in damascus syria, wherever you are watching from around the world, thank you so much for joining us. and we do want to start with just that, breaking news, democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton has just picked up a very big endorsement. in an exclusive interview with

cnn, the top democrat in the senate, senator harry reid, is throwing his weight behind clinton. cnn's senior political reporter, manu raju just spoke with the senator and he joins us from capitol hill. manu, this is a big thing. >> it is. harry reid becomes the highest ranking democratic official to get behind hillary clinton. a sign the leadership that the party can consolidate behind her as she struggles to fend off the surging candidacy from bernie sanders. bernie sanders is a senator but he doesn't have any senator support at this time. 40 senators have publicly expressed their support behind hillary clinton. harry reid becoming the latest and most significant. had a chance to sit down with him and he told us why he decided to put his weight behind secretary clinton. >> i think the middle-class would be better served by hillary. i think that my work with her over the years has been something i looked upon with awe

and she was the first lady she started the trend toward doing something about health care she understood the issue well she was on the front of health care during that administration. i also think she's the woman to be the first president of the united states that's a female. >> now hillary clinton also won his home state of nevada just last saturday there was suspicion harry reid was trying to tilt the scales in her favor by working behind the scenes to help her. i asked him specifically about that. he denied that. he said people thought he was trying to help bernie sanders at the time. also, kate, it was interesting, i talked to him a couple weeks ago and he was critical of hillary clinton's campaign in nevada about what they were saying sort of dismissing nevada or down playing nevada. he says that's sort of water under the bridge, a spokesman spoke out of turn but it's a sign that the party folk can

mov move. >> we're talking about a man who has not only worked for years with senator sanders, did harry reid talk to you about that? >> he said he called bernie sanders, explained his decision. he said how did bernie sandersry a -- he refused to criticize senator sanders. i asked him if he was ready to be commander and chief. even as other senate democrats have questioned whether or not senator sanders is prepared to be commander in chief, he would not touch that. he said "i'm here to talk about hillary clinton." he also told me he thinks the contest could go to the democratic convention. i asked him again do you think this contest could go to the democratic convention? he said i just don't know. so clear hi he's not sure what to make of the sanders' candidacy but at the least he hopes the party could get behind

hillary. >> manu, great interview and an important part of this conversation note only going into the south carolina primary this weekend but this is an important endorsement, important voice coming from harry reid, the top democrat in the senate endorsing hillary clinton today. manu, thank you so very much. as manu raised just there in his interview, he said he asked harry reid what bernie sanders' reaction was and harry reid said he would not say. let find out from the sanders campaign on what they make of this endorsement. let's bring in right now simone sanders, the national press secretary for the sanders' campaign. simone, thank you so much for joining us. so we heard delight from manu that harry reid called bernie sanders before this all obviously became public. what was senator sanders' reaction to finding out that hillary clinton got harry reid's endorsement? >> senator sanders has a great

amount of respect for senator reid, he has worked with him in the senate for years. he praised him on the forum stage. so senator reid has made his decision but senator sanders has respect for senator reid. they have a great working relationship and he cornsiders him a friend. >> a disappointment, though? >> pardon me? >> a disappointment not getting reid's endorsement if he considers him a friend? >> you know, senator sanders is -- he is concerned with the endorsement of the american people. so while we would have loved senator reid's endorsement, what i think matters most in this contest, especially in this -- >> looks like we are having technical difficulties. do we have symone back guys? >> what matters most -- it's windy out here so you can imagine what's going on. what matters most in this

election is the endorsement of the american people. and so while senator sanders would love the support of senator reid, we're going forward with this nominating contest. we substantially closed the gap in nevada this past weekend and we're looking forward to south carolina and march 1 states through to the convention to close those gaps in other places and win the support of the american people. that's the endorsement we are most concerned about. >> thank you for rolling with these technical punches, symone. appreciate it. i want to talk about super tuesday. one more thing about what we just heard in that interview with harry reid. he told manu that he thought hillary clinton would be the best, he would do better for the middle-class. at one point saying that his work with her -- in his work with her he looked upon it with awe. what do you say to that? >> well, again, with enormous

