>> this is iowa. mark: i attended an event with one of them, governor scott walker a couple of blocks from here. jennifer jacobs from our partners at the des moines register's joining me for a classic two for this week. 1200 people in the convention center behind us.

the first time the candidates are going to be at the same event. family leadership speech for the republicans tomorrow. jennifer,, tell us what you are looking for at this event. jennifer: it could be a bellwether for the early energy in iowa. bernie sanders has had crowds that rival barack obama. hillary clinton has gotten a wake-up call. she has ramped up her staff to more than 60 people. she just put down advertising. it will be interesting to see how this translates tonight. mark: huge crowd, they are activist. they care about the iowa democratic values. it gives all the candidates a chance to reach them. we have seen at past events, al

gore and bill bradley, a chance to say to the party and the press corps of iowa in the here is what i stand for, here is what i want to take the party and the country. big opportunity for all five. jennifer: we have seen people have fireworks and take off. it will be very crucial. mark: 1200 people. this will be one of the biggest events that anybody addresses this year. my question for you, is do you have a sense, is embedded going -- is anybody going to try to do something big tonight? something that changes the contours of the race? jennifer: it does not sound like there will be a lot of sharp elbows, but nobody will be saying anything explicit about the front runner hillary clinton. there will be a lot of subtle contrast. mark: the republicans fire back

with 10 other candidates, taking questions. they open the floor to the 2700 spectators. same question. what are you expecting? jennifer: they have this one-two punch with the democrats one night, all the democrats, and then the very next day, almost all of the republicans. the emphasis tomorrow night will be very spiritual. issues that are crucial to christian conservatives. it is not determinative of the issues of the entire field. one of the things they will be looking for is does this trip of people like scott walker or marco rubio who do not want to offend people who are in the middle? you do not want to say anything to appease the evangelical voters that will come back to haunt you. mark: rand paul is not here. trump is coming, and although he is taken positions on issues he says he is against same-sex

marriage. how trump does in this event whether it dominates it, he is , just the reality of the week riding high in the polls. a lot of those people will be excited to see. i think ted cruz, rick perry and mike huckabee will be those that i will be watching. do they rise to the occasion? none have had in iowa huge moment in this cycle. this is a chance for them to show that they can be the consensus candidate. the other thing is rubio, who needs to find a place where he can win. he is right for this group on most of the issues but does he rise to the occasion. he has asked questions that caused some of these candidates to tear up. we have not seen an event like that. we have seen some speeches, had a q&a, we will see how they do on emotional questions. remember donald trump, when he was a birther, when he demanded

that the president releases college transcripts? we do. donald trump: president obama is the least transparent president in the history of this country. if he opens up and gives his college records and applications, and if he gets his passport applications and records, i will give to a charity of his choice, inner-city children of chicago american cancer society, age ids research, anything he wants. a check, immediately, for $5 million. mark: trump tower is not just a building. the man is towering over the republican presidential candidates in most polls. it is no surprise, like a swarm of gnats, the press is going to the top. i asked him if he would release his grades.

you made a big point of trying to get president obama to release his college records and i was wondering if you would release your records. donald trump: i don't know. it is something i never thought about it. i will certainly think about it. i was a good student and went to a great cool. mark: you will not admit to doing it? donald trump: that is the first time i have heard the question. mark: at this point, what is most likely to slow him down? attacks from his rivals? his own mistakes or something else? jennifer: i have asking iowa republicans that a lot lately. one said to me donald trump is really juicy instant gratification television. on tv, crimes get solved in an hour.

people fall in love on the bachelor. peteheekin appeals that crowd. there is difference between telling it like it is and being obnoxious. if it did not work for chris christie, why would it work for donald trump? mark: i think what will bring him down is eventually it will be time to pick a president and people are going to say, is this someone we want to send in a general election, and be commander-in-chief? he is not doing much to act like a serious person. he called for a boycott against mexico. the huffington post said they were no longer going to cover him as a political person. he attacked them. by his own way of talking about things, at least some republicans are going to turn the other way. i do not think his mistakes have hurt him, he just does not play by the normal rules. jennifer: calling people a dummy doesn't go over well. work: in the long-term. coming up, choose your own adventure. we have bernie sanders, and dan balz.

either way, you win. ♪

mark: our guest is a guy who i met on a plane, a grandpa, and a senator. bernie sanders, thank you for coming back. 1200 iowa democrat in the convention center. a big night for you and the other people who want to be the nominee. will you be nervous? bernie sanders: i will be. but i am confident that the message that we are coming, is that the establishment party and economics are not working. the time is long overdue we take on the billionaire class and create an economy that works for all people. mark that your message.

