>> there's something people at home don't get which is the smaller the crowd the more you get from the crowd. you'll be connecting with faces, you'll see what resonates and what doesn't. they're talking to millions through the cameras but their own matters as well. we've never had one so intimate. i'm chris cuomo. thank you for watching. wolf blitzer moderating tonight. erin burnett "out front" starts now. up next, breaking news, there is new evidence in trump's impeachment trial including a damning letter from rudy giuliani that points the finger at president trump and it comes just hours before the house will hand over articles of impeachment to the senate. plus face off democrats about to take the debate stage as the democrats go after each other more than ever. and why are democrats spending so much time in iowa, why trump is in wisconsin as i speak. the head of the dnc is my guest. let's go out front.

evening. i'm erin burnett. out front, pelosi has new evidence. just hours before the formal vote to hand over articles of impeachment to the senate. now nancy pelosi has never before seen documents and they point to trump's abuse of pow e evidence that may put the fingerprints of another one of jay's lawyers, jay sekulow, on a quid pro quo with ukraine, evidence that includes this letter from rudy giuliani to the president of ukraine. he's congratulating him on winning the office of president of ukraine. he says he's acting with the, quote, knowledge and consent of president donald j. trump. he says while he wants to help zelenski succeed as a new president, he's writing about something more specific. let me read this to you. giuliani writes, however, i have a more specific request. in my capacity as personal counsel to president trump and with his knowledge and consent, i request a meeting with you on

this upcoming monday, mae 13th or tuesday may 14th. think about this. this is what he says. with his knowledge and consent. remember that. and then listen to this. >> you didn't direct him to go there on your behalf? >> no, but -- no, but you have to understand rudy is a great corruption fighter. >> rudy giuliani -- but he's -- he's your personal lawyer. giuliani's your personal lawyer. so, you didn't direct him to go to ukraine and do anything? >> no, i didn't direct him. >> someone is lying. this drama is coming as pelosi is expected to hand over the articles of impeachment by tomorrow afternoon. mitch mcconnell says senators will be sworn in shortly thereafter. >> the house is likely to finally send the articles over to us tomorrow which would set us up to begin the actual trial

next tuesday. >> so, as we speak, trump's impeachment trial is now about to collide with the race for 2020. three senators who will be jurors in trump's trial are about to take the stage in iowa. in less than two hours, senator klobuchar, sanders, and warren will join pete buttigieg and tom steyer. this is the last debate before the iowa caucuses. it's the smallest debate to date. i want to begin with this new evidence. this isn't evidence that was held back, this is new evidence. i want to go to manu raju on capitol hill. manu, i shared perhaps a couple of crucial lines. there is a lot more you're learning about this evidence tonight. >> yeah, the documents show how rudy giuliani was pushing for a meeting with volodymyr zelenski, the president of ukraine around the same time rudy giuliani was pushing for the ukrainian

government to open the investigations that could help president trump politically. you mention in the letter you reference, he makes clear while he says he's working in private capacity as a private citizen, he says he did this with the consent and knowledge of the president. and recall around the same time too, u.s. officials were trying to get the president's advice about how to handle the new incoming ukrainian administration and what president trump told his top diplomats, was, quote, talk to rudy. and we know what rudy was seeking. at the same time, what the documents also show was there was this talk about pushing for the investigation into the bidens including by this indicted giuliani associate lev parnas who is part of this effort and turned over the documents to the key committees. and in the handwritten note obtained by the house investigators, it says let's get zelenski to announce that the biden case will be investigated. now, there are also cryptic text

messages suggesting that the president, then ukrainian ambassador marie yovanovitch, her movements had been tracked. this all came as part of giuliani's efforts as well as lev parnas' efforts to push out that ukrainian ambassador, someone people believed was essentially standing in the way of this push to investigate the president's political rival. so, expect all of this to come out and be discussed at length when that senate impeachment trial begins in ernst starting next week. >> manu, thank you very much. this is pretty incredible. when you have a trial and you get new information after a grand jury meets, it can be added in. that's where we are now. this is new evidence just being introduced. out front, democratic senator jon tester of montana. hours away from your chamber taking this and you being sworn in as a juror. how significant is this new evidence which we understand just came from the criminally indicted lev parnas, former