respect for senator reid, senator sanders has been working his entire life for the american people. there's not a better friend to the union in this race than senator sanders. there's not another candidate that will stand up to the billionaire class. the senator's policies and flat form he is has put forth is a winning policy and platform for the american people. so we are going to continue to make this case to voters across the country, we think his message is strong and his platform is a winning platform for hardworking americans. >> symon, thank you so much, stick around with me. we'll continue this conversation. a lot more to discuss, especially this saturday and beyond. we'll take a quick break and be right back with symone sanders on this breaking news that harry reid has endorsed hillary

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with the challenges of technology of live television, appreciate it. let's talk about the contest going forward now. if you look at sanders' travel schedule in the next couple days, it's very super tuesday and beyond. but you have folks wondering is bernie sanders writing off south carolina? >> well, no, bernie sanders is not writing off south carolina. look, the first stop we made after nevada was south carolina. the senator held a press conference here today talking about the issues of poverty and he had representative o'neil, representative bamberg's district is one of the poorest districts in south carolina, the senator highlighted the need to invest in areas such as bam berg and barnwell county. so we're not writing off south carolina. so we have a few hundred paid staffers on the ground in south

carolina. we have 10 offices. we have made over a million voter attempts including doors knocked and phone calls made. we have substantial resources. we're on television but we have super tuesday coming up. we are invested in south carolina for sure but we are also invested in making sure we get to other important states. we'll be back to south carolina but the senator is going throughout to make his case to folks today in kansas city, tomorrow in chicago because we believe that, you know, we here in this for the long hall. this fight will go through to the convention. >> sanders said today in the press conference, he said "we're going to win some, we're going to lose some." that's about as honest as you can be and as much fortune telling that you can look into the future. but what is -- the fact is hillary clinton is polling very well in south carolina. what is a win in south carolina? >> well, i won't jinx us but i will say that we are committed to close the gap here in south

carolina. we've demonstrated we can do that. when this started the senator was polling in single digits. we have now closed those gaps and i think we are going to see them close even just a little bit more on saturday but this is a long nominating contest. i think south carolina is just the beginning. we have march 1 contests, we have march 5, march 8, march 15 and we go through to the end of march, all the way to april. this is not a nominating contest decided by these first four states and super tuesday. this is something that is going to go well into april, may, june, i think through to the convention. we're fighting for the long haul. this will be about delegates. we win some, we lose some but we think our message resonates with hardworking people across the country. we have seen gaps close in nevada. we came from where secretary clinton had a 40-plus point lead

over senator sanders to coming within i think it was six points last weekend so this is a winnable contest and we're in it to win it. >> symone sanders, thank you very much. appreciate your time. symone sanders, the national press secretary for the bernie sanders campaign. let's turn the race for the republican presidential nomination. donald trump riding high on the campaign trail after a big win in the nevada caucuses. he won just under 46% of the vote, more than marco rubio and ted cruz combined. donald trump just wrapped up an event at regent university. he promised to tackle issues central to his campaign including illegal immigration. listen a bit to donald trump. >> so we're going to be very strong on the borders, we're going to be very, very strong on trade. we're going to be very strong on protecting amendment. we're going to get rid of common core which is basically education through washington, which is a disaster, by the way,

and you understand that, and we'll get rid of obamacare. obamacare turned out to be a total disaster. >> donald trump is hoping to harness the momentum from his nevada win as the race heads straight into super tuesday. 11 states vote on that super day which has the other campaigns scrambling to find a path to stop trump's march for the republican nomination. let's go to phil mattingly following the trump campaign in virginia beach today. what did voters flare donald trump today? what was his message? >> kate, he's relentlessly on message. strength over and over again and repeating the length you just played there. he won't diverge to it. that's what they continue to reference, donald trump represents strength whether it's on national security, domestic issues or trade as he talks about regularly and i think the most interesting thing, kate, is as we've seen in the past three contests that's a message