:do have a goal except to give your normal speech? senator sanders: i want all 1200 people including hillary clinton supporters to come out and put on my pin. that is my goal. mark: that is a lofty goal. when you get nervous, what happens? senator sanders: i get louder. mark: so you might do the monster on the stage? jennifer: you called the iran deal a victory for diplomacy. over sabr renderer rattling. what would you do as president if they reneged, would you consider a military option? senator sanders we just went :. through a war in iraq. we went through a war in afghanistan. i am the former chairman of the veterans committee. i will tell you with the cost of those war. before people start talking for

going to war, we have got to exhaust every effort to reach an agreement with iran so they do not get a nuclear weapon, but to we do it in a peaceful way. i resent the easy talk about war. i talked to too many veterans who came back without arms and legs and with ptsd. mark: i totally respect when he to keep that as far away from discussion as possible. most people run for president say that war is the last resort but you cannot take it off the table. senator sanders: i'm not a pacifist. of course. mark: you would reserve that option, even though you put it far down the list? senator sanders: it is always an option, but after the war in iraq and afghanistan which cost is so much in life and suffering, it is very much the last option. i applaud the president and john kerry for their extraordinarily difficult work in trying to forge an agreement with iran. mark: i want to talk about

minimum wage which is a big issue with the party in the country right now. you support a $15 national wage. a lot of democrats say maybe not that high, maybe $12. what you base $15 on? do you have a study? why not $20? senator sanders: the study is what is feasible, what we can do politically, and what are the needs of the working people? right now, the wage is a starvation wage, people cannot live on that. so many people on food stamps, so we are in effect subsidizing the walmarts of the world. $15 an hour is not a whole lot that allows people to live with a shred of dignity. there are limits to what you can do. $15 an hour would be a very good start in providing dignity to people and cutting the level of poverty in america.

jennifer: one of the things that your critics have said, is that they do nothing you get much done in washington. let's talk about a standard cabinet. can you talk about the kinds of people you would put in a standard cabinet? in maiden -- and maybe name some people? senator sanders: it is a little premature to be naming people, but i think what we've seen over the last number of decades is both a republican and democratic administrations is a heavy reliance on wall street. goldman sachs is not going to be in my. there are great economist out there who understand how the economy works. they can come up with ideas of how to expand the middle class how they protect the working people. those are the folks i would bring in. mark: i'm sure you do not want to name names. senator sanders:. let me win the election first.

mark: who was a defense secretary who you thought did a great job at it treasury secretary? >> i can tell you some who did not do a good job. mark: i knew you could. what about ones you thought were good? senator sanders: in terms of somebody who i would like to have on board, it certainly would not be donald rumsfeld in terms of secretary of defense. but i think in terms of if you're going to be looking at maybe secretary of treasury, somebody like bob rice would be somebody who would be good. mark: going back to defense. i knew you would not like rumsfeld. is there anyone who has ever served, that you set that is the kind of person, values and judgment? senator sanders: the folks around in world war ii did a good job. mark: how about treasury?

senator sanders: bob rubin would be the last person. he was one of the architects of the deregulation of wall street . that is what wall street is about. not lloyd bentsen either. a very nice man, but not my secretary of the treasury. these guys come from the moneyed interests. i think we will get people who represent the working families. mark: we flew in together, and i took a picture of you loading your own bag in the gate check. mark: i was waiting for you to help me -- senator sanders: i was waiting for you to help me. mark: you are doing the normal stuff people do. do you have time to do that and run for president? senator sanders: i tried to live a normal life. try to get home.