associate of the president's attorney rudy giuliani? >> i think it proves the facts we need folks who have first hand knowledge testifying in front of the senate if we're going to make a decision based on the facts. you know, the impeachment, the jury trial that's about to happen, most jury trials i know of get as much evidence as possible. they'll try to restrict the evidence, get the evidence and have a fair trial and move forward. so, i think it further adds to the fact that we need the folks whether it's bolton, whether it's giuliani, whoever it might be in front of us during this trial. >> i mean, it is -- you know, it's pretty incredible. in this letter, giuliani is saying i have a great fondness for your country. congratulations on your victory. i want to help you succeed. the next paragraph begins however i have a more specific request. he says with his knowledge and consent, the president of the united states, i request this meeting and i only need 30 minutes of your time for this specific request. this was may 10th. the interview clip, i don't know if you just heard it, but i just

played with the president and bill o-riley. bill o-riley says you didn't direct him to go there on your behalf. trump says no. orile lee says again. you didn't direct him to go to ukraine and put heat on anyone? trump replies, no i didn't direct him. do you think he's lying? >> the president has had a tortured relationship with the truth from the very beginning. we've known about back channel diplomacy by people who are not confirmed by the united states senate. as far as the impeachment goes, i think this just further amplifies the fact that we need folks to testify. we need folks with first hand knowledge. we need any documents that might apply to this. the truth is -- i don't need to give you a lesson in constitutional law at least not from a farmer. but the fact is coequal branches of government are set up to hold one another accountable. it's about the american public and holding accountability.

>> the trial is likely to begin next tuesday. you get the articles tomorrow. you'll be formally sworn in by the chief justice and start next tuesday. roy blunt has indicated each side may have four days to present. discussions, present questions. how long do you expect, senator, that this will take at this time? >> i think as long as it takes to get to the ruth. i mean that. if it takes ten days two, weeks to get to the truth. so be it. if it takes six weeks or two months to get to the truth, so be it. we can do other business while this impeachment trial is going on and i hope we do. but the bottom line is these charges are important enough and they're severe enough that we need to get to the truth. the president always said he wants to have a fair trial. i think every senator wants to make sure it's a fair trial. that needs to have adequate evidence from folks who have first hand knowledge to move the ball forward to make a decision. however long the trial takes,

the bottom line is getting to the truth. >> so, when it comes to this issue of witnesses, obviously, you know, you want people with first hand knowledge. we don't have that right now. that's not what's there. you're getting every single piece of information thus far has said the same thing, it's been consistent, which is that the president directed people on his behalf to pressure the president of ukraine to investigate joe biden. there isn't a single thing that contradicts that. you want witnesses. you want people who directly spoke to president trump about it. you need four republicans to vote with you to have those witnesses. senator collins seems open to it. mitt romney seems open to it. lamar alexander seems open to it. are there any other republicans that we aren't talking about it that are telling you they would vote for witnesses at this point? >> i think everybody is keeping their powder dry. but i'm optimistic we can get a number of senators from the other side of the aisle to step forward and ask for witnesses. i think this is too big of an issue for the future of this

country and future actions of presidents regardless of the party to turn your back on it and make this into a sham trial. and i think the folks that i serve with on the other side of the aisle, the republicans, they don't want this to be a sham trial. the fact is they don't want to cross president trump, but the fact is this isn't crossing president trump. this is finding out what the facts are, letting the american people know what the facts are, and then the senate as a jury making the decision. so, look, i think that there's a possibility that there could be a number of republicans, much bigger than the list you mentioned, that would be willing to cross over and say we need more information, we need witnesses to testify. and i in fact hope that happens. there are good people. they mean well. we just need to make sure that the system works, this democracy we live in. >> thank you very much senator tester. >> thank you, erin. nancy pelosi making a major announcement tomorrow morning. who will be the house managers that run? plus the democratic debate, we are about an hour away. will tension between elizabeth

