this. it's still pete buttigieg and bernie sanders led the way in iowa, elizabeth warren, and certainly joe biden did not. his fourth place finish will remain the same, and perhaps that is the biggest iowa takeaway. kate? >> good to see you, jeff. thank you so much. stay warm, buddy. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. thank you, kate, and welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. the economy keeps roaring. 225,000 new jobs added last month. 2020 is off to a strong start, and that's a great gift for the president's reelection campaign. plus the iowa democratic party says it is finally done counting. the deadline to officially challenge the caucus' count is in one area. the two on top, pete buttigieg and bernie sanders, say it's time to move on. it's debate night in new hampshire. the primary there is tuesday, so the stakes there are giant.

president trump already offering some pre-debate analysis. >> it's very sad what happened with the bidens, and it's also very sad how he's doing in the polls. you don't know what happened in iowa, because if you look, they're essentially tied. everybody is a threat. i view everybody as a threat. >> we begin the hour with a direct denial from the man you just saw there, the president of the united states. there's some new cnn reporting about some potential staff shake-up. >> that was a false report. i have a great relationship with mick. i have a great relationship with mark. and it's false. >> that was the president as he left for north carolina just last hour, telling reporters, not true. his acting chief of staff is on solid ground, the president says. but sources are telling cnn that mick mulvaney is very much out of favor with the boss and that the president no longer listens to his acting chief of staff. the sources, though, are split

on mulvaney's future and when or if the president will replace him. with me this day to share their reporting and insights, cnn, kaitlan collins, karen nippo with the "washington post," jackie kucinich with "the daily beast." we've known a long time about the staff, but because he was so essential to ukranian aid, it would be risky to let him go. >> they just didn't want any more chaos during the impeachment to have to replace a chief of staff. the president said he has a great relationship with mick mulvaney. it's nothing like his and john kelly's relationship was when he was pushed out of the staff. it's definitely not a good relationship. the president doesn't listen to mulvaney's advice, so it's not

seen as this long-term thing. the question, though, when mulvaney does leave, is who is going to replace him. one of the frontrunners to replace mulvaney is flying on the plane with the president today to north carolina, along with mick mulvaney. so they're all be there to talk about this reporting, and the question is whether mark meadows would take the job and when. >> and even if you don't like your chief of staff, even if you have some dysfunction in the white house which he's had to varying degrees since day one, a lot of voters have turned away from the tweets of the president and the chaos. but the president says false. you were at the white house for a long time when it was false, he was out of favor with reince priebus, he was out of favor with the department of homeland security, the secretary of state james mattis, the defense secretary. the president said in each of those, not true. they're all gone. >> they're all gone and a lot of times they were dismissed by

tweet and the president likes to be the one that breaks his own news. he doesn't like when he gets scooped by us in the media and other reporters that sort of previews what he's going to do before he does it. i wouldn't be surprised that the president actually denies something that's actually true and then he ends up letting them go. we've seen that multiple times in this administration. i would say mick mulvaney is still part of this ukraine issue impeachment scandal. we may hear more about his involvement in the holding of aid from ukraine. john bolton is about to come out with a book, and he was the one who said, i don't want to be part of this drug deal that mulvaney is cooking up as part of this scheme to hold aid from ukraine. so getting rid of mick mulvaney is still something that could be a threat to the president even though he survived impeachment. this information could come out and he could be the one that provides information negative about the president on the outside, so it might be in the president's interest to keep him close. >> you heard the president yesterday at his rally at the white house, i don't know what

else to call it, kind of mocking lieutenant vindman and his brother. vindman testified against the president in the impeachment inquiry. the testimony was damaging to the president. he said he wasn't there to oppose the president but the testimony was damning. now lieutenant colonel vindman likely to be reassigned to the pentagon sooner than expected. he was expected to stay on national security detail for several more months. here's the president moments ago. >> well, i'm not happy with him. do you think i'm supposed to be happy with him? i'm not. >> reporter: will he leave? >> he'll make a decision. >> reporter: should he leave? >> >> reporter: is he on the way out? >> he'll be making that decision. >> that's actually tame because you know the president is beyond not happy, and yesterday he was more scornful, if you will. in private conversations he has been more so. he's in a good mood and that was pretty tame. >> there is a fine line between looking like it's retribution or looking like it was just time for him to move on given the