working and as we head into super tuesday where 25% of the available delegates in the republican primary are up for grab, donald trump is riding a wave of momentum and that message is clearly resonating, kate. >> and since it's been working for them at this point, is there any suggestion the trump campaign will be shifting strategy as they head into super tuesday? the only thing that could come to mind is is he going to take on marco rubio more directly? that's who placed second behind him in nevada. >> the trump campaign is comfortable with where they are. they're comfortable when they look at the map. over the next couple days, donald trump will be making a swing through the deep south. one of the most interesting elements of the leadup to super tuesday or the s.e.c. primary as we've been calling it for a long time is that's where ted cruz set up his firewall. he's organized in these southern states, he's got a good staff work. good data operations down there and yet donald trump is up by double digits in most of those states. so i don't think the campaign thinks they have a lot of changes to make. there's more of let's sit back and watch ted cruz and marco rubio try and just with one

another because neither seems willing to take donald trump on face to face so long as the other one is out there, kate. >> we have the debate coming tomorrow and this will be the next stage to see where this battle heads. it's n ee's gotten nasty. as phil was mentioning, senator ted cruz finished third in the nevada caucuses but that did not stop the senator from calling this a two-man race between him and donald trump. listen. >> the up deniable reality that the first four states have shown is that the only campaign that has beaten donald trump and the only campaign that can beat donald trump is this campaign. >> let's talk about ted cruz's strategy. let's bring in ken cuccinelli, former attorney general of virginia, also ran for governor there and he's also a ted cruz supporter. great to see you, thanks so much. >> good to be with you. >> of course, so cruz's advisors say he has simply reached a boiling point with trump, basically that the gloves are

now going to come off. it's gotten nasty between these guys. what does that look like? what do you think that will look like? >> from our side it looks like hammering him on issues. it's great to talk about building the border wall. he gets credit for raising the immigration issue but ted cruz's solution addresses illegal immigration better, tripling border patrolled a dresses the 50% of people who come here illegally by overstaying their visas. they don't come across the boarder illegally. it addresses the fact that instead of obamacare donald trump wants to expand medicaid by over 30 million people. we're already bankrupt and he hasn't offered any other solution nor suggest ed how to replace it. that kind of difference of ideas, we will keep making that contrast. coming from the trump side it's very personal mostly over twitter and very ad hominem

focused attacks. it's his vision for america that, by the way, matches his 30-year history as a conservative. let me tell you one thing that's risen to the top. no supporters for any other candidates have argued that ted cruz is the best prepared candidate we've ever had to pick supreme court justices. having clerked for rehnquist, won awards that democrats voted to give him as solicitor general of texas having done such a good job defending the constitution, he's better prepared than any other candidate ever to pick good justices and the supreme court hangs in the balance. that's been a big deal. >> you know virginia quite well can ted cruz win virginia on super tuesday. >> we're going to win between one and 11 states. >> thank you for putting it out

there. you're -- >> right in the target. in virginia we've had phone banks running with hundreds of people participating anything. we haven't had a presidential primary with this kind of interest in a long time. >> what do you think the chances are he can win virginia, though? >> 1-2. >> you have to play along. >> well, this a two person race, you have to win races. >> how it is a two-person race when he placed third behind marco rubio in nevada? >> this is about coming in first or not. and ted is 1-3, we'd rather be 4-0. when pressed, marco can only say "i'm hoping to win florida." if you're hoping when over half the delegate have already been selected, that's too late. on an issue basis, ted's consistent conservative principles and willingness to

actually fight it's a stark contrast to donald trump and marco rubio. >> there's been a lot of chatter among a big cruz surrogate in iowa saying that he needs to stop talking about taking on marco rubio. he's got to focus all on donald trump. do you think there has been a problem here? has he focused too much on marco rubio, not enough on donald trump? >> it is a multi-candidate field. there's five people still vying for this but as an effect i have matter, the only ones who've won a race are trump and cruz. i think you'll see as you noted from the campaign, greater focus on the issue difference between ted cruz as a conservative and donald trump who's not a conservative on the campaign trail. we'll continue to make the contrast on things like immigration and taking on the establishment versus joining the establishment with marco rubio in washington, but you know

