megan: i'm megan murphy. mark: with all due respect the donald trump, oy vey. on the show tonight, cruz's polls and kasich's goals. first, trump's role. since we last discussed trump versus clinton, he escalated his hits on clinton last night in walker, michigan. he had choice words for the democratic front runner that has been the talk of the political world all day. mr. trump: she is terrible.

donald trump is on video and isis is using him on the video to recruit. it turned out to be a lie. she is a liar. it turned out to the alive. where did hillary go? they have to start the debate without her, phase two. i know where she went. disgusting. i don't want to talk about it. hillary, that is not a president. everything that has been involved with hillary has been lawsuits. she was favorite to win. mark: did i mention oy vey? this morning, mr. trump kept it up on an interview with fox and friends. mr. trump: she lied and she got caught in one of her lies. one of her people said there was no video. beingr it is her trips

shot down and it turned out it did not happen. whitewater was a total lie. so many lies. mark: clinton's campaign has not wanted to engage with mr. trump's more controversial remarks, but hillary clinton today circled back on her criticism with the new language on a negative impact on trum ps 's record. she said this time it is trump's appearances on television rather than isis videos fueling the violence. mrs. clinton: people around the world pay very close attention to our elections. if you go on arabic television and look at what is being blasted out with video of mr. trump being translated into muslims coming to the united states."

ither derogatory statements, is playing into the hands of the violent jihadists. mark: we both agreed yesterday the front runner fracas is good for both trump and clinton. with all these new developments, do you still think this is in both their interests? megan: what a difference a day makes or not. every time we get in this situation, every time he says something whether it is belittling john mccain's war record, we think this will be the point. it just does not proven this comment will hurt him. if anyone will focus on what donald trump said 10 seconds ago every single time, that only benefits him. they have to look at the broader picture. for her, i think it is getting to be a different story. i have been surprised at the tactics they have taken on doubling down on him as a figure two agitatto agitate hate.

i don't know if that is a winner for her. do not bring a knife to a gunfight. it helps him a lot. i'm not sure if it helps her. mark: i think it helps her still. they are trying to get any focus away from that. there is no doubt when she takes on trump, she is not talking about a general election. she is fielding to democratic voters. when she defends women, hispanics, some of the views of the democratic party, for instance muslim immigrants -- she is helping herself with democratic voters. i think trump is a little bit in danger -- i think it helps him because he wants to prove head to head he can beat her. i think it is a little bit of a danger of not going after the people that is threatening them like ted cruz and marco rubio. for her, she does not -- whether she gets elected, becomes the

democratic nominee -- she does not want this campaign to be a mudslide with donald trump. you can say no matter what trump will be outrageous. she provokes him, he can say even more extreme things like we saw last night. that is a danger for her. i think as a human being and somebody that wants to govern the country, i think there is a danger. if trump is the nominee, does she want eight months of this? megan: i cannot think of anyone worse or anyone else that has strike a presidential tone at almost every corner from everything from health care to the economy, taxation. all those details that nobody has been able to credibly defend. she does not want to have this the focus of her record which actually trump's rise has attracted the attention. se has neutralized the

hillary clinton haters. she does not want to get in a tit-for-tat with him. i don't think her campaign wants to touch that. mark: at the same time, they feel from a political point of view and principle point of view, if trump says outrageous things, she wants to speak out. i think the misspeaking in the debate, not correcting it and some of the tweets from her folks -- they will put this thing into a fight. again, does that play to her strength? it does not. at the same time, i think people sayingsed saying trump outrageous things will hurt him. i think it will help them. you better watch ted cruz. speaking of ted cruz, another day, another poll. a national poll with a survey of republicans nationwide. the big take away -- ted cruz is solidly in second place nationally.

of the highest level he has reached in any national poll since he got into the race. he is four points behind trump. doubling support of the guy in second place. 28%, 24% and 12%. carson down 6%. rubio down 5%. christie up 5% -- 4%. trump and bush have stayed pretty much the same. megan, looking at this poll, looking at fundraising, looking at other polls, is there a code national front runner in ted cruz? megan: this is one poll. there are a lot of variables. i do expect other national polls will see similar tightening. ted cruz has picked up a lot of the ben carson supporters. he's appealing to a little bit of a different slice of the republican electorate than donald trump.

