination. with only a day to go until new hampshire votes. >> it's now one fella and one lady left. >> reporter: nikki haley is now the only republican left challenging former president donald trump, after this announcement sunday from ron desantis. >> if there was anything i could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, i would do it. but i can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory. accordingly, i am today suspending my campaign. >> reporter: it's an incredible fall for the florida governor, who had both money and momentum early in the race. now he's wasting no time the backing donald trump. >> trump is superior to the current incumbent, joe biden, that is clear. i signed a pledge to support the

republican nominee and i will honor that pledge. >> reporter: with that endorsement, donald trump is now thanking the man he attacked relentlessly for months. >> he ran a really good campaign, i will tell you. it's not easy. they think it's easy doing this stuff, right? it's not easy. he was very gracious and he endorsed me, so i appreciate it. >> reporter: on the trail in new hampshire, donald trump is aiming to deliver a knockout punch to his former u.n. ambassador. >> nikki haley, i know her well. [ audience booing ] >> she's made an unholy alliance with the rinos, the never-trumpers, americans for no prosperity, globalists, and the radical left communists, and they want to get liberals. , hailey is doubling down on attacking trump's mental fitness. >> he claimed that joe biden was going to get us into world war ii. i'm assuming he meant world war iii. he said that he ran against president obama. he never ran against president

obama. don't be surprised if you have someone that's 80 in office. their mental stability is going to continue to decline. >> reporter: both trump and hailey will be on the ground in the granite state again today, battling for votes. hailey will hold five campaign events after a new cnn poll shows she has 39 percent support among likely republican primary voters in new hampshire, compared to trump's 50%. still, she says, she's in it to win it. >> it's you and donald trump. if it's not you, i know you hope it will be, and you're working so that it is, but if it's not, if it's donald trump, will you support him as the nominee still? >> it's going to be. and i know y'all want to talk about it like it's still him, 70% of americans don't want to see a trump/biden rematch. >> and that's a lot of what she's been running on. you hear it at just about every campaign stop, that, yes, over recent days, she's been more poignant in her remarks at d donald trump specifically, but a lot of her criticism has included both the former

president and the current one, saying if they weren't both equally bad, they wouldn't be running in this race. after iowa, she said it was a two-person race, she got that reality, but with ron desantis out, the question is, does her path become any easier against the mountain that has been former president trump throughout these -- this election season. >> we'll watch. omar, see you soon. thank you very much. >> and joining us now to discuss, cnn political analyst and senior editor at "the atlantic," ron brownstein and shelby talka. i want to spin this forward. what are we looking at in the next 24 hours. that is, nikki haley wanted a one-on-one race. nikki haley has a one-on-one race. shelby, you're talking to voters and political hands constantly. do they feel like this is a moment for her? >> well, nikki haley's team certainly does. i think the problem that i've heard from other campaigns, former campaigns, people on the

ground here, is that nikki haley's really focused her pitch here on those undecided voters. and the problem is, she needs to, a, turn those out in record numbers, and b, also get republican voters on board. and the second thing is where she's really having problems. because it does seem like donald trump has locked up a significant portion of the republican base here in new hampshire. and when i talk to trump's team, particularly after yesterday, with ron desantis dropping out and endorsing, they're having a good few days here in new hampshire, is what i'll say. >> a couple of things -- there are often surprises in this state. >> there are zpl. >> you win the independent vote here, you win new hampshire, generally. >>ish. it depends on the margins among republicans. >> you have a fascinating new piece out talking about nikki haley weighing every word here. is it time for her to stop weighing her words on trump? >> this was the week. i mean -- >> it's passed? >> well, you know, leaving iowa

on monday night, she advanced her message, significantly. and she had one line in particular, "i am the last best hope of preventing this rematch that 70% of americans don't want." and that has sort of been there around the edges here, but it really hasn't been a clarion call. and you know, i'm still surprised that i haven't seen her to camera, on television, you know, driving that message to new hampshire on declared voters. because what happened to her in iowa, she's at risk of happening again. the reason she felt a third in iowa was the places where she did best, those suburban and urban areas, lots of white-collar voters, as david kotchel said, the people with heated garages, they didn't turn out anywhere near the numbers she needed. and i think the risk for her is that by being so nuanced and so muffled in her criticism of trump, where she will go after him on some things, but not really express any value adjustments about him, she faces the same risk here. that undeclared voters who are, you know, by and large hostile to trump, won't feel motivated to come out, because, you know,