it is a crazy world running for president, but i do try. mark: you could take some campaign money and say to a young person, pick up my dry cleaning. senator sanders: the american people -- mark: we want people to get to know you. senator sanders: i realized picking up my dry cleaning is an important issue, but i'd rather talk about levels of inqcome inequality. mark: i was proposing a new job. i would like to do it for a week. last question, just to finish with the event.

you and secretary clinton, we have not asked a lot about her. normally you get a lot of questions. tonight, are you going to be listening to what she has to say? senator sanders absolutely. : let me reiterate what i've said. i have known hillary clinton for 25 years. i like her and i respect her we . we disagree on a whole letter ot of issues. mark: she said some nice things about you over lunch. wanted she say? -- what did she say? senator bernie sanders. watching for the monster to come out. good luck this evening. coming up, the dean of the american political press corps. after this word from our sponsors. ♪

mark: our second guest tonight, the chief correspondent for the washington post. thanks for coming back. happy to see you here. let's talk about the republican race overall. you write about it regularly. where do you seeing things a standing overall? who was in the top tier, doing well? guest: donald trump, donald trump, and donald trump. we're in a strange time frame. we don't know. he has taken all the oxygen out to use a cliché. it makes it very difficult for anybody else, possibly with the exception of jeb bush to get any visibility, any traction. the good thing for all of them is it is is july and not november or december. we will have to see what happens to mr. trump as the months go by. mark: is he doing well? jennifer: he is definitely

getting the attention. people are paying attention. but wouldn't jeb bush not mind all of the attention he is getting, since he has stayed steady? eating into the numbers for cruz and carson. mark: what you hear about the donor class? they hope it will go away? guest: they hope it will happen. everybody i have asked the question, how long does this sustain itself? nobody knows. i think the hope of the establishment obviously is that it is a very short summer fad that he has read nobody is quite sure. he's obviously tapping into something. right now he as an attention grabber. people want to hear what he says, and he is registering with at least some segment of the population. at some point, people ask themselves, who do we really want to be president?

who do we really want to lead the republican party? at that point there is a level of scrutiny and judgment. mark: the one thing it reminds me of is ross perot. when perot was at his height leading in the national three-way in 1992, the democrats did not have any idea that over time he would get screwed with the crazy wild things he says. but i do not think it will hurt s trump the way it hurt perot. jennifer: he is organizing a big picnic in iowa where they will be free food. mark: when is that? i want to be there. walker was there on monday. how is his launch week? guest: basically pretty good at. he had a little pickup with the boy scouts and the gaze that he had to clarify. he has had to do that several times over the last four or five months. the ending of the john doe investigation was a weight off his shoulders.

you and i were just over at this event that he had earlier, he had a big turnout. mark: those clarify kaisha and come a which he has to do several times, sometimes on big issues like immigration, is that just bad luck or that something about his skill level that causes them to put himself in that? guest: the issue is what are his instincts. the risk for him, the more he does that, there are two bank things he does. one, he gets pushed too far to the right in what people think of him, which is not really working wanted to be what he started off his campaign. the second is that continues to raise the question of how ready is he. how knowledgeable is he. he has done a lot of he is homework and pretty smooth on a lot of issues right now. spontaneously there are still moments where he is a little wobbly. jennifer: there is a thing

happening in while -- iowa. a walker meter. it is in the yellow right now. margaret: the thing he is running on is i'm a man of solid conviction, and i do not waiver. and yet it is a big problem for him right now. guest: and yet on big issues, he is solid. mark: he has painted himself as the antiestablishment figure. son of a president, brother. he has some credentials in that respect. can he convince iowa and republicans around the country that he is anti-establishment? guest: he is a reformer with results. that phrase from george w. bush's campaign. anybody who does not served time in washington can present themselves from outside of washington. he can do that with credibility

and talk about a record he compiled in florida. presenting himself as not part of the establishment. i don't think will sell. mark: they are not quite the same thing. he will have a little bit of the hurdle there, and they are making a concerted effort is he cannot win if he's only a candidate seen as establishment bush. jennifer, dan, thank you for joining us. always informative. we will be right back with a tease of our lineup for next week's program after this. ♪

mark: very big weekend. we will be covering that on monday. interview with ted cruz.

tuesday, john kasich announces for president. other big guests. thank you

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