he has gotten evangelical support from iowa and south carolina. that will be his base. the far right conservative portion of the party and mild conservatives are pulling around him. he is benefiting from his bromance with donald trump, by not attacking him. he's not getting that focus turned on him from donald trump and that is helping him right now. he is playing it supersmart and he is the hot candidate. mark: we will talk about fundraising later, but cruz and big donorsc, and bundlers. he barely spent any of it. coming into january, we are getting close to calling him a co-front runner. trump still has leads and lots of states. we will see if this will be reflected in massachusetts, south carolina and other southern states. nowink cruz is certainly

the person to watch to see if trump can be overtaken. if he does, they will go after each other. cruz will spend money on television ads. will trump? megan: you just said it -- when will those two go after each other? will they? when ted puts down the money, he has big-time billionaire backers. that will be the moment to watch. mark: the question is will cruz fight back or turn the other cheek? so, cruz and marco rubio were both supposed to be the hot candidates coming out of there well reviewed performances in the last debates. according to the polls, it is cruz who is a hotter commodity. marco rubio is the top-ranked establishment candidate, but rather than being rewarded, rubio is in the barr el.

there were tough stories questioning his work ethic and if he has a path to the nomination. rand paul has released this web video hitting the florida senator. ♪ >> you keep missing votes on the senate floor. 43% of the votes. i know you say you are campaigning for president. >> ♪ where in the world is marco rubio? ♪ mark: i asked the new jersey governor to compare and contrast himself to rubio on issues. what are two issue differences between you and marco rubio? it is the way you actually get things done. let's look at the spending bill that got passed in congress. senator rubio said he was

opposed, yet he did not show up. mark: i'm asking about position differences you think are significant. mr. christie: this is an important position. you say you oppose spending but you do nothing about it. mark: almost nobody is hitting cruz or trump at this point, so why is the guy in third place -- why is he in the barrel and is there anyway this is good for rubio? megan: i think that video was funny but i think it is clear because he has the path to the nomination outside of the early states. chris christie or jeb bush, you want to knock down the establishment choice right now because you see if he can put in a credible showing in iowa and teeter along, once we get to florida, he may be able to lock the states others have left behind.

he can do it without spending that much money. mark: he is not going to be a life in march. itlive in march. the establishment will surround the person who was alive in march. megan: even if it is donald trump? mark: it will be bush, cruz or rubio. the establishment seems to think somehow if cruz and trump win the first three between them that somehow they can stop them. i'm amazed we are going into january with the attacks on marco rubio. what about hitting the guys in first and second place? megan: only three of the first 14 states is bill clinton. mark: bill clinton was running against people like jerry brown and paul saunders. he was not running against people with national standing like cruz and rubio built up. it is a different time.

i'm still baffled. coming up tonight, we have two buckeyes and two tims. the first person is a hillary clinton backer, tim ryan. we are back in 60 seconds. ♪

♪ mark: joining us now is the man who represents the people of the 13th congressional district in ohio which includes the youngstown metroplex. he's a supporter of hillary clinton and also a meditation enthusiast. he is cool and collected -- tim ryan. thank you for coming. let's talk about the presidential campaign. are you closer to the issues

with hillary clinton or bernie sanders? tim: probably hillary. mark: what issues? tim: the pragmatism of economic development. i represent a district that has youngstown, ohio. she has some real plans for the east side of the state as far as investment strategies, the communities that have lost a lot of their way. she has a real plan to make stuff happen. mark: do you think he is too liberal? tim: a democratic socialist trying to campaign down the ohio river in a general election would be a tough sell. i think too liberal and partly the brand of being a socialist i think is dead on arrival. megan: you talk about the old manufacturing and industrial communities in your district and ohio. those are the voters we see trump picking up. the blue-collar concerns and how people create jobs. do you hear folks backing him

and why? tim: i think a lot of people are talking about him. i'm not sure when i look at where he is on the issues -- the way he conducts himself. we're ohio. we have traditional values, at least the way we treat each other even if we disagree politically. i don't think he can pick up that traditional democratic voter. he may pick up some, but he is going to tank in the suburbs of columbus. he will tank in the suburbs of cincinnati. would you like him to be the republican nominee? tim: i don't like picking because i have been around long enough to know there are so many ups and downs that you cannot tell. mark: what do you think about what he said last night about hillary clinton? tim: as a husband and somebody who was raising a daughter, it is offensive.

