candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by bret baier, megyn kelly and chris wallace. up next the o'reilly factor. good night, everybody. [ applause ] ♪ ♪uet,vç hi, i'm bill o'reilly, reporting tonight from los angeles. thanks for watching us. the big republican debate and reaction to donald trump on the factor last night. that is the the subject of this evening's talking points memo. well, we received about 7,000 emails from you guys. commenting on mr. trump's decision not to attend the republican debate in iowa this evening. and, of course, about his chat with me. there was massive coverage on that and i will run it down for you real quickly. cbs morning news, fair. abc good morning america

fair. "today show" reporter named peter alexander who said i all but begged trump to do the debate. and nbc we -- msnbc we don't monitor anybody. cbs was strange they used hatchet men but anderson,ç cooper was fair. the worst old bob beckel. >> o'reilly is scared to death of megyn kelly because megyn kelly has been beating him in ratings. the first time that's happened since it's been -- fox news channel has been on the air. >> of course that is absolutely false. false, not true. and that's why beckel doesn't work here at fox anymore. he could not care less about facts. on the newspaper side, you know there wasn't anything horrendous. papers like the "new york times," "l.a. times," "the washington post," they don't really care for fnc or donald trump. in this case there weren't any distortions or fabrications the kind of

thing we see on the left wing internet sites. the most interesting analysis was done by chris in the "the washington post." he puts forth that trump is so far out ahead that he doesn't need any more debates. so that's why he passed on iowa.-éç the excuses he made were all smoke. now, it's impossible to say whether that's true but it's certainly a provocative theory. on the viewer front about 70% of the folks thought the interview was worthy. 30% hated it. sarah skeleton, uconn, you what kind of car you drive but i'm guessing there is a donald trump bumper sticker newport news, virginia thanks for pressing trump. based on his tirade against fnc i have a very difficult time supporting him. smith, appleton, wisconsin you claim america wants to since when is that your job? well, i believe it's my job to give my opinion, ann. and that's my opinion.

jack faulkner, climate falls, oregon, o'reilly you exposed trump for what he really is a vindictive person who is not presidential. tucson, arizona, bill, it is not your job to tell trump how to÷'3 run his campaign. he is at least as smart as you think you are. pam at a kissson florescent, colorado, gallant effort, bill but trump cannot be rehabilitated narcissists only see their point of view. pat from illinois. bill, don't be a pinhead, trump is right in changing the status quo and not allowing ridiculous questions by debate moderators. shank rosewell, georgia. bill, i must compliment you on the trump interview. you schooled him and he lost his powerful persona as a result of running away from the debate. don, happy jack, arizona. bill, you are a wimp. some you can see the trump interview sparked a

tremendous amount of debate across the country. that's good because this man may indeed get the republican nomination. the more folk know about the trump candidacy the better most americans did not know much about barack obama. yes, he was reelected and that is to his credit. did voters really understand really bama's governing philosophy? i don't think so. so if donald trump, a private businessman his gain enormous power, we, the people, have to pay attention. that was the theme of last night's interview. by the way, even if you are calling me names, i appreciate you watching the factor and taking the time to write in. what i don't appreciate is dishonesty in the media but lot more of it after last night's@h÷-ñ everyone should understand that many consider fnc the most powerful news agency in the world right now. that leads to an enormous amount of envy.

finally for all of you one issue folks, and you know confess i throw your mail in the garbage not because of your opinion but because fanaticism is boring. fanaticism is boring. i get mail1 k÷ extreme folks, press stow, it vanishes. maybe that's wrong, but i simply do not have time for it. and that's the memo. next on the rundown, reaction to tonight's big debate in iowa. less than an hour away, charles krauthammer, austana@ goolsbee, bernie goldberg, the factor is coming right back from los angeles. t8o1u÷nes,

