in the venetian theater. the stage is all set up right here behind me. front-runner donald trump is smack dab in the middle once again. he won't be the only target as these candidates battle to stand out here tomorrow night. only one day away from the last gop debate of the year in las vegas. and for these 13 candidates, one last chance to make an impression, heading to the holiday season. the main debate lineup, seeing most of the same players as last time. and no surprise here, front-runner donald trump again taking center stage. chris christie moving up to the main stage. trump will be flanked by dr. ben carson and texas senator ted cruz who's now surging in iowa, according to this fox news poll released sunday. on saturday, the des moines register and bloomberg politics

releasing their own poll, showing cruz ahead of trump by 10 percentage points in the state. >> i'm very glad donald trump is in this election. >> that is a little bit of a romance. i like him. >> reporter: their bromance beginning to wane after audio captured cruz questioning trump's judgment. >> my judgment is great. i built a multi, multi, multibillion dollar company. i would say i have far better judgment than ted. >> reporter: trump later tweeting i was disappointed that ted cruz would speak behind my back, get caught and then deny it. after trump said this about cruz's temperament. >> look at the way he's dealt with the senate where he goes in there like a -- frankly luke a little bit of a maniac, you're going going to get things done that way. >> reporter: cruz tweeting in honor of my friend donald trump with a link to "flashdance's" popular song "maniac." ♪ she's a maniac maniac i sure

know ♪ >> poll numbers go up and down. i wasn't excited when they were up. i'm not excited when they're down. people will make the correct choice. >> reporter: heightened fears of terrorism around the world and right here at home could make for fireworks on stage tomorrow night. >> this is a new environment inside the campaign right now. and so that -- this will be the first time that the candidates take the stage in that new landscape. >> reporter: now, several candidates are hoping to have breakout performances here tomorrow night to give their campaigns a boost. and for anyone wondering whether donald trump is ready to attack his new top rival, ted cruz, here on this stage, he all but assured us those hits would be coming, telling jake tapper on "state of the union" i expect to get it on. chris, alisyn? >> thank you for setting that up for us. let's bring in conservative commentator matt lewis and cnn political commentator and political anchor at time warner

cable news errol louis. we have a lot to talk about. first, let's talk about the new national polls. there is an nbc/"wall street journal" poll out yesterday and it shows the state of the race, trump is still on top, 27%. he's gone up since october when he had 23%. look at what has happened with ted cruz's numbers, more than doubled them from 10% in october to now 22%, also of note, look what's happened to ben carson who's fallen off a cliff from october at 29%, now down to 11%. before i let you talk, one more interesting thing of note, look at the head-to-head matchups. when you put any of them against hillary clinton she beats trump 50-40, she beats rubio -- she doesn't beat rubio. she beats cruz -- >> you just saved yourself a flurry of twitter pain. >> she does not beat marco rubio or, interestingly, ben carson.

errol louis, what do you see in these numbers? >> what i see in these numbers, alis alisyn, is that a lot of the conservative support that ben carson relied on and rode to the top of the pack, just a few weeks ago, seems to be shifting to cruz. if you listen to the talk radio chitchat, there are a lot of conservative hosts who really seem to like cruz. it's because he's part of a movement. we've had a lot of discussion about whether or not donald trump represents or is leading or is pulling together some kind of a new movement. ted cruz is part of a much older mox, conservative movement. he comes out of it. he's been a part of it and it's starting to make itself felt. he's a plausible choice for arch conservatives, especially evangelicals in iowa and beyond. >> there are moments in time, right, matt? you see the move errol is talking about. clinton has been somewhat static that could be part of the reason she's slipping ground. we also see in that new trump/cruz dynamic, cruz being

deftly nonconfrontational. he was talking to private fund-raisers and then the maniac tweet, i can't look at it enough. not just because it bring me back to the '80s but what a different approach to conflict. what do you see in the strategy? >> he doesn't want to fight. he's being funny and humorous. >> yeah. >> he's trying to avoid it. ted cruz is very smart, very machiavellian and using sophisticated methods to get where he is. one of them is called hotelings model of spatial competition. >> ah, yes. >> have you ever notice when a walgreens open up, they open up next to a cvs. that's what ted cruz is doing with donald trump. another one is called expanding the overton window. ted cruz has succeeded because donald trump has expanded the overton window, meaning ted cruz

in comparison looks moderate and experienced next to donald trump. and then the last thing would be if you're familiar with the movie "talladega nights" -- >> now we're talking. >> bring it down to our level. >> it's called drafting. basically ted cruz has allowed donald trump to take the slings and arrows and be ahead of the race for almost all of the race and now he's doing the shake and bake model, which is at last minute coming from behind. >> wow. >> there are so many references there, errol, i don't know where to begin. we applaud matt for bringing us in all of those pop culture -- >> you better raise your game. >> errol, they seem to have had, cruz and trump, this gentleman's agreement until now. and it does look as if the gloves have come off. what are we expecting to see tomorrow night between these two? >> well, i would expect that donald trump would do what he does, which is to try to sort of put it into the framework of a reality show kind of -- a bit of

a carnival, personal insults, that type of thing. he's made remarks about people's personal appearance at debates in order to grab a headline, get inside their head, shake them a little bit. ted cruz i don't think will have any of that. this is somebody who, like i said, is part of a real movem t movement. has deeply held con vicks, has a team around him who believes in what they believe. they're not going to necessarily go around changing his style or changing his opinions just to sort of fend off a personal or petty attack. they are playing for sort of higher stakes in a lot of ways. i would expect them to sort of continue marching right down the same path they have. i mean, the polls, if you dig down into them, they show conservatives think cruz is the one most likely to completely outlaw all abortion. that's his politics. that's where he's coming from. that's what he's going to fight for. i don't think, you know, having a back and forthwith donald trump is going to be his aim at all. >> it's smart to avoid it, not always easy to do.

let's pay attention to something else these polls showed. hear that? that's the sound of carson's and bush's momentum. what is going on there, matt? what happened to carson? and once again, all the money, all the ads, all the promises, another poll shows bush static at best. >> money doesn't matter that much, the old yogi berra line that says if nobody wants to come to a ball game, there's nothing you can do to stop them. if nobody wants to vote for jeb bush, it doesn't matter how much money he spends. i think there's four people to watch at this point. i really do, donald trump, ted cruz, marco rubio and chris christie. i think ben carson is basically -- >> back on the stage. >> that's where the action is. ben carson i do not think, maybe i'll be proven wrong, since the paris attacks, i think that he's become much, much less relevant. i think those four are the ones to watch. >> matt lewis ate his wheaties this morning. >> he did. >> he correctly identified some of your strategies.

i always believe that you are expanding the overton window. and you have positioned yourself oddly right next to me. which gives you a tactical advantage. >> you do have a lot of talladega nights in you. >> i do. i feel it. >> matt, errol, thank you. we look forward to you guiding us through the next 48 hours. >> thank you. >> thank you. take a look at this time lapsed video, from inside the venetian las vegas. wow, they're daisy. these are the final preparations for the debate stage. >> i hope that's for circumstan circumstan sole.

same day will be live tomorrow and wednesday morning from the venetian in las vegas. >> no sleep necessary, michaela. >> shake and bake. he was full of -- that was awesome. >> you know what he missed? >> rubin' is racin'. what movie is that from? tweet michaela. >> tweet me. carrying on with the news -- >> rubin' is racin'. >> i heard you. president obama is reviewing the u.s. strategy against isis with his national security advisers today. could a change in strategy be brewing? we have the latest from washington. hey, chris. >> reporter: the president is meeting with his national security team on isis strategy at the pentagon today. later in the week, the president is headed to the national counterterrorism center where he'll preview efforts to prevent attacks on america. i tell you, these public appearances are also zuned to show a very nervous american public. frankly, a majority of which disapprove of how he's handling terrorism, that the president and his team are hard at work

destroying isis. here's how the president talked about his administration's efforts in his weekly media address. >> our air strikes are hitting isil harder than ever in iraq and syria. we're taking out more of their fighters, leaders, their weapons, their oil tankers. our special operations forces are on the ground because we're going to hunt down these terrorists wherever they try to hide. >> reporter: obama went on to say in recent weeks isis strikes have -- strikes have killed two isis leaders. the president has ordered his team to constantly assess the performance of the strategy and turn up the heat if there's an opportunity to. in the past, for instance, that's meant increasing assistance to syrian opposition fighters or putting special forces on the ground in iraq and syria. so we might hear news about similar moves to intensify the fight against isis but the white house says there's no major changes expected to be announced. chris, back to you.

>> chris freights. thank you. the fbi dive teams that scoured the bottom of a murky lake in search of evidence came up empty. a startling report by "the new york times" reveals several background checks on the female terrorist failed to uncover her social media posts, openly expressing her desire to wage jihad. for more on this, let's go to cnn correspondent paul vercammen live in san bernardino with more. what do we know? >> well, chris, we do know the fbi has said they have concluded their search of the lake here in san bernardino. they were looking for a hard drive and working off reports that the couple might have ditched something in that lake. the fbi playing it very close to the vest here in california, basically saying that the items found in a lake, they don't know if they were case related. they point out that lots of things can be found in a public lake but so far, it seems nothing has turned up and is a possible indicator there is no press conference schedule. as you pointed out, background

checks on tashfeen malik, the wife in this case, in this slaughter, the officials saying that they basically found, according to t"the new york times" that she wanted to be a part of jihad, not only support it. the obama administration has said as much, they have to look at this k-1 visa program that allows someone to be on the path to citizenship by marrying an american citizen. behind me, this memorial. last night in rained here in san bernardino. we don't see the flickering of candles but this is still a community with a huge hole in their heart. they will mourn the loss of bennetta bet-badal in rancho cucamonga tomorrow. a teacher in paris stabbed in the throat by a masked attacker in the name of isis.

police say he was preparing for one of his classes when a masked man armed with a brox cutter and scissors lunged at him screaming about isis and adding, quote, this is only the beginning. the suspect escaped. a recent article called on followers to kill french teachers. the 40-year-old teacher is expected to recover. the los angeles county sheriff's department is releasing details. two deputies fired more than 30 shots at nicholas robertson and kept shooting as he crawled away. images from the scene prove that the suspect had a gun. reports say that robertson had been behaving erratically, pointed his weapon at deputy and refused to drop it even when he was on the ground. the district attorney's office plans to investigate. planned parenthood has filed a federal lawsuit to keep state officials in ohio from interfering with services. now, last week ohio's attorney general claimed planned parenthood or the biomedical companies it works with, improperly dumped a boarded

fetal parts in landfills. there's been no proof of illegality offered yet. planned parenthood officials say the allegations are false. back to politics. we have a horse race in the hawk eye state. ted cruz surging into the lead over donald trump in iowa. the texas senator also closing the gap nationally. is he building momentum or is he peaking too soon? we'll take a look inside the numbers when "new day" continues. we'll be right back. hi i'm heather cox on location with the famous, big idaho potato truck. our truck? it's touring across america telling people about idaho potatoes. farmer: let's go boy. again this year the big idaho potato truck is traveling the country spreading the word about heart healthy idaho potatoes