i think there is no place for that in politics. i came up in northeast ohio, lots of sports. we don't mind full contact. this is a contact sport, but we also like sportsmanship. you knock somebody down, you help them back up. this kind of personal approach, derogatory approach -- we are all trying to raise our kids and you want whoever is on tv to help support what you are saying. you say to our kids we don't say hate in this house. he goes up there saying we hate the press. mark: if you had a trance to address him, what would you say? tim: dude, i'm trying to raise my daughter here. i'm trying to raise my 13-year-old son and 18-month-old baby. i would like a little more support for you to be more classy so when we are saying things in the home, it is getting reinforced by the public

dialogue at some level to help us raise our kids. it is tough enough today. we'll need some billionaire who will naturally draw some attention. help us out. megan: what about the islamic community and his comments? you are one of 47 democrats who voted to increase the syrian refugees in the program. how far did he crossed the line in putting a full ban? for accepting refugees but i was one of the 47 because i want the ability to sign off. head of homeland security, head of the fbi -- affix your signature to the document saying this person has been vetted. that is what it said. i'm not lfor letting refugees in, i'm for having a proper vetting process. saying we are all against

muslims plays into the stereotype. my entire 14 years in congress, i have been on the armed services committee or the appropriations subcommittee. the entire time, this plays into the storyline that they say. look, i told you they hate us. maybe i will go to syria or ir aq, maybe i'm not. and you hear this kind of stuff, take a getit could get spun. mark: secretary clinton, you trust her to tell the truth. a poll says a large amount of americans do not trust her. how can she fix it? tim: i think 30 years in public radio,onservative talk getting hammered on everything. every little detail. i don't think there are many people that can withstand this.

i think the more people get to know her. when you meet her, people say she is not warm. when you meet her -- my wife met her for the first time this year in cleveland and my wife was like, i cannot believe what i see on tv and you i met. who i meett. she is completely warm. all the people that meet her personally -- i think everything is about contrast in the general election, too. i don't see cruz or trump being really warm and fuzzy. mark: thank you. merry christmas and happy holidays. we will have you back to meditate with. next, the next part of our guests sequence with guys named tim, after this. ♪

megan: like the race to get those last-minute presents, campaigns are trying to raise the last-minute cash. tim higgins is joining us now who has a piece about that. what is different as we approach the end of this quarter in terms of fundraising? tim: this is like a chevy dealer trying to make its year-end numbers. for the next month, all the members are going to be dissected. it is part of the money race. which candidate is up, which candidate is down. it is momentum. mark: let's talk about the republicans. marco rubio goes into the quarter and get some bump with a debate. jeb bush got some very important bundlers. how wil good of a court or will he have? -- quarter will he have

right now? tim: it depends how much he is actually spent raising. the other thing will be the cash firm from bush's campaign. the third quarter, it was a surprising burn. going into the final month before iowa, these other kinds of things people look at. caucus,rs ago, the iowa it was days after the new year. the book was closed. it made it harder to focus on these numbers. now we have a month. megan: hillary has been out several times warning about bernie's individual fundraising powerhouse and building up what they are worrying will be a record total. s she striking back and what will her numbers look like? tim: you look at the supporters saying give a dollar. the campaign says they need to

raise $2 million by the end of the month. that is a big push. the fear is the sanders campaign will raise them. the sanders campaign put out an e-mail saying they think the overall hillary will raise more money. it is the expectations game. january will be all about what expectations are. megan: in terms of super pac's, anything to watch for? tim: we will see where all the money is being deployed. this is the second chance. earlier in july, we saw the num bers. the numbers will come late january but i expect leaks as everyone tries to make some buzz. mark: when we look at the clinton spending this year, she spends a lot. has she gotten a good return on her investment? tim: the campaign has made a big

effort to talk about how they are being more efficient this time around than 2008. if you look at the third quarter of this year, you are seeing different things she is spending on. she is trying to create a ground game. less money on consultants, more money on staff in various places and commercials. megan: thank you again. you can read his piece on bloombergpolitics.com. up next, an interview with ohio governor and presidential candidate john kasich. ♪ bring your family and friends together

to discover the best shows and movies with xfinity's winter watchlist. later on, we'll conspire ♪ ♪ as we dream by the fire ♪ a beautiful sight, we're happy tonight ♪ ♪ watching in a winter watchlist land, ♪