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impact segment tonight, let's bring in our pal charles krauthammer who will be assessing the republican debate in a few moments. has thoughts on the trump interview last night. what say >> listening to the emails you were reading, and assuming it's a random sample, i think the viewers, people out there are pretty split on this. but i think you have got to look at this two ways. i think trump has already won. his major objective and it has been ever since he announced is to garner all the publicity he can. he has had great success in doing that all the way through and then as of the beginning of this spat on monday it's been wall-to-wall coverage. it's only about trump is he going to show up or is he not. it wiped out any news about anybody else, any issues. it's about nothing but. so on that front, he wins. i think there is another front. i'm not even sure he calculated this one in advance. but what this does do, he has got a lead in iowa. cruz is the one guy who can

challenge him there. and you canozçç be sure that had trump shown up at the debate, cruz would be prepared with every piece of artillery that he has, lines )eájju$at he would have, all the ordnance would be dropped on trump. trump could only stand to lose, i think. he did have success when cruz attacked him on new york values. he had that amazing 9/11 trump card that he plays -- excuse me for the pun. but that worked. i think if you have a man-o-mano. what cruz did is he avoided all of that. sitting on his lead. the only negative is some people in iowa could be offended, small state, they take it seriously. he could lose a few points of support in iowa. but nationally. >> i think there is another downside to him. >> he comes out0dw3ok ahead.

>> the mail, the 7,000 -- i didn't read all of them. we assessed them by a percentage basis. ran about 70% liking the interview. 30% not. the ones that were anti-trump in the 7,000, many of them said the same thing that they want a strong leader and this is across the board, national. a strong leader doesn't back away from this kind of a thing. and i think that that point may hurt him nationally. you say? >> i say i'm sure there is some people who think that. i would say there are equal number of people who knows? >> trump has to persuade. he has about, i think the estimate was 20% of the american public, this is across party lines now. see him as somebody they would vote for for president. he needs 30% to persuade. he has to persuade.

that's what i was trying to tell him last night. look, people are still taking your measure. you are right in the sense that he dodges any and not just from cruz but you figure rubio might throw and certainly jeb bush is going to throw stuff at him. he dodges all that but he doesn't have enough now to win the general election. not even close. >> well, i'm now in the very odd position of defending trump, which is something extremely new to me but i will give it a shot because this is just analysis. we're trying to assess is it going to be a net plus or negative. on the negative side, yes. people will say he ran away. on the other side hehp6ç avoided the possibility of a disaster on stage. not a high probability but still in the realm of possibility. but, secondly, there are a lot of people as you read in some of the notes, who admire a guy who goes up against big institutions, fox is big. he won't back down. he now is going to have all kinds of screen time on the other networks.

and here's what's going to happen. for the next week or so, the same way he dominated all the discussion up until now, he is going to be dominating between now and the caucuses on monday because he is going to talk about the ratings. he is going to want to show how much the ratings have diminished in the debate from the one he was in to the one he is not in. he will want to show the ratings about his being shown on the other networks with his speech. >> i don't think there is a he will try. >> what he wants is the oxygen of publicity. wipes. >> of course, he wants the spotlight onç6 all right, now -- >> -- if you are the frontrunner -- publicity. >> in the remaining time i on the stage, the others have more of a chance now to get their message out in a defined way. who do you think benefit the most from him not being

there? >> i think the one with the biggest potential upside is rubio. if you look at the last poll, he is rising very quietly in iowa, up to 18%. he is only, you know, a little ways back from cruz. if he outperforms cruz it could nudge him to the point where he will either be lapping cruz or coming up near him which i think would give him some impetus. he has the biggest upside. but, of course, you never know with these guys. i think it's a three man race. i really do not think the other candidates have a reasonable shot. the only possible exception is christie. and that will depend on new hampshire, not on iowa. >> all right. so you think it's cruz, trump, and rubio? >> of course. i don't see anybody else. barring some act of god.) >> and then when they start to drop out next week, this will be fascinating next week when some drop out, and they will have to, it will be interesting to see where

their support, you know, it's not great but they are still people, where that lands. all right, charles. we will check back in with you and we appreciate as always. next on the ruppdown, democrat austan goolsbee from his point of view. then bernie goldberg. then dana perino. and the factor will be right back from southern california. i've smoked a lot