as you were saying, trump has a big lead among republicans. she needs a big -- she not only needs a big lead among independent voters, she needs a big turnout, and i'm not sure she's giving them enough fuel to generate that. >> coming out of iowa, ambassador hailey was really focused on tying trump and biden together. and trump kind of gave her a gift, when the headlines kept saying that he appeared to confuse nikki haley with nancy pelosi -- no, he straight-up confused nikki haley with nancy pelosi on who controlled security on january 6th. this is how hailey responded to it. listen. >> and he's going on and on mentioning me multiple times as to why i didn't take security during the capitol riots. why i didn't handle january 6th better. we can't have someone else that we question whether they're mentally fit to do this. when you're 80, that's what happens. you're just not as sharp as you used to be. there is a decline. and this is a situation where our country is very vulnerable right now. and we can't just have four

years -- we've got to have eight years of somebody that's on it all the time. >> it's sharp, it's new, is it enough? >> yeah, that's the ultimate question. and i think it's really interesting, because so far, this criticism has been what we've heard from the biden campaign and they've sort of tried to level the playing field with biden's own, you know, concerns -- concerns about biden's own age and mental fitness. for months now, the biden campaign has been pointing out every gaffe and misspeak that trump has made, and now it's sort of making its way into republican circles. i'm not convinced a week out that this is going to change any voters' minds. when i talk to people on the ground who like trump, they fundamentally believe that there is a difference between donald trump and joe biden with age and mental fitness. what i do think it could affect is the general election, if donald trump does become the nominee, this has now become a more mainstream argument. >> it turns out that donald trump was more of an incumbent running for re-election than the

other campaigns kind of understood. >> such a good point. skblifs >> i was talking to a republican pollster last week, who said, jokingly, if we want to understand what's happening now, we should look at the exit polls from 1982. now, obviously, there were not exit polls -- because it's the only one, right? grover cleveland -- >> just straight up. >> grover cleveland was elected president in 1984, lost to benjamin harris in the republican in 1988, came back, won the democratic nomination again in 1982 and ultimately beat him. that's the only of that consequence that we've had before. and whitt's point, you know, somewhat amusingly is that for a lot of republican voters, this is more like buchanan against george h.w. bush than it is like mccain and forbes against george w. bush, it's not an even playing field. for the republican voters who were satisfied with his presidency -- i talked to a number of them here, trump voters, and i asked, was there any point along the way when you considered anyone else? and almost universally, they said, "no".

>> all right, guys, stay with us. we have a lot more to get to, including the former top republican who is definitely going to be the next person, who is no longer in the race. we'll get into it. it started with so much promise, it ended with a thud. that might be a polite way of putting it. why ron desantis had to suspend his campaign. >> also overnight, new information about the fate two of missing navy s.e.a.l.s. we have an update, next.

he said, will i be using the name ron desanctimonious. i said, that name is officially retired! [ cheers ] >> that is donald trump telling supporters in new hampshire that he will officially retire his nickname for ron desantis. this is after the florida governor announced that he was dropping out of the race and endorsing trump. >> the republican presidential field now has just two candidates, trump and nikki haley, with the new hampshire primary barely 24 hours from now. it is all in on a one-on-one race. ron brownstein, shelby talket are back with us. that race is what we're focused on and the fact that ron desantis, which is the second coming, had the "new york post" front page -- the future, had hundreds of millions of dollars, had the infrastructure, had the organization, had the message, he thought, and couldn't even make it to the second contest,

why, ron? >> you know, there were a lot of problems of execution, but in the end, i think it was more a problem of conception of the campaign that was flawed. you know, obviously, they had all sorts of turmoil in their structure and he started off as a very awkward and kind of stilted candidate, who did not interact with, you know, other humans well. he got better. >> he was on "x" -- >> it was a disaster, right. but i think the fundamental problem was, his theory of the case was wrong. their theory of the case was wrong. which was that they would try to run at trump primarily from the right, crack his support among the maga base, and then, if he was the last person standing, the voters in the center, who really didn't like a lot of what he was saying, would have no choice but to rally around him, because he was the only way to stop trump. he ended up with the worst of both worlds. if you saw the iowa entrance poll, he only won 11% of voters who said they identify with the maga movement, and those who didn't, he lost to hailey. he left the room for hailey in the center of the party to emerge. i think that he got better as a