♪ watching in a winter watchlist land! ♪ xfinity's winter watchlist. watch now with xfinity on demand- your home for the best entertainment this holiday season. mark: our colleague kevin got a chance to catch up with john kasich during his recent swing through new hampshire yesterday which included his interview

with the governor on his kasich bus. let's take a look. kevin: governor, how are you? we are on your campaign bus. gov. kasich: greatest tour ever in the history of politics. kevin: lindsey graham recently dropped out. do you think you can attract some of his voters? gov. kasich: i don't know. for me, i get out and do my thing. halls and45 town starting again after the beginning of the year. we will get a lot of these people the more you. . ne more they hear you. kevin: what is talked about a lot is your economic record. a a lot of people talk about dodd fronank. what are your thoughts in the implementation of dodd frank? gov. kasich: you tell me a lot

of people talk to you about dodd frank? i think you could swing a bowling ball around and not hit anybody. i think the problem with it is it is really going to run the small and medium banks out of business. if you are a big bank, you absorb the regulations, but if you are small, it crushes you. small community banks are the ones that are threatened. there are probably some aspects of it in terms of requiring big banks to hold the capital in regard to the risk they have. hurtings is really those people in the local communities. they are the ones that owe money to people. kevin: would you repeal it? gov. kasich: i would get rid of a lot of it because i think there is too much. there may be portions of it

reserving your capital against your risk that is positive. this, theverdoing of over regulations are hard. senator bernie sanders is saying he wants to make college free for everybody. what you have done in ohio for educational programs. i'm wondering how do you contrast with a democrat that is advocating to make college free for everyone versus taking your approach and how you sell that to more independent voters? subgradech: vocational is not higher ed. when bernie talks about free, we know money does not grow on trees. businesses are uncertain with the future.

that uncertainty puts them in a position of where they sit on their wallets instead of investing. in terms of higher education, we have a number of programs, including saying colleges should not be paid money until students graduate. i had a group of real businesspeople who look at the cost drivers in higher education in ohio. we will push a lot of those ideas. there is more on tap. leadership at these schools to deal with these rising costs and the things that are making college less affordable. keviin terms of the student that have debt, in that case, employers who give them an incentive to help pay off student debt as a tool of attracting young people. may be some community service where they can work down that debt.

kevin: what about in ohio? gov. kasich: we have done everything i have mentioned except the community service piece and the incentives for businesses. kevin: particularly, one of the things you talked about earlier parents and students with sexual assault on campus. i have not heard any other candidates talk about this. gov. kasich: when i go across the media and see things that jump out that seem to be a problem, i have my people look at many different things. this is an issue on college campuses. we want to make sure women are afforded thae opportunity, if they are assaulted, to bring about justice. sometimes it means you have to give them time to be able to be

comfortable with pursuing any kind of legal challenge. we also want all of our universities to have a policy, a confidential policy where students can go and report violence of any type that can happen on campus or off-campus. it gives the student a place to go. we think these things are very important. kevin: how about in ohio? gov. kasich: we are in the early stages. we are asking our colleagues to make sure they have alla policies. rape kits would be available so kit and can have a rape would not have to make a decision on how you want to proceed with law enforcement until further down the line. these are the things we are pushing in our state. kevin: a lot of people are going to make up their minds, especially in new hampshire.