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together, we're building a better california. personal story segment tonight, it will be very interesting to see how many people watch the republican debategñ tonight after trump bailed. joining us from chicago dr. austan goolsbee a democrat. so from the opposing aisle how do you see the debate tonight? do you agree with charles krauthammer that rubio has the biggest opportunity and, also, what about the trump

factor? let's go with the debate first. >> okay. you know, i think in the debate, when i was in college i use to do debate against ted cruz. he is a very, very good debater. and the world knows that now. so i stilla5x think cruz has got an upside. i thought charles krauthammer was pretty insightful about some of the others and that maybe this is sort of a three way race. the question will be for this debate can these candidates avoid start attacking each other and keep the focus on taking some cheap shots on trump if he is not there to defend himself or will it descend into a scramble. >> i will be shocked with anybody mentioned trump. you said you debated ted cruz. where was that? >> he was at princeton and i was at yale. so we use to do debate pretty much every week. >> did you guys -- so there was an ivy league debate. did you wear short pants and bow ties? >>v% i wish. he sometimes did have a bow tie. >> there you go all right,

now i know the canada going to go after each other a little bit. rubio and cruz. that's a good thing. people need to see what they're made of. that's what i told trump last night people are still taking your measure. >> i 100 percent agree. as you said to charles in that last segment, right now -- i think this is risky for trump to skip. this he has got, let's call it 35% of the republican primary. that's about 14 million people. you need more like 64 million votes to become the president. so the question is not are his people going to stick with him it's can he get 50 million other people is to say yes i'm for that guy. this goes right to the heart of who he is. that's why i think it might hurt him. he is supposed to be the tough guy. >> i don't know about that you are right on your first point. >> he said the nfl has gone soft. the president has gone soft.

the country has gone soft. he gets one tough question and he won't have anything to do with the!fç debate. he doesn't want to say fox. >> none of us are buying that excuse. the guy in the "the washington post," i think, is right that they calculated trump has got more to lose than win in this debate. he is way ahead. sit on his lead, you know, going to defense and not showing up. >> if that's what he is doing, then that shows a side of him that's different from what everybody thought they were getting, which is he doesn't care about the polls. >> that might be shrewd political move. >> he is going to tell it like it is and suddenly he is like whoa, wait, i'm ahead, i'm not going to engage in the debate and maybe i can coast to victory. i just think that's complicated. >> it's all about in a short-term what the people in iowa think about his failure to get out there. and nobody can predict that the lastbñ i looked, 33% of

the people who are likely to vote in the caucus said i can change my mind at the last second. so you don't know. and that's why the debate tonight on fox, which is coming up in less than an hour is so important because somebody in that -- on that panel has a real chance with this, you know, big media guy not there to really distinguish himself. it's all guys. ms. fiorina was on the early panel. >> that's true. iowa has always historically been hard to poll. the polls don't tell you that much but b. what's actually going to happen in the caucus there. >> we will know monday. i have got one more question on the other side. bernie sanders, apparently and the press is writing this. this bernie doesn't talk to me anymore. we used to be really tight, bernie and i. eating ben and jerry's. >> does he owe you milk shakes? >> he doesn't owe me milk shakes. >> want some of those milk shakes. i love milk shakes. >> we have more in the milk shake deal with bernie

goldberg. go negative on hillary clinton. okay. if you were running bernie sanders' campaign would you have him go negative on mrs. clinton? >> i wouldn't. now, it's not a secret. i support hillary clinton and not bernie sanders. i think if bernie sanders goes negative it's kind of about trump. it goes against who he is supposed to be. he is a very positive feeling candidate. he has got very passionate supporters. if he starts coming out and looking less like a regular politician throwing elbows to get ahead, i think that will undermine his brand, really. >> all right. so you would continue -- but if he continues the way he is going, trying to sell this loopy socialist view of the world, he is not going to beat her in iowa, probably. she will prevail there. he will beat her in new hampshire. >> i hope that's true. i hope that's true.

but i don't know. you know, a guy like bernie sanders who got a core passionate following, a lot of times they overperform in a caucus with a low turnout s like what they might have in iowa. >> all right. doctor, as always, thank you very much. plenty more ahead as the factor moves along this evening from southern california. up next, we'll take you to iowa where hemmer and mccallum grill the undercard republican candidate. goldberg and perino on what might happen tonight in just a few moments. we hope you stay tuned to those reports. ♪ (cell phone rings) where are you?