candidate, but the basic theory was, you had trump as this mac truck rolling down the right lane of american politics, all of this room on the other side of him, and desantis was trying to squeeze by on the shoulder. and it just didn't work. >> i would say he was in the left lane, because that's where you go the fastest. >> the right -- i have to put trump in the right, though. >> fair enough. yeah, fair, i hear you. eight days ago, this is ron desantis eight days ago. listen to this. >> i came in not really doing as much media. i should have just been blanketing. i should have gone on all the corporate shows, i should have gone on everything. i started doing that -- >> he's running a campaign about putting himself and his issues first. that's what he cares about. you can be the most worthless republican in america, but if you kiss the ring, he'll say, you're wonderful. you can be the strongest, most dynamic, successful republican

and conservative in america, but if you don't kiss that ring, then he'll try to trash you. you know what? you deserve a nominee that's going to put you first, not himself first. >> eight days ago. and now an endorsement. he's out and an endorsement for trump. >> yeah, i mean, i think the thing with this is it sort of felt inevitable, particularly within the last few days. i think the common thinking on the ground here among politicos was, well, he's certainly not going to endorse nikki haley at this point, but it is interesting. and i think it just goes back to the reality that donald trump still has this, you know, ultimate hold over the republican party. and people at the end of the day end up endorsing him, and end up stepping aside. and that's what we've seen time and time again throughout this entire primary contest. and we will most likely continue to see it. >> you know what trump said yesterday about desantis validated what desantis said about trump, eight days ago.

like day and night. you know, he's ron desanctimonious. he's a failed governor. he never would have won without me. he's a great guy? he ran a great campaign! we're watch something like a medieval court or a crime family where loyalty and subservience to the chief is the one measure of kind of validity within the party. and that, i think, is the biggest risk to hailey out of this. desantis has support in new hampshire and south carolina has dwindled to the point where even if more of his voters go to trump than hailey, that's not like a big -- the problem is more reinforcing the signal that the party is closing ranks and wants to shut this down, much like what happened with joe biden in march of 2020 when everybody kind of came together and voters got the message. and that's the biggest risk to her. >> shelby, one thing i've been trying to figure out over the course of the last month or so, you could see when the first indictment came from the new york d.a., if you look at the polling, the divergence between desantis and trump that starts there and it's very clear. i'm not saying that's the only

reason. but given that and how the party coalesced after the first indictment, was there ever a path for anyone but trump as we entered into this primary season? >> yeah, again, you can name 20-plus things that ron desantis did wrong with his presidential campaign that were, you know, his fault or his campaign's fault, but at the end of the day, the indictments were also a major thing. and i think probably the biggest thing that has impeded any other presidential candidate running against trump from being successful, every time these indictments happened, trump's support grew, his support hardened, and there was really no way -- nobody has figured out a winning strategy for combatting that, even there even is one. so yeah, i think in a way, no matter what any presidential candidate does, these indictments have really

strengthened trump to the point where it really doesn't matter, is there even a contest? >> the other thing is that there is this giant rock in the road, in the middle of the republican primary, which is trump's hole on non-college and non-urban voters. he won two-thirds of non-college voters in iowa, he dominated rural areas. you can try to run around that rock mostly to the right, as desantis did, or you can run around that rock mostly to the left and center, as hailey is doing, but either way, there's just not enough on either side to overcome that dominance, particularly because trump is reshaping the party. and those non-college voters are probably a bigger share of the vote this year than they were in 2016. >> especially as trump is doing better this time around, especially with college-educated voters. >> he's doing better with everybody. >> literally every democrat. >> it goes back to what whitt was saying. he's an incumbent president now in the eyes of many republicans. and his -- you know, the trump campaign, when i talked to them, it's like, the core thing is that 75% of republicans approve of the job he did. and if, you know, if that's the situation, you don't expect bill clinton to be defeated for

re-nomination in 1996 or w. to be -- it's more like that than it appeared to the others and even to us at the outset. >> stick around, guys. we'll talk to you in a little bit. we have a lot more ahead on the program, incoluding this. it was freezing, very freezing, for caucusgoers in iowa. it is balmy here, in my opinion, in new hampshire. but voters here may face their own challenges with some of the weather tomorrow. >> a little minnesota bias, if you ask me. and the biden campaign planning to put the fight for reproductive rights front and center in the 2024 race. their plans to use vice president kamala harris to directly take on donald trump. that's next.

