america's top general discusses plan b, if the initial coalition to defeat isis fails. >> we'd go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of u.s. military ground forces. >> but the commander in chief responds to w a blunt "no way." >> i will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in iraq. >> reporter: is the president's strategy shaped more by the military objective or by domestic politics? plus six weeks out, control of the senate is a giant wild card, and democrats are scrambling to make a point. >> i'm not barack obama. i disagree with him on guns, coal, and the epa. >> reporter: chris christie says it's time to wind down the bridgegate investigation and clear his name. >> i'll tired of it. i've cooperated in every possible way that i can. >> reporter: he's acting more and more like a 2016 contender.

"inside politics" the biggest stories, sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to u.n. incompetent. i'm john king. thanks for sharing your sunday morning with us to share their reporting and insights, all-ie pace of the associated press, maeve reston of the los angeles times, robert costa of "the washington post" and maggie hab eman of politico. the president surrounded himself with troops this past week to make a point >> whether in iraq oare in syria these terrorist also learn the same thing that the leaders of al qaeda already know, we mean what we say. >> we should take from that he means it when he says he will degroid and destroy isis and he means it when he says this. >> the american forces that have been deployed to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. >> reporter: that unequivocal ruling out of a ground xwal rule came the day after the chairman of the joint chiefs told congress he'd consider recommend

ing ground troops if they failed. how do they explain at the white house public disagreement with the generals? >> you have to look very closely at the specific words that both general dempsey and president obama are using. when the president says i will not send troops in with a combat mission, he means he's not going to send them in looking like it looked in 2003 in iraq. that doesn't mean if you send ground troops in to advise and assist iraqi security forces, be embedded with them that they won't encounter combat. that's what i think the question needs to be, if we send ground troops in and they come under fire, will they shoot back and will they inadvertently end up in a combat mission even if the president is making this pledge. >> if they come under fire, won't it be the american people who say the president, you promised us it wouldn't be this way? >> this is difficult and why you saw the president i think do what he did after general dempsey's comments which were open-ended and the next day made clear this is not true. there remains no on tight for boots on the ground for further

engagement in this country somewhere else. now, that may change depending on new developments, but it hasn't so far in a very long time. the other thing that i think you're seeing here is that it is, remember obama went into 2012 as theer. who killed osama bin laden, i think the halo effect he had from that has basically disappeared and i think you are seeing him have to reiterate and underscore his credentials on this issue. >> the disapproval in the polling in his handling of terrorism say key point. in this back and forth when people are starting to question would he listen to general dempsey and general dempsey was clear. he said we'll go with the syrian free army, go with the iraqis and go with the kurds. if that doesn't work and the president says you must destroy isis then he said he might come back with that recommendation. here's what josh earnest told reporters on air force one "the president will not review or consider options that involve putting american military

personnel on the ground in a combat role." maeve, essentially general if that's what you think, don't bother sending it oef? >> i think that was probably a mistake to go quite that far. you always want to leave the all options on the table, option open to yourself. i think this is reflecting from what we've seen from voters around the country, ambivalence and confusion who we'd be helping over there, who our allies would be, whether this is the best strategy to go after isis and so the president is really caught in a very difficult political situation here because he's trying to protect the vulnerable democrats who want to be able to make these promises to their constituents and at the same time deal with a troublesome military problem. >> you make the key point trying to protect vulnerable democrats. you expect the president even though we know he doesn't want do it to the standup in iran over nuclear weapons all options are on the table. i don't want to send in ground troops, all options are on the table. robert, listen here, among those

trying to defend the president they've seen democrats do debate is bill clinton on of all places "the daily show" says he thinks president obama has it right. >> we can give them intelligence and we can do bombing and we have to do that to send a signal to them there's a price for decaptivating those two people. you can't let people get away with that and it's a terrible signal to the world, but we can't win a land war in iraq. we proved that, but they can, and we can help them win it. >> it is so striking, i get it, the history and the legacy of the iraq war, and especially among democrats when they say that's george w. bush's war, to hear a former commander in chief of the united states say we can't win a land war in iraq. >> i think clinton was making a strong political point that the president, for the moment, has a short term political victory, because he's able to go into the election with bipartisan support in both the senate and the house floor's foreign policy. the question is, this is the first inning of what could be a very long game, after the election we'll have a broader