circumstances surrounding his position there. so it seems like there trump was trying to walk that line. yesterday he wasn't. who knows where he'll end up. i think it's also interesting, they will make that decision. not him, the president, the decider. they will make that decision. >> i think he's trying to make clear that for the debate about whether it was retribution, he'd like to stay on the safe side of that debate. the president's mindset is interesting at this moment because we'll talk a little later about the economy, we'll talk a little later about the democrats who are off to a messy start in their race. the president has the strongest political standing in months, if not the strongest political standing in his presidency. he's in a good mood about a lot of things. not the democrats. >> i think there is a lot of evil on that side. they've gone crazy. they've gone totally crazy. it's too bad. i do work with democrats, i work with everybody, but that group is -- you know, they say trump derangement syndrome. they've got it. they've got a bad case of it. you saw that.

that was on display the other night when she ripped up the speech. >> the prospect you hear the president in the context of that question was, can you get anything done with the democrats? you've been on the hill throughout this whole impeachment thing. there is nothing happening between now and the election. is there anything significant? >> the usmca was the one big thing that had to happen alongside all of this, and it did, so now we're in a zone that there won't be anything new that happens. you saw the state of the union, and it's not the speech-ripping moment, the democrats are upset. they're upset with the way trump was taking -- that was the pre-victory lap, i guess, the victory lap he's taken since. you have a week that started with iowa and ends up with an acquittal and the president now taking a very highly, sharply tongued charges, basically, at everybody who opposed him from nancy pelosi to mitt romney. that's the situation in which they're dealing right now.

there is no goodwill right now on capitol hill to do anything they're not forced to do. so let's watch the budget. let's see if that actually happens before the election or if it gets pushed later, but that's basically the only question about where they have to work together or could work together at this point. >> to the point it's interesting, you're never quite sure which president you get on any given day. it's kind of understated. today the president there, even though he was denying potential staff changes, let's talk about what he called a celebration yesterday. >> you had some who used religion as a crutch. they never used it before. it's a failed presidential candidate, so things can happen when you fail so badly running for president. adam schiff is a vicious, horrible person. nancy pelosi is a horrible person. she said, i pray for the president, i pray for the if the. she doesn't pray. she may pray but she prays for the opposite. but i doubt she prays at all. if i didn't fire james comey, we

may not have found this guy, because when i fired that sleazebag, all hell broke out. >> it's interesting with a snapshot of the president and where his mind is right now. having covered the president for nine and a half-plus years, that's the sacred room in the building. that's where you have big conferences. sleazebag, evil. >> and saying all hell broke loose. yes, because you fired the guy who was investigating you and that's what launch the the mumu investigation and that's what got the counsel going. we have been prepared by aides who said brace yourselves, because he has felt restrained, he's ready to unleash. we knew we were going to get something of that nature. but even at some point you saw people in that room, the president's allies kind of looking at each other or not

sure how to lauact when he was reliving the steve scalise shooting in pretty graphic detail. it's jarring at some times, but you did feel the president felt some vindication that he was right, and that's why you saw him be so vindictive to people like the democrats and even mitt romney. >> quick programming note. jake tapper has an exclusive interview this afternoon to the top diplomat of ukraine, bill taylor. that's at 4:00 p.m. eastern today. tonight we get a preview of the contentious democratic debate. now starting at $7.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

aveeno® with prebiotic striple oat complex balances skin's microbiome. so skin looks like this

and you feel like this. aveeno® skin relief. get skin healthy™ and i don't count the wrinkles. but what i do count on is boost high protein. and now, introducing new boost women... with key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. all with great taste. new, boost women. designed just for you. ♪[ siren ] & doug give me your hand! i can save you... lots of money with liberty mutual! we customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®. for fast pain relief. when youyou spend lessfair, and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one.