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there's going to be a major announcement at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning when the speaker will finally announce who the house impeachment managers will be for president trump's impeachment trial in the senate. this is crucial. you're going to see this tlevised 6 1/2 hours a day potentially. these are the people making the argument on the behalf of house democrats, the people making the case to the senate that president trump should be removed from office for abuse of power. up front now, joe lockhart who was president clinton's press secretary during his impeachment investigation, laura coats, and the director of the nixon library. we've got all this new information coming out. i want to talk about impeachment managers in a moment. i want to start with you, joe, because we've got new evidence. this isn't like the house had the evidence and is releasing it. this is new evidence coming from lev parnas who is an indicted, under criminal indictment, working with rudy giuliani on matters related to ukraine.

so, this is evidence he's been willing to hand over and it now is out. let me get something new here that happens. this is an october 3rd email from jay sekulow and it is to jay daoud who was an attorney who worked with the president during the mueller investigation. quote, i have discussed the issue of representation with the president. the president consents to allowing your representation of mr. parnas and mr. fruman. okay. so, joe, mr. parnas, lev parnas is under criminal indictment. he's working with rudy giuliani on ukraine. jay sekulow is saying i personally have the president of the united states said to go ahead and represent lev parnas by name. seven days later, when lev parnas is arrested, president trump is asked about him. here's what he says. >> i don't know those gentleman. it's possible i have a picture with them because i have a picture with everybody. i have a picture with everybody here. i don't know them. i don't know about them. i don't know what they do. but i don't know, maybe they

were clients of rudy. you would have to ask rudy. i just don't know. >> i don't know about them. i don't know what they do. okay. i mean, it's just -- this is now lawyer after lawyer after lawyer saying they're getting the personal of the president of the united states. that's a lie he said there. >> it's one of many lies. i don't know that that's particularly new, that the president lies. this really shines a light on, i think, the criminal organization aspect of this. i mean, think of it for a second if we go back to the senate trial. the president has expressed interest in having jay sekulow who is now up to his ears in this, rudy giuliani who is up to his ears in this, and alan dershowitz who is being sued as part of the jeffrey epstein case. lawyers are supposed to be clean, not the people involved in the mess. and the letter that giuliani sent to zelenski, he cites he

wants to bring victoria tensing who is representing a corrupt oligarch that the u.s. is trying to extradite right now. these people are all criminals. and they're working and the president is saying use my card as president of the united states. >> so, laura, what we just said lev parnas, the president, jay sekulow, says gives him permission, john daoud, permission to represent lev parnas at the behest of the president. president says he never heard anything about these people. i want to go back to what i just played there because this is pretty incredible, right? you've got this letter from rudy giuliani. and in it rudy giuliani says congratulations. you've won the presidency of ukraine and i want you to prosper and all this. and then he gets to the meat of the whole thing which is however, i have a more specific request in my capacity as personal counsel to president trump and with his knowledge and consent, i request a meeting

this upcoming monday or tuesday. i need no more than a half hour of your time. i'll be accompanied by victoria tunsing. what's stunning is what the president says to bill o-riley a few months lawsuiter. let me play it again. >> you didn't direct him to go there on your relaugh? >> no. but you have to understand that rudy is a great corruption fighter. >> rudy giuliani -- but he's -- he's your personal lawyer. giuliani's your personal lawyer. so, you didn't direct him to go to ukraine to do anything. >> no, i didn't direct him. >> i mean, laura, rudy giuliani puts in a letter with the president of the united states knowledge and consent, i request a meeting with you four days from when he sends this letter. so, which is it? is the president directing or is he giving himself enough of a cushion to say you as a counsel, you have my authority to act in ways that are beneficial to me

in the long run which of course is what giuliani said time and time again as his so-called counsel, as attorney for the president, although it's getting murkier and murkier as to what his role is. is the president required in order for there to be some thought he directed this? is the president required to explicitly tell giuliani i would like you to perform the following functions in order for it to be tied back to me? the answer is no. the idea that the president could direct his attorney to say i would like you to act according to my authority to perform things that benefit me. now, if that is a blank check in order to do things that are unethical, that are fraudulent, that are corrupt in nature and that actually ties directly back to the president and should be fodder for an investigation at least in the form of the impeachment testimony or witnesses or for there to be investigations. so, to say i didn't tell you x,