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caucus state, iowa very important for practical cal as well as optical reasons. we have iowa republican congressman steve king. he endorsed ted cruz for president. he joins us now. congressman, always good to have you on. ted cruz making a move in the polls. you, of course, can't be surprised. you're a supporter. do what do we attribute this acceleration now? >> as we work through this and watch ted cruz, i've long been calling for a full spectrum constitutional conservative, one who checks all the boxes on all the lists. the caucusgoers are look for something like that, too. they've been disappointed time after time. they're skeptical. they were laying back as ted cruz tackled issue after issue. he put a team ago. around the 16th of november i made that endorsement. from that time on, we saw ted cruz's numbers grow. >> you're saying this is the king effect? >> i'm saying it didn't hurt

him. he laid that ground work to make it possible. he is the candidate and he's a candidate that checks all the boxes. the caucusgoers who are sitting back, finally it was like somebody fired the starting pistol. they were going to start making up their mind anyway. they did it more abruptly than they did otherwise. they will continue to make the decisions now through new year. come january, i think this will be the month for reconsideration if there is any. >> january you think is a big month, coming into the new year. let me give you an early present. the notion that senator cruz may be peaking too soon. what do you make of that? >> inside the camp, that's a concern as well. but in this race, he's so solid. no one has had this kind of a jump in the history of the iowa caucus. what i say to them and to anybody that might find themselves in this position, when you find yourself on at

scent, give it more fuel because you've got to keep climbing. i think he can do that. i'm comfortable with this but they'll have to put the pedal to the metal and sprint on through iowa. >> two interesting plays cruz has made lately in contrast to donald trump. donald trump comes out, gets a lot of attention saying let's ban all the muslims. resonates with pell like you and others. ted cruz says that's not my idea. we have to be careful about the syrian refugees. we have to be hard line. our vetting is not good enough. i'm not going there. i don't want to ban all of everybody. a little bit of a dicey thing. he could have just said donald's right, which he said in the past. what do you make of that distinction? >> i think it was a policy distinction, not so much a political one. i know where i said, we'll protect the civil rights and we're also going to protect the rights of citizenship of muslims. donald's statement was blanket enough if he had citizens traveling overseas, they couldn't come back. if he had soldiers that were

muslim, at least under the first definition, they couldn't come back. and ted cruz was speaking to legislation he's authored and i believe introduced that would block refugees from coming from, let's say, terrorist-producing countries. he's consistent with the legislation he laid out. he was fairly cautious in the way that he dealt with donald trump. but there's never been any wisdom in taking on donald trump and starting a fight with him. >> so he's at a private fund-raiser and he says i don't think it will be carson. i don't think it will be trump. not exactly a full-throated attack but that was enough for trump. trump comes at him, he responds with a tweet to spod to being called by being called a maniac by trump. he responds by citing a movie click. that is funny. is that a part of ted cruz we don't know? >> it is how much music he knows and appreciates, i don't know. i know he does know and appreciate music in a way like that where he could pull that out of his head and say let's do this. he quotes from movies continually.

he's a movie junky. i presume he picks up the list of movies as well as the music. i think that's pure ted cruz. i don't think it's anybody in the campaign. i think he said, we're doing this. >> what do you think iowa is going to do, taking ben carson down as precipitously? how do you explain that and what do you think we see tomorrow night? >> what happened with ben carson, he worked hard. he's been in iowa over two years. he had county chairs in 99 counties. that's a long reach. it was through the christian evangelical network that's there. you saw there was criticism of his foreign policy that was fairly extent in the national media. i think that the voters, the caucusgoers in iowa were looking at the field and they decided that ted cruz answered all of their concerns that caused them to move into ben carson's territory. and i think a lot of the evangelicals decided foreign

policy was a big component of this, too. they moved from carson to cruz. >> let's do one issue topic here before i let you go. climate change. you go anywhere else in the world, it's a no-brainer for them, the cop21 going on in paris. there are concerns about security, not about the climate. back home at here, still, a lot of push back against the administration for wanting to do more about climate change. why won't you get on board with the science and make some changes? >> i think i am on board with the science. the scientists that have been pushing this collected a lot of money from governments and clients. >> you know it's 99% of the scientific community believes this. >> i know that's probably the ratio of the money that's been spent also on either side of that. i think if this is so good -- i've done this before. i looked at some -- i don't fight understand this. i'll dig down into it. when i get to where i could understand it, i'll embrace it.

i could not do that. if you want to move climate change, come to congress and make the case. if you can't convince the united states congress, it's probably not a good idea. >> we got invited for the state of the union once again. we'll see if he makes the case there. early christmas wish. >> thank you. geneva, switzerland is on high alert after the arrest of two people with syrian passports in a terror raid there. were they planning an attack? are more suspects lurking? a live report, ahead. can createh through capital appreciation, and this has been denied to many south africans for generations. this is an opportunity to right that wrong. the idea was to bring capital into the affordable housing space in south africa, with a fund that offers families of modest income safe and good accommodation. citi got involved very early on and showed an enormous commitment.

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two people with syrian passports arrested in terror raids in geneva. swiss police finding traces of potential bomb-making chemicals in a car there. the search for more radicalized suspects is not over. nic robertson, live in geneva with the latest for us and what they found. nic? >> reporter: yes, michaela, there are two terror investigations going on here right now. the investigation into these two men with syrian passports. the authorities here say they appear to be authentic passports. we know terror suspects have used fake syrian passports in

the past. that is a concern for authorities here. they enwon't say if these men had visas that would allow them to be traveling legally inside europe. those traces of explosives or precursor chemicals at least that may have been -- that could be used potentially to make a home made explosive device, that's what police are investigating. the other investigation ongoing right now is that the one coming from a lead by u.s. intelligence officials that said four isis members were communication intercepted where they were chatting about the possibility of attacking here in geneva or toronto in canada or chicago. that continues to be a part of an investigation here. the police at the moment not saying if this -- either of these current investigations are linked to the attack in paris last month. that is a concern. geneva just a few miles away from france. the possibility of that link is

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we have breaking details this morning about last month's terror attacks in paris. just how involved and just how coordinated these attacks were as they unfolded. the details are the subject of this morning's cover story in the ctc sentinel. that name will ring familiar because of one of the days of "new day." let's bring in jean-charles broussard as well as paul cruickshank. thank you for bringing us this information. tell us what it is and tell us what it means. >> this is our cover story from one of the top terrorism experts in france. in this story in the "ctc sentinel" which we're just

publishing, he is revealing that the ring leader in this plot in paris, abdel hamid was outside the bataclan speaking animatedly into a hands-free cell phone. and the interpretation of this is that he was stage managing what was going on inside the bataclan concert hall itself, in touch with the attacker as the attack was ongoing. earlier that night, he had been in touch with the stadium attackers as well, right until the time when they blew themselves up, chris. stunning new details. >> jean-charles, pat on the back to you for excellent reporting on this. this is a battlefield type tactic. what do you make of how this information came to you and what you think the significance is?

>> well, i've been able, indeed, a couple of days ago to interview a witness whose testimony was taken by the investigators. the witness was parked in a car for more than an hour. a couple of blocks away from the bataclan and from the scene. the witness describes that a man was shouting and yelling over the phone for all an hour, very agitated and that the witness came across, actually, in full light, of this individual that night. the witness didn't know who it was. and only this came out days later when the picture surfaced in the media, who it was. and indeed, the interpretation is ab.

abaaoud, according to the prosecutor, he came back, went around the various shootings and then near the bataclan. it suggests that we face a dynamic threat, plot, actually, moving from one place to another, in order to make it longer in terms of -- and more difficult indeed to stop in the end. we've seen the plot then moved to saint-denis. >> we thought it was brazen for him to be hanging out near the same city they attack, let alone outside the targets orchestrating behavior, again, paul, this is battlefield type

marshaling, not what we're used to see in a terror attack, particularly not of the suicide variety. what do you make of this from a strategic standpoint? >> go ahead. >> go ahead, jean-charles. >> jean-charles, let paul answer. >> this is coordination. >> i'm sorry, i'm sorry. >> -- coordination of terrorism in real time from the ring leader on the ground. it's fight extraordinary. we saw in the mumbai attacks in 2008, the attackers in that plot were in touch. they were back in pakistan over the phone. in this case, the ring leader right there on the ground, controlling this, stage managing this in realtime. as jean-charles has been laying out, this was a very dynamic operation. it wasn't just a static terrorism attack happening in one instant or a few instances like the london bombings in 2005. this was a multihour rolling event.

indeed, abaaoud had plans for a second attack. he was planning on attack on a shopping center in paris. also, we've learned that he had knowledge of plans to attack schools and jewish targets in france. just this morning, we have seen a stabbing of a kindergarten teacher, chris, in paris by somebody saying this is for the islamic state, this is for isis, a very interesting connection given what abdel hamid abaaoud was planning. >> two different looks at different ways the enemy is trying to attack those who love peace. paul cruickshank, thank you very much. jean-charles brisard, a pat on the back to you for excellent reporting. appreciate it. alisyn? >> ted cruz surging in the polls back here at home. and jumping ahead of donald trump. many pundits think cruz will win

the whole enchilada of the primary. john avalon brings a history lesson to our magic wall to show what might happen to ted cruz.