say itdependent voters is between you and to other governors -- governor christie and governor bush. what is your message to them? what sets you apart? gov. kasich: we are up 385,000 jobs since i have became governor. our credit is rocksolid. we cut taxes by almost $5 billion. we are running a legitimate surplus. plus, i have experience in national security, not only on the armed services committee, but the work i did for secretary rumsfeld after 9/11. i have been in touch with national security all my life. that is a unique resume. kevin: this christmas, you have your family with the. you. earlier this morning, there were not a lot of people. ked about losing your

parents at 35 while you were in congress. gov. kasich: i was walking on west carson street. it was a really horrible road. as a young kid with my brother and sister, i would hold my breath that they would get home. i would always worry one day they would not come home and one day thaey didn't. the death of my parents change my life for the good. i have seen people go through tragedy and never let it go. the tragedy goes for a lifetime. i have seen people who ever experienced tragedy and be able to let go. time,an even, over benefit from these difficult things. for those who are entering this season -- i talked to somebody who lost a son -- my personal

view is it is in the hands of the lord. that does not take away the pain, but hopefully it will give you perspective. the other message is for all people that when these tragic things happen, if you can get out on your feelings, your deep concerns -- i happen to be a man of faith. sun will come up. the sun is going to,. come up. for those who don't have that faith, i respect it. to them, i think everybody tries to live a life a little bigger than themselves. try to change the world. with them, i wish them all the best in their recovery and a good attitude about the future. but, nothing wrong with checking

out the faith issue. i found it to be extremely useful. not just useful, but a part of my existence. kevin: governor kasich, merry christmas. mark: kevin joins us from new hampshire after this. ♪

mark: welcome back. joining us from new hampshire is our colleague kevin. you were with jeb bush in new hampshire today. there is buzz about whether there is a bush come back. out of the event go today? kevin: what is interesting is governor bush and governor

kasich are drawing the same number of people. it is roughly between 50 people and 100. i'm not sure there is a way to measure. the bottom line is, i talked to a lot of people in new hampshire and they say the polls are essentially useless this far out. this thing is very fluid. a lot of undecided voters and independent voters. megan: what are you hearing about chris christie? we read about him getting momentum. what are you seeing? kevin: governor christie actually brought in a bus load of supporters from new jersey to help him win over independent voters. he's been working this state. i think the three governors are all putting a lot of emphasis here in new hampshire. essentially downplaying the results in iowa. they view it this way -- if

donald trump loses iowa and ted cruz wins, they think it will put a huge dent in the trump momentum and there could be anyone's game in new hampshire to win. they are trying to get position should trump finally dip. mark: you spent time with cruz.o senator is at the same ted cruz we have seen? kevin: senator cruz is drawing crowds anywhere from 500 to 1000 people. he was joined by herman cain and senator sessions at one point as well. what is interesting is he has his two young daughters with them. him. his wife, heidi cruz. he celebrated his birthday. a lot of energy from the conservative base at these rallies.

he is not going after donald trump. it sounds like he is jockeying. everybody is waiting for the donald to fall, but guess who is coming to new hampshire on monday night? donald trump. mark: is he talking anything about marco rubio? kevin: absolutely. the one guy senator cruz likes taking a swing at is senator rubio. senator cruz is trying to present himself as the more policy.tive version of senator rubio taking swings back. i was just at a rally with former governor bush and he said nobody really cares about all this wonk war going on between the senators. they believe it will be a governor at the top of the ticket. megan: i have to ask about the comments last night. the latest of outrageous

remarks. are people on the ground in new hampshire saying this is too much? is there a line? kevin: great question. we put that to governor bush a couple of hours ago. he said this is going to help with former secretary clinton's victimology. he said it is very good at playing the victim. we will see how that reverberates. i talked to a lot of the people at the rallies. they view mr. trump as somebody who is an entertainer. they put the focus on immigration and border control and the syrian refugee crisis. a lot of undecided voters i talked to, i'm not sure he is resonating as somebody they would like to represent the country. mark: when you talk about voters at the bush events who were

shopping, who else is on their list? kevin: governor christie and governor kasich. to some extent, senator rubio. senator rubio will be here tomorrow morning. looks like the more independent-minded candidates are really making -- are who voters are shopping around for. the polls indicate that mr. trump has a considerable lead here in new hampshire. mark: finally, as we go down to the holidays, are the campaigns ratcheting down? ore they looking for a break a e are people working? kevin: they are working hard. jeb jr. was with his dad today. governor kasich was accompanied by his wife and daughters yesterday. senator cruz was with his wife and kids. i think when you talk to the

candidates, they love having their families around. senator cruz remarked to me it was like a family field trip. they think they can get the gifts they want. all of the events schedule tomorrow and this weekend and early next week. mark: kevin, thank you so much. we will be back in 60 seconds. ♪

mark: 2015 was everything a big a year as business as it was for politics. joining me is stephanie ruhle to talk to us about how the big financial developments and economic developments of 2015 will affect the presidential race. thank you.