we're in this to win and to win next tuesday in somewhere between one and 11 states, we have to beat not just marco rubio, we have to beat donald trump and we're the only campaign that's done that. we're the only conservatives that have done it. >> ken cuccinelli sticking his neck out there giving a crazy prediction about super tuesday chances. thanks, ken, appreciate it. let's talk more about this, what more to expect from senator ted cruz and the other candidates on super tuesday, well, even tomorrow for the cnn debate and beyond. let's bring in right now angela rice, a political strategist and former executive director of the congressional black caucus. you get me choked up, doug, doug hye, former communications -- >> not the first time. >> -- for the rnc. so, doug, trump didn't just win last night, he won big, despite what we hear from ken cuccinelli and the cruz campaign, we know the republican establishment wants to stop donald trump and stop him very soon but no one to

this point has figured out how. what is your prescription? >> you know, you and i have talked about this since july and july i wrote for the "wall street journal," if you want to beat donald trump, you have to take him seriously as a candidate. we've seen various machinations of republicans not willing to do so. at first it was well donald trump isn't serious. then it was well, you can't attack trump because it won't work now the solution is well we can't attack trump because it's too late. the answer is none of those. donald trump, as ken kuch neally pointed out, has serious policy weakness weaknesses. he might disagree on who might be the nominee but he has serious policy weaknesses and republicans have to go after them. i don't think republican voters are dumb voters who don't care about policy. yes, strength internationally and with congress is important but aef we have a lot of issues which speak to exactly why so many voters are upset and angry. if we don't go after that, donald trump is not only our nominee but deserves to be our nominee. >> let me turn quickly to the democrats because of the breaking news we had at the top of the hour from manu raju that

senator harry reid, the top democrat in the senate, is endorsing hillary clinton. not endorsing the man he's served so many years with, bernie sanders what do you make of that. what does that endorsement mean? >> i don't know that it makes much of a difference now. i was talking to doug about this earlier this endorsement is coming after the nevada caucuses when there's been a ton of reports on hillary clinton's influence on the unions on the ground in nevada so it seemed like a de facto endorsement happening anyway and he had his thumb on the scale on tipping it for hillary clinton. not saying he didn't win in her own right but saying he was active and supportive in nevada. it seems like this endorsement is just a daylight and a dollar short and i'm curious as to why it's happening now as opposed to before the nevada democratic caucuses. >> doug, if another life you also served on capitol hill. er deputy chief of staff for

eric cantor and others. you know how it works. is it a big deal that harry reid endorsed hillary clinton over bernie sanders? someone who served in congress for more than 20 years? >> i think a week ago it would have been a massive deal and might have increased hillary clinton's lead and she did an impressive job in nevada but if you're looking up profilesen n courage, harry reid endorsing hillary clinton after the nevada caucuses is no profile in courage. >> doug, let's look forward to super tuesday and beyond. if you can, sum up -- and use your magic ball, what is the path to success for ted cruz and marco rubio on super tuesday? what can they call a win? >> ken cuccinelli said between one and 11, radio right? >> you better give me more than that. >> it has to start with one and that's texas. recent polling suggests it's neck in neck with trump and not too far behind is marco rubio. if ted cruz can't win in texas, his campaign is over. marco rubio could do well in arkansas certainly where governor asa such inson has

