president's replacement for will happen? he's going to nominate somebody but republicans have said they're going to let it sit. >> well, i'll say, john, it is beyond my comprehension and just speaks the unbelievable level and unprecedented level of republican obstructionism against obama from day one. this is not something that is in debate. the constitution of the united states of america provides that the president appoints, nominates, a supreme court justice. and then the senate holds hearings and deliberation and votes on whether or not to approve that nomination. the idea that republicans want to deny the president of the united states is basic constitutional right is beyond my comprehension. i will do everything that i can to make sure that when the president makes his nomination,

speedy a process as possible. holds the necessary hearings and hopefully appoints and selects the president -- the supreme court justice that the president nominates. >> dickerson: what levers, senator, do the democrats have though if the republicans in majority they decide to slow do? how far could it go? >> well, i think should do everything that we can. i think the main leverage that people. look, you could be conservative, you can be a progressive. but you cannot allow, we cannot allow the republican majority in the senate to deny the president his basic constitutional right. there are very important cases that need to be heard that are not going to be determined if we do not have a ninth member of the supreme court. i think the issue is taking the situation to the american people. and i think fair minded

political point of view will be say this is absurd. this is obstructionism. this is not what democracy and what the congress is supposed to be about. >> dickerson: let me switch back to politics with you. when you did well in new hampshire and delegate counts came out showed that you picked up some delegates in new hampshire, but because hillary clinton has so many of those superdelegates the numbers look quite tilted in her favor. what is your overall feeling about superdelegates and their role in the nominating process? >> well, look, john, we are taking on the establishment, democratic establishment in virtually every state that we're running. most of the establishment in fact is with hillary clinton. but this is what i think. i think if we continue to do well around the country and if superdelegates whose main interest in life is to make sure that we do not have republican in the white house if they understand that i am the candidate and i believe that i am, who is best suited to defeat the republican nominee i think

i will also say this, that i think you can get a sense of the notice within the clinton campaign now using their super pac money, funded largely by wall street against me. so i think they understand that in this campaign we have mow men and superdelegates are >> dickerson: who are not bound they could switch, even though they committed them selves for the mom to hillary clinton any warning signals from them coming to you? >> just met with a couple last night. >> dickerson: wow, that sounds encouraging, senator sanders we appreciate you being with us. we'll look forward to talking to you again soon. >> thank you are very much. dickerson: we'll be right back with more results from our cbs news battleground tracker

stay with us. wish your skin could bounce back like it used to? neutrogena hydro boost water gel. with hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin. hydro boost. from neutrogena >> dickerson: we're back with more of our battleground tracker poll and cbs news elections director anthony salvanto. we'll start with the republicans, we've got iowa and new hampshire in the books heading into south carolina. what does it look like? >> donald trump is up here. he is up big. now, his lead is about the same as it's been but underneath that lead the strength of his support has grown. so among his supporters, ones who say they are now firmly committed to him is up from last month. this looks like the anatomy,

last month they said, in order to us to be he has to convince me that he can win. well, what happened, he up with in new hampshire, he won big. you see that movement i think it explains a lot of it. then also see he's up here with couple of key groups, namely conservatives and evangelicals. his lead with evangel pals has grown over the last month. more certained about -- as we learned in iowa. that said, those are two key groups, evangelicals make up majority of the electorate here that underpins the support. >> dickerson: we've been, you and i talking about more months the durability of donald trump's support. it's what allows him to survive every time something happens and people think, well this will now hurt him. it sounds like that is only getting more durable. ted cruz let's talk about him for a moment he's the one trying to make inroads into those groups, evangelicals, conservatives, very conservatives, how is he doing

conservative here. that is the one subset of conservatives which is up. iowa. some degree out of new hampshire. also you saw even his close statement with you last night where he's tried to reinforce that if you want the real conservative. if you want -- check the boxes on what conservatives are looking for. donald trump isn't really competing in that same space. donald trump is competing more as the person who can fix things. attacking donald trump, knot having conservative, that hasn't quite taken hold yet here. @what about the non-donald trump, non-ted cruz lane, some people call the establishment lane, the mainstream candidates, how do they sort out? >> first of all we saw a bump for john kasich he went from 2% up to 9% here. he actually does particularly well among non-evangelicals and