happy holidays. what is something in the economy that will play big for politics? stephanie: you have think about the health of the economy. if i'm hillary clinton, what i need to do is have president obama pass the torch. it is tricky because you are following someone of the same party. president obama wants to say he led a great recovery and the u.s. economy is doing strong. how does the past that torch to hillary clinton when you guys have people saying we are heading to a recession. mark: what will gdp be next fall? stephanie: people do not know specifically. job growth is still very slow. if you think about america, in terms of the global economy, we are still the best. vera 2% growth environment. how does clinton walk out and say going strong? megan: the way she has been

doing it -- pointing to her husband. she said since world war ii, four of the five people that have done that have been democrats, including my husband. she is trying to take a page out of his playbook which could play well. mark: do you think any of the republicans running, with the business community, have established a reputation as that guy or gal that really gets it? stephanie: went donald trump first approached the scene, it was not businesspeople backing him. it was the middle of america. people in that middle income who lost their jobs or didn't have a wage increase and are frustrated. it is the business community in the last five weeks have been this donald trump -- it is so crazy, it might work. mark: what is the fed going to do in 2016? stephanie: slow and steady.

they are going to continue to rise but slowly. we will see a steady pace. by the end of 2016, we should be around 1.375%. still very slow. i would say the one thing -- a big issue for republicans is corporate america. you need corporations to innovate, manufacture here, bring dollars back to the united states and spent. in this environment, with populist opinion growing stronger and stronger, what happens to corporations who are public enemy number one? that is why bernie sanders has gotten so strong. mark: some people have drifted towards trump an excepted he is the nominee. anybody else? anyone else becoming the favorite candidate of business? stephanie: early on, jeb bush raised a lot of money in new york. further back, you saw guys really back christie.

many people have said donald trump stole chris christie thunder in terms of being about tough talking guy. jeb bush, many have said he has not defended himself. he does not have his own voice. donald trump has taken a successful billionaire as his tagline where mitt romney, it was his achilles heel. hillary clinton has this line on wall street out. megan: she says she will crack down on shadow banking, some areas on the edge of what people don't really understand and too complex for people to understand. that is such a smart card. stephanie: is a she really going to do anything or is it politics? jack lew came out and said we need to stop this. it is not even in his wheelhouse.

one thing when you talk about donald trump about what he wants to crack down, is donald trump running for president or ruler of the world? the things he thinks he can change, he does not have jurisdiction to do. it is all about the economy. once you have people in jobs, making money, they will feel much better. balancing that with corporate america, wall street is tough given how strong and loud and unsatisfied america is. megan: it is interesting trump has been cracking down on inversions the most. when you look back through his business history, i'm sure he will have a business that migrated state to state. stephanie: he does not blame companies that take advantage of tax an inversion. he is saying hate the game, not the player. if you are corporate america and you need to focus on your

bottom line, change the rules. mark: you correctly quoted that. stephanie, thank you very much. it will be a big year and i predict the economy will come back. more of a political protection. happy holidays, merry christmas. we will be right back after this word from our sponsors. ♪

mark: we are on the tube twice a day at 5:00 and 8:00 eastern. live all the time on our website. right now, you can find our picks for the best political images from 2015. check it out on the website anytime you want. another exciting reminder -- we are now on the radio. if you're watching us on washington, d.c., you can listen to was on 99.1. for megan and us, happy holidays. sayonara. ♪

emily: you are watching bloomberg west. let's get started with the first word news. lindsey graham is ending his bid for the presidential nomination. he announced today he is

dropping out. there are still plenty of republican candidates to choose from. 13 gop hopefuls are in the race. a retrial has been set for baltimore police officer charge in connection with the death of freddie gray. william porter's first trial ended in a deadlock. his next trial is june 13. the other five officers will be charged before that. two american astronauts helped move a stalled railcar back into place out of the international space station. they took about half an hour to release the brakes and guide the car four inches back into the place. it needed to be moved so a cargo ship could be docked. --aworld orlando officials ♪