endorsed him. i'd look at suburban areas outside of atlanta, for instance, outside of richmond, northern virginia. if rubio can do well, he'll move himself forward. ultimately it's about winning but if you come in second instead of third as rubio did in south carolina and nevada you move forward. this is march madness and the ncaas. it's about advancing forward. >> advancing forward is a question on the democratic side, angela. on the democratic side, what do you think the super tuesday map looks like come wednesday post super tuesday? >> well, first i think we have to acknowledge the fact that there are more than 1,000 delegates up for grabs for the democrats this these contests, they're very important, doug has hit on texas but i flag alabama. also georgia. they have to pay attention and bernie sanders has to demonstrate his ability to not only get support but galvanize black voters in some of these states. we 0, of course, know south carolina has not yet come up for the democrats where more than 50% of the voters are african-american. bernie sanders has been speaking

somewhat the language of an african-american political agenda but he hasn't gone far enough, in fact, there are congressional black caucus members that said when he was in the house they never worked with him so he's got to demonstrate that he didn't just walk -- march with dr. king but that he has a policy agenda he can push and that sounds more attractive than mass incarceration buzz words and black youth unemployment. >> and with a couple days left before the voters head to the polls in south carolina. great to see you guys, angela, doug, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you. a big reminder. before that is the final debate before super tuesday. that takes place tomorrow night on cnn. wolf blitzer will be moderating as the five republican rifles face off in houston, texas. municipal 8:30 eastern tomorrow night on both cnn and cnn international. still ahead for us, president obama's battle with republicans in congress over the future of guantanamo bay and the u.s. supreme court. we'll take you live to the white house for more.

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job to major battles are brewing between president obama and congress, one regarding the detention facility at guantanamo bay, cuba, the other the future of the u.s. supreme court. just a short time ago, president obama called on senators to consider his eventual nominee to the high court. he says he realizes the politics are hard for senate republicans but that it is their job. listen. >> my hope and expectation is that once there's an actual nominee, once this is no longer an abstraction those that those on the judiciary committee

recognize that their job is to give this person a hearing, to show the courtesy of meeting with them, they are then free to vote whatever their conscience dictates. >> senate republicans from senate republican leadership to the senate judiciary committee have vow not to hold hearings or have meetings with any white house nominee, a move defended this morning by house speaker paul ryan. >> everything is up for grab, congress, presidency, supreme court and we owe this country a choice and that's what we're going to give them. the president has every right to nominate someone but let's not forget the fact that congress is a separate but equal branch of government and the senate has every right not to act on a nominee. both sides have rights here. and there is a precedence not acting on a nominee in the middle of a presidential election. now to the battle looming over guantanamo bay. senate arms services committee

chairman john mccain as well as senator lindsey grahamer are r not happy to say the least with the president's plan to close the detention facility even though they both have called for the very same thing in the past. this is very interesting dynamic going on here. senator graham says he met with president obama six years ago to try and work out a deal. listen. >> right after the election, senator mccain and i met with president-elect obama in chicago and we tried to create an agenda for his presidency in his first year. one of the areas of discussion was coming up with a plan to close guantanamo bay. during that campaign, senator mccain and obama suggested we should close the prison because it was hurting us image wise to see if we could find a way to move the prisoners inside the united states consistent with being at war. six years ago, i can't remember the date but i'll give it to you, i met twice with the president in the oval office and he said go home and write out

what you think the statute would look like. i did. it was one and a half pages. i didn't want to create a political document, i wanted to create an outline that would give the executive branch great leeway but recognize people could be held under the law of war and that we were looking for a site in the united states, i was going to stand with the president along with senator mccain, rahm emanuel helped broke they are and it went like this "we're going to move ksm back into military commissions, it was a bad idea to put him in civilian courts" and we would move for a statute that allowed for indefinite law of war. i have yet to hear a response after drafting the legislation. i've been told numerous times in the last six years, we're serious about it, we'll send you something over. what they've sent is a political document. this is a political exercise to check a block for a president who made a promise he can't

fulfill, why can't he fulfill it? because he hasn't led. there was a time when presidential leadership would have allowed the closing of guantanamo bay. there was a time when senator john mccain and myself would have stood with the president to close this facility, open up a new one inside the united states that adheres to our values and recognizes we're at war. that time period has passed. >> time period has passed. he me bring in athena jones at the white house. athena, when you hear from senator john mccain, when you hear from lindsey graham, kelly ayotte standing there with them about their feelings about this plan it doesn't look like the rocket expects for work between white house and congress on this guantanamo bay issue is getting better. what are you hearing from the white house today? >> it certainly doesn't. the white house still wants to have a conversation. they believe the presentation of this plan should start the conversation with congress but this is one more area where