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all right. you see the clock there to my left. right. the final countdown under way for tomorrow night's big republican debate, live right here on cnn. donald trump will be in the center. he will be flanked by ben carson and ted cruz. cruz narrowing the gap in national polls with trump and even leading in new polling out of iowa. cruz and trump engaging in a war of words on twitter. trump calling cruz, a little bit of a maniac. nine candidates will compete in the prime time debate with chris christie and rand paul being awarded spots in the main stage based on late polling numbers. police classifying two mosque vandalism incidents in hawthorne, california, just outside of los angeles, as hate crimes. one vandalized mosque had jesus is the way spray painted across the front.

in another, a fake grenade was left. we have a deal in paris on sweeping climate change. it now heads for u.n. headquarters in new york. that's where representatives at least 55 countries must ratify it so it can take effect in 2020. the paris agreement commits the 195 countries signing on to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees celsius through the year 2100. >> i hope you stayed up late on saturday night because you got a real treat. actor and comedian will ferrell brushing up on his george w. bush impression on "snl." he revived the character and announcing that he, george w. bush, is running in 2016. he took shots at the republican field, including his own brother. >> jeb, oh, boy. poor jeb. you've got to admit, it's a pretty good plot twist that i turn out to be the smart one.

i wish he would have asked me about the exclamation point on the end of his name. look, i don't like the taste of broccoli. but it doesn't get any tastier if you call it broccoli! [ laughter ] >> we need more. >> we've missed him. >> we have. >> i feel like there's lots of room for him over the next while to do that. >> i paid homage to him with strategery. last night, tom brady and the patriots showed they are back and headed toward the playoffs. happy monday, coy wire. >> the patriots had lost two games in a row before traveling to texas last night to take on the texans. the injury bug has been biting

tom brady's boys lately. brady had his best weapon back for this matchup, grown couldn't s -- gronkowski doing what he does best. they clinch a playoff spot for the seventh straight season. cam newton and the carolina panthers keep getting better as their perfect season continues. newton went for the knockout early against the falcons. come on, man, the cats put 21 points on the board in the first quarter alone. two of the haymakers here, ted ginn jr., they go on to win, 38-0. carolina is now the ninth team in nfl history to make it to 13-0. finally, oklahoma city thunder guard, russell westbrook, to the left of your screen is a human highlight reel. 0.7 left and he puts on a one-man show. watch this again. he bounces it off rodney hood's

back, catches it and hits the fade away jumper. that shot provided a spark, then fuel to the fire for a second half comeback. this fan for half-court, $20,000. money! no one had made that shot in two years at thunders games. everyone in the house goes wild. the thunder would storm back to beat the jazz in overtime, 104-98. chris. >> strong, strong shot. i like the two-hand release. respect it. >> money. >> it was money in the bank. coy, thank you very much. good to see you as always. >> big news on the political front this the morning. there is a new republican front-runner in iowa. his name, senator ted cruz, center of your screen. taking over the top spot from donald trump. gop insiders, some of them say the texas senator will overcome trump nationally as well. so what's the plus/minus on

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just one day away from cnn's gop debate and about seven weeks away from the iowa caucuses. donald trump as you know has been leading in the polls for months but some politicos say he is not the one with the inside track tonomination. who is? smarty pants john avalon has the answer. he's our political an test, editor in chief of the daily beast. good to see you. this is a dynamic duo. let's look at the polls quickly to remind us of where we are. national poll, trump still on top, 27% to 22%. however, here's what's interesting, what's happening in iowa.

this is the "des moines register" poll. he has a ten-point lead on trump, ted cruz does. and then that wasn't an outlier because the fox news poll showed cruz leading as well. >> these are enormously important. cruz benefitting from ben carson, plummeting in these polls over the last several months. national polls we've still got trump in lead but iowa, the crucial first caucus, ted cruz, his strategy has been to win iowa. he's been the tortoise to tru trump's hare. the macroissue is this, ted cruz is trying to position himself between donald trump and marco rubio. if he can split the difference with the trump supporters who has one iowa state senator saying he's like trump, just a little bit less intense. that's the play. that's why so manyinsidersare saying keep an eye on cruz. >> we talk about how important iowa is. look at rick santorum and mike

huckabee. they're not even in the main debate tomorrow night. how important is it? >> funny you should say that. let's check out the next poll. >> this is -- these are the "des moines register" poll and it asks which candidate has the right values to lead the u.s.? cruz wins there at 34%. >> this is what's important. the reason santorum won last time, mick huckabee. the evangelicals are a large bloc. what's interesting about this poll and this year, social issues are in the bottom quarter of issues iowans say they care about. you have congressman steve king who championed that evangelical vote. cruz is trying to solidify that loyalty. when carson falls, that's why cruz gains. >> let's talk about the dough. >> money. >> the cruz campaign has $26.5 million. his super pac has almost $38 million. this will carry him past iowa.

>> follow the money. this is incredibly important. ted cruz's sugar daddy is a guy named bob mercer. he's help set up the four super pacs. they've been holing on to their cash. they've not been spending it. this is very much from a financial standpoint a hold your fire situation. it's one of the reasons insiders say cruz is well positioned to convert an iowa win. >> not so fast, john avalon. here's the downside to cruz. he has little support from his fellow gop senators and possibly little appeal beyond the conservative base. if the voters like him, who cares what the party thinks of him. >> well, look, politics is perception. if the people who know you best kind of loathe you, that's a real problem in leading the party, right? it's beyond the superficial resemblance to mccarthy. that's mean spirited, let's put this aside. let's dig into the fact that this guy led the kamikaze caucus into the shutdown. he has not won a lot of love even respect from his fellow senators, which is one of the

reasons so many are rallying marco rubio. >> who compares to cruz that we've seen in the past? the first one you say barry goldwater? >> yes. let's dial back for a second. if you go for a hard-core conservative candidate, right, barry goldwater is the guy who wrote the book. if ted cruz is trying to appeal to evangelicals and tea partiers, you go for the conservative guy. here's the problem when you go with pure ideological purity. incumbent president, a different time. >> times have changed. >> most importantly the republican party has moved further and further right. if you really want to go for the ideological purity move you run the risk of an electoral land slide. >> pat robertson? >> yes, 1988. if you go for a pure evangelical play, cruz trying to broaden out. he ran against the establishment candidate, then vice president george herbert walker bush. also, pat buchanan. another ideological play.

ultimately didn't win. george herbert walker bush wins the presidency. >> great to talk to you. thanks for the history lesson. we're following a lot of news this morning. let's get right to it. donald trump and senator ted cruz just five points apart. his front-runner status is being challenged by cruz in the state of iowa. >> what's wrong with this temperament? >> when you look at the way he's dealt with the sfat, frankly like a little bit of a maniac, you're never going to get things done that way. >> we're going to hunt down these terrorists wherever they try to hide. >> could a change in strategy be brewing? >> an exhaustive three-day fbi search of that lake in san bernardino, california, has recovered no items. >> not only did she support violent jihad but she wanted to be part of it. >> they didn't check her social media accounts, simply it was not part of the screening process. this is "new day" with chris

cuomo, alisyn camerota and michaela pereira. >> look at that. does it get any more exciting? >> maybe if the podiums were made of chocolate. >> or made of gold. good morning. welcome back to your "new day." that was a look inside the venetian hotel where the countdown is on. nine republicans are set to take that stage. that's the main stage tomorrow night in los angeles for the final gop debate of 2015. the stakes could actually not be higher. >> one reason is you don't often hear this, donald trump could use a boost. his lead is waning in the latest national polls. just five points separate him from senator ted cruz. the texas senator now the front-runner in iowa. this makes the debate even more important. trump says he is ready to get it on. our debate coverage kicks off with athena jones, live in vegas. athena? >> good morning, chris. the countdown has begun here in the venetian theater. you can see the stage is all set

up, right here behind me. national front-runner donald trump is smack dab in the middle once again. but he's not going to be the only target as the candidates battle to stand out here tomorrow night. only one day away from the last gop debate of the year in las vegas. and for these 13 candidates, one last chance to make an impression, heading into the holiday season. the main debate lineup, seeing most of the same players as last time. and no surprise here, front-runner donald trump again taking center stage. chris christie moving up to the main stage. trump will be flanked by dr. ben carson and texas senator ted cruz who's now surging in iowa, according to this fox news poll released sunday. on saturday, the des moines register and bloomberg politics releasing their own poll, showing cruz ahead of trump by 10 percentage points in the state.

>> i'm very glad donald trump is in this election. >> that is a little bit of a romance. i like him. >> reporter: their bromance beginning to wane after audio from a private fund-raiser captured cruz questioning trump's judgment. >> i tell you what, my judgment's great. i built a multi, multi, multibillion dollar company. some of the greatest assets in the world. i have good judgment. i have great judgment. i would say i have far better judgment than ted. >> reporter: trump later tweeting i was disappointed that ted cruz would speak behind my back, get caught and then deny it. after trump said this about cruz's temperament -- >> look at the way he's dealt with the senate where he goes in there like a -- frankly, like a little bit of a maniac, you're going to get things done that way. >> reporter: cruz tweeting in honor of my friend donald trump with a link to "flashdance's" popular song "maniac." ♪ she's a maniac maniac i sure know ♪ >> reporter: carson, once trump's nearest rival, now dropping in the polls. >> poll numbers go up and down.

i wasn't excited when they were up. i'm not excited when they're down. people will make the correct choice. >> reporter: heightened fears of terrorism around the world and right here at home could make for fireworks on stage tomorrow night. >> this is a new environment inside the campaign right now. and so that -- this will be the first time that the candidates take the stage in that new landscape. >> let's bring in cnn political commentator and former white house political director for ronald reagan, mr. jeffrey lord. >> there he s. also a trump supporter, looking agust there. amanda carpenter, cnn political commentator and former communications director for senator ted cruz. >> also looking agust. >> what beautiful bookings we have this morning. mr. lord, i start with you. if we look at this national poll, donald still strong, donald trump in first but we do see a contraction. even though his numbers are up, the margin is down. how do you read these numbers, sir? >> right.