for small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair.com rowithout the commission fees and account minimums. so, you can start investing wherever you are - even on the bus. download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood. welcome back. it is a very big day in the democratic presidential race. the iowa democratic party, four days later, says it is finally at -- look -- 100% in its count. and the numbers show mayor pete buttigieg with a very narrow

delegate judge over senator bernie sanders. on tuesday will be the debate in new hampshire. the timing of this race makes it the biggest debate of the cycle so far. it's a crossroads moment for those who ran third or worse out in iowa. testing time for the two candidates hoping they can build on these iowa results and wake up wednesday with the label early democratic frontrunner. senator bernie sanders won new hampshire four years ago. at a breakfast today it was clear he sees the iowa results as no fluke and sees mayor buttigieg as his most immediate challenge. >> i'm reading some headlines from newspapers about pete buttigieg. pete buttigieg has most exclusive billionaire donors of any democrat. that was from forbes. we are going to need a government that unapologeticall

yry has donors. >> does he say about the senate of the race? >> reporter: what he told me then was, just wait for the debate, so it was clear he and his team were primed for this battle against the former south bend mayor. they understand that the results in iowa clearly show there is a moderate wing of the party that seem to be coalescing around pete buttigieg. it is clear that he understands this operation they were banking on in iowa has not quite come through the way they expected to. in order for him to win, he needs to bring in a broad coalition of folks, people that you normally can rely on to come out in vote. the same can be said for new hampshire, and he alluded to

that. take a listen. >> in my view you do not defeat trump unless you have the largest voter turnout in the history of this country. if we believe that a large voter turnout is necessary, what campaign has the capability of reaching out effectively to what we call nontraditional voters? >> reporter: so that's been a big argument from sanders from the very beginning, that in order tofor democrats to beat president trump in the fall, they need to expand their voters. they attempted that in iowa and fell a little bit short. obviously the results in iowa have yet to be determined, but john, this is the energy and enthusiasm in the democratic party behind the sanders campaign, and they're hoping those turnout numbers are much different here on tuesday. john?

>> ryan nobles for us from manchester, new hampshire. ryan, thank you very much. it is an interesting debate night in the sense that you have the iowa results. if you're elizabeth warren or joe biden or amy klobuchar or anyone below that, andrew yang or tom steyer, you think, you can't keep losing. if your goal is to be in the race to make a statement, you can't keep coming in third or fourth and tell people, i'm the strongest one to beat donald trump if you can't beat bernie sanders or pete buttigieg. he had a cnn town hall last night where he said, hey, i'm different. here's pete buttigieg. >> i know my views are not that popular. frankly i'm showing a level of respect for new hampshire voters' expectation of my honesty when i share with them a view that might not be popular around here, that i think the electoral college has run its course and in the future we

ought to pick our presidents in a way to make sure the one that got the most votes actually gets to be president. but i say that because i think it's the right thing to do. >> he says the new, young, fresh face, i'm different. i think we're going to hear a lot tonight. you're 38. you ran a city that has 100,000 people or so in it. you're interesting but you're not ready. is that what we're going to hear? >> probably a lot of that from various members of the stage. we're also going to say, look, getting rid of the electoral college is a nice idea but it's not what people care about on new ideas. they care about health care and the economy because they're not sitting around the kitchen table in non-election years thinking about the electoral college that much. >> am i the only person who does that? >> anyway, so it's going to be interesting to see what this interplay is with buttigieg, because now everybody has to take him seriously. they can't just brush him off as the kid at the table because he did have such a strong showing in iowa. but it's going to be much more

of a mud fight now about do the things that you say to back up your fresh face actually count as fresh ideas in this party? >> one of the things you hear on the campaign trail which is probably why he's talking about keeping his promises. you heard from biden and buttigieg about sanders, that he's promising things that cannot be delivered based on his medicare for all, things that can't functionally happen because of the makeup of the congress. because who would have to approve it? i think that's where that's coming from in terms of, i'm telling you things you might not like but at least i'm being honest with you. >> biden was doing debate prep. he came back to delaware. you can do debate prep in new hampshire and go out to dunkin' donuts. senator sanders said, if he's at the top of the ticket, we're doomed. he went after mayor buttigieg on the experience issue. dick hartley, a very quotable democrat from south carolina and