politics are tough for the president here. all indications are it's a non-starter on capitol hill even with these two senators who in the past supported the idea of closing guantanamo bay. now you hear from senator graham the window is closed and from senat senator mccain you hear this is not a plan, there are no real specifics on cost, on the actual site where you might transfer these detainees, there's no plan for each of the detainees. there's no plan for what to do about future law of war detainees so whams if you capture another big-name terrorist on the battlefield, where do you put them? the white house says because statute and legislation congress has passed their hands were in some ways ties, for instance, when it comes to coming up with a detailed plan about a specific u.s. site, for instance, congress has stood in the way. the bottom line here is that you're seeing pushback from

congress even from people who in the past supported a plan to close guantanamo bay and even though the white house says they're still hoping to have conversations continue it's not looking good. kate? >> athena jones, thanks so much. we will see where this goes. appreciate it very much. we have more breaking news to bring to you right now about a mobl supreme court nomination as we were just discussing, bri brian sandoval, the republican governor of nevada, is being vetted as a possible nominee. let's get back over to senior political reporter manu raju on capitol hill. off lot of work on your hands today. what are you hearing about the possibility of brian sandoval, a republican governor being vetted as the possible nominee? >> he is being vetted. he talked about it with harry reid, the senate democratic leader on monday and reid just told us in an exclusive interview with cnn that he would back sandoval's nomination to

the supreme court if the president chose him. let me read you what senator read has to say as we spoke with him an hour ago. i had him specifically do you think brian sandoval would be a good supreme court justice? he said "you know, i don't pick the justices but i know if he were picked i would support the man, he's a good person, he has a great record and he's been a tremendously good governor in spite of having to deal with very big problems there." it's an interesting move. we're not quite clear how serious this is, if this is a trial balloon but as republicans are saying, that i won't meet with anybody, what will they do if it's a moderate republican? someone from their own party who's pi who's hispanic? we've been hearing from republicans after this has been floated, they're still not willing to consider this person. orrin hatch told tom low bianco, one of our reporters, he would not consider brian sandoval even

if sandoval were to be chosen. what does it do for the democratic base? will they get fired up behind a moderate republican for the bench? so it's an interesting political calculation the white house is making giving the hard line republicans are drawing. >> it sure does seem that. looking back at sandoval's background, he was unanimously confirmed i'm searing right here as a district court judge, nominated by george w. bush so you can see how this is going to get interesting. of course many people are vetted before a supreme court nominee is decided by the white house but this is an interesting written until this standoff if you will between president obama and congressional republicans, manu is on it. brian sandoval, the republican governor of nevada according to harry reid telling manu raju he is being vetted as a potential nominee for the supreme court to take over the seat vacated after the passing of antonin scalia. manu, thanks so much.

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we won the evangelicals, we won with young. we won with old. we won with highly educated. we won with poorly educated. i love the poorly educated. >> that was donald trump proclaiming victory last night with help from virtually every demographic group in the nevada caucuses. here to bring down some of the more revealing entrance polls, what they tell us about the state of the race going forward, cnn political commentator and host of cnn's "smerconish,"

michael smerconish. michael, great to see you. >> thank you, kate, you, too. >> let's start with the latino voters. trump, the candidate who pledged he was going to build a wall and when he announced his candidacy he said very disparaging things about mexicans. he won 45% of the latino vote, topping both cruz and rubio. yes, there is some debate about how much folks can trust that number because of the -- because of the sample size, but how do you explain it? >> well, it's pretty stunning, i mean, let's give him credit where credit is due, i have on my computer the way that you have on yours all of the internals, meaning the demographic breakdown, the issue breakdown of those who came out in the nevada caucus. he won everywhere, among virtually everybody, any way you slice and dice the data, it was donald trump's night. i would say keep this in mind -- it was a caucus, it was not a primary, although he's run well

