against his critics. >>sabrina: but with a presidential campaign underway, the president also asked for voters to help change the tone of politics. >>president obama: the future we want, all of us want, opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living, a sustainable,eaceful planet for our kids, all that is within our reach. but it will only happen if we work together. (clapping) >>president obama: it will only happen if we can have rational constructive debates. it will only happen if we fix our politics. >>sabrina: the president even expressed regret that the parties are farther apart since he took office. here's iowa's republican senator responding. >>senator grassley: he made a call for cooperation. it kinda

president that puts out all the executive orders that he wants to put out. he doesn't interact with congress to much of an extent. >>senator ernst: i think we have seen already 7 years of the, the promise of hope and change and working together. unfortunately this past year in my experience we haven't seen that. and so the best thing that the president could've done was really extend that in this past year and work in a bipartisan manner. >>amanda: iowa republican congressman steve king skipped out on the speech altogether instead opting to pray in a private chapel in the capitol for a new president who will quote restore the soul of america. but, a show of bipartisanship already on display among some members of the iowa delegation even during the speech. check this out. democratic congressman dave loebsack and republicavid young sat together, loebsack

presidential candidates have been keeping busy on the campaign trail and they also discussed this call by the president. >>sabrina: jeb bush told supporters in urbandale the president's not a good messenger. he even compared him to donald trump. >>mr. bush: a president that will try to find common ground with people and forge consensus and stand on principal, but never just as the first impulse divide us. the front running candidate for the republican nomination has this same tendency. he does. >>sabrina: dr. steffen schmidt, professor of politics at iowa state university joins us now to hash out our theme this week of why can't politicians come together? (chuckling) >>sabrina: so we wanna ask you do you think that anything can be done in order to fix this huge divide between the democrats and republicans in washington and did the president even do anything with this speech? >>dr. schmidt: well, i think the american people seem to want congress to work. they want democrats and republicans to get things done. you don't have to agree on everything, but you

gridlock because then you can't solve problems. and i think it will take a new president before this can come together because president obama, in fact, is now a, a lame duck president. it's the end of his term. he has not been a good communicator. he has not really reached out even to democrats, his own party, in the house and senate. and so i think it's gonna take somebody else. but that president is gonna have to, i think, try and work with people from the opposition 'cause i don't think any party's gonna have an overwhelming majority in congress to be able to go alone. >>amanda: they're gonna have to learn to work together. now, nikki haley echoed a simil theme in her official gop response. so do you think that this will be a message that seems to be popping up more and more among mainstream republicans as well? >>dr. schmidt: well, you used the word mainstream. that is perfect because a lot of very conservative republicans were angry at governor haley because she was talking about, you know, working with the democrats and so on. and there is a piece of

may be a piece of the democratic party as well, that just can't stand the other party, that thinks that you're giving up and giving in and surrendering if you work with the other party. and so nikki haley only represents one portion of the republican party. and we don't know if it's the majority or not. we're gonna have to wait until this all sorts out and until the elections take place. >>sabrina: well, do you think that it's worse because we are in a primary season? i mean, do you think maybe some more moderate temperament will come, come out after they've maybe gotten that right wing vote in the primary? >>dr. schmidt: and the left wing vote in e case of the democrats because that party is divided as well. and the answer is you're absolutely right, sabrina. in the middle of a heated campaign when people are wanting to get attention and want to get the nomination, it's very difficult to concede to the opposition and be nice. you know, it just, we know that you throw a lot of mud during campaigns. we don't like it. seems to happen every two years and every four years. and once

there will be some policy issues on which the republicans and democrats can come together and conservatives and liberals can come together. >>amanda: let's quickly talk about paul ryan before we go to break. do you think that he'll be able to usher in a new era of congress being able to work together after the success that we saw with the budget bill? >>dr. schmidt: i think paul ryan would like some parts of this to work. he certainly did magic. i mean, he got a big budget passed. he got a couple of bills passed that were sort of stuck. but i think he is still a conservative republican and he's not gonna really yield on a lot of the issues that the conservative republicans, and most of the party's conservative now, wants to hang tough on. but i think the change from boehner at least opens up an opportunity for him to put together a coalition of people in the house. and he may even have to get some democrats to vote. i mean, boehner didn't wanna have any bills passed the democrats were, were necessary for. he wanted 100% republican

to do and i think ryan is a little more willing to have some legislation that both parties like. >>amanda: mmhmm. >>sabrina: well, steffen, you'll stick with us. and coming up next, we recap the republican debate and the new back and forth that's emerged over who's actually eligible