y, z does not absolve the president completely, but it does make you question rudy giuliani in the sense of what was the directive that ubld you had in order to articulate in writing to a president of another country who receives millions in aid that we want you to do something for us. >> this is coming, this new information is coming as the trial is about to begin. and the house is picking its managers. who's going to make the case. you've got to pick people to cross examine witnesses. it seems there will be witnesses. make a case and cross examine. i know that, you know, along with your colleagues on this panel believe that jerry nadler and adam schiff will be on that list. who else do you think you should there? you've got evidence like this. who can make this case? >> i would like to see a conservative. i think the american people need to understand that the spin that this is liberal, this is

conservative, is wrong. this is people who support the constitution who are worried about a president who is not supporting the constitution. so, i would like to include justin amash. i think an independent who's conservative -- he's against abortion, he has issues about climate change. this is not an issue about values. i would also include e lisa slotkin. she has national security experience. she was in the c iia. she was a policy maker in the pentagon. this is a person who can understand and explain to the american people why this matters, why this complicated story tells us something about the president's abuse of power. i would like to have a national security veteran and a conservative included in the mix. >> all right. thank you all very much. as this story is moving fast and furious with new evidence breaking this hour. we're just over an hour away from the democratic debate. three people on that stage tonight are going to have to

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tonight we are a little more than an hour away from a face off that we have not yet seen in this democratic race for the white house with the fewest people on stage of any debate so far. and frankly, the truth is the stakes couldn't be higher. the informal alliance that we've seen between the two 25-year friends bernie sanders and elizabeth warren breaking down over what exactly what was said between them behind closed doors. jeff zeleny is out front tonight from the debate hall. this debate is coming -- as i've said, we've never seen anything like this. it's a small room, very intimate, different than anything we've seen before and coming as the race is taking on an entirely new dynamic. >> reporter: it is a new dynamic. as you can see behind me people

are taking their seats. you said a small hall. this is a very small space. the space between the candidates is small and the room is small. that could change the dynamic of the debate, but it will not change the tensions on stage. we have not seen bernie sanders and elizabeth warren go after each other as they have been for the last day or so. so, the question is will they deescalate those tensions or rise? both sides are signaling a deescalation. bernie sanders wants to focus on joe biden. he wants to talk about foreign policy. he wants to relitigate the judgment of the long foreign policy report of joe biden. joe biden wants to talk about donald trump. he has a new ad out playing in iowa that says biden is on trump's mind. so, that is that dynamic. pete buttigieg wants to get back into the conversation here. he has slipped a little. amy klobuchar as well. she wants to make a move tonight to get some momentum going into the final three weeks. erin, the front runners here

have changed like the seasons. there's a rotating cast of front runners from joe biden to elizabeth warren to pete buttigieg to bernie sanders. they're all tied in a tight race at the beginning here. the question, what will the undecided voters think tonight? almost half of the voters in our recent poll here said they're open to changing their minds. that is what we hear when we talk to them. so, tonight, we'll give certainly a lot of impressions here as the candidates make their final pitch and tomorrow fly back to washington for the impeachment trial. >> they've got to be sworn in. and there they shall stay until it is done. i want to go out front to tom perez, the chairman of the democratic national committee. i just heard jeff zeleny speaking there. he was mentioning the undecided issue. the poll shows only 40% of likely democratic caucus goers in iowa have made up their minds which means 60% haven't. that is a higher number of un

undecideds than a comparable point in past races. what does this tell you? >> it tells me we have a deep field. every time you go see candidate a, you fall in love. then you go see candidate b and fall out. we have an embarrassment of riches. what i love about iowa voters is they take their role seriously. they're out there kicking the tires. and you know, i don't know who's going to win. anyone who tells you who's going to win the iowa caucus is lying to you. but what i do know is that when we complete iowa and then 90 days later we complete the mid-atlantic caucus which will take us to the end of april and 90% of the delegates will be allocated, i think we'll have a very clear sense of who our nominee will be. the thing i know for certain is

that every democrat understands that unity is our greatest strength. so, whoever the nominee is, we will all be together in six months in milwaukee celebrating and hitting the ground running for the general election. >> all right. so, look, chairman, the dnc has been criticized for the debate criteria. you have an all-white stage tonight and you had an incredibly diverse field of candidates. but on stage tonight, that is not how it's going to look. it's going to be all white. that criteria you picked is based on public polling and donations, so in other words voter support, right? you said you have to have a few percent in a bunch of states and a certain number of donors. and people who hit that mark are on stage and people who don't aren't. in a party that prides itself in diversity, why do you think democratic voters are signaling by the objective criteria you put out there their preference for awe white candidate? >> well, i think it's important, erin, to take a longer view of your question.

