>> cynthia, thanks so much for joining us again in the same hour. that does it for this hour. i'm kate snow. "mtp daily" starts right now. >> if it's tuesday, fear is the new normal. today's l.a. schools shutdown shows what a terror threat can do. and hoax or not, it will weigh heavily on the minds of republican voters watching tonight's final debate before the calendar turns to 2016. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. good evening from new york. a nation full of fear over terrorism and school shootings watched in shock today as fear triumphed. with the recent attack in nearby san bernardino as the backdrop, the superintendent of the los angeles unified school system, made the extremely rare move to shut the entire district down based on what was perceived at

the time as a serious threat to multiple schools in the city. now you got to know this is the second largest school district in the country. more than 900 public and charter schools were shut down. the police chief said the threat was delivered via e-mail to a number of people around the school. it also said the e-mail referred to explosive devices and outlined an attack with assault rifles. a similar threat from the same ip address and perhaps the same source was sent to new york city school officials, but in new york, where there are more than a million students, a different reaction. mayor de blasio called the threat generic and outlandish. and bill bratton, who was the lapd police chief before then, said the person who wrote the e-mail claimed to be a jihadist. but after nypd spoke to the fbi,

they came to the conclusion it was likely a hoax. >> this is not a incredible threat, and it's not something we are concerned with. what we would be concerned with is overactireacting to it. we'll stay aware. we'll stay involved, but at all costs we cannot start overreacting to what will probably be a series of copycat types of initiatives. >> but in los angeles, the police chief and the mayor pushed back against that criticism. >> i would say this to people that are critical. it is very easy in hindsight to criticize a decision based on results that the decider could never have known. it's also very easy to criticize a decision when you have no responsibility for the outcome of that decision. >> the decision to close the schools is not mine to make, but

it is mine to support as mayor of the city of los angeles. i've been around long enough to know that usually what people think in the first few hours is not necessarily how it plays out in later hours. as the investigations unfold sometimes for a series of days, but decisions need to be made in a matter of minutes. >> a hometown paper, the l.a. times already has an article out, saying that closing the schools after the threat was the only option. they're not monday morning quarterbacking there. both the cities of chicago and boston, two of the other big school systems in the country, made a point of publicly saying that they did not receive a similar threat as new york and l.a. terrorism doesn't always have to equal bloodshed. terrorism can also be about fear and the extraordinary measures to protect the public even at the expense of massively disrupting the lives of millions as we've seen today. and it's clear that fear had now become the new normal in the collective mind of the country. our latest nbc news/"wall street

journal" poll captured this. terrorism and national security are now the american public's number one concern. after san bernardino, 40% say that national security and terrorism should be the top priority for the federal government and that number jumped 19 points since we asked in april. you know what happened between the spring and now. look at this number that i should highlight again. 71% of those that we surveyed now say that school shootings and random acts of violence have become permanent part of american life. they do not believe, we asked them, was this something that is an aberration in 2015, or a new normal. 71% said a new normal. and the national corps of army engineers said it's suspending -- this is the tennessee valley authority, citing concerns over possible terrorist activity. it's that sense of fear over the

security of the country that will be front and center as republican presidential candidates take the debate stage tonight for the final time this calendar year. let's go to what happened in l.a. and new york today with our justice correspondent, pete williams. so, pete, i assume now we have intelligence officials that are saying it's a hoax. the question is, who did it? >> that is the big question. and they are making some progress there. it was traced initially to an internet address in germany, but nobody ever thought that was the source. that was just a hop that it was routed through to try to cover the tracks. now they think it may have come from someplace in l.a. we know subpoenas have been sent out to a number of internet service providers. it's always hard to trace these things down. there were social media postings and they are able to trace those pretty fast, but e-mails take a little longer. >> and anything that made -- what was it that made l.a. react differently than new york? was it just because the person

was from l.a., they were more familiar with the school system and had more detail? >> no, i think to the contrary. remember, these two e-mails were sort of the same basic form, but changed as they were sent to the superintendents in l.a. and new york. they both had commonalities. they both claimed to be from a senior who'd been bullied, who said they had an army of supporters that were ready with bombs and guns to attack schools. in one case, they said the l.a. schools and the other in new york. new york officials say the reason they concluded it was a hoax was several things. number one, they became aware of the fact that a similar thing had been sent to l.a. so they said, how can the same person have sent -- how can the same person be a student in two places at once. >> and no other school systems, right? it was just these two? >> that we know of. >> pete williams, thank you. joining me on the phone, the mayor of los angeles. mayor garcetti, thank you.