after a ten-day search, u.s. central command has declared two missing u.s. navy sales are dead. they were boarding a vessel off the coast of somalia when one fell into the water due to 8-foot swells and the second jumped in after him. centcom has not released information about what the mission the sailors were on was, but cnn has reported that they boarded a vessel searching for iranian weapons. centcom released a statement saying, we mourn the loss of our two special warfare warriors and

we will forever honor their sacrifice and example. >> also this. officials say that u.s. personnel are injured after a ballistic missile attack saturday at al asad air base in iraq. central command says that, quote, a number of personnel are being evaluated for traumatic brain injuries. an iranian-backed militia group claimed responsibility for this attack. this comes as tension continues to grow in the region against the israel/hamas war. and since this began on october 7th, u.s. and coalition forces have come under attack more than 143 times in both iraq and syria. well, we're going to feel much warmer temperatures over the next several days. that will be welcome news to a lot of people, including jason kelce, who likes to go around shirtless in buffalo, after deadly winter storms and an arctic blast tragically left more than 82 people dead in a dozen states earlier this month. daily highs are expected to go up about 30 degrees in some regions, with heavy wane and potentially flooding from the burst of tropical moisture. new hampshire, where we are, also could get some more snow on primary day. meteorologist derek van dam is

tracking all of it for us. what are we looking at this week? >> jason kelce will be very, very impressed with this weather forecast. it's going to warm up. he can be shirtless lless day l he wants to be. the above-average temperatures are moving to the eastern half of the u.s., this is a far cry, a walk in the park compared to what voters had to deal with last week at the iowa caucuses. here in amherst, where poppy and phil are currently located, temperatures in the upper 30s today, more of the same tomorrow, notice the afternoon or evening snow showers in the forecast. the northern half of the state may be dropping below freezing, the southern half should remain at or just above freezing. we'll keep that precipitation generally in the form of light rain. but we do have a full-on ice storm that is occurring right now as we speak for the nation's midsection. you've got to be careful driving this morning across this area. you can see the ice storm warnings and winter weather advisories. interstate 44 between st. louis and tulsa, interest rate 40, little rock to oklahoma city, and we have a mixture of precipitation extending as far

northeast as chicago. and i want to give you a heads up, multiple day of potential flash flooding hazards across the deep south from arkansas to louisiana. check this out, rainfall totals could exceed 5 to locally 6 inches of rain. but that's what you get when we see the warm-up and the pattern flip. phil, poppy? >> all right, derek, thank you very much. well, nikki haley touting in new hampshire a one-on-one race with donald trump, but who are desantis voters likely to support now that he's out of the race? the chairman of the new hampshire republican party joins us on n set discususs, next. stay with h us.

it's now one fella and one lady left. there were 14 people in this race. there were a lot of fellas. all the fellas are out except for this one. >> that, of course, was nikki haley in new hampshire yesterday, after ron desantis announced that he was dropping out of the gop primary race. hailey is still trying to score an upset against donald trump, but one top republican says that the race is effectively over. >> the chair of the national republican senatorial committee, senator steve danes, writing on "x" that trump is the, quote, presumptive nominee, while urging the rest of the party to get behind him. new hampshire republican party

chair, chris egger joins us this morning at his favorite diner. you would be here anyway for breakfast, right? >> i would, but it would probably be after 7:00, so -- >> well, thanks for getting up extra early. is steve danes right? is this thing tied up? >> it's not over until tomorrow night at 8:00 and then we can see what the results are. people in new hampshire, they tend to take their voting seriously, and we still have two people in the race. and the first primary vote hasn't even been counted yet, so it can't be over until it's started, but if president trump does well, as the polls indicate, it could be over tomorrow night. >> to that point, you look at the polling, you have a great read on your electorate in particular, you expect record turnout tomorrow night for new hampshirens, guess 300,000. >> the polls feel right, i was