they would like the next republican nominee to compromise and negotiate more with democrats to get things done. of course trouble for him is, that's a minority here. two-thirds say they want somebody to stand up more for democrats. he may be limited. >> dickerson: there's limited group for kasich in south carolina, that's important because he needs to do well in say a south carolina to get a little momentum what about rubio, where do things stand for him? >> he's in third with 15%. one of the challenges for him coming out of the last debate before last night and even you saw in our instant poll, being prepared for the presidency. he's middle of the pack on that. he's a little lower, even lower than jeb bush in that regard. so that's his challenge going forward, you can build that up probably build momentum. >> dickerson: clinton. >> sandra:ers what does it look like? >> still big for hillary clinton as you mentioned in your interview with brands.

american vote here is what is underpinning her lead. now, we've got a different electorate here, african american vote will mac up majority of that democratic vote coming up in two weeks. so, she's up big with them. bernie sanders is with that vote i see most african americans say that they feel like they know hillary clinton very well. but by comparison very few say that they know bernie sanders very well. so you might see that as a challenge for him because he's got to introduce himself. but you also might see that as an opportunity as he mentions in his interview if he can introduce himself. >> dickerson: are you suggesting her support isn't super durable he could grab some of it? >> i think that is the challenge for him. yet his support is businessed in some of the same things we saw in new hampshire and in iowa. he beats hillary clinton on the honest and trustworthy question. although here both candidates are seen as honest and

and he still wings among young voters and white voters it's a question of what the shape of the electorate is here. as you mentioned in his interview as we head south in this race just aren't that many states that are friend tee to him if he keeps the same coalition that he had up in new hampshire. >> dickerson: anthony salvanto, always a pleasure, thanks for being with us. we'll be back with analysis of last in and out's debate and the

stay with us. >> dickerson: we're back. peg knee noonan is columnist for the wall street street journal. dan balancing is chief washington correspondent for the "washington post." kim strassel columnist for the "wall street journal" one of our moderators at last night's debate. and jamelle bouie chief political correspondent and cbs political news analyst. all four of you here we are on the stage where there was so much excitement last night. i don't want anyone calling anyone else a liar. peggy, give us your reaction, what happened last night? >> it was lyons and tigers and bears, oh, my, it's what happens when a field -- uncoordinated

men who are really fighting and really want it. there were lots of sparks. to me there were two headlines. one is, donald trump didn't just have controversial or interesting remarks to say on the invasion of iraq. by going into, looking at jeb bush saying your brother lied to get us in there and also he was president during 9/11 and he should have made us safer. to me he was getting into or he was into code pink territory. not democratic party territory, not moderate republican. but code pink territory. i'm not sure how that's going to play. i think we may be hearing a bit about it the next few days. second thing was, i know many people think that jeb bush seem strong in his sparks moments with donald trump.

falls back on saying he's a 63-year-old man who is constantly saying, don't pick on my mom, my dad, my father is the best father in the world. there's something odd and unbecoming about it. we know he loves them and why that's wonderful. trump was talking abut serious issues, i think he should have >> dickerson: what is your take? >> i agree with what peggy said. this was debate for the ages, you must have felt the heat standing a few feet away. >> dickerson: i didn't realize i needed sun screen. >> it was remarkable. i think to peggy's point, donald trump is clearly not a pure conservative in any stretch of the imagination. and instead of trying to sugar coat that in some way that politician might, he went in the opposite direction last night. in the short term in this state where he has very strong lead may not hurt him. in the longer term as this field narrows it could very well really be a big problem for him. and i also think that the more