we put forth the most inclusive criteria i think ever been put forward. and as a result of that -- we did it because we knew we would have a really deep field, the biggest field ever. as a result of that, we had a remarkable number of people including candidates of color who were on the debate stage. and let's go back to last month. every month we went up, but we went up very, very gradually, 1%, 2%. last month we went up to -- we were up to 4%. now we're at 5%. >> they weren't high hurdles. these are low numbers, yes. >> they weren't high hurdles. last month we had three of the eight candidates on stage, three women, two candidates of color. and one of them, kamala harris who made the debate stage then and i'm quite certain would be on the stage tonight if she were still in the race got out of the race. it had nothing to do with the dnc criteria. this month we had 23 polls and

you had to hit 5% in four out of those 23. bh when you have a field this large, what that tells me is that the candidates who are going to be at the top of the polling are those who are doing the best job of getting support across the entire array of the big tent that is our wonderful democratic party. so, when i hear people saying that the rules are what are keeping people out, no. it's people are being called and they're being asked who is your preference. and they're expressing their preference. and that's what we're doing. >> the candidates are iowa where you are tonight. trump won iowa last time by nearly 10 points. and he is going to be in wisconsin while you're holding this debate, a state that he won by fewer than 23,000 votes. this is the second time back this time around. and he has been holding a lot of his rallies in states he won by incredibly minute margins in 2016. he's focusing on the must win

swing states. the top democrats have had to spend a lot of time in iowa. they've got to win it to get off to the races here. mike bloomberg's campaign manager was on the show last night. i wanted to play what he said to you. he was pretty blunt. >> democrat/republican posters agree on one thing. donald trump is going to win iowa this year. so, we spent a year and every nickel we have on a state we're going to lose. >> why is he wrong? >> we've become a 50-state party again, erin. look at 2017, 2018, and 2019. what do those election cycles have in common? democrats wanted scale, kentucky and louisiana where donald trump effectively put himself on the ballot and voters came out and said no. you asked about the battleground states. what 2018 has in common is that we won -- you look at wisconsin. let's take wisconsin, let's take pennsylvania, let's take michigan, three states that donald trump won in 2016.

what do they have in common? in 2018, democrats ran the table on all three of those, all the state-wide elections in those three states, we have wind at our back. we're mobilizing everywhere, and that's why i would rather be us than them. >> chairman perez, always good to talk to you sir. thanks. next elizabeth warren signals an abrupt change in strategy. does she regret the war of words with bernie sanders? plus joe biden wants to keep his focus on trump. will his opponents give hum a chance to do that? (burke) at farmers insurance,

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a dramatic shift from the warren campaign just hours before tonight's democratic debate. warren's team telling cnn she is not looking for a fight from bernie sanders about whether he told her he didn't believe a woman could win the presidency. just 24 hours ago, she owned the story saying i thought a women could win, he disagreed. pretty black and white and clear.

warren had no problem with this story yesterday. it was clearly leaked by her team to cnn. it was -- it came out more than a year after the meeting. it came out on the eve of a debate. it's clear she knew about this. why is she pumping the brakes now indicates don't want to talk about this anymore. we're all cool. >> because this is probably the last thing she wants to talk about iowans about before they vote. she wants to talk about the same things she talks about in every debate which is the issues and the policy differences between herself and her opponents. i will say one thing though, we're likely to see bernie sanders be more complementary of hillary clinton than he's ever been. in the 7th debate of 2016 which i prepped hillary for, bernie shushed her and said, excuse me, i'm talking. he lost that debate thauf and other things. he doesn't want to talk about it. she doesn't want to talk about

it. i think both of them are going to look to joe biden to rescue them from this conversation. >> which means they're going to go after him. this story came out yesterday. people familiar with the meeting, she knew this was coming out yesterday. at some point she thought -- she accused her staff of lying and making the whole thing up. now everyone is trying to act like they don't want to talk about it. it isn't saying i didn't say it when he said yesterday he didn't say it. >> right. i mean i think that's the big question. do the moderators bring it up. did someone else on stage bring it up? if you think about amy klobuchar, she's been one of the candidates on the stage who talked about womens' issues, talked about electability, talked about a woman can beat donald trump, says nancy pelosi does it every day.