a biden supporter said, from a biden perspective, there's going to be a course correction in all three states before super tuesday. he's got to have sharper elbows. history may write that the best thing that ever happened to joe biden was getting gut-punched in iowa. it woke him up, it woke his campaign up and his supporters up. they were complacent. you've got to talk about the other guy. that hasn't been the pattern in his career. >> no, when he tries to go out against other candidates, it makes it harder for him to get his message out about why he should be president after being vice president for eight years, being in the senate for 36 years, what he would bring that's new to the presidency, not just how he's different or he's not a socialist or how he has all this experience and buttigieg has very little experience. it's not necessarily the best message to just be on the attack if you can't put forward an optimistic message. that's where he's been successful in the past being

this happy warrior and having an optimistic message. whether it's working now and whether it can happen in the world of trump, i think that's why he went back to delaware to figure out what message he should put before voters in new hampshire before trying to survive in south carolina. >> everybody is saying he's got the votes in south carolina, but look at the numbers. if you're saying i'm strongest to beat trump, and you come in fourth in iowa and you come in third or fourth in new hampshire, it makes it hard to say i'm strong when you're not running strong. >> that's what makes it interesting, because they keep saying look at south carolina, look down the line at south carolina, but if he doesn't rack up something to make him look like a contender, then it will be more of a tie between buttigieg and sanders in this case. >> if that doesn't happen in new

hampshire, he is going to be in serious trouble. >> he's already in money issues, and he'll have more. another one is amy klobuchar who came in fifth in iowa. she might get a delegate or two out of there. she's trying to say that's a good thing. >> every single time i have exceeded expectations. we came very close in terms of the number of people that turned out to vice president biden. look at the numbers yourself. so we actually left iowa with a lot of enthusiasm. >> again, it's hard to run for president. and it's very difficult, especially in a crowded field, and a crowded field that's raising a lot more money than you. but saying you beat expectations when you came in behind somebody who performed horriblhorribly, hard. so, again, this debate tonight is huge, whether it's warren -- huge for everybody, but if you're warren, biden or klobuchar, can can't be the same as iowa. >> they need to revive

themselves. klobuchar cannot be cheering for being runner-up in the fourth position. >> since biden is faltering and people are still trying to figure out if they like buttigieg, there is an opening for klobuchar if she's able to go through it. >> and if somebody doesn't seize it, we're waiting for someone who is trying to seize it, mayor buttigieg. we get the latest report card. we'll break down the numbers and tell you just how happy the president is. on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine.

a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's fastest retinol formula works so fast. it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. making wrinkles look so last week. rapid wrinkle repair® pair with retinol oil for 2 times the wrinkle fighting power. neutrogena® i am not for ignoring the first sign of a cold. i am for shortening my cold, with zicam! zicam is completely different. unlike most other cold medicines, zicam is clinically proven to shorten colds. i am a zifan for zicam!

oral or nasal.

[ fast-paced drumming ]

fresh economic numbers today show a booming resilient labor market. the u.s. economy adding 225,000 jobs in january. that's according to the latest jobs report. that number beat economist expectations and it gives the president a nice boost to begin the election year. >> we just came out with fantastic job numbers. i think it was 230,000, or something thereabouts, which was much higher than projection. so jobs continue to be great, our country continues to do great. >> let's take a closer look at the numbers. cnn's christine romans breaks them down. >> john, the almighty american jobs machine is still churning out new jobs. 225,000 net new jobs in january. that is more than economists

have been expecting and likely because of the weather. because when you look inside the sectors, you can see construction had a surge in job creation, transportation warehousing, bars and restaurants added a lot of jobs, health care, again, 36,000 jobs there, but manufacturing still a weak spot in this economy. many say manufacturing is actually in a recession. the unemployment rate, 3.6%. it went up just a little bit, but why? half a million people got off the sidelines and started looking for work. they had not been looking for work, now they have entered the labor market, so that pushed the number up again. that is actually a sign of strength in the american labor market. so how do we stand out here? last year 2.1 million net new jobs created. that's with some revisions that came with this january report, so you can see overall the trend is right in line with what we've seen going back to 2011. this is, again, about trends. this is an american labor market that has healed from the great recession and continues to add jobs a full ten years into the