the bush family, peggy said, it is a problem for jeb bush because we know even region the republican party for as much affection for the bush familiar bushes. >> i think south carolina is going to be the test of whether or not donald trump can say or do anything and if voters just keep supporting him. because it wasn't just iraq. on a lot of different things much on imminent domain, on america approach to russia. whether you reform it, he's to the left of lot of the party if they just accept that. i think it means that there isn't anything he can say or do that will ever turn off his supporters, portion of the republican electorate. the other thing i did like about last night, all of the talk and the conversations an the fights, the lie, lie, lie, there was a lot of good discussion on policy debates up there about taxes, on

it was good because there were only six guys up on the stage. i think it was a moment for a lot of voters to see a lot more about these candidates than they ever had. >> dickerson: what did you take away from it? >> emphasize peggy's point that this was a real brawl. grew up watching professional wrestling, reminded nothing so much as cage match between bunch of very able wrestlers. what that said it's true that donald trump is much more to the left on number of issues, be. but my hunch is that donald trump is not so much speaking to republican voters as he's speaking to the broader class of american voters. a lot of people agree with donald trump about iraq. lot of people agree with donald trump about president bush's administration. i have this hunch that much of the same way that bernie sanders is in lot of ways not that much different from mainstream democrat but has the sort of the appeal of a not democrat democrat you can still support president obama but not have to

donald trump is not a republican republican. lot of american they want change from president obama but don't want to endorse things like the iraq war, donald trump offers an option. >> dickerson: naps trump does well here is that it, of to the races, it's done you? mentioned once he he gets further how much of a big thing would it be if he won? >> so much depends on how rapidly the rest of the field winnows as region as you have say kick, rubio, bush, competing, continuing to go on the more difficult it becomes for anybody to stop him. but i was talking to terry sullivan who is rubio's campaign manager in the spin room last night, they view, this is a delegate battle as he talked to you in the interview this morning. also basically a matter of survival. that you just keep going and keep going and eventually others will fall away that when you get into the later stages of this campaign when it is winner take all that's the time when the anti-trump faction becomes large

>> dickerson: based on the stage they may literally fall away as one of the bushs comes counsel. ted cruz made the case with donald trump on judges, this is -- get your take how important he said basically nominate a liberal judge and pay attention to that, voters. does that have resonance? >> justice scalia's death so up fortunate this is a moment that focuses all conservative minds. as you were sitting there watching last night it made everyone realize how important it was that the republicans had won the senate now have ability to do something abut obama nomination it puts the stakes up how important it is going to be to win the white house for them. that was ted cruz's message up on the stage. this is now an issue, this shows you all why we're having this debate. why this is so important and why we've got to win. the question is going to be, whether or not republicans can unite around one of these guys in the end and they do understand those stakes because

>> dickerson: let's switch quickly to justice scalia, peggy, what is your sense. there's a fight now over this, how do you think it plays out? >> the first thing is, this is an epical moment. in a divided country more or less with a divided court more or less. with a president leaving in ten months. with a major presidential election coming up, what a moment to have the u.s. senate consider and president consider nominating a replacement for a man who was really a giant in a way, so much meaning to conservatives in america who took such comfort in his presence on the court. to me, i think my headline is, wow, this election year is turning -- this is like written by allen drury, this is advice or consent 2016. so dramatic. i am one of those who think i

hold off on a nominee and say, i understand all the facts here. let's go forward, you're electing the next president, america, just x months. this nominee will depend on the next president you pick. the court can get along 8-8 for a long time. >> dickerson: what do you think about, kim mentioned the role that justices have in the conservative movement. what do you think -- what role do you think it plays in the democratic race? >> this is an opportunity for both sanders and hillary clinton to emphasize the face of this election. i think this divide between candidates as sort of obscure the extent to which there are major differences between the two parties. president obama yesterday said that he fully intends to nominate someone. i think peggy your dream will that have to -- >> i'll stay a awake. >> she's an optimist.