well, i think one of the important things, this is -- iowa is a state where religious liberty is a very important thing and senator cruz has a record on that. there's just no question about it. the thing i'm interested in is donald trump is bringing in a lot of people to the process that were never involved before. i'm not sure fight how you measure that. i mean, after all, polls or no polls, at the end of the day you have to show up on a cold winter night in iowa in february and stay there for several hours while you go about this caucus process. so the question is going to be in some sense, although donald has done very well with evangelical, what is the role of all of these new folks? that will be interesting to see. there's an indication, i think, that they do like donald trump. will they come out? that's what the work is all about. >> amanda, let's talk about how -- whatever gentlemen's agreement cruz and trump seem to have up until now appears to be crumbling a bit. first, cruz talked about donald

trump's judgment not being the best at this closed door fund-raising event. and then donald trump took it public. and he talked about cruz being a bit of a maniac. this was on fox yesterday. listen to this. >> i don't think he's qualified to be president. >> why not? >> because i don't think he has the right temperament. i don't think he's got the right judgment. >> what's wrong with his temperament? >> look at the way he's dealt with the senate where he goes in there like a -- frankly like a little bit of a maniac. you're never going to get things done that way. >> can you be a little bit of a maniac? ♪ >> there it is. >> this is chris's favorite part of this argument by the way. he wanted us to play this moment, strangely, over and over again, which is the "flash dance" reference. amanda, what's going on here? >> you know, this all started, what cruz said about donald

trump behind closed doors is so tame. this is a cookie cutter criticism you can make of any candidate. someone runs because they think they have the best judgment. of all the things you could say about donald trump, ted cruz said the most benign. i'm befuddled by donald trump's criticism of ted cruz saying he's a maniac in washington and didn't make enough friends among the washington establishment. donald trump is saying ted cruz is too brash? i mean, it's really kind of hilarious. also i think it's such a misstep for trump. he's essentially saying ted cruz should have played nicer with the people who have run the republican party into the ground. this is essentially what ted cruz is campaigning on. he came to d.c. to shake it up. ted cruz comes out ahead in this battle so far. >> ted cruz is prized, above all else, jeffrey lord, for his intelligence. everyone you talk to about him, whether it's his law school professor, dershowitz or anybody, says the guy is as

smart as they come. in that context, how do you see what was confusing to some early on about his cozying up to trump? what is the strategy here? do you believe in the overton window theory? >> i think the two up until now have always liked one another. at an american spectator dinner, i write for the american spectator, three years ago they were boast the guest of honor and said nice things about each other in front of a ball room full of people. there's nothing really new about this. i will say this, though, when you're running for president, heck, for that matter, if you're running for city council, you don't stand up and say the other guy is more qualified than i am. you're supposed to draw the line, the differences and get out there and do it. that's what's going to happen. >> is that your prediction as well? do you think we'll see those two go directly at each other. >> a lot of people will be doing

at ted cruz because he's rising in the polls. donald trump may be calling him a maniac again. marco rubio going after him on surveillance issues. ben carson talking about the big money. a lot of republicans are going to be going after cruz on tuesday and in other words, it's another tuesday for ted cruz. he's used to this. you know, i work for him in the senate when the entire d.c. media, washington establishment, you name it, was attacking him up side down, left, right and sideways. he's still standing, this riffiriff i -- thriving in the polls. i think he's looking forward to answering the questions that are thrown at him. >> amanda, back to your original point. you think it's sort of strange that trump would go after cruz for not being more conciliatory in the senate. doesn't trump have a point that when you're president, you do need to be a dealmaker. you do need to be able to negotiate even with people on the other side of the aisle. donald trump says that's my calling card.

>> sure. but if you look at the profile attacks donald trump is making of cruz, this sort of started in iowa where he complained that cruz wasn't for ethanol subsidies. now donald trump is complaining that cruz didn't make enough friends in washington and canjoe people. really, that is the essence of what donald trump is. he's not icon servative, never has been, never will be. he's a trumpist. he's for donald trump at all times. i think that will play out through the process and is a great contrast for ted cruz to make. >> jeffrey, you may respond to that, of course. also then give us your take on whether or not you think ted cruz has the staying power past iowa and if not, why? >> yes. i do think donald trump is conservative. like ronald reagan, he's evolved

over the years. that's the question here, once you get beyond iowa, then what? we all remember or some of us at least do, that ran old r-- rona reagan lost the iowa caucuses and he managed to lose my home state of pennsylvania to george h.w. bush. i think this battle will go on for some time to come. iowa is not the ball game. it's only the beginning. of course, we do remember that senator santorum and governor huckabee won in 2012 and 2008 respectively. that was it for them. >> yes, but -- >> hold that thought, amanda. we'll be seeing you in a few hours out there in las vegas. take a look at this time lapsed video. this is from inside the venetian las vegas. you can see them capture the final preparations as they get the debate stage ready. >> we have the same time lapse

of berman losing it at a craps table. >> can you imagine john berman unleashed in vegas? >> he's winning money, spitting out weird trivia. >> hair tousled. >> never. tomorrow night's debate will focus on national security and terrorism. it can go wherever the men and women want to take it. the moderators, cnn's captain wolf blitzer. this is the final gop debate of the year. coverage starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern. that's the undercard. "new day" will be live tomorrow and wednesday morning, what alisyn calls same day from the venetian in las vegas. >> i will be here and sober to handle the morning for the rest. >> referee: us. >> at least half of that is true. >> more news at 12 minutes past the hour. the fight against isis, president obama holding a strategy session today with his national security advisers at the pentagon. it's his first visit since the terror attacks in san bernardino and paris.

what should we expect from that meeting? chris is live in washington. what should we expect today? >> the who us is saying that obama is getting an update on the strategy to defeat isis during his meeting with his national security team at the pentagon today. later in week, the president is headed to the national counterterrorism center where he'll review efforts. the president and his team are hard at work destroying isis. here's how the president talked about his administration's efforts in his weekly media address. >> our air strikes are hitting isil harder than ever in iraq and syria. we're taking out more of their fighters and leaders. their weapons, their oil tankers, our special operations forces are on the ground, because we're going to hunt down these terrorists wherever they try to hide. >> obama went on to say that in recent weeks u.s. strikes have killed two isis leaders and when obama speaks at the pen gone

later this morning, there's no indication there will be a major shift of his isis strategy but the president has ordered his team to constantly assess the performance of that strategy and turn up the heat if there's an opportunity to. in the past, for instance, that has meant increasing assistance to syrian opposition fighters or putting special forces on the ground in iraq and syria. so we might hear news about similar moves to intensify the fight against isis but the white house says there's no major changes expected to be announced. alisyn? >> okay, chris, thanks so much. the fbi, the search of a lake outside san bernardino turning up no evidence linked to the couple behind that deadly terror attack. now, "the new york times" reporting that tashfeen malik openly expressed support for jihad on social media before three background checks and two interviews failed to raise any red flags. cnn correspondent paul vercammen is live in san bernardino with the latest for us. good morning, paul. >> reporter: good morning,

alisyn. not only did they find out that tashfeen malik supported violent jihad but she wanted to join it, as you pointed out, none of the background checks turned this up. that's because at that time, apparently government officials, according to the times did not at all look into her social media posts, which were characterized as religious zealotry. that lake out there, they were scouring it, looking for the missing hard drive from the murderous couple. apparently some federal officials say they didn't find anything but here on the ground, fbi officials saying when you do go ahead and look at a lake, fight often you turn up a number of things in a public lake. they're saying if anything of evidentiary value is found, they will examine it. behind me, the memorial. today, san bernardino will remember yet another of the 14 killed. bennetta bet-badal leaves behind three children. she was a county health inspector, and her husband.

she pled religious persecution from extremists in iran and come to the united states. they will remember her at rancho cucamonga another 10:30. >> a turkish fishing boat taking warning fire from a russian warship. moscow says the boat came within 1,600 feet of their ship and ignored repeated calls to change course. you'll remember turkey shot down a russian fighter jet last month saying it ignored warnings. surprising development out of egypt this morning. the panel investigating the metrojet crash says there was nothing indicating that crash was an act of terror. despite that claim by russia and

isis claiming responsibility. this was the first time that women were allowed to vote or run for office. though, the female candidates were not allowed to talk with male voters. most of the campaigning was done online. for the first time in this republican debate cycle, donald trump may not be the biggest target. why? ted cruz. he's surging. that means he's going to take some hits. we'll break down the biggest republican rivalries and what everyone stands to gain and to lose. coming up. that's vegas, baby. technology empowers us to achieve more. it pushes us to go further. special olympics has almost five million athletes in 170 countries. the microsoft cloud allows us to immediately be able to access information, wherever we are. information for an athlete's medical care, or information to track their personal best. with microsoft cloud, we save millions of man hours,

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a lot at stake for the gop candidates as they take the stage tomorrow night for the final debate of 2015. clear rivalries starting to emerge. michael smerconish is host of cnn's "smerconish" as well as xh radio host. great to see you out there already. we know you're getting your front row seat. let's talk about how interesting these past few days have become, 36 hours before the debate starts and trump and cruz seem

to have taken off the gloves. what's going on with these two? >> so, i think that you'd rather be ted cruz than donald trump, given the current state of afars. timing is everything. and as that vote draws near, the first vote in iowa, that's the state you most want to win. these national polls tend to garner all of our attention but as you well know, alisyn, it's a state-by-state nomination process. i'd rather be ted cruz leading in two surveys in iowa even if donald trump continues to dominate in the national surveys. that's not the way the party nominates its candidate. >> i guess so, except iowa doesn't really pick -- if you look at the last two winners, governor huckabee and senator santorum they did not go on to be president. >> so true, yet this year i think there's so much more volatility. i believe the nation is just now paying attention. if cruz were to win in iowa, i think it will cause a lot of people to take a first look at that senator. i think tomorrow night is a huge

night for all of them, obviously. but some more than others. cruz in particular. because i think that there's such interest now in that contest. people are not fully informed about exactly who is ted cruz. they've heard a little bit about him. they've seen a little bit about him. i don't mean the junkies or the political class. i mean random most americans. it's his opportunity, frankly, to make a first impression in many households across the country. i also think the stakes are fight high for ben carson. he's on the descent and that vote that i see cruz garnering is coming from both trump and carson. it's not coming from rubio or jeb or the establishment types. this is going to be a tough order for ben carson because foreign policy, i think he's admitted is not his strong suit. so a lot of pressure on carson. a lot of pressure obviously on trump and on cruz. >> this is also such a fascinating debate and so timely because of everything that's happening in the news. given all of the national

security fears in the wake of san bernardino and paris, this issue has come to the fore, it's leap frogged the economy. americans are scared. so between rubio and trump and cruz and all of the other candidates, who do you think can grab the mantle of, i will keep the country safest? >> i look at those establishment types on the stage behind me. i look at jeb. i look at kasich. i look at christie and rubio, i say to myself, regardless of what happens tomorrow night, they're probably not pulling votes from the mav vick types, from the carson, from the cruz, from the trump constituencies. i'm wondering do they look to their left and right and decide, instead of going after trump which heretofore has not worked for any of them, do they instead try to go after some of those who are in the same strata of the gop? they need a breakout moment. we're getting close now.