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campaign 2016 segment tonight, fox news anchor martha maccallum and bill hemmer mod der rated the debate they join us from des moines. who do you think was strong? you have four choices. give me the strongest. >> i thought carly fiorina did well when she talked t0#tiát4t juz be prosecuted. she got a lot of attention from the crowd. rick santorum had well thought out answers he talked about his pro-life position quite a bit. they all talked seriously about the issues of isis and down sizing the size of government. you know, bill, at this point they are very ready for these questions. they have everything very formulated. >> sure. >> the tricky part is to try to get them to ain't the questions as you have asked them and in some ways that was challenging. >> all right. now, hemmer, and i don't mean to be disrespectful here because i think all four people on the stage are patriots.

and i like them in the race. i think that they should be heard and their ideas areqa xcc÷ worthy. but none of them have a chance, not one single chance to get this nomination. do you, hemmer, think they know that? >> yes. no question. >> okay. good. >> i would just add that sometimes it is -- i would argue that 50% of the time tonight, bill, they did not answer our questions. but it's difficult as a moderator when you are going you have to be careful that we do not become the story. they went after the media several times. i kind of expect that. i will say, this bill. in all likelihood, maybe monday night, maybe early tuesday morning, you're going to get a couple people in all likelihood dropping from this race. >> we just said that. and where that support goes is not huge but it's

significant. they don't know maccallum. they don't know they are going to win. they have do it and i know this to be a fact because they want their message to get out. and the more well known they get is the more influence they may have on the speaker circuit or maybe a government appointed position if a republican wins. so, there is an upside for them. in the debate tonight, because i didn't have time to watch the whole hour because i was writing the program here was trump's name mentioned at all in the debate, maccallum? >> it definitely came up. rick santorum in his first answer when he was deriding the media and pointing fingers at all the different entities that were the reason that he is not doing better in this race said, you know, they are much more interested in an entertainer. clearly that's an issue that is dogging this whole process in people's minds. they clearly believe that if itk weren't for the media and powers that be and donald trump they will be doing better in this race. >> i think they are right. >> you know, to some extent.

i don't know that for some of the people on that stage tonight it would have made a big difference. somebody like carly fiorina who has worked very hard. she has campaigned very hard in this campaign, a couple of the others that were up there on that stage have also worked pretty hard going into this process. i think that she was, you know, she knows that she is in a very difficult position at this point. at one point she was on the main stage and i think that things have gone for her. i don't know how long she will stay in but we will see. >> as we all know in the media, name recognition is hard to get. even when you are on television every day. it's hard for people to lock in on who you are and what you do. this field. because if he weren't running, okay. then the others would get more media attention and people would more easily get to know who they are. so that's absolutely correct. but you have got to deal with realty. now i don't expect, hemmer

trump to come up very much in the main debate at 9:00. these guys will go after each other and they are happy he is not there because they will get more face time. do you disagree with that, hemmer? >> i think that's a safe bet. i can't say that trump is not going to come up. it will at some point. perhaps several points over two hours. but, when you look at the battle between bush and rubio, when you turn on a tv here in des moines, bill, i mean, it is ad after ad after ad. and if the rest of america could see this, they would be pulling their hair out because that's what the people in iowa have been subjected to. they enjoy the process. and they really enjoy it when the candidates respect them.:pyçt( >> well, it looks like though, maccallum, that his ads are being effective because he is come up in the polls. at least the last ones released today. his position is improving. but, look, we don't want to speculate on that, it's not