war debate at the capitol and republicans are stewing wanting to have the option of troops on the ground, wanting the president to put more options on the table. >> you mentioned the congressional debate. you could make the case congress was not exactly full of leader this is past week. the house voted on the amendment to give the president the authority to arm and train the syrian rebels and the senate voted on a big spending bill on which that amendment was included. nobody separated it out and went on the record for an up or down record on war and peace. among the people trying to change his profile, rand paul, the republican senator from kentucky mad at your newspaper, "the washington post" for totally mischaracterizes him. he went on fox news when the question was, would you support military strikes in syria and here's what rand paul told fox. >> i would vote yes but i would vote to limit the declaration or limit the authorization to a time period. >> so he would vote yes if it was a broad vorgs for military force. what the senate voted on was not

that, we should be fair to senator paul they voted on a spending bill that included the money to arm and train the syrian rebels. rand paul voted no and said this. >> had the hawks been successful last year we would be facing a stronger isis likely in charge of all syria and most of iraq. intervention is not always the answer and often leads to unintended consequences. >> i'm alogical confused. i would have voted for broad authority for war but intervention is not the answer. >> it's a muddled message. this is a difficult week for senator paul. we an opportunity with this conflict to come out and be a true non-interventionist voice within the republican party. he declined to take up that fight and so now you have him waiting around in the political swamp trying to find where he's going to get to 2016, maybe be centrist enough for the nomination still getting the rand paul supporters on the side. he's not able to bridge that gap.

it was a difficult week for him overall. >> in his speech even if it was meandering back and forth between positions he is raising a lot of questions the american people have and there will be some people who will appreciate that, him being a voice on that, and it is an area where you could kind of have the left and the right meet and he may be able to find that sweet spot for himself in 2016. >> he's not the ohm one, far from it, having the internal contradiction, his played out more publicly than some people but in both parties the question we know this is a problem and american people are concerned but we're not sure what the mission is and not sure where we draw the line. >> whether you agree or disagree or whether you know or don't know exactly what he was trying to say, at least rand paul stood up and gave a speech. lot of other guys took their vote and got out of town. not exactly a courageous week in the congress. up next, gender politics. president obama and hillary clinton part of a big democratic effort to boost the women's vote in the states that could decide control of the united states senate. but first, in this week's "politicians sometimes say the

darnedest things" vice president joe biden made us cringe this week with a few big gaffes but he also made us laugh with this. >> my wife was with prince harry at the games and i read in "the garden" one i'm paraphrase, everywhere prince harris went he had a blond woman on his arm, the vice president's wife. i'm a little worried, you know what i mean? [ male announcer ] this is the cat that drank the milk... [ meows ] ...and let in the dog that woke the man who drove to the control room [ woman ] driverless mode engaged. find parking space. [ woman ] parking space found. [ male announcer ] ...that secured the data that directed the turbines that powered the farm that made the milk that went to the store that reminded the man to buy the milk that was poured by the girl who loved the cat. [ meows ]

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i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. because it gives me zero heartburn... annc: prilosec otc the number one doctor recommend frequent heartburn medicine for nine straight years. one pill each morning 24 hours zero heartburn. welcome paback. the election 44 days away. democrats know it's a tough

climate but believe they can limit their losses if voters turn out in higher numbers than midterm election year in key battleground states. the president is leading this effort as well as hillary clinton. >> we need people to feel that they're part of a movement, that it's not just about an election, it's about a movement, a movement to really empower themselves, their families, and take the future over in a way that is going to give us back the country that we care so much about. >> why does this matter so much? this is our latest poll, republicans have a slight advantage when we asked all likely voters who you'll vote in november for congress. why aren'ts democrats urging men to get out and vote in men vote overwhelmingly for republicans. that's why the democrats say we need to gin up women turnout. the majority of women say they're prepared to vote for the democrats. the democrats are hoping women turn out at a higher percent annual than men in the midterm election year.