in primaries also. this required some skin in the game. you've got to come out of your house, you're not just sending in a ballot from home, you have to invest some time, you've got to converse with your neighbors and i think that it attracts the most passionate. one thing we can agree on is that the passion crowd is going with donald trump. another stunning statistic from that data, how many individuals came out in nevada and said they are outright angry about the federal government that's a trump voter as well. so i guess what i'm saying i'm giving him his just due. he won across all demographic lines including hispanics, but where whether that's a representative sample size among all republicans or americans we could debate. >> trump also won among evangelicals that's not just in nevada. he won among evangelicals in south carolina. this is a key voting block ted cruz has been targeting.

these are the ones from nevada. do you think this shows trump's strengths winning over evangelicals or do you think this shows a failure in ted cruz's strategy? >> i think it shows a combination of both. what i'm mindful of is the fact that the cruz strategy was intended to be a reaganesque-like strategy, do well in the south and the west, do particularly well among evangelical evangelica evangelicals and libertarian pockets. now as we're getting ready to do tuesday, or the first of super tuesdays next tuesday, we see ted cruz did not win in south carolina, now he's been bested by donald trump out west and so you really do have to begin to question the whole cruz model and whether it provides him any kind of a path to pose a serious threat to trump. >> we will see. it's going to get -- i project, i'm going to look at my crystal ball and say it's going to be messy and nasty but important for voters to watch tomorrow at the cnn debate. the final debate before super

tuesday because they all have a lot at stake to make their case before super tuesday. michael, great to see you. thank you so much. >> see you, kate. >> thank you, a reminder for all of you, you can catch michael l's show "smerconish" every saturday right here oncome, an feeling is setting in over the propose's syrian ceasefire. now the obama administration is pondering a plan b, what does that look like? it's coming up next. a pretty bad accident. the medical bills all piled up. so i signed up for experian. they helped educate me on how debt affected my fico score. now my credit and i - are both healing nicely. go to experian.com and start your credit tracker trial membership today.

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only at a sleep number store, all beds on sale. right now find our c2 queen mattress starting at only $599.99. know better sleep with sleep number. ? just three days a ceasefire deal is set to go into effect in syria. already the united states' is having second thoughts. it appears because of aggression from russia in the region. let's get over to barbara starr. she has much more on this. barbara, lay it out for our viewers.y is the u.s. looking a plan b already? and do you know what it is? >> well, plan b is what the officials are talking about, kate. if the ceasefire doesn't work. and there is a lot of skepticism that the russians are going to adhere to the ceasefire. they say they will, but the u.s. has a long history of script simple where the russian military and vladimir putin are

concerned. so secretary of state john kerry says it makes perfect sense to begin to consider plan b. what do you do if the ceasefire doesn't work? especially since the russians have been stepping.their air strikes anyhow in recent days? so what is plan b? well, that gets to the problem. while it is a nice sounding name, there were really no specifics yes, sir we're told. maybe you put more sanctions on russia. maybe you publicly shame them by talking about what the u.s. sees as their indiscriminate bombing and killing of civilians. but is that really going to change mast moscow's mind? we don't think so. in about three days we'll see if the ceasefire works. u.s. is looking for alternatives. let me tell you we once asked a marine corps general during the dark days of iraq what's plan b, and he says plan b is always to make plan a work. >> that's the on way to put it. barbara, thank you so wruch.

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hi, everyone. top of the hour. i'm poppy harlow in today for brooke brooke. we begin with break news in the partisan battle to replace the late supreme court justice antonin scalia. despite republican leadership promising they will not consider anyone the president puts forth, cnn now just getting word that the white house is vetting a republican to potentially fill the vacant seat. his name, brian sandoval. he is the republican governor of nevada. let's talk about it with the man who broke the news, cnn political reporter manu raju. also with