important. you know, hemmer, you may be right and i may be wrong and you will never hear those words again, okay? because cruz, particularly, may use the absence of trump to just slay him because is he not going to get trump to come back. and bush may do that too. initially think, you know, he is not there they will ignore him. but they might use their time, all right, to get him because he is not there. last word, maccallum. >> i think it's a golden opportunity for these people tonight because he is not showing up. there is going to be a lot more oxygen available on that stage tonight than there ever has before. in terms of marco rubio or chris christie or kasich up there. they are also playing to the crowd in new hampshire because there is no debate between now and new hampshire. >> that's right. good point. >> basically have this story be coming out of this tomorrow that they,nti] did a little bit better when the caucus is over than people thought they were. and if they have a little upside surprise that's going to help them going into new

hampshire. >> that's a good point. martha, hemmer, thank you. when we come right back, bernie goldberg watched the trump interview last night with interest. he will be here. then, miss dana perino arrives. the factor is coming right back from southern california. ♪ ♪ my li'l buddy? and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital but i wondered if this was the right treatment for me. then my doctor told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots, but eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. knowing eliquis had both... turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve . ight away if you have tingling,

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thanks for staying with us, i'm bill o'reilly in the weekdays with bernie segment tonight. let's get right to the purveyor of bernard goldberg.com which joins us from miami. all right. first up, media reaction to the trump interview. anything catch your eye? >> yes. i was absolutely stunned by the amount of coverage given to the interview. i could be wrong about this, but i think there was more coverage of your interview than when neil armstrong walked on the moon. i may be a little off on that. it was all over the place. and in very important places. it was on the networks, the "new york times," "the washington post," all over the internet, of course, but there was one thing, one thread that ran through almost all of the stories that i either read or saw. and that is the interview, bill, wms covered as entertainment, as a show. not as politics. donald trump is running for

president of the united states but it was covered like fight night on the fox news channel or shootout at the ok corral. listen, i used this term before and excuse me for using it again in the united states of entertainment. that's where we live whether we like it or not. in the united states of entertainment. entertainment is king and that interview was pretty entertaining and that's why it's received the massive amount of coverage that it has. there is another reason why it was covered as entertainment was because the liberal newspapers our competition on cable ande+ on broadcast doesn't want you to give fox news legitimacy. they know as i said in the talking points memo that many consider us the most powerful news agency in the world. you don't want to give us more credibility so that if they have to cover us and they did, they are going to cover us in an entertainment

or snarky way. would you disagree with that? >> no. there was some snarkiness. there is no question. and i would offer up this advice. take a vanilla milk shake. take a sip of it. and then follow the advice you gave donald trump. turn the other cheek and forgive these people who have been snarky to you. >> i didn't make a big deal of it. >> ij >> absolutely the best. the reason i injected the vanilla milk shake into the debate if people don't know. there was actually a picture in the new york daily news of me sitting at yankee stadium with trump and both of us drinking vanilla milk shakes. a lot of people didn't know what i was talking about. what i was trying to do was use a sense of humor to trump because i knew would get it right away to congeal him into being responsible and showing up at the debate so people could take his

measure. >> right. >> i don't drink, trump doesn't drink. so we are at the game, instead of getting beers, we get milk shakes. inevitably i wind up paying for them. all right. that's what that was all about. but for months have you been saying that one of the reasons donald trump is successful is because he doesn't care what anybody thinks. last night he proved it he doesn't even care what you think. no matter how much you try to guilt him, you tried to guilt him with those have a vanilla milk shakes. it didn't matter. you talk about his independence and his toughness. he showed the evidence of that last night. the milk shakes didn't matter. the cajoling, the imploring, the beseeching, none of that mattered. for all a i know donald trump. >> there is more to it though. >> knowing donald trump, he may still show up at this thing before it's all over. >> you know who is the man behind the curtain and here he is, it's what's my line.