(music) >>amanda: welcome back everyone. we move now to what's new in the republican race this week. so let's start by taking a look at where things stand in our latest iowa poll. it's donald trump and ted cruz who've run away pretty much with the race here in iowa at this point. marco rubio's the only one that's even close, but still more than 10 points behind those top two. ben carson once in the lead in iowa has dropped off to just 7% support now. chris christie is there with 4%. alright, so we wanna talk about this newfound trump/cruz rivalry that has definitely started. >>sabrina: now several months back, steffen, you were actually the one, we were just talking about this in break, that you predicted on this show that donald trump would start playing the birther card against ted cruz once ted cruz started to

creeping up on him in the polls. >>dr. schmidt: yeah. >>sabrina: you were right. it even came up in the debate thursday night. so cruz forced himself, was forced to defend himself. let's take a listen to what he said. >>mr. cruz: back in september my friend donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way and there's was no issue there. there was nothing to this birther issue. now, (laughing) >>mr. cruz: since september, the constitution hasn't changed. (laughing) >>mr. cruz: but the polls numbers have. >>sabrina: so steffen, you and i have spoken about this quite a bit now. >>dr. schmidt: mmhmm. >>sabrina: do you think this is fair that he's doing this or i mean, is he just creating noise? (chuckling) >>dr. schmidt: i, look, the word fair comes up all the time. i just got a, a text message from someone saying it wasn't fair. this is politics. (chuckling) >>dr. schmidt: and politics, um, you know, all is fair in love and war and politics as they say. and it, it had to come up. i mean, it had to come up because it's come up with

came up. mccain was born in the panama canal zone which was a u.s. territory and so there was no question that, that he was okay. but if you're born in canada it wasn't so clear and even if constitutionally it is not a real legal issue, you know, it is a political issue. and now there's a lawsuit that's just been filed in houston against cruz for him to kinda demonstrate that he actually is a natural born u.s. citizen which the constitution says is required. so what it means is politically it's very bad for cruz because it's drip, drip, drip, drip. it's gonna come up like hillary clinton's emails. every week's it's gonna be another episode of it. so that's where we are right now. >>amanda: so you think this will actually, it will have an impact then? >>dr. schmidt: well, is gonna have legs because a lot of people, um, you know, they're probably not very comfortable with a cuban-canadian running for president of the united states if there is some question about whether it's constitutional or not. and i, i personally think it's probably, he's okay. it's >>amanda: mmhmm.

and there's some nuances. there's the supreme court. remember i said this on this show as well. the supreme court has never ruled on exactly what that means in the constitution. never ruled on it. >>sabrina: the natural born right. >>dr. schmidt: natural born american. >>sabrina: natural born american. >>dr. schmidt: exactly. >>amanda: mmhmm. >>dr. schmidt: so it's open for some controversy. >>saa: okay. so donald trump did also in the debate make a bit of a joke, it's kind of a snide remark that he would have ted cruz as his running mate for vp. i mean, would you ever see those two on a ticket together? >>dr. schmidt: absolutely not! (chuckling) >>dr. schmidt: it is absolutely forbidden for anyone who has run against you in the caucuses and primaries to then become your running mate because you have different positions. you have different views. and, and you have a lot of ego. i mean, if you're running for president you have huge ego. and if you are the president, you don't want your vice president to have an enormous ego 'cause it'll just get in your way. so that was, that was a cute little thing and, you know, sort of demeaning to cruz to say well, i'm gonna be president, but maybe i'll have you as my vice president.