economic recovery. pretty remarkable. 3.1% wage growth. you would expect to have wage gro growth stronger and earlier in this kind of recovery. now you're seeing 3.1%. that's fine. john? >> christine, thank you very much. ron swanson, the correspondent for the "new york times," joins us now. if you're a president running for reelection, if you're an american looking for work, it's a good economy. 225,000 new jobs is a strong number. i want to start with the one flashing light in there. christine just mentioned it and we can put it back up on the screen here. 12,000 negative job loss in manufacturing. what is it? everything else is humming along. what's wrong with the manufacturing sector? >> absolutely. this was a really solid report but manufacturing, as you mentioned, is a weak spot. the president has continued to talk about this blue collar boom, including in the state of the union this week, but the manufacturing sector really is hurting, in part due to the effects of the trade war, also due to boeing's troubles with

the 737 max. there was, earlier this week, a positive indicator in terms of a gauge of factory activity which suggests that maybe looking forward, we could see that pick up. but all in all, that sector is really in trouble. it's really the service sector that is booming, so maybe the president should change his pitch and talk about the service sector, i don't know. >> health care, which would be a little more politically difficult. i want to show politically if you look at this, this is a gallup poll this past week. approval of the president's economy, 63%. this is a president whose normal approval rating hovers in the 40s. more than than six in ten americans think he's doing great in terms of the economy. weekly earnings up $87 since the president took office. not gangbusters but heading in the right direction. the dow jones, if you have investments, 9,000 points.

the price is gas is up but just a little bit. if you're the president now, these economic indicators, and if you're an average consumer, they're good for you. >> absolutely. this is really great news for the president who obviously is going to make the economy the centerpiece of his reelection campaign, and it does undercut the argument of democrats who feel like they need a big substantial change right now. the highlights of this report was what you just mentioned, that the unemployment rate rose which is usually a bad thing, but in this case it rose for a good reason, which is that you have many more people being pulled off the sidelines and pulled into the labor force. that's benefiting women, it's benefiting workers with disabilities, workers with criminal records, older workers. there are a great variety of people rell beally benefiting f this hot economy. >> the president has been president for three years. it means it began in the last administration. in the state of the union

address, if you listened to it, he made the case the state of the economy was dead and i brought it back to life. it's just not true. in the obama administration, the economy created 8.1 million jobs. in trump's first 36 months, he inherited 6.6 million jobs. strong in the obama administration, strong in the trump administration. is there anything in the report that suggests there is a problem out there, or is this growth going to continue all the way through the election year? >> you're absolutely right that presidents get too much blame for bad economies and they get too much credit for good economies. the economy tends to move because of factors all its own. i do think the risk of a recession, which people were very worried about into last year, is now pushed off a little bit, probably through the end of the election, meaning that the next person in office could really be stuck with something. that manufacturing sector is a little bit worrying. i also think that recent worries

about the coronavirus are particularly concerning, because factories have been shut down, flights have been stopped, and a lot of economic activity across the pacific is affected by that. you saw larry kudlow, the white house adviser, saying earlier today that it could affect growth by, i think, .2 of 1%. other economists think more than that, so we'll have to see how quickly we bounce back from that. >> i appreciate you coming in. next, discrepancies in a big deadline for 2020 democrats. new reporting finds errors in the count of the iowa caucus. my grandfather had an amazing life, but ancestry showed me so much more than i could have imagined. my grandfather was born in a shack in pennsylvania, his father was a miner,

they were immigrants from italy and somewhere along the way that man changed his name and transformed himself into a successful mid-century american man. he had a whole life that i didn't know anything about. he was just my beloved grandpa. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com othroughout the country for the past twelve years, mr. michael bloomberg is here. vo: leadership in action. mayor bloomberg and president obama worked together in the fight for gun safety laws, to improve education, and to develop innovative ways to help teens gain the skills needed to find good jobs. obama: at a time when washington is divided in old ideological battles he shows us what can be achieved when we bring people together to seek pragmatic solutions. bloomberg: i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. this one's for you. the heroes who won't let your disease hold you back. you inspired us to make your humira experience even better

with humira citrate-free. it has the same effectiveness you know and trust, but we removed the citrate buffers, there's less liquid, and a thinner needle, with less pain immediately following injection. if you haven't yet, talk to your doctor about humira citrate-free. and you can use your co-pay card to pay as little as $5 a month. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free. the same humira you trust with less pain immediately following injection.

can you help keep these iguys protected online?? easy, connect to the xfi gateway. what about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming?