we've been at this for fight some time. if one of establishment types doesn't soon get a coalescing of that vote around him, then i think they're done. >> here's another interesting poll that i want to show our viewers and you, michael. this is just out this morning, a new nbc/"wall street journal" poll. it shows a head-to-head matchup between some of the leading republicans and hillary clinton. interesting. look at this, hillary clinton beats donald trump today if the election were held by 50% to 40%. clinton, though, is neck and neck with ben carson, 46% to 47%. she beats ted cruz. now, two leading republicans, hillary clinton beats. she beats them 48% to 45% and marco rubio beats hillary clinton, his 48% to her 45%. what's going on in these numbers? >> i think if you look at the internals of that survey, you'll see that it's the independent vote that's the determining factor in how well rubio is running.

and you know, this is the ele electability question. i took a look at a "new york times" survey just last week which came out and said that electability was of very low importance to gop primary voters. i think by a margin of 7-1, when you said what's the quality or characteristic that's most important, being a strong, tough leader came in at number one and way down on the list of choices was electability. you wonder, alisyn, if at some point, because the desire among all the people who will be in this hall come tomorrow night is first and foremost to beat hillary clinton. will there be a practicality that will set in, where they'll look at cruz and rubio and say i like either of them. marco has a better chance of defeating hillary clinton than does ted cruz and, therefore, i'm going to give him that edge. thus far, that hasn't happened. but you would wonder if they'll look at that data before this is all said and done. i'm floored by ben carson running as well as he runs

against her. let's not lose sight of the fact that she has incredibly high negatives. a majority of americans in polls said they find her untrustworthy and dishonest. a different way of looking at this is to say it's remarkable she runs so well, given those high negatives. >> okay, michael smerconish, we see you in position. we'll see you out there in a couple of hours. thanks so much. looking forward to it. >> look forward to it. thank you. >> over to michaela. the san bernardino terror attack ramping up the urgency to destroy and defeat isis. the white house has called for war authorization from congress but it's still not a done deal yet. what is the holdup? we'll have one lawmaker who has pushed for authorization for more than a year.

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all right. we're counting down until tomorrow night, cnn republican debate in vegas, baby. nine candidates taking the main stage at 8:30. 6:00 is the undercard. watch it live right here on cnn. the big focus will be terror and national security. the moderator, wolf blitzer, will put the candidates through their paces, trump is in the center. he's in the lead. he's got cruz on one side, carson on the other. this has become the matchup you're looking at on screen right now. the pair has seen their bromance evaporate over the weekend. trump calling cruz a little bit of a maniac ahead of the numbers showing cruz overtaking trump in iowa. michaela? >> president obama heading to the pentagon to review the u.s. strategy against isis with his team of national security advisers. the white house cautioning there would be no major policy shifts as a result of the meeting.

saying it's more of an update. it is the president's first pentagon visit since the terror attacks in san bernardino and in paris. candidates with the far right national front party in france coming up short in regional elections. the anti-immigration platform got off to a roaring start after the paris attacks but finished third behind the conservative party and socialist party. the party's leaders plan to be on the presidential ballot in 2017. >> a week-long cease-fire beginning today in yemen after nine long months of civil war. u.n.-led peace talks between the warring sides are set to begin in week in switzerland. the fight between an iranian-backed rebel group and saudi backed supporters of the exiled government has left about 6,000 people dead. chris? thank you very much. the president is heading to the pentagon this morning to review isis strategy. he faces a skeptical public and largely uncooperative congress. the question then becomes will the white house finally get a formal war authorization from congress? this is the aumf you hear about

all the time. senator tim kaine is a democrat from virginia, on the armed forces and foreign relations committee. senator, good to have you. >> good to be back. >> early christmas wishes to you and the family. >> you, too. >> there are checklists of things that need to get fixed. >> yes. >> let's go through them. the first one is the visa waiver program. >> yes. >> what do we see with the k-1 fiancee visa? it's an old visa, people argue it's abused for many years. now what happened in san bernardino has it in sharp focus. >> it does. >> they're using it as proof that you can't keep us safe, you can't vet well enough. >> can we make it better? absolutely. fiance sa fiance visa is one we should focus on. student visas. the visa waiver program, the

house passed a bill last week. we'll be grappling with it. i think we'll come to an accord where we'll tighten up the visa waiver program. the good news is people started off with concern about the refugees. once they looked at the refugee vetting process, they realized that is very tight. we have other areas we ought to tighten up. i think that's what we'll do. >> i would submit to you, yes, they looked at the syrian vetting operation but they came to a conclusion that 40 some odd percent of republicans and a healthy number of democrats say banning all muslims is not a bad idea. people look at vetting and say this vetting is about what it isn't. you haven't even asked this maniac lady -- to use a trump word today -- if she was responsible for all this stuff that was in public domain about jihad. >> fears are real. you have to address them. as i've gone out and talked to virginians with be they have

concerns. when i walk through what we do on refugee vetting, that sounds solid. how about the visa waiver program? you have comey coming out ahead of the fbi saying i can't use the data base. there's no footprint. >> to the extent that a question can't be answered, somebody doesn't get in, there's 4 million registered refugees. 20,000 have been referred to the united states. 2,000 have been accepted after an 18-month review. if there's questions that can't get answered they don't get in. >> it only takes one. that's what we hear. it andly takes one. >> the proposal and the rhetoric like ban all muslims, that's exactly what isil wants. i spent a lot of time in classified briefings. what do they want? they want to paint a west that is in a war against islam. this is not what this is about. we're in a war against jihad and violence. we're not in a war against islam. >> the push back on that is who cares what they want. what they want to do is chop my head off. this allows them a potential way to get in here. they want to use our refugee and

migrant. >> refugees are not our enemies. isil is our enemy. congress won't have a debate and vote about whether isil is our enemy to declare war. call evil out for what it is but don't call refugees evil. that's not the problem. isil is the problem and congress has been on the sidelines since this war started in august of 2014. >> one of the things i like least on this show is when a politician comes on that i can't beat over the head about something. you have been out in front of having a debate about the aumf for a long time. >> yes. >> we've discussed it several times. i can't hold you to blame for this. i will any wai and here's why. >> yes. >> you've not been able to get your brothers and sisters on the left to motivate debate about this for the president. >> yes. >> which is part of the plan of being within the party. why won't they take it up? they all explain left and right about the strategy. this is their constitutional responsibility to declare war. >> it is ours. i think first the president

should have said at the beginning, i need congress on this and the fact that he didn't, i think i have the authority, now the president is saying, in february, he sent over an authorization in his speech last week, he said congress needs to get off the sidelines and do something. so i think he should have demanded more up front. >> the president, being a political isolationist, he wanted the power, doesn't want to work with congress. >> here was the problem. the leadership told him in august of 2014 when he started the bombing campaign we have a midterm election coming up. we don't want to have to vote on this. just go ahead and do it. >> why didn't he tell the american people that? >> he should have. >> it's foot like he has a good relationship with him. >> he should have. they encouraged him to do this on their own. congress voted on the iraq war in '02 and most now agree was a big mistake. maybe if we can criticize the president and not be held accountable we can get away with something. we have 3,600 people risking their lives overseas every day,

11 service members have been killed in operation inherent resolve. congress is afraid to have a vote because it might be unpopular, controversial? the constitution says we're supposed to do it. if we do it, it sends a message to our troops, allies and a message of resolve to isil. the parliaments in britain, the national assembly in france, the bundestag in germany, the duma in russia have had a debate about this. what with he waiting for? >> a close vote in the uk, passion on both sides, keyed the people in to what was going on and why. that's the kind of national resolve we do not have right now. >> the debate educates the public and brings the public along and that's one of the main things our troops need, to know the public has their back. >> senator tim kaine, thank you very much. very good early christmas wish for you. and our present to the american people is get debate going on. >> yes. the female terrorists in the san bernardino attack passed a number of background checks and

interviews but her social media posts told a far different story about her. will law enforcement change their focus? ild cub ♪ ♪ ♪ most weekends only last a couple of days. some last a lifetime. hampton. we go together. always get the lowest price, only when you book direct at hampton.com

three background checks, two personal interviews and yet apparently, neither was enough to stop a jihadist from entering the united states and partaking into that terrible atook in san bernardino. "the new york times" is reporting that authorities missed extremist posts from the female in the san bernardino attack before she came stateside. how are these revelations going to change the vetting process going forward? joining us is juliet kiam. i want to show you what "the new york times" has in their reporting about what tashfeen malik was posting. i mean, pretty blatant in her postings online. she talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad, saying she supported it and wanted to be part of it. hindsight is 20/20, i suppose.

why hasn't social media been part of the screening process for visas? >> part of it is just simply capacity to put this in context, tens of millions of people come through the united states lawfully on a number of different visas, some of them short term, some of them long term. the marriage visa that we're talking about all the time, 90,000 in the last year. these are just a lot of people are flowing through our system lawfully. >> okay. >> the more you put a security system on it, right, whether it be social media review, the slower that process is going to be. it's just basically a judgment call about resources. >> but wait. i mean, we get the judgment call on resources but we know universities do it to screen potential students. we know employers do it, screening potential employees. it seems to me that this would have been a, you know, a given when we've seen how technology has advanced over the past few years.

>> yes. and i hope at some stage -- it's not a given, it doesn't need to be done in every context but certainly whether someone is triggered for further review that a look at their social media presence, what they put out to the world will be part of that review. i think that is what you're starting to hear from the administration. i know that's what you're starting to hear from the administration as it says it's reviewing different visa programs, either the visa waiver program or marriage program. we're starting to even hear that they may sort of close up the marriage visa program. >> right. do you think that's why? >> for some time to begin to review it. i think you have to at this stage. i don't think you can close something down for that long. look, people think, oh, she got through, so the system is negligent. just to understand what security is, it is -- there's security and then there's flow and somewhere between that continuum you have a system that is going to try to promote flow and be as secure as possible. >> right. >> the system will be

overinclusive sometimes and underinclusive. but what we have to remember, one of the reasons why we have the marriage visa is because it's a strong public policy, family policy to have family unification, to keep people apart is not only wrong. we actually want to promote families being together. >> sure. >> let's talk about the resources again. that is -- that's going to be -- i mean, it's difficult enough for me to search for something on my own facebook page, not even talking about what the government would have to do or what officials would have to do. it sounds like it would require a ramp-up. is that something that can happen quickly? i'm not saying that everybody's posts that's trying to immigrate to the country needs to be reviewed. but if they trigger enough red flags, that should be a given. how long would it take to ramp that up? >> it could probably be done relatively quickly if they close down the system as we're hearing and then begin to look at who's coming through. this discussion about whether we should target particular

countries, iraq, syria, iran and people from those countries or with dual citizenship which the obama administration is actually on the side of beginning further reviews through the visa waiver process or the marriage process, is just one way to begin to get to manage just the flow of people. i think that the administration is correct in promoting a further review of people from those countries. it's not religious based. it is nationality based. so that we can begin to keep the system as secure as possible, knowing we're not going to get every person but also promoting flow. it is very important that even security analysts say we cannot close the system down. >> right. >> it would disrupt who we are but also our economy, tourism. just imagine how every city would be impacted. >> it is definitely worth review. to some it's surprising that it hasn't been done yet. juliet kiam, thank you for

joining us to discuss this. gun control advocates beating a new drum, namely if you're on the no-fly list, you should not be able to purchase a weapon. how should officials reconcile gun rights and public safety and the constitution? new york's governor is going to join us next on "new day." special olympics has almost five million athletes in 170 countries. the microsoft cloud allows us to immediately be able to access information, wherever we are. information for an athlete's medical care, or information to track their personal best. with microsoft cloud, we save millions of man hours, and that's time that we can invest in our athletes and changing the world. rightabreva can heal itold sore, in as few as two and a half days when used at the first sign. without it the virus spreads from cell to cell. only abreva penetrates deep and starts to work immediately