course cruz came right back, >>amanda: yeah. >>dr. schmidt: and said well, if pick you as my vice president which of course would never happen. >>amanda: only room for one ego, though. >>dr. schmidt: that, one ego. (chuckling) >>dr. schmidt: that's all you can have in the white house. >>amanda: now on friday, jeb bush won the endorsement of senator lindsey graham, the south carolina senator dropped out of the presidential race last month. he said his number one issue was national security and that's why jeb is his guy. so will this help jeb bush at all? >>dr. schmidt: well, i think the three people who were supporting lindsey graham (chuckling) >>dr. schmidt: i mean, in the polls there were probably 3 or 4 people in the country, they may say well, if lindsey is endorsing, you know, jeb bush then i will, too. but i don't think lindsey graham has a huge constituency. on the other hand, he represents the establishment of the republican party, lindsey graham does. >>amanda: right. >>dr. schmidt: and the, and the establishment is looking desperately for someone besides trump and cruz. >>amanda: mmhmm. >>dr. schmidt: they, you know, there are about 3 or 4 republicans who, who fit that establishment picture and i think the party is trying to figure out which one of those to

>>amanda: mmhmm. >>dr. schmidt: and, and, and that was maybe the opening shot of that. >>amanda: okay. >>sabrina: do you think the establishment can win the nomination? >>dr. schmidt: very difficult. it's very difficult because nowadays we don't have smoke-filled rooms with party bosses saying you're gonna be our candidate. the voters decide. they pick delegates. the delegates go to the convention. and if you don't get those delegates, you know, you're not gonna get nominated. so i think it's gonna be a hard, hard job for either rubio or jeb bush or one of them to surge up, but it's possible. it's possible that once people drop out and there is a smaller field, let's say there are 3 or 4 left. >>amanda: mmhmm. >>dr. schmidt: it's possible that rubio will, for example, or jeb bush will attract some of the moderate republicans, establishment republicans who don't like cruz or trump. >>amanda: alright. >>sabrina: it'll be interesting. >>amanda: mmhmm. coming up, we are gonna talk about the democratic poll shocker this week. it's a frontrunner flip-flop that happened here in iowa. that's when we come

(music) >>sabrina: welcome back everyone. we talked republican polls and frontrunners, but now let's move on to the dems. (swoosh) >>sabrina: there was a shocker in that latest iowa quinnipiac poll out this week. a new frontrunner for the dems. bernie sanders have overtaken hillary clinton leading among likely caucus goers here in iowa 49 to 44% which is outside the margin of error. of course martin o'malley with 4%. >>amanda: so what do you think, dr. schmidt? shocker? >>dr. schmidt: it's, it's not a shocker because bernie sanders has been gaining so much momentum. >>amanda: that's true. >>dr. schmidt: and his people are so enthusiastic. >>amanda: mmhmm. >>dr. schmidt: we'll, you know, have to see if they turn out for the caucuses, but it really is a huge problem for hillary clinton. she was not expecting this to happen again. >>amanda: mmhmm. do you think sanders could actually, if he does well here in iowa, i don't wanna even win, but if he does well that he has a chance to win the nomination? >>dr. schmidt: he has a chance to win the nomination. he has enthusiasm all over the country. it's just unbelievable. he's like the donald trump of the democrats. >>amanda: yeah, he really is. >>dr. schmidt: huge crowds, enthusiastic. but, will they turn out to vote? that's the big question.

path look like in order for him to actually get the nomination? >>dr. schmidt: oh, he'll have to go like obama. he'll have to go long, all the way to june 'cause he's not gonna do well in some of these primaries where hillary clinton has it all lop. but he can go long and pick up delegates in all kinds of places that hillary clinton isn't interested in. that's what barack obama did in 2008. that's why he won. and i think bernie sanders can, can duplicate that. so it's a real challenge for the clinton campaign. >>amanda: few more seconds here. the critof bernie sanders and other democrats who were originally lower tier candidates was that the democratic debates were so low profile and they really have been. there's another one sunday night, tonight. the thought was that this only helped hillary clinton. is that the case? >>dr. schmidt: well, i think the other candidates wanted more exposure. and i think it is the case, but it hasn't worked out that way. i mean, bernie sders is suring ahead in the polls so obviously the number of debates they had was enough for him to score. >>amanda: alright. thanks a lot. coming up next, we're gonna move right on to another subject matter, bipartisanship. we talked about it a little earlier in the show. not only the big message behind the president's