you don't think republicans are noticing? joni ernst is running for senate in iowa and remember this image. >> i approve this message, because i'll go to washington as a mom, a soldier and someone who really cares about the iowa we leave our children. >> that's the general election from joni ernst, mother and sold whier in her sweater sitting at the kitchen table. her first ad in the primary. talked about growing up on the farm cast rating pigs or hogs. in another notable primary ad, look. >> she's not your typical candidate, conservative jni ernst, mom, farm girl and a lieutenant colonel who carries more than just lipstick in her purse. >> maeve, i'll let you go first. it's rather obvious but why the sudden shift from biker girl to sweater mom? >> well, i mean we're obviously moved into the general election phase here and so that softer

image is going to be much more important but in states like iowa and colorado, all of these women's issues are what they are constantly talking about, the debate on the campaign trail in colorado, for example, is not about isis or some of the other issues we've been talking about. it's about birth control and abortion and all of those issues and they're really just drilling down the democratic party is spending a ton of money to turn out the women, 60 million this year and it's going to be really interesting to see whether they can actually motivate these women. when i was talking to them in some of the states they are just tuning this out at this point and so as like joni ernst, you have to catch their attention. >> i was going to say i think that's absolutely true and to that point i would argue hillary clinton was doing something a little different, not just about the midterms. most people are not going to hear a speech that was given at a think tank in washington and translate that into votes in iowa or so forth. this is a lot about hillary clinton getting engrained in that messaging about women's economic issues which has been at the forefront over the last

two cycles, this one in 2014 and 2012, but during that time, when women's economic issues really came to the forefront, that was post-recession, that was a period when she was out of politics and so this really aligns her with that. she's been a leader on women's issues for a long time going back to the beijing speech in the 90s but was not part of this conversation and now she is. >> it's a great point to make and democrats say they can use this technology, outreach to people, they think they'll defy the votes by being smarter. in the iowa race it's a dead heat in our latest poll. the breakdown at jep dgender, b braley is ahead by a margin and look at new hampshire, scott brown versus jeanne shaheen, brown winning big among men, jeanne shaheen big among women.

who can turn out more of their vote come election day. >> iowa is one of the most fascinating races. there's consensus that joni ernst is poised to win, a strong candidate, a soldier and mother, et cetera, but iowa is turning blue and bruce braley, perhaps not the best on the trail candidate he is representing a state that is moving to the democratic side and running for tom harkin's seat, a progressive senator and legendary one at that. this is something joni ernst is grappling with and that's the problem with the republican primaries they pull the candidates to far to the right. once it gets to the general it's tough. >> six weeks out, republicans need a net gain of six to pick up control of the senate. they think they have odds of picking up seats in montana, south dakota and west virginia. then you see the seven blue lettered states, alaska, arkansas, louisiana, north carolina, new hampshire, iowa and colorado, that those are toss-ups and two republican-held seats, kentucky and kansas that are on the list there.

the conversation has changed a bit over the last week to where yes, republicans have the national number's wind at their pack but a lot of people are starting to see who knows with 44 days to go. >> you had a series of surprises along the way like kansas where it's all of a sudden in the toss-up category and i think that republicans are realizing that you've had so many different messages across the country and they're really needing to come around a more centralized message to make their case in the closing days here. we'll see that over the next couple of weeks. >> this is to maeve's point about the tuning out thing in terms of the different messages. you hear people complain about this a lot especially in iowa. you have all of these sort of different groups airing ads not necessarily with the same parity in terms of spending but not going from the same playbook. democrats have been. that's been effective. >> this guy is all over the map for 2014 as he prepares to possibly run for president in