at a rally with, a president trump rally on saturday night, and you know, maybe 8,000, 9,000 people. it was electric. and when he started his speech, it was very statesmanlike. so he projected presidential kind of feeling, and then he went into traditional trump, you know, the nicknames, and riling the crowd up. but you have a sense there that he was playing for the general election and that he felt that he had it locked up. but again, i'll go back to 2022. general bull doc was up by 20 percentage points in all the polls, he only won by less than 1%. you never know what the electorate is going to do. with ron desantis out, making it essentially a two-person race, i think we've got to see how that dynamic works out tomorrow night. but it does feel like the polls are correct, but you really just could be surprised. we could be surprised tuesday. >> well, that happens in this state from time to time. and you said that nikki haley can, in your words, absolutely

win new hampshire. cnn's poll also shows where voters go with the desantis out. the poll was done obviously right before he pulled out. but let's look at that. it looks like trump leads by 13 in this state, when you take desantis out of the equation. and he is out of the equation now. is that gap too big for her to close? >> well, i mean, we saw just two years ago, a ten-point gap was erased on election day. nobody saw that coming. so it's possible -- another dynamic that could be happening is trump voters could be oversampled, because unlike in the past, where some of the trump supporters were kind of quiet about who they supported, this time, trump supporters are wearing it proudly on their sleeves. they are loud and proud. and so i don't think they're undersampled. some of nikki haley supporters, you know, potentially could be. so, you know, that's how the dynamics change in the polling. and you get these big double-digit swings is because people really don't like,

necessarily, to share who they're going to vote for. so, you know, it's possible. is it likely? probably not. but it's possible. and you know, we've got to really wait for those votes to come in. >> can i ask one question i've had, this is a purple state, but it is a state where joe biden won it in 2020. both senate seats are held by democrats. biden in head-to-head polling against trump in new hampshire is leading. it's one of the few states with this type of makeup that biden has a lead and a fairly comfortable one. does that concern you, having trump at the top of the ticket. if that ends up being the case, given where biden stands at a time when biden is weak seemingly nationwide? >> these four electoral votes in most of the matchups that we've kind of looked at, with the rnc, there's only like one or two corner case scenarios where these four electoral votes make a difference in the electoral college. and so our main goal is whoever can win the national election, we want a republican in the white house.

and so we've also seen where, at the top of the ticket, all of the democrats have won. congress, senate, president. but statewide, we're the only state north of georgia, along the east coast that is solid republican at the state house. and we just won the aldermanic race. the largest city is solid republican. so there's a lot of good indicators for us that it's going to be a good republican year, whether we want to the top of the ticket or not, down ticket, we'll do just fine in new hampshire. >> chris egger, thank you. now you can go have breakfast. they open in a couple of minutes. >> thank you. the name joe biden will not appear on the new hampshire ballot tomorrow. why the president has to rely on a write-in campaign here, next.

well, guys, it's 2024, but is it? i don't know about you, but when i think of the year 2020, i never think, we should run that one back. and if you're feeling confused, you're not the only one. at a rally on thursday, president biden said he was mixed up when he claimed he had just taken a photo with a woman who wasn't even there. then the next day donald trump repeatedly confused nikki haley with nancy pelosi. guys, i don't know if we should do this election. it's honestly starting to feel like elder abuse. >> sorry, collin, it's happening! "snl" joking over the very likely trump/biden rematch. the argument that it's a matchup no one wants has not only been at the center of nikki haley's campaign, but also democratic hopeful dean phillips' campaign. yesterday, phillips called biden, both democrats, by the

way, weak and unelectable, and also told supporters that a vote for biden is a vote for trump. >> remember, biden isn't even on the ballot here in new hampshire, because the democratic national committee at biden's behest made south carolina the first in the nation primary for democrats. that's why these democrats were out in the cold yesterday, trying to rally voters to write in biden's name on the ballot. let's bring in cnn chief national affairs analyst and anchor of "early start." can you explain to people why this is happening? a lot of people haven't paid a ton of attention to it, but there's a reason here. >> logistically, i can explain it to you. i don't understand why the dnc did this. they changed the primary calendar. they said, we want south carolina to go first. new hampshire says, no, we go first, and they did not give into the dnc here. they scheduled their primary early, but for the president he says, i have to abide by the rules, which means he's not going to run in this ballot.