>> great to be with you. >> walk me through the process of last night and just of the threat comes in, who gets -- and when did you guys bring in federal authorities to start getting outside help on this? >> school board members and i think most people understand that the school district is separate from our city government. we have no direct control, but he support and coordinate as closely as we can. school birthday members got e-mails 10:00 last night and they moved forward 4:00 in the morning. lots of threats come in all the time, but it was assessed through federal officials and local law enforcement, our police department, which was brought in, that there had to be a decision made about the opening of schools in the coming hour or two. at about 6:00, the superintendent of our schools decided in an abundance of caution to keep kids away in that narrow time period he had to make a decision. and it's very easy obviously to monday morning quarterback the decision he made.

while i didn't make that decision personally, i was there to support that decision, and we immediately, based on -- new york had the luxury of knowing that we already had that threat, that came out of a conversation between nypd and lapd, but when the superintendent here made that decision, he didn't know there were other cities that were potentially being threatened. so it seemed specific and credible is always in the eye of the beholder, after san bernardino. people here, just after boston and the marathon, and new york after 9/11, are on edge, and he made that decision in abundance of caution, to make sure we would keep our kids safe, our number one priority. >> i get the hindsight issue and i think you guys have made that defense. it's a very fair defense. but let me ask you this, as a public official, what have you learned from this that says, okay, if i can have this system in place, if i can make sure i've got this person at dhs, at homeland security or the fbi, what are you taking away from this experience? >> well, a couple of things. and thank you for that question,

because i think there are great lessons learned. we hope that all of our investigation will not turn anything up. it's been a great day from a security perspective. i don't think people can say definitively it's a hoax. it could be somebody testing our capabilities in multiple cities to see what sort of vulnerabilities there are. luckily it doesn't look like it was a genuine threat right now, but what we have learned, like with cyber attacks, we need to coordinate with our cities and nationwide, so we can know if it happened in seattle, is somebody in jacksonville getting the same thing. is there a way that all of us can quickly compare to others. we've raised this with federal officials. i've been in touch with mayor de blasio. we want to continue moving forward with a system that we can share this intelligence and sift through those things, that just because they're done in multiple places or may not lead to violence, doesn't mean they don't have some tentacles to testing of our capabilities. so sharing that will be important. and secondly, we need to make

sure decision-makers are brought in quite early. we are sharing work from our lapd with the schools, but there's a lot of school districts, smaller cities and others who just don't have the capability to necessarily always assess these and understandably, will err on the side of caution, but we want to make sure we continue protecting our liberties and our ability to live our lives freely, being very cognizant. >> mr. mayor, long day for you, thanks for your time. >> great to be with you. ranking democrat on the house select committee on intelligence, now says the threat that shut down los angeles was a hoax. you heard the mayor is not ready to sign off on that per se. that's adam shift. he also happens to represent one of the l.a. areas. congressman, what piece of evidence do you have to guarantee that this is a hoax, or know definitively it's a hoax? >> i don't know that we're prepared to say definitively,

but that's the preliminary assessment, that it now appears to have been a hoax. what they're evaluating is not only the text of the message, but also the fact that it was sent to two districts on separate parts of the country. where the threat came from. they compared, i'm sure to the kind of threat we've seen in the past from terror organizations. so that is, i think, the preliminary assessment. we'll know more and indeed get to the bottom of where exactly this came from, but it certainly appears that it was designed to either disrupt or just create some chaos among these school districts. >> you know, the nypd is known for having a very expansive counterterrorism division, works very closely with the fbi. i know that the same set-up exists with the lapd. are you looking at this today and wondering, does the lapd need more resources? does the lapd need better contact with federal officials? or do you not view that as the issue today? >> i'm not sure that that's the issue. i think there were a few things