2016, new jersey governor chris christie. for the past year been under the so-called bridgegate investigations. wnbc reporting after eight months, almost nine months of investigation its sources saying the federal prosecutor has found nothing to directly tie chris christie no, knowledge by the governor into the closing of the lanes on the george washington bridge, that would be a big boost for chris christie if the prosecutor made that public. chris christie also said it was time for the state legislature to shut down its investigation. he says he's done nothing wrong. >> you know what? wrap up your work, do your job, and this administration, i've allowed my chief of staff to come to testify. tell me when the last time that happened. when the executive branch allowed the chief of staff to go down in an absolutely unfettered way, with no claim of privilege on any question they asked. >> he seems to think that he's about to turn this corner. >> yes, and i think if you combine the two things that happened last week, where you had the wnbc report and also had

at the same time him saying that, those two things seemed to suggest that this is coming to a close. the question is, do the federal prosecutors publicly clear him? i don't think you're ever going to see the legislative committee say yes, christie had nothing to do with this. this has become very political. do federal prosecutors say we've found nothing that relates to him and that part is closed? if so, he then moves past what has been a very, very difficult period for him, ufl for him there's another difficult period which is that his state is in real fiscal trouble and the attention will go to that. >> i spoke to one of the big donors on friday donald trump. he's watching this closely, so are his buddies on wall street. they say christie may be in the clear. they think jeb bush and mitt romney won't run. christie they think is a top tier candidate if this shadow rolls way. >> the governor is hoping the prosecutor says so publicly, that will help him the most. our reporters get you out ahead

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before we go, we have our great reporters share a nugget from their notebooks. >> last year president obama and iranian president rouhani were hours away from having an historic in-person meeting. this week back in new york at u.n. but expectations are much more muted than last year.

nuclear talks with iran are deadlocked, tension over whether the u.s. and iran will work together to fight the islamic state and white house officials are furious with iran for detaining a "the washington post" reporter and his wife. the takeaway while rouhani and his colleagues may talk more moderately a lot of the actions haven't changed and not a sense having a meeting would be productive. >> maeve? >> hillary clinton has been back in the spotlight as always but next week she's headed up to new york to be the star of the show at the clinton global initiative and they'll be focusing on her work on women and girls but she will have a little bit of competition for the spotlight on monday with elizabeth warren, who is going to be keynoting a fund-raiser for emily's list. there's an interesting contrast, a lot of people on the left would like to see elizabeth warren run. she's been doing more for democratic candidates than hillary clinton, who has been focused on her own agenda. it will be interesting to watch

that contrast and whether hillary, who will be doing more democratic events whether she's building up resentment by not getting out on the trail. >> robert? >> before congress left to campaign, they funded the government through december and there was no shutdown a year after the big shutdown of 2013, but that doesn't mean that the tea party is silent on capitol hill. after the election, i sat down with steve king and they're already planning to fight the president if he moves forward on executive action on immigration. steve king told me he's prepared to tie government funding in december to blocking any potential executive action so we could have another showdown on the horizon if that happens. >> feisty lame duck. maggie? >> mine is the mother of three item here, corner of the table, hillary clinton talked a lot last week when she was at the democratic national committee fund-raiser she's on baby watch, that appears to be very literal. the clintons have not said when her daughter, chelsea clinton is

due with her first grandchild, it is believed to be within the next few weeks so this pregnancy which i think probably did not fly by for the clintons does seem to suddenly be toward the end. hillary clinton has said this is the thing that will impact to some extent anyway her thinking about running for president, and so we are now entering that window. she says she's going to see what being a grandmother feels like. >> we'll watch -- >> that was her praise. >> we'll watch how it plays out politically. we'll start with good luck, chelsea and mark, our thoughts and prayers are with you. scott brown versus the democrat incumbent jeanne shaheen going up with a big buy and a tough new ad linking jeanne shaheen to president obama. they think tying her to president obama who is unpopular, approval rate in the mid-30s they can change the race. the chamber is betting so big on this it's buying time not only in new hampshire, marcus, but

spending in the much more expensive boston markets as well. we'll watch the race and others as we go, 44 days to go. that's if for "inside politics." thanks for sharing your sunday morning. we'll see you soon. "state of the union" with candy crowley starts right now. a british family's personal appeal for the life of a loved one in the hands of isis, and president obama's global appeal for a united war against this latest terrorist threat. today former british prime minister tony blair on britain and the u.s., old friends on the brutal end of the isis campaign. >> this isn't america versus isil. this is the world versus isil. plus the nfl commissioner holds a mea culpa press conference. >> i will get it right and do whatever is necessary to accomplish that. >> but is it just the players or should we blame the game? mall of