you have dean phillips and marian williamson down around 10% a piece. but there's always a risk, right, in politics, a write-in campaign is very hard to win, to wage. and for the a president when -- look, donald trump is running against him, his primary argument is this guy is weak. and anything that contributes to that narrative is potentially a risk. that's what i'm looking for here on tuesday. >> how does dean phillips potentially affect things on both -- both for nikki haley, if undeclared goes with dean phillips, but also the reporting over the weekend, that he -- there is a scenario in which he would consider going to a no-labels ticket. >> i don't think he has enough pull on independents to really change the dynamic for hailey. it's not like 2000 when bill bradley and john mccain were generally dueling for those undeclared voters. you know, his willingness to join the no labels, like manchin, is a reflection of what we're talking about. even within the democratic party -- that's true. look, within the democratic party, there are a lot of people who don't think biden should

run. and there is an audience, potentially, for if there had been a more serious candidate, but i think the party leadership was very clear that they didn't want that, that they view trump as an existential threat and however concerned they are about biden's ability to beat him, they thought that a competitive primary would further weaken him, rather than leave them with someone stronger in the end. >> kasie, there are a number of questions i wanted to ask, but your reaction to no labels reflects my internal reaction to no labels, generally. it keeps coming up and they keep talking about it. is no labels a real thing? should people be paying attention to no labels right now? >> i think there was a point when they were planning on having a nominating convention in person, there was a real question about whether there was going to be a sustained ballot access issue. i have been focused a little bit less on them recently. i mean, we'll see what kind of move they make once the -- you know, the republican and democratic tickets are officially set. i'm actually more interested in what's going on with robert f.

kennedy jr. and his quest to get on ballots. it's not going to matter if he's not on ballots in the states where he could make a difference, but if he gets on a ballot in arizona, for example, just think about how closely fought this election was back in 2020. we were, you know, counting for days after we were waiting on those arizona results to come in. i mean, even a handful of points one way or the other could potentially making a difference. you know, we've seen evidence that people with the last name "kennedy," people will still vote for them because they remember jfk. so i do think that's something to keep an eye on. >> it's a really good point. ron, you're nodding. this as we watch president biden, vice president harris, who's going to be on cnn tonight with laura coates, really pushed the abortion message and protecting or trying to find a way to reinstitute that a constitutional right. how does that affect all of this? >> i think that's critical for them. >> that they need to be louder on it. >> and they will be.

and democracy, and the whole question of rights. biden has some tailwinds on the economy, right? wages are rising faster than prices since last spring. they probably will continue to do for the whole year. the fed may cut interest rates in 2024. even with that, it's highly likely if it's a trump/biden rematch, on election day, more people will say, they trust trump on the economy than biden. and that means to win, biden is going to have to convince at least some voters who do not believe he has really delivered for their interests that they still can vote for trump, because he's an affront to their values and rights and a threat to democracy. if biden wins, my prediction here is that his winning coalition will be slightly more upscale, even than it was last time. because i think for a lot of voters who are living paycheck to paycheck, it's hard to get past the disruptive influence in their lives of inflation, but i think there is an audience for this rights message centered on abortion, but not exclusive to abortion, among more white-collar voters who may also

be less, you know, inflation is an inconvenience, but not an existential crisis. that really is the path. and particularly, in michigan and pennsylvania and wisconsin, where voters have gone to great lengths in multiple elections over the last couple of years to make sure that abortion remains legal, they kind of look at abortion as the last line of defense for biden in trying to resemble the blue wall. >> to that point, and ron makes a fair point, the message is not just abortion and isolation, not just democracy and isolation. they're trying to thread together the idea of freedom and rights. can they pull that off. you talk to democrats, and they're like, they should be talking about this more, they should be talking about that more. and the campaign says, we're talking about all of these things under an umbrella. that's the message. >> i think they've had -- we've seen in the last couple of elections that they had success with framing it as the idea of freedom, of choice, that goes beyond just reproductive rights. it's something that resonates -- in a lot of ways, it sounds like a conservative me think. it's something you're more used to hearing from republicans. but instead, you're hearing it from democrats. and i do think, too, some of the