they feel like if you listen to the different camps, it does seem like they want to move beyond this. it didn't work out well for either party. it sounds like they're going to go back to the non-aggression pact. but i think it's unclear whether or not this was a smart move from the warren campaign. it certainly brings up some of the bad blood some folks have toward bernie sanders because of what happened in 2016 with hillary clinton. but it seems like those people are already with elizabeth warren so i don't know how this moves the dial with elizabeth warren other than giving headlines in dinging bernie sanders. >> it is an interesting thing that this happened yesterday and comes out. it's so purposeful. and then today they're trying to say there's nothing to see here. we're fine to move on. warren seems to be, you know, backing off this story, not backing off that it happened but backing off from wanting to discuss it as she losing momentum in iowa. i want to show everyone the polls. back in september she was leading the pack 22%.

and that held for a while. now down to 15% this week, down to fourth place. still in the lead pack but none the less, that is a problem. is that a reason to play all this with caution for her? >> couple things. one, this didn't come out of nowhere. this all followed this revelation, cnn's reporting, it followed after the revelation over the weekend that bernie sanders staffers were using a door knocking script to talk to voters here about elizabeth warren, painting her as elitist. i think what you saw was there was push back to that. but i do agree with what karen was saying. there's no percentage in it for either of them to have this battle. this is not a battle that they're going to want to have which is why i think they're sort of foreshadowing, hey guys we're not going to rip each others' faces off about this issue of whether or not a woman could be president.

i think it is the largest electability issue that is at core for voters. we know they say they want someone who can beat donald trump above all else. that is what the broader conversation is about here. >> it absolutely is. we just saw amy klobuchar arrive. everyone can see her there just a moment ago as david was speaking. she weighed in on this whole issue that the sanders-warren feud that's been going on over the past 24 hours by resurrecting this line from the november debate. here is senator klobuchar. >> if you think a woman can't beat donald trump, nancy pelosi does it every single day. >> that's what she re-upped today to make that point. so, how does she play this tonight? >> i think she could play it up. i think she's been outspoken about feeling there's sexism on the trail. she points particularly to pete buttigieg as somebody with a résume like that, no one would be on that stage. she might bring it up. it is true that the weekend

featured the first real bad blood over these scripts and politico has confirmed these scripts have been used in other states. sanders first denied it. >> sanders people were knocking on doors -- >> and she's elitist and her people doesn't expand the base. i can't confirm elizabeth warren told her staffers or associates to go out and leak the story. bernie's staff put her in a tough position yesterday because they were demanding she admit it was a lie. she stood by it. i don't think she had a choice. she believes it happened. >> as we are counting down to this debate, we are minutes away from the cnn/des moines register democratic debate. joe biden, what does he have to do to win tonight? pete buttigieg was once on the rise in iowa so what happened?

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all right. this is the debate stage. it is a very intimate stage. they're going to be very close together. six to have the top candidates for the 2020 democratic presidential nomination will face each other. this is the final debate before the first vote. tonight, joe biden, still at center stage, the national front-runner, but in a tight race at the top in iowa. really all clumped in there. everyone is back with me. david, joe biden, he has been trying to say this is about him and president trump, right? to cement his status as front-runner, at least in the psyche of the iowa voter and the national voter. here's a brief clip from biden's latest ad. >> donald trump has made it clear -- >> joe biden. biden. biden. biden. biden. biden. >> he's got joe biden on his mind. because trump knows that biden will beat him in pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin. the states we need to take back the presidency. >> is he going to succeed tonight in making it about him versus biden. or david, as you were trying to

say, basically a way for warren and sanders to not have it be about warren versus sanders is to basically both go for biden. >> there's nothing joe biden likes more than to make it about donald trump. there's nothing subtle about that ad you just played, erin. a direct electability message. why he is the one that can most easily defeat donald trump. listen, this foreign policy debate that has been going on for the last ten days, bernie sanders wants to debate joe biden over that. and his record, joe biden will certainly defend it, i have no doubt, but he actually wants to debate donald trump over foreign policy, because he likes to make the case to voters that he is the steady and experienced hand. >> and karen, you also have here pete buttigieg. he's seen his poll numbers in iowa start to slip. he had that peak, it was a huge surge. everyone was talking about it. now here we are, he has been slipping a bit. in iowa county, a democratic chair telling "the washington post," quote, i honestly think he peaked a little bit too early and people are having buyer's remorse. the second guessing is starting.