what i wanted him to do and what he didn't do and this is what politicians do all the time was say, look, i said you owe it to the country to do this because you are running for president. and a lot of the people don't really know, yet, you know, who you are or what you want. and you owe it to them to be there in these kind of tough. >> let me just make a quick observation about that it didn't come off to me so much as a political interview as a spat between two old buddies and a very, very public spat. as far as the journalism is concerned. this. i don't think it's a good idea for a journalist, even an opinion journalist, giving advice to anybody running for president 'of the united states. it just causes problems but we disagree and, you know, reasonable people as they say disagree. >> advice giving but i look at it as looking out for the folks. i want the electorate to

elect the next time around the best possible candidate. therefore, i want all the candidates to get as much exposure as possible. as i said in the(hyç talking points memo and i believe firmly, people voted for barack obama they had no blanking clue who they were voting for, none. i don't want it to happen again. you can say it's advice giving, i say i'm looking out for the folks. >> but you don't think that's an unreasonable interpretation. i know what you are saying. >> yes. do i think it's unreasonable? no. i don't think it's unreasonable. but do i take it seriously? >> i hope it goes up your nose -- good line, goldberg. show them what you are drinking. show them what you are drinking before the interview, right now. >> red bull. >> look at that see? he can't just come on as a

normal person. he has got to be stoked. >> listen, without a red bull, i would fall asleep during the segment. >> you know what, bernie, just take the red out of that and you have got it. i want you to watch the debate. we will check in with you later on this week about winners and losers and how everybody behaved and it's to bernie goldberg. this is a good time to tell you we are tweeting mostly about politics at o'reilly factor. @ o'reilly factor. tweet. we hope you check it out. dana perino on deck. should happen' in the big debate just moments away. to destroy them. and keep america safe. jeb bush: the united states

should not delay in leading a global coalition to take out isis with overwhelming force. announcer: tested and proven leadership matters. jeb bush. right to rise usa is responsible for the content of this message.

back of the book segment tonight, the sixth republican debate will begin in just a few minutes. dana perino is in new york city tonight and joins us now. the dynamic as we have explored throughout this hour has changed with trump not there. i want you to analyze what you believe all of the candidates have to do. let's start with ted cruz. go. >> okay. well, he has to show that he can expand his conservative base. he has got number one spot there at the moment. give or take with setting aside donald trump. so i think that he is going to be in somewhat a position to get a lot of wax tonight. he has to show presidential. temperament for him would be important. >> would you go after trump he is not here, let him have it. >> i think they are going to have to address him in some way, yes. they have to mention him. i'm sure they will probably be asked about him. i think i would move on. take this opportunity to shine when he isn't there.

>> what about marco rubio? what does he have to do tonight? >> i believe that marco rubio is the one who will be most attacked by the rest are of the panelists because all of those candidates have been attacking him in one way or the other. he is in a poll position to get at least third in iowa. but the poll recently of i think just yesterday showed him 18%. that's higher than he has been. i think he believes that he is peeking at the right time. he said what he is going to do tonight is show71?xib that e can unite the republican party. if you are looking not just to win iowa but the general election, he wants to try to makebsthe case that he is the best person to take on hillary clinton. >> but how is he going to unite the republican party if all the other candidates attack him? he is going to have to defend himself. >> it's one of the things that he is actually very good at is rising above the fray and speaking in a way that actually appeals to people's hearts rather than just getting into the nitty gritty of the policy stuff. >> he is going to have to do a reagan's there you go again. ben carson, last stand for him? >> it could be and he could

actually do better than people believe. youi3ñ know, i have been hearing reports from people out of iowa who know the state very well that his ground game is good and remember that big surprise four years ago big surprise four years ago in 2012 when rick santorum, a month after the iowa caucus, finds out that he won it. and carson has a strong base of support in iowa. he could surprise tonight. >> he's got to have a point of view tonight to really cut through, because remember, there's seven people on the stage. >> right. >> without trump, all of them have a much, much better chance of getting face time. jeb bush? >> i think that for jeb, if you look at some of the new hampshire polls, it shows that he's doing well there. that's some talk by his campaign that he has a better ground game than he's being given credit for in iowa. when he knows he's not going to be personally attacked, at least not by donald trump, maybe he can take this opportunity to at least find his -- the strongest