all the talk as the new iowa statehouse session gets underway

(music)>>governor branstad: when we work together, challenges are overcome. results are delivered, and iowans have a government that works for them. when we fail to work together, challenges become steeper. results are fleeting and the government fails the very people that we should be serving. >>sabrina: governor branstad this week kicking off the 2016 statehouse session with a call for lawmakers to work on working together. they were a lot of things last year that lawmakers just couldn't agree on. >>amanda: mmhmm. >>sabrina: but one above the rest. it was a bitter battle until the very end, longer than it was supposed to be. >>amanda: yes. >>sabrina: and nobody came away happy. >>amanda: of course we're talking about education funding. it's just one of the things that i got to discuss with the brand new speaker of the house. (pounding) >>amanda: linda upmeyer made history actually this week as the first ever female sworn in as speaker of the iowa house of

father, del stromer, served on, in that very same seat 34 years ago. her family legacy, political career and issues like education were all part of our discussion earlier this week. >>linda: dad was elected to the legislature when i was in about 7th grade so i got to learn a little bit about the legislature early on. you know, i was always interested in politics so when other girls were going off to, to girl scout camp or 4-h camp, i was also going to teenage republican camp. so i, i just grew up in a very political family. i spent a lot of time working on my dad's campaigns. ultimately, governors' campaigns and got involved with president reagan's presidential campaign when i was a very young woman. so those were wonderful experiences, kept me very interested in a political kind of world and yet

little kids. so didn't really think about running for office myself until the kids were raised in high school. then i started looking for opportunities and during 2002 with the redistricting there was an opportunity to run for office. i jumped in and won a primary and was able to ultimately win the general election and became a legislator. >>amanda: and now you're the speaker of the house. >>linda: yes, i am. >>amanda: the first woman ever in iowa to have that position. that's a pretty prestigious position to have. what do you think about all that? >>linda: well, it, any speaker will tell you whether you're male or female it's an incredible honor and very presgious to be the speaker of the house, to be chosen to, to do this is, is really, really an honor. >>amanda: was it something that you pursued or expressed interested in, interest in or was it something that somebody came to you with h, what do you think of this idea? >>linda: sure. well, as the

majority leader for 5 years. >>amanda: right. >>linda: so it was sort of natural r me to consider it. >>amanda: yesterday when we were talking after the governor's state of the state address, about the bipartisanship attitude, that there seemed to be in the chamber a lot of things that he was mentioning were getting standing ovations from people in both parties. >>linda: right. >>amanda: is that something that you think will stick around for the whole session or does that whole attitude of bipartisanship sort of start to wane as time goes on do you think? >>linda: you know, i think it, it's one of those things that is more of a curve. it, it, you know, there are obviously things, and we heard them yesterday laid out where we have opportunities to work very closely together and achieve really great outcomes for iowa. we also both have strongly held principles when it comes to spending and budgets sometimes, you know, we're on a little different pages. we will fight those battles. i absolutely

that supports our positions, but, and moves iowa forward, but we're, we're discussing issues and topics. i always think it's unfortunate when people make that personal because we're each out there supporting our principles. and it doesn't have to be, um, uncivil. it doesn't have to be in a, in a way that is personally negative. >>amanda: yeah >>linda: we should respect each other's ideas. we should look for opportunities. >>amanda: well, i'll wrap up by asking what maybe some of those issues are that you think will come up this session that are gonna be big talkers for people, that a lot of people maybe on both sides are passionate about and for you personally what you hope to see accomplished this session. >>linda: well, i hope we settle the discussion on education funding early. schools need to know what kind of resources they're gonna have available to focus on students. and i think we can make that decision

things. >>amanda: so you heard speaker upmeyer there talk about education fundings, funding. here's what's gonna need to be hashed out for all of that to happen, though. governor branstad, in his condition of the state address, asked for a 2.45% increase in funding. so that's one number. the senate democrats are holding onto a 4% increase. that's what they pitched last year. and then house subcommittee moved forward on a 2% increase for the budget. so where will all of this end up? we're just gonna have to

back. 1st. that's when iowans will fulfill their first in the nation duty, that is caucus day. i hope it's circled on your calendar. we know that it is on ours. (chuckling) >>amanda: it definitely is. thanks for joining us everyone. >>sabrina: have a great rest of

(dramatic music) d: hello, and welcome to ag phd. i'm darren hefty. b: and i'm brian hefty. thanks for joining us today. this fall we've been talking a lot about fertility on ag phd, especially with micronutrients. well, today we're going to talk about one micronutrient you may have never tested for, may

about it, but it's essential