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rights coming to a head after the terror attacks in san bernardino. governors in connecticut and new york want people on the fbi's no fly list to be barred from buying guns. joining us now is new york governor andrew cuomo who consults checking the federal background list when buying guns. good to see you. >> you, too, alisyn. >> we are speaking on a sad anniversary. three years ago, the tragedy in newtown, connecticut, happened. after that, people thought that something would change in terms of gun control or gun rights in this country, but little has. you now are making an effort to close what some say is this

loophole, whereby, people on the no fly list can buy guns. what are you trying to do? >> right. first, alisyn, it is the anniversary of sandy hook, and that should be a reminder to all of us how much damage and pain one person can cause with an assault rifle. it's not that nothing happened after sandy hook. this state passed, weeks after sandy hook, the most comprehensive gun control law in the nation. called the safe act. i'm very proud of that. sandy hook actually woke up people, especially in this part of the country. new york is very close to sandy hook. we took action. now, one state alone is not enough because we now have guns coming in from other states. we closed the front door. the guns are coming in the back door. but i believe this country is in the process of evolution on this

issue. another situation that is really going to cause us to reevaluate what we're doing is this terrorist threat, which i don't believe is limited. i don't believe san bernardino is the last of it. i wish i could say it is. but i think this is going to be an ongoing pattern. i think this is the new normal. i think terrorism, which was in the middle east for so long, is now spread 6,000 miles, and the internet and social media did it. i think we're going to have to recalibrate our response. my point is very simple, you don't have -- not every person in this country has the legal or constitutional right to have a gun. they don't. if you have a criminal background, you don't have the right to have a gun. if you're mentally ill, you don't have the right to have a gun. >> yes, but -- >> if the federal government has information that says you are a -- you are suspected of terrorism, so much so that you can't step on a plane, then you should not be allowed to buy a

gun and pull a trigger. it's that simple. >> the problem with that, of course, is many say that the people -- that the no fly list, which has roughly, according to the tsa, 16,000 names on it, is flawed. there are all sorts of people on there who have no connection whatsoever to terror. we had senator rand paul on our program last week, who cited the examples of senator ted kennedy having at one time being on the no fly list. musician cat stevens having been on the no fly list. the list is imperfect and you can't keep anybody who might show up on the list from their constitutional right to own a gun. >> with all due respect to senator rand paul, there is no perfect list, alisyn. we now have lists that we check before a person can buy a gun. there is a list of people who have criminal background histories. there is a list of people who have been mentally ill. i am sure there are mistakes on

those lists. i'm sure. that doesn't mean you let everybody buy a gun because maybe there was a mistake on a list. >> yeah, but -- >> it means they have a right to appeal. >> i mean, look, governor, critics say that owning a gun is a constitutional right. applying is a privilege. how can you -- how can the no fly list trump the second amendment? >> owning a gun is a constitutional right, subject to reasonable regulation. criminal history, mental health background, and if this nation knows or has reason to believe you are a terrorist, that is a reasonable basis not to allow a person to buy a gun. look, it's a reasonable basis enough not to let you fly. and inhibit your travel,

literally. it's a reasonable basis not to let you buy a gun. and if there is a mistake on the list, have a process where the person can appeal and they can present their side of the case. that's fine. because i'm sure there's going to be mistakes on a list. i'm sure there are mistakes on every list. but we need to be safe. gao did a study where, for the past ten years, they looked at known suspected terrorists. 2,000 of them tried to buy a gun in this country. 90% were successful. >> yeah. >> that's frightening. we're talking about trying to keep people out of the country. this whole political conversation about, do we let refugees in? do we not let refugees in? we have people in the country who are suspected of terrorism and who, right now, can't step on a plane, but can buy a gun. i mean, that is ludacrewudicrol.

i'm the new york governor, the state of 9/11. these people are living in denial. how many san bernardinos, how many sandy hooks do you need before you have basic sanity that says safety still matters? >> governor, i want to ask you about the presidential race while we have you. you, of course, are the governor of donald trump, the front runner's home state. you know donald trump as a developer, real estate, and negotiator. i know you don't share his positions and i know you're not in his party, but do you think that donald trump has the skills to be president? >> i'm not the governor of donald trump. i'm the governor of the state of new york. i'm a democrat so i'm not going to be voting in the republican and primary. i'm not going to make the selection among them. i can tell you this, forget the polit

politics. i'm sure mr. trump has very smart people who are advising him and they've come to the conclusion that there are enough extremists in the republican party that this muslim ban is good politics for him. but i believe it's terrible policy. i believe it's hurting this country. i believe it is actually fomenting the growth of isil. donald trump could be a recruitment poster for isil, because he is fanning the flames of hate. no muslims in the united states. 1 billion muslims were alienated with one sentence. at this point, we don't want muslim -- we don't need more muslim enemies. we need more muslim allies. saying that this country doesn't trust or doesn't like all muslims and the religion plays right into their hands. that's what isil is selling.

isil is saying to a disenfranchised population, come join us. fight the good fight. fight against the enemy, the big enemy, the big over dog, western civilization, the united states. i think we're actually playing into it when they hear trump's rhetoric. i think it's dangerous and hurtful, as a matter of national policy. whether it works for him in the republican primary, i don't care to opine. >> okay. >> i think it does a disservice to this country. >> governor andrew cuomo, great to get your take on new day. >> may i ask you a quick question? >> go right ahead. make it quick. >> chris looked a little pale this morning. is he feeling okay? >> are you feeling fine? >> i was nervous. >> don't tell him i asked, but i was concerned.

>> i was nervous for my mother listening to what was coming out of her older son this morning. otherwise, i'm fine. >> he's in good form, governor. thank you for your concern, as always. >> don't tell him i asked. >> just between us. got it. >> i'm just concerned. >> as always. thanks, governor. >> what are you looking at? we're following a lot of news. let's get to it. the stakes have never been higher for the last gop debate of the year. >> trump is center stage once again. >> ted cruz is soaring in iowa. >> i don't think he's qualified to be president. >> national security will be the focus here on tuesday night. >> obama speaks at the pentagon later this morning. >> could a change in strategy be brewing? >> we're going to hunt down these terrorists wherever they try to hide. >> after three days of searching a murky lake in san bernardino, the fbi recovered no items. >> social media postings talking about her support for violent

jie h jihad. the background checks missed it. >> announcer: this is "new day" with chris cuomo, alisyn camerota and michaela pereira. >> welcome to your new day, monday, december 14th. 8:00 in the east. we're counting down to the cnn republican debate tomorrow night in las vegas. the stakes have never been higher. >> donald trump and ted cruz, already tangling on twitter and in the polls. cruz taking over the top spot in iowa and closing the gap initially, or getting close in the latest polls. now, the insulting are flying. let's kick off our debate preview with athena jones, live from las vegas. what's the latest? >> good morning, alisyn. the countdown has begun here in the venetian theater. behind me, you can see the stage is set up. national front runner donald trump will be smack dab in the middle yet again, but he won't be the only target as the candidates try to stand out here tomorrow night. >> reporter: only one day away

from the last gop debate of the year in las vegas. for these 13 candidates, one last chance to make an impression heading into the holiday season. the main debate lineup seeing most of the same players as last time. and no surprise here, front runner donald trump again taking center stage. chris christie moving up to the main stage. trump will be flanked by dr. ben carson and texas senator ted cruz, who is surging in iowa according to this fox news poll released sunday. on saturday, the "des moines register" and bloomberg releasing their own poll, showing cruz ahead of trump by ten percentage points in the state. >> it's a little bit of a bromance. >> reporter: audio from a private fundraiser captured

crews questioning his judgment. >> i built a multi-billion dollar company. i have great judgment. far better judgment than ted. >> trump later tweeting, i was dus disappointed cruz would talk behind my back and get caught and then deny it. >> he goes in the senate like a, frankly, maniac. you're never going to get anything done. >> reporter: cruz tweeting, in honor of my friend donald trump. there was a link to the video "maniac." trump's rival now dropping in the polls. >> numbers go up and down. people will make the correct choice. >> reporter: heightened fears of terrorism around the world and here at home could make for fireworks on stage tomorrow night. >> this is a new environment inside the campaign right now.

so this will be the first time the candidates take the stage in that new landscape. >> several candidates are hoping to have breakout performances here to give their campaigns a boost. for anyone wondering whether donald trump is ready to attack his new rival ted cruz on the stage tomorrow night, he all but assured us the hits would be coming. telling jake tapper on "state of the union," i expect to get it on. >> like flash dance. thank you very much. let bring in republican pollster who supports ted cruz. good to see you. >> thank you. >> let's talk about the national poll. the freshman senator from texas is up in iowa, but the margin in the national poll, trump is up but the margin is down. the biggest jump obviously coming two different ways. cruz popping 10% to 22%. carson, 29% to 11%. your read? >> this confirms several of the

other statewide and national polls. trump is holding husbais groundt cruz has momentum. momentum helps you raise money and more people pay attention to your message. it gives you more manpower on the ground. that has been the goal for the superpac pa superpact. you have to attract people to feel you have market distinction in what is a crowded marketplace this year. then you have the manpower on the ground. people want to go out and knock on doors for you and show up at rallies for you. of course, the money. the hard money in the campaign, and the soft money. the soft money in the superpact. i think, also, if you look at the cross tabs, what's really striking to me is the durability. you see it in the "des moines register" poll, the iowa poll. who has the best temperament? cruz beats trump, 34% to 11%. who would make a good commander

in chief? there's durability that escaped previous front runners before the iowa caucus. they peaked too early. >> there is yip yap about, is he peaking? but if he's going to have a strong show, it has to start in iowa. is he benefitting too much to comparison to donald trump, in terms of his ability to work with others and temperament? those are not attributes given universally to ted cruz between the shutdown and the rhetoric of how he doesn't like anyone in washington. he hasn't been a conciliator. >> that's an excellent question. we started seeing the data five or six months ago, that cruz is seen as the reasonable alternative. i know you may not have ever expected to hear those words, ted cruz, the reasonable alternative. but in this crazy 2015 election cycle we've witnessed, you have people going slow and steady and, now, popping up and winning the race. people are saying, what else is out there? i've heard all this.