let's hook you up with the fastest internet from xfinity. what about wireless data options for the family? of course, you can customize and save. can you save me from this conversation? that we can't do, but come in and see what we can do. we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. ask. shop. discover. at your local xfinity store today.

some breaking political news out of the state of iowa. there was a deadline of about 20 minutes ago. that's when candidates had their chance to ask for a recount or rechallenging of the democratic caucus. we have some news about that. jeff zeleny is live in iowa. jeff, what's going on? >> reporter: john, we learned that the democratic party is going to extend that deadline to noon on monday for candidates to request a recount, if you will, of the iowa caucuses. one of the reasons for the extension is these precincts just got to 100% last night, so they are recognizing the need to give campaigns and candidates a little more time to pore over the records and the numbers to see if they need to request this. but let me take a quick read through the statement that just came out a few moments ago, john. we're actually seeing a couple

different deadlines. beginning tomorrow at noon, the iowa democratic party is requesting for campaigns to submit documentary evidence of inconsistencies between the data reported and the records for result of a correction. so that is supposed to come by noon tomorrow. so basically saying to campaigns, if you see some inconsistencies in certain precincts or satellite caucuses, give that to us by noon tomorrow, and then by noon on monday, request a recanvass or a recount. that is the new deadline. but here's the reality, john. the question is, is it worth it for the sanders campaign or the pete buttigieg campaign or the others, for that matter, to dig back into this? any close election, and certainly any close caucus campaign, is likely going to have some inconsistencies. so if you request this, if you're the sanders campaign, yes, it's possible you could come out actually on top withde possible it could go the other way. the buttigieg campaign the same

way. the reality here is both may just declare victory, which they have, and move on. we'll see what they decide over the weekend. but john, one thing is clear. the democratic party here in iowa after inspecting these candidates for more than a year is sending out a message that, look, we're split. we like pete buttigieg, we like bernie sanders. so that resolves nothing and that goes forward. one thing is clear, the counting in the democratic caucus in iowa is flawed. much contention between the state party, the national party, all of that will be worked out in in the coming weeks and months, but for now that deadline extended, john. >> jeff recalling his residency in iowa. it's great to have reporting on the ground because this has been such a mess. we'll see if the candidates,

both bernie sanders and pete buttigieg last night were saying, let's move on. we'll see if somebody wants a count here. the issue is in the two deadlines, cnn reporting and the "new york times" also did an analysis. you have multiple counties describing different counts than they were supposed to have in their precincts. in some precincts, the total votes in the final round were higher than in the first round. but the process says once the voting starts, you can't have new people come in, so how could the numbers go up? the numbers have to be static or conceivably their candidates could leave. it's a mess, so they're establishing the analysis of the mess the next couple days to what end? >> so buttigieg and sanders both said, high five, everybody, move on. if you're not one of the candidates who won, why would you want to relive this? the biden campaign, why would you want a reminder?

the warren campaign, why would you want to come out where you were or worse? what are you going to gain from this at the end of the day? a delegate, maybe less? but you have to wonder with this caucus process, because these aren't trained political operatives who are conducting these caucuses. they're just normal people, normal voters. going back, how many inconsistencies were there, because we never really took a forensic look at the caucus process. so you have to wonder how common this actually was, looking back even at previous caucuses. >> if you listen to the chairman of the national democratic committee, they don't have anything to do with this, they say. number one, he says, don't blame me, and number two, if he gets to vote, iowa isn't there the next four years. >> the democratic party acknowledged they fell short, the chair apologized. we have to have a broader conversation about caucuses, because there's no doubt about it that what happened here was

unacceptable. >> how much of this was on you, chairman? >> again, the iowa democratic party runs the caucus, okay? and what happened was unacceptable. at the same time, we came in there, we want to make sure that everything is right. >> the buck does not stop in washington, is what tom perez is trying to say there. he's in a tough spot. you heard the president again this morning saying they can't count votes and they want to take over your health care. it's t-ball for the republicans. >> that's an easy message for the republicans to attack on and saying the democrats aren't even able to run a caucus, aren't able to control a very easy process of voting, why should we put them in charge of the government? that will be an easy message that as long as they continue talking about iowa, that republican message will continue going out. >> it's hard to understate how the republicans feel about this in general, but they are essentially basking in it. this could not have gone better

for them to have the impeachment trial over this week and this debacle to happen. they can point to all the early states and say, look who you're putting into office. >> democrats just hope early february, maybe by november this is all forgotten. he publicly disagreed with the president. now he's endorsing a democratic candidate, michael bloomberg.