mechanics of this are going to be really important. do they, you know -- what states have abortion-related ballot initiatives, right? because that's going to potentially change the makeup of the electorate. if you feel like you actually can vote to protect abortion rights in your state, maybe you're much more likely to get out and vote. we've seen it be a very galvanizing issue for people, and i think that democrats are counting on that, as well. because it also means it doesn't have to be exclusively about joe biden. >> you brought up arizona, that's a state where democrats are pushing for that, as well. in those critical seats, also if you put abortion on that ballot. how many that drives. >> biden won the election, because five states flipped from biden in '16 to trump in '20. it was arizona and georgia in the sun belt. arizona and georgia look much tougher, particularly this time. he can win just by holding michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin, even if he loses those two and nevada. so that, i think, many democrats

feel like that is the shortest path, the most direct line to 270. and as i said, abortion has been a powerful issue for democrats in those three states. >> so michigan looks like more of an uphill climb for him. and this is why gretchen whitmer yesterday was like, yes, it would be good to hear a more forceful message from the president specifically on abortion. >> ron brownstein, kasie hunt, thanks, guys, appreciate it. and as we just mentioned, tonight, laura coates live has an exclusive interview live with vice president kamala harris. they'll talk about the state of the race and how she and president biden plan to win that second term. that's tonight at 11:00 on cnn. 17 hours to go until the first voters here in the granite state head to the polls. much more of our special live coverage of the new hampshire primary continues next. 44 yards bass -- no, he doesn't make it! >> wide right! >> wow! >> the two-most dreaded words in

buffalo. >> i weep for wolf blitzer. the buffalo bills' hopes of reaching the super bowl extinguished by a miss field goal. a recap of jason kelce's wonderfulllly shirtlesess sunda that's n next.

in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yup, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company

with the largest fastest reliable network. give your business a head start in 2024 with this great offer. plus, ask how to get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet.

44 yards bass, no, he doesn't make it! wide right! >> wow. >> the two most dreaded words in buffalo have surfaced again. >> oh, i hurt. i hurt for buffalo people. but it was another classic between the chiefs -- >> but your team won this weekend! >> but i have empathy, sort of. >> feigning empathy. kansas city chiefs coming out on top, knocking buffalo out of the playoffs for the third time in four years. now, the stage is set for the afc and nfc championship games. >> coy wire joins us now. are you okay, my former bills player, friend? >> i feel like phil after his buckeyes lose to michigan again. >> come on, man! >> too soon, i know.

misery loves company, phil. listen, credit to the kansas city chiefs. patrick mahomes and travis kelce, watch them here connect for the first of two touchdowns on the night. they pass tom brady and ron gronkowski for the most in history, and watch kelce throw up the heart hands. taylor swift's up there somewhere. there she is. and so is her brother, who's everyone's spirit animal. shirt was off, but still looks like he has a sweater on. josh allen and the bills, they jabbed right back. scoring one of his three of total touchdowns on the night, back and forth this game went, six lead changes in all, but the bills dropped several opportunities on their final drive, including this perfect pass to stephan diggs. and with over a minute to go, kicker tyler bass, wide right on the chance to tie it. chiefs win 27-24. they advance to the afc championship game for the six straight season, they'll face the ravens. >> every time i go up against josh, i know it's going to come

down to the end, because of the player he is. same when i go up against joe, lamar. all of these guys. and i know how much fire they have, and they're not going to give up until the very end. you appreciate that stuff. these are the games i watch growing up. great quarterbacks with great football teams, great organizations. and that's what i remember. hopefully we're making those memories for other little kids that are growing up watching football. >> the detroit lions are going to the nfc championship for the first time in 32 years! a 31-23 win over the bucs with jared goff. the number 31 pick could have been an afterthought, but he continues to be lights out. it starts with dan campbell, the former lions player who talked about biting kneecaps at his first press conference. he believes this moment can happen, now it's here. and now we have four remaining. you have those chiefs and the ravens in the afc title game, lions, niners, we'll see who can get her done. can lamar jackson, a f