what's at stake for pete buttigieg? >> a lot is at stake for pete buttigieg. keep in mind, it's the caucuses, they're not primaries. so everybody is playing to be second favorite. pete buttigieg has to pick up biden voters, bernie voters, and warren voters to himself. that is difficult. i also think that means biden is going to respond when bernie attacks him. he needs to pick up other people's supporters to win the caucus. >> and joan, you also have buttigieg and biden have something others in the stage don't. i mean, steyer has it. others who are still running, like andrew yang have it, and the ability to be in iowa. there's a trial and it's going to start next tuesday. and from then on, the three senators on that stage tonight, sanders, warren, klobuchar, they're in washington. >> this is really tough for them. because when you've got a field, erin, where almost 60% are people are saying, either they're not sure that their first choice will stay their first choice or even 15% or so will say, i don't have a first choice yet, that means there are a lot of minds to make up and

that last two weeks of the caucus campaigning is fierce. you're running around the state. there are tons of events, there's an air of excitement. people get really into it. so missing that, i think, is going to be very problematic. that is going to be a good thing for buttigieg, that he's job free right now so he can just hang out in iowa. >> and nia, that is hanging over this entire debate tonight. this is -- it's an unprecedented historical thing, what we're seeing. >> that's right. with the impeachment, obviously, we'll hear more about that from pelosi tomorrow. three of the folks on stage tonight will be out of commission in terms of being able to hit the scene in iowa. so they've got that much more on the line tonight. this is the kind of, you know, do or die moment for them in the three weeks or so before folks go to the polls. because this is going to be highly watched, i think, by folks in iowa. what are they focused on? obviously, probably not impeachment. rank and file voters are not that interested in it. they're interested in economic issues, health care in

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just over an hour, the top six democratic candidates will be taking the stage youiowa. it is the final showdown before the first vote in iowa, on february 3rd. everyone is back with me. david, what is the single-most important thing you're watching for tonight? >> reporter: the single most important thing i'm watching tonight is to see how much these candidates want to fight just 20 days out from the caucus and how much they want to de-escalate. there are a lot of fight s teed up here, erin. the sanders versus biden fight we talked about. the warren versus sanders. is this going to be a brawl and an intense debate or will they try to dial that back a bit. >> joan? >> i think amy klobuchar really has to win this debate. i called her the winner of the last debate, but this could be it for her. she had a good debate. she raised a lot of money,

comparatively, for her. but i don't know how she goes out of iowa not in at least third place. i don't know what the road is for her after that. so i'm looking for her to -- >> right, she's midwestern. midwestern senator -- >> right, this is her state. >> karen? i'm looking forward to see how the candidates balance attacking their opponents, which is how you win a debate, with attracting their opponents' supporters, which is how you win a caucus. and i'm looking forward to a debate that matters in actual votes. >> all right. which -- it's interesting, as you say, to succeed in one area, you may have to fail in another. nia? >> yeah, can warren and buttigieg get their momentum back? they have cooled after having pretty hot streak in some of these early states. and since then, they faded a little bit. had flatlined. that's going to be the big question for me. how are they able to get back in the mix and convince voters that

they're actually electable in this crucial time? >> thank you all very much. and thanks to all of you for joining us. we are just an hour away from the cnn democratic presidential debate. "a.c. 360" with anderson cooper starts now. >> and good evening from drake university in des moines, iowa, site of this evening's cnn/"des moines register" democratic presidential debate, the final debate before iowans caucus just 20 days from now. the clock is ticking. so the six candidates, the six candidates on the stage tonight, the stakes are high, the urgency great, and so is the incentive to try to stand out. 45% of likely caucusgoers in a new cnn/"des moines register" poll said they still could be persuaded to support someone other than their first choice. 13% say they have no first choice yet. the question is what will each candidate do to try to change that? the crowd tonight is revved up. will tonight's small r