you have solidified trump supporters. i don't pretend they're going anywhere any time quickly. you have carson supporters. in light of terrorism concerns, you have them. that attrition is benefitting senator cruz, who has come out with specific plans on what to do about isis. >> carson going from 29% to 11%. >> they have kasich and bush. donald trump deserves credit. but the real story is how the establishment candidates haven't been able to pop up. the conservatives are the ones who welcome electablook electab. they're saying, even marco rubio hasn't been able to catch fire. he's a quality candidate, gets buzz but he's at 10% at the iowa poll. doing well in the national cnn poll. we're wondering which of the seats he can win. >> trump decided now, cruz is gaining momentum. we know how he deals with that.

he's going to get it on. senator cruz did something he's not known for again, which is nothing. he played it nice with his video of flash dance. what is the thinking there, and how much convincing did it take the senator to go this way? >> probably little convincing, chris. he also responded to a tweet by cher on saturday night. cher was comparing cruz to judas iscariot. >> ted cruz said, i thank you for your sentiments. happy new year. it has to drive your naysayers crazy to act like it doesn't bother you. it'll be interesting in the debate tomorrow watching trump and cruz inches apart. >> what will he do if donald trump throws stuff at him? >> i think he'll look at the camera and say, i prefurefuse t

attack trump. i'll talk about the contrast on issues. some of trump's criticisms against cruz are coming from the left, not the right. he has to be careful with that. if he lobs the same criticisms at cruz that democrats did, the conservatives will say, who are you? >> the maniac, you say, plays to the fact that trump is not a -- >> the voters make the judgment. maniac, if you remember the 1980s and the leg warmers. any male who watched that video is not thinking of trump's words after that. maybe it was a clever play. if you listen to the words in the song, it's why they responded. the steely, gritty, focused person who may get their chance, and everybody says you can't. don't bother. you can't win. that's been crazy. the whole, you can't win. don't bother. the criticism, electability that has always dogged conservative

candidates is now dogging the establishment candidates. if you look at the polling data, people don't think jeb bush or john kasich can win. >> is senator cruz ready to be the focus tomorrow? it's a different position. >> let's hope so. he'll been in the position recently. he took on and beat the sitting lieutenant governor of texas three short years ago. beat him twice because there was a runoff. he beat the mayor of dallas, the lieutenant governor. when you're the lieutenant governor of texas and you have rick perry as your governor, you have all the kings horses and all the kings men and $42 million of your own money. like an anvil on ted cruz's neck, he survived it. he's taken on the establishment before. i preticket he'll be magnanim s magnanimous. he's not going to sit there and take it and cower. i believe the contrast will always be on policy. it'll be, i don't want to do a cage match. i think the american people deserve better. these debates are a form of direct democracy.

most americans can't pay thousands of dollars to talk to a candidate one on one. this is their opportunity to turn on the tv tomorrow night and get the answers. if you're not getting answers on policy, people are afraid in this country. if they're not getting answers on policy and they're seeing who is attacking whom, it doesn't benefit the voters. senator cruz will make sure of that. >> the last debate of the year. we'll see how the senator steps up. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. let's take a look a little bit -- we like the setup in vegas. we've turned this from -- who knows who was going to be up there doing their act. now, we're getting it ready for the debate. look at all those people and all that activity. tomorrow is the big night. we'll focus on national security and terrorism. you have the cnn team captain wolf blitzer moderating. it starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern for the undercard and the main

debate 8:30 p.m. eastern. then we'll be live the next morning. that'll be tough to pull alisyn out of the tables once again. hopefully you keep your house this time. >> wayne newton called and wants his stage back. we'll see when we get there. thanks so much, chris. president obama meeting with his national security advisers today to review isis strategy at the pentagon. it's his first visit to the pentagon since the terror attacks in san bernardino and paris. we're following the latest from d.c. >> the white house is only saying that obama is getting an update on the strategy to defeat isis during his meeting with the national security team at the pentagon later today. but later in the week, the president is headed to the national counter terrorism center, where he'll review efforts to prevent attacks on america. these public appearances are designed to show a very nervous american public, majority of which is, frankly, disapproving how he's handling terrorism

tharks tthat the president and his team are hard at work to defeat terrorism. >> our air strikes are hitting isil harder than ever in iraq and syria. we're taking out more of their fighters and leaders. weapons, oil tankers. special operations forces are on the ground because we're going to hunt down these terrorists wherever they try to hide. >> obama went on to say that in recent weeks, u.s. strikes killed two isis leaders. when obama speaks at the pentagon later this morning, there's no indication there will be a major shift of his strategy on isis, but the president ordered his team to assess the strategy and turn up the heat if there is an opportunity to. in the past, for instance, that meant increasing assistance to syrian opposition fighters, or putting special forces on the ground in iraq and syria. so we might hear news about similar moves to intensify the fight against isis, but the white house says there's no major changes expected to be announced. back to you, michaela. >> chris, thank you for that.

meanwhile, the san bernardino fbi dive team searched for three days but no terror-related clues were found in the depths of a murky lake outside of san bernardino. reports are emerging that tashfeen malik was allowed into the united states after investigators failed to notice disturbing activity on social media. we have the latest live from san bernardi bernardino. paul? >> michaela, as you pointed out, malik passed three background checks, and scouring social media was not part of the background check. protocol at that time. had they been able to determine what she had been posting, perhaps, that could have stopped all this. the "new york times" reporting that malik not only said she supported violent jihad in her post, but she wanted to join them. characterized it as zea lshslat. they were trying to figure out if they had other posts or links

to isis. they looked in the harddrive and didn't turn up anything, just other possible items you could find in a public lake. back here live behind me is the memorial. it has been doused by the rain, at least the candles have, that fell overnight. this weekend, they remembered more victims, including shannon johnson who took a bullet to save the life of a coworker but lost his own life. >> shannon was a hero. he was ample you could leave a quiet life but when the time comes you do what's in your heart. in shannon's heart, it was to take care of the person next to him. >> and later on today, they will remember the public health worker who basically left iran to flee islamic extremism and lost her life in the attacks leaving behind her husband and three children. back to you, chris. >> appreciate the perspective on this. we have breaking information about the so-called planner of

the paris terror attacks. a witness says he was there the night. he was at the bataclan theater, spending an hour in a doorway, shouting into a cell phone. he had a headset on. it suggests he was giving the terrorists orders during the attack. it's something we don't see in terror. it's seen on the battlefield. details are in a cover story by friend of show, in a special issue of ctc sentinel out today. back at home, closing arguments about to begin at the trial of william porter. he is the first of six baltimore police officers facing charges in the death of freddie gray. prosecutors accused porter of ignoring gray's cries for help when he was dying in the back of the police transport van. defense claims two other officers failing to act when porter allegedly told them that gray needed medical attention. will ferrell making a surprise return to "saturday night live," bringing back his

iconic portrayal of president george w. bush. not even the 2016 field or his brother jeb was safe. >> the field of republicans is messed up, and it makes you miss me, doesn't it? rubio and cruz. sounds like a miami law firm. if you've been injured on the job, call rubio and cruz. next, jeb. oh, boy. poor jeb. you've got to admit, it's a pretty good plot twist that i turned out to be the smart one. [ applause ] of course, i wish he would have asked me about the expla mags poi -- exclamation point on the end of his name. i don't like the taste of broccoli but it's not tastier if you call it broccoli!

he doesn't stand a chance in this field. he's an insider who knows how to govern. the republican voters don't want that. they want somebody who is cuckoo for cocoa puffs. >> so good. >> we've missed him. we've missed him. >> we have. >> will ferrell is so great. i like that he's aging along with george w. bush. >> reminiscence to the cuomo brother rivalry. we'll see chris! >> that is called a parody. my brother is a laughing stock. there is a difference between that. >> now he's not on satellite, we can say this. >> we can talk. >> well, he is the big brother. there's a little bit of fear factor. >> i've got it. i get it. like it. meanwhile, republican presidential hopefuls, the real ones, not will ferrell, will be getting ready to duke it out in las vegas. ted cruz leading in iowa polls. can he sustain that lead until the caucus? we have a top political reporter here next.

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the word is big. big shifts in the polls. you have big implications. you have big timing. this is the last gop debate of the year. january, everyone knows it's a relaunch month. this is a big deal, what's going to be happening tomorrow night. you have donald trump and ted cruz trading places in iowa. that's big. >> that is big. >> ted cruz making up big room

in the poll nationally. of course, trump still in first. let's talk about what we have as the stage is being set. we have cnn national political reporter and catk the op-ed, as whether ted cruz is peaking too soon. answer your own question. >> yeah, well, i think the big answer is maybe. four years ago, rick santorum won the iowa caucuses and made his big move in december. through the holidays. so there's still a lot of time left in the race. however, eight years ago, mike huckabee, who was winning, started making his move in november, a couple months before the caucuses. it could go either way here. this race has been really volatile, however. there haven't been quite as many debates. each debate is a lot more important. i think that you're absolutely

right. going into the holidays, this is going to be the last big chance for ted cruz and donald trump to try to mix it up a little bit before the holidays. >> absolutely. let's build on kathy's premise that it may be too soon in iowa right now for cruz. we are looking at seven more weeks. is it momentum? is any momentum good? >> i don't know. i mean, this new cycle, the way the presidential race has moved, it's almost like you have your moment and then everything moves on so quickly. so it may be a little too early for ted cruz, but i think what's interesting is we always did expect him to really rise in iowa. he's got a deep ground game there. he's been putting in the work. this could end up being a fascinating two-man race, all the way to the end. if he does, you know, just jump way ahead of donald trump in iowa, then where does trump really play? you have -- he's still up in the