voice he can to nail his closing argument for why he should be a candidate and he has to deal with bush fatigue, which is real. >> now, he's been going after, as bill hemmer and martha pointed out in iowa, rubio. he's been all over rubio in iowa. i'm not sure why he's doing that. >> i think that he's looking at -- if you try to narrow down the race and you get it to two or three people, he wants to be that alternative to a trump or a cruz. some conservatives wonder why are you doing this to marco rubio, who has spent all sorts of money to defend himself from attacks from not just jeb but christie and kasich. i think they're going to have to show that they can play nice to each other. remember when jeb went after marco rubio a couple of debates ago and the whole crowd booed? i don't think he'll do that again. >> chris christie, what does he have to do tonight? >> he's the one that has -- aside from trump, he's the next

most plain spoken candidate in the race. so i think that if he can have a memorable line, a memorable moment, sort of like trump and cruz both had two weeks ago in charleston, i think chris christie could get some headlines tonight. >> he's running in new hampshire, that's really where he has his firewall. john kasich, doing all right in new hampshire polling, nowhere in iowa. >> his team would say differently and they tried to show today that they have momentum, that they're not just focussing on new hampshire. media wise, that's certainly been true. i think there could be some surprise, maybe not in iowa, but certainly new hampshire and possibly going forward. there are some people, as you know him very well, he is appealing, he talks to people in a way that makes them feel he understands. his strategy is not to go after obama all the time. there are some republicans in the country that appear to like that. >> finally, rand paul gets back on the big stage.

he has no chance, as we said months ago. what would you advise him to do? >> he has to have one of these hail mary passes where he has a great, memorable line and is not annoying in terms of interrupting everybody. and he has to show reason to be there, do you think you can win the presidency and make the case for that. in 2012, his father came in third. a lot of that support network still exists, and he'll have his father campaigning for him saturday. i wouldn't be surprised if rand pa think. >> all right. dana perino, everyone. thank you. wild mail segment just moments away. we hope you stay tuned. hey pal? you ready?

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so many letters last night. but i want to remind you about a sensational promotion. in you become a premium member, you get any one of my books and a copy of the constitution, all free of charge. and if you buy "killing reagan" on the website, you get wiehl's book free, as well. and if you want to see dennis miller and i live, check that out on the website, as well. now the mail. >> my tip was to avoid unnecessary conflict by walking away, joe. when it's important, you have to stand your ground. why waste time on nonsense? how that applies to mr. trump is up to you. >> possible, larry. here's a question for you. who is the only president who

also sat on the supreme court? the answer is william taft. >> karen, you didn't have to become a pm, but we're very happy you did. all the letters sent to "the factor "get equal consideration. >> you know, diane, people have been asking that question for decades. >> that would be a false assumption, mr. lynn.

we use charity navigator as our barometer and wounded warriors has a decent rating with them. >> i really appreciate you taking the time to read my book. i know you have homework and all that kind of stuff. >> many reasons, bill. but primarily because i still have old towns in levittown who might hurt me if i did. >> you know, doc, all of my killing books are translated all over the world into scores of languages, but i appreciate the heads up on beijing.

>> in june, right here on the fox news channel, jeff. this season, it will focus on the patriots and there will be a book, as well. thank you for asking. now, tomorrow, obviously we're going to analyze the big debate, because it's very important as we all pointed out, that there isn't another debate before the iowa vote on monday and the new hampshire primary. so this is it, to get a look at the people that want to be president of the united states on the gop side. so we'll have that tomorrow. should be a rollicking "factor" and we have bair and ms. megyn and chris wallace. they're in iowa and warming up and it's not easy to be a moderator of a debate. you have seven people on the stage, three moderators. that's a lot of dynamic floating around. so watch, watch the back and forth. that's what i do. i mean, what they say is what

they say, you have to listen. but the dynamic is very important, as well. that is it for us today from southern california. thanks again for watching. please remember, the spin stops here because we are definitely looking out for you. ♪ [ applause ] 8:00 here in des moines, iowa. i'm bret baier, with megyn kelly and chris wallace. >> tonight, we are coming to you live from the iowa event center in downtown des moines in the shadow of the iowa state capital. in just four days, people here in the hawkeye state will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. >> tonight, we're partnering with google for