president nominates is the republicans may not even consider the nominee so we're going to have this eight, nine, ten month period where both democrats are really going to be hammering on this fact, using it to say, you know, who wins november determines the future of civil rights. voting rights of this vast array of major issues. i think this might become the determinative issue of the election and may renoun to hillary clinton's case on the basis of electability. >> dickerson: a chance to play a role in any of the senate races? there are about five or six republicans in blue states, senators who are up in blue states do you think this matters in those states and there for might matter which party controls the senate? >> i think it very well could. we have seen really since bush v. gore the notion that the supreme court not necessarily an society.

and i think even more so as a scalia. i think we are headed toward a major debate about the role of the court and the significance of having control of the power, the levers that create the next supreme court. i think it's big not just in the presidential race but also -- >> dickerson: to add to that i think depending how it shapes out that we may look back at 2014 elections being hugely momentous. republicans didn't win majority they won comfortable majority, if democrats can't make that up this year then supreme court is sort of very open question. >> dickerson: give me your thoughts on democratic race where things stand now. >> bernie sanders is not going quietly into the south carolina wilderness. everyone said he doesn't laugh a chance down here, but he came out very strong out of new hampshire. he's working very hard to get

he's actually was mentioned earlier there are lot of south carolinaian voters who did not know him. but it is his opportunity and he's not letting that pass. >> dickerson: jamelle you've been on the ground doing some reporting what have you found? >> i found that at least in this kind of rough area that people are undecided. that precisely because bernie sanders is unknown there's a complicated relationship with hillary clinton and clintons in general. the 2008 primary was very divisivea lot of people have been able to walk past that, others are still sort of like apprehensive. sanders is being given space to make his case. i know that the sanders' campaign has in rural parts of the state this could be under looked. when people think about african americans tend to think living in urban areas, throughout the south there's lodge populations of rural black americans. and if sanders is organizing in that world then it really does i think change the game. >> dickerson: hillary clinton,

against a wall as the argument she's a fighter now she's in a fight, does that help her? >> i think the story here might be sanders' momentum but i don't know how big a story it is. mrs. clinton is winning where we are right now by 15 points, cold to the latest battleground that's a little smaller than what she used to be winning by. we are going to find out now if bernie sanders can take a chunk out of her support. going to figure out how much does she have to win by to look like a victor. i'm sure she'll work it really hard, this is important. i think south carolina is where mrs. clinton tries to stop bernie sanders' momentum. >> dickerson: last 45 seconds, dan, how nervous are they in clinton camp? reports of panic then more placid. >> i talked to four governors on friday all of whom support hillary clinton. and i was actually surprised the degree to which they still see

nomination. they know what she got beat badly in new hampshire, they know that the sanders message has taken hold. they know that she has to make some course corrections but they also believe that as we move farther into the calendar it's going to be advantageous for her. i don't know whether they're being optimistic because they need to be or generally believe that. >> dickerson: we'll see how it all turns out thanks to all of you for joining us here. thanks for all of you out there. we'll be right back. one day a rider made a decision.

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>> dickerson: that's it for us end when we're back in washington. for "face the nation," i'm john dickerson. captioned by

access.wgbh.org the same page. >> let's talk about this session, jan. there are controversial cases supposed to be are gaud and -- sa poz -- supposed to be argued and decided here? >> right. i mean controversial cases, on those hot button social issues. they usually divide this court along ideological lines, 5-4. now with scalia's passing, the court on most of those is going

when you have got a decision that is 4-4. a tie. the lower court decision is going to stand but there is no national precedent. the issue isn't revolved once and for all. that will have a big impact this term. there are some really controversial cases, jeff. i mean there is a case from texas, tougher regulations for abortion clinics. there is a case on affirmative action. on the use of race. and college admissions. and believe it or not there is another challenge to obama care. as well as the cases on presidential power like president obama's executive orders on immigration. and environmental policy, most of those cases now are unlikely to have a majority decision. so, they may not ready bring about a sweeping change in the law. again. thank you very much, jan. it was a bitter cold valentine's day in the northeast. jericka duncan has more on the teeth chattering, record shattering lows.