congressman joe walsh announcing he's quitting the presidential race. walsh telling cnn's john berman he's out, but he'll continue to do whatever he can to defeat the president, even if that means supporting a democrat. >> it's trump's party, john. it's not a party. it's a cult. he can't be beaten in the republican primary, so there is no reason for me or any candidate, really, to be in there. the party has become a cult. >> democratic presidential candidate mike bloomberg getting a big endorsement today at a campaign event in virginia, long-time republican richard spencer. you may remember, spencer forced out of his job after criticizing

president trump's intervention in the navy s.e.a.l.s. >> i don't care if you're a republican, a democrat or independent. if we are to sustain this experiment we call democracy, america needs the best leader available. mike has a track record, a track record of productivity, a track record as an honest and principled man. >> as we go to break, remember, a big democratic debate in new hampshire tonight. will we have a flashback like this for the republicans in 2016? >> the 20-second speech where you talk about how great america is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. >> this notion that barack obama doesn't know what he's doing just isn't true. that's the reason why this campaign is so important. (vo) parents have a way of imagining the worst...

...especially when your easily distracted teenager has the car.

at subaru, we're taking on distracted driving [ping] with sensors that alert you when your eyes are off the road. the all-new subaru forester. the safest forester ever.

you clean dishes as you cook, to save time and stay ahead of the mess. but scrubbing still takes time. now there's new dawn powerwash dish spray. the faster, easier way to clean as you go. it cleans grease five times faster. on easy messes, just spray, wipe, and rinse. on tough messes, the spray-activated suds cut through grease on contact, without water. just wipe, and rinse. get dishes done faster. new dawn powerwash dish spray. spray. wipe. rinse. extra life. extra power. extra life. extra power. extra life. - power. - life. power. extra life. no need to argue. vs. coppertop,... duracell optimum delivers extra life in some devices or extra power in others.

just hours away from the democratic debate in new hampshire. this is the last chance for the candidates to be on television. buttigieg buttigieg -- biden has been talking about being able to beat trump. now his ads have switched. >> my wife and daughter were killed in a car crash.

40 years later, one of those little boys, my son bo, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given one month to live. health care is personal to me. obamacare is personal to me. >> a personal story, you bring obama in. for a guy who has been having trouble making a connection with voters even though he's so well known. >> he has tried different messages, the electability message, the i can take on trump, i can heal the country message. it seems going back to the biological personal story he's trying now where he had a struggle in the first race where all those messages didn't seem to propel him back to the top. he's going back to something that helped him in the past by telling his personal story. >> we're waiting to see if the buttigieg strategy works, a guy who spent $4 million of his own money. and bernie sanders is going

after two guys above him in the polls. >> we simply can't trust someone who doesn't have the experience to beat trump and the economy. >> he's running on the hope that trump can't beat the economy. >> he goes after three, biden, buttigieg and bernie sanders right there. >> what experience does tom steyer have to be calling out buttigieg? to me it's like, to what end? >> if no one else is nominated, he's not getting a ticket to the nomination. amy klobuchar hoping for a ticket to the nomination. >> we have a president who thinks everything is about him, his golf course, his tweets. we have decency in the white house and get things done. >> on camera there. it's interesting. >> it shows us her face but

decency versus trump, that's what everybody is trying to say in some form or another in that field. thank you for joining us on "inside politics." hope to see you back here at 8:00 a.m. sunday. brianna keilar starts right now. have a great afternoon. > i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters. war underway right now, an acquittal in the senate, a jolt in the economy. what it means for the president's hold on power. the stakes are especially high tonight for two top tier candidates in new hampshire. plus he's a key witness at the center the of ukraine scandal who called it crazy to withhold u.s. military aid. and in just minutes, bill taylor reacts to the president's acquittal in his first interview. on edge. a cruise ship carrying some chinese nationals docking in