polls in new hampshire. we have chris christie moving up there. it'll be a really fascinating dynamic and, of course, the evangelical vote will be important to ted cruz in iowa. >> we had congressman cain on this morning and he's no stranger when it comes to iowa. he said the timing is exactly right for ted cruz. that he endorsed him at the right time. he's getting the momentum and this is going to be his state. what do you think this portends, in terms of a fractured first five primaries? in terms of, let's say, cruz takes iowa. trump takes new hampshire. rubio takes south carolina. what could you have, five into it, and what does that mean for the dynamic? >> it's really an interesting prospect because, normally, we talk about having three tickets out of iowa. first class, business class and standby, you know. now, there may actually be more than three tickets out of iowa. you look at, for example, marco

rubio. he is in double digits. he's a top tier candidate. he is sort of the first one in what i consider to be a mainstream lane. so does he become the fourth ticket out of iowa? what happens to ben carson who, he is actually the loser of the iowa poll. donald trump increased his numbers in the iowa poll. it was ben carson who sunk. is there a slot for ben carson or is he sliding out of the top tier? it'll be an interesting dynamic down the trail. >> there couldn't being timing debate because of everything going on. in terms of national security, that'll be the big topic tomorrow night. then all of these different fluctuations in the polls. what will you be looking at tomorrow night? >> well, again, this is another chance for marco rubio to shine in the debate. obviously, he's tried to make

national security the key piece of his campaign. he's shown strong performances all the way through. i think it's interesting watching trump fall in the polls over the last couple weeks a little bit. he really is going to have to have a big performance tomorrow night and really show that he has command of these issues, that he can make people feel comfortable with him in the role as commander in chief. you have to wonder if that's why he's fallen a little bit after the paris attacks and the san bernardino attack. that dynamic between cruz and trump, obviously, trump is trying to have an argument with cruz over temperament. we'll see the fireworks on that. they have to make a bang to get people's attentions. heading into the holidays, people thinking seriously about the decisions heading into the caucus season. >> each debate, i say someone is going to bop and you say no. you're right every time. isn't it the night for ted cruz?

you have to take the momentum when you find it. he has it now. one of the superpacts for ted cruz, she says he's seen as the acceptable alternative to trump. he has to make his case. how does he have to come out of tomorrow night in republican's eyes? >> i think he has to come out looking presidential. it's interesting you said via trump. i think trump will attack ted cruz. i think ted cruz will not try to return in kind. i think he'll try to kill donald trump with kindness and actually look like the bigger man and look more presidential than donald trump. >> all right. we shall see what happens tomorrow night. it'll be fascinating, ladies. thanks so much. great to talk to you. >> thank you. >> what is your take out there? >> get into the game. use the #new day drrkscnn. what are you looking forward to tomorrow night? what will be the big moment? you can go to facebook, as well. our next guest knows a thing

or two about presidential politics. he's run twice. words of wisdom for the candidates. who does he think is best? we'll ask steve forbes ahead.

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there you go. that's the quietest you'll see that stage again. 13 republican candidates preparing for the debate here on cnn tomorrow night. our next guest has been in their position. he has run for president, and he has some suggestions for them. steve forbes is the author of "reviving america." he's the chairman and editor in chief of forbes media. he ran for the republican presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000. great to have you. >> good to be here. thank you. >> you've been talking to many of the republican candidates. who have you been given advice to? >> several. one encouraging thing in this book you mentioned is i want reform of the federal reserve. the one who is most advanced on that, surprisingly, is senator cruz. >> why do you say surprisingly? >> because he's seen as appealing to evangelicals, to social conservatives, but he'sal

ve very good at reforming the fed. he has a tax proposal that is almost what i have. i'm pushing him on that. i'm glad to see that somebody has that substance rising up. >> are you supporting ted kroouscruz? >> no. but i'm encouraged that he has a flat tax proposal out there. couple of other candidates do. in terms of obamacare, i want to go beyond just repeal and get more specifics on what are you going to replace this thing with? the key thing is getting patient control again. one small example, why shouldn't medicare have hospitals and clinics? have them post prices of all treatments and services so you can see in advance if you're going in for a treatment. especially now that deductibles are going up, co-pays are going up. we need consumerism, transparency. >> that is a good idea. millions of people already have obamacare. what happens if you repeal it? >> you make sure that, like we have with food, if you have

problems getting food, you have the food stamps, food banks and the like. we need effective safety nets instead of the hodgepodge system we have today. one of the good ideas would be high-risk pools. if you have a chronic condition or can't get catastrophic insurance, you'll get a subsidized pool for it. otherwise, let free markets operate and get more you're leaning towards

>> well, what's amazing is it isn't a donald trump collapse.

>> we have to have the strong economy. you also have to have the credibility to give to stronger foreign policy. even if it takes time to rebuild the military. our navy is most likely -- >> it makes a difference. we saw in the '80s, when the soviet union's economy collapsed, america was strong. where that led. it all ties together. they're not compartmentalized. >> steve forbes, thanks so much for being on "new days." >> thank you. >> michaela? >> the long wait is almost over for you of the force. it awakens this weekend. will the new "star wars" flick break records?

we'll look at that coming up. ous america telling people about idaho potatoes. farmer: let's go boy. again this year the big idaho potato truck is traveling the country spreading the word about heart healthy idaho potatoes and making donations to local charities. excuse me miss, have you seen our truck? you just missed it. ahhh! aw man are you kiddin' me?

five things you need to know

for your new day at number one. a shift in the polls ahead of tomorrow's cnn gop debate. ted cruz leading in iowa, narrowing the gap with donald trump nationally. national security is expected to dominate the debate discussion. president obama will huddle the national security advisers of the pentagon today to review the u.s. strategy against isis. the white house is cautioning that meeting would produce no major policy shifts. the search of a lake in san bernardino turned up no evidence linked to the recent terror attack there. the "new york times" reports tashfeen malik cleared several background checks despite social media activity openly supporting violent jihad. a milestone in saudi arabia. at least 17 women coming out on top in local elections. it was the first time women could run for office or vote. and the world's first this morning. look at this. the pope. pope francis sending out his first selfie. this joyful shot on the vatic

vatican's instagram feed. it's already gotten 6,000 likes. for more, visit new day cnn.com. it's a huge week for your money. chief business correspondent christine romans is in the money now center. it's crunch time for the federal reserve, huh? >> it's show time for the federal reserve. interest rate hike expected when the fed meets this week. it would be the first interest rate hike in a decade. it'll be a small increase. rates will go up but everyone will feel it. credit cards, car loans, all more expensive. the girl on fire still lighting up the box office. mockingjay topped the box office for the kwoufourth weekend in a, bringing in $244 million so far. i haven't heard much about this i haven't heard much about this new film, "the force awakens,"

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imminent arrival, we were tone. >> i'm scoping it for him, yes. >> scope it out. eat now because there won't be anything left.

michelle, you have recently been in los angeles, getting to las vegas for the debates. i want you to describe the anticipati anticipation. in l.a., people are lining up outside of the theater that the original "star wars" debuted at in 1977. talk about the buzz and the electricity. >> it's huge. we're talking about it now. it's one of the things we've been talking about for months. our executive producer just told me that he bought his ticket a month ago, and he's a grown, sane man. the big premiere is in las age l -- los angeles tonight, and people will be lined up for the premiere. usually when a film comes out, especially of this magnitude, the media screens it, we see it. no screenings for the media. no one gets to see it. tonight, people will finally get to see this movie. it's tracking right now for opening weekend at $210 million.

that's up from about a week ago, which it was about $185 million it was tracking. >> that would be a record for any movie in history. the biggest opening weekend ever was "jurassic world" six months ago. that's the bar disney wants to beat this weekend. >> $210 million now. >> here's the thing, disney was kind of panned for buying the franchise. they've made a gamble. we also know they are all in. they have four "star wars" films coming out in the next four years. this is a big deal. a lot rides on this premiere being a blockbuster. >> this was a $4 billion acquisition. steve spielberg said it well on "60 minutes." j.j. abrams, the director, is under a lot of pressure. this is the moment that disney starts to make its money back. this is the very moment that disney starts to recoup its investment. if it makes $200 million plus this weekend, investors think it can make $2 billion world wide

over the weeks and mon months t come. it's been sold out a long time for opening night. it'll still be making money for disney and be get over the $1 billion, maybe $2 billion eventually, especially in other countries. >> yeah. >> i know the timing of this is pretty extraordinary, too, when you think about it. they don't really face stiff competition from big blockbuster franchise films until february and march, when some of the marvel movies come out. "batman versus superman." this gives them a long time to reign the box office, ecerta essentially. >> and it will. it comes out this friday. there are movies that open on christmas day that will be good movies. "the hateful eight." "joy" with jennifer lawrence. there are the relatively smaller movies so they won't touch "star wars" in terms of box office. this will reign the box office and could set another record for how long it's number one at the

box office, michaela. definitely could. >> i have to tell you -- >> new franchise, right? reinvigorating the franchise. new fans will come for the first time. we've seen the merchandise, also. disney knows how to synergize this and make it into an event everyone is talking about. >> that's what i was going to say. we're the old heads in terms of "star wars." we're loving the idea we're going to see some of our favorites. >> hey, hey, who are you calling old head? >> look, i'm just saying. mark hamill, carrie fisher, harrison ford being back in the film, that is so exciting for us that remember the original. there's new faces for the new people coming to "star wars" for the first time. >> and more reason to go see it. >> we know a couple things. carrie fisher has gotten a promotion. we don't know where mark hamill is. we want to know where he is. i'll tell you what, it is a good point, i was at comic con three years ago with mark hamill. he couldn't move two inches without being mobbed. people have been anticipating their return for so long.

listen, listen, my big thing, what i want to know and what i need to know, where the heck is luke skywalker? has he gone to the dark side? i need to know this. >> you'll get answers. >> i need to know! >> you two get ready for vegas. we're watching you. you'll be spending a lot of quality time together. thanks so much. we appreciate it. that's it for us on "new day." time for newsroom with carol costello after a quick break. right when you feel a cold sore, abreva can heal it in as few as two and a half days when used at the first sign. without it the virus spreads from cell to cell. only abreva penetrates deep and starts to work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. you could heal your cold sore, fast,

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good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you for joining me. the subject of national security on stage in vegas at the venetian hotel. let's go there live now, shall we? gorgeous stage and a debate that will set the tone for the iowa caucuses 50 days from now. center stage, donald trump. perhaps not for long. as the "des moines register" puts it, ted cruz is crushing it in iowa. that's not all. in a new nbc news/wall street journal poll, cruz is up 12 points and carson traded to fourth place. donald trump called cruz a bit of a