that went into the different decisions. one of the key ones may have been, as the mayor was pointing out, that new york had the advantage of knowing about l.a. perhaps before l.a. knew about new york. that's a pretty critical factor. but also, you have different experiences. new york has had to deal with more threats than probably any other city in america. they have had a great deal of experience with this. and they have to make difficult calls, as do all cities. but you add to the mix that we just went through a really traumatic attack in southern california, which has heightened sensitivities in our region. so i don't think we should rush to be critical of los angeles for reaching a different conclusion, even though we may come to a final conclusion that it was a hoax. but i will say this too, which i think ought to be a caution to all of us, and that is, if this was not isis, it was not a terror organization, they're nonetheless watching. and if they come to the conclusion that they can

literally mail it in, call it in and disrupt large cities, they'll take advantage of that. >> do you feel like today was a form of -- a successful terrorist attack in that fear triumphed. there was no bloodshed, but part of a city got shut down today? >> i don't know that i would say fear triumphed, but certainly was enormously disruptive to a major city. and i don't know again that that was any kind of a link to a terror organization testing our defenses, but nonetheless, they will learn from this, even if they had no hand in it. and that means that we have to learn in kind as well. we can't disrupt major cities for every threat that comes in. at the same time, there's not going to be a bright line here. ultimately decision-makers will have to make a judgment based on the best information they have. and the mayor alluded to this. the key role for the intelligence community and federal law enforcement is to be the conduit for sharing of

information between the localities so they can all benefit from each other's insight. >> he definitely seemed to hint there was something more that could have been done now, in mind sight. thank you very much. the democratic presidential front-runner hillary clinton just took the stage in minneapolis, where she was detailing her plan to defeat isis and combat terror here at home. we're going to dip in and here's part of how she started her speech today. >> but i want to begin by saying, we cannot give in to fear. we can't let it stop us from doing what is right and necessary to make us safe and doing it in a way that is consistent with our values. >> so no direct allusion, but her comments came after she member with muslim community members and as a large part of the community remains fearful.

joining me now, hillary clinton supporter senator claire mccaskill. she was invited to be on as a surrogate for secretary clinton. i want to start with just your plain reaction of what happened today in l.a. and your -- this line between caution and fear. >> well, i think it's really hard and i'm not going to criticize or second-guess decisions that were made today. but i do think it's important that we remember that it was one of our great presidents that said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. and when we are afraid, they are winning. we have to have a leader who can rise above that fear, and we have to have fpolicies in place that give local government all the tools they need to feel more comfortable in these tough decisions they have to make. they made a tough one in l.a. and an equally tough one in new york. >> i was disconcerted when i

would hear some officials in l.a. today, this was a local decision, you know, we didn't necessarily -- it wasn't mandatory to deal with the federal officials. i guess why wasn't there more interaction with federal officials there, and should there have within? and your role on the homeland security committee, what do you want to look at in how this went down? >> well, i think one of the things that is beginning to ramp up and i think it's one of the things that hillary clinton is stressing in her campaign, we've got to amp up our capability here at home to go across agencies, to share information more efficiently, especially counterterrorism centers information. especially the work of the fbi and the intelligence community. this needs to be seamless. and it's true, the fbi doesn't respond to 911 calls, but they've got to be on speed dial, and the people who have the knowledge and the ability to find out immediately if there's any other threat like this that has been registered in the

country, those kinds of things have to happen along with obviously, getting into this century in terms of getting beyond things like radio-free america and spending more time on facebook. >> let me ask you, the president's been criticized by some for how he's handled these sort of public reactions to, whether it's san bernardino or paris. are you one of those that feels he should have done it differently, or do you feel like he's been right on point? >> well, this is not a president who was elected for his emotional personality. this was a president that was elected because he was calm and stable and collected. and someone who didn't lose, you know, no drama. so for all of a sudden, for everyone to expect him to turn into an intensely emotional speaker, is asking him to be someone other than who we elected. i do think a tough tone is

called for right now. but it's one thing to have a tough tone, it's another thing to do what the republicans are doing. they're surfing fear for votes. and we need to rise above the fear and have a leader who has a clear plan as complex as this is, to get us to the other side. >> senator, i'm going to leave it there. appreciate you coming on. good to talk to you. before we go to break, an update on this very busy day on the freddie gray case. the jury is still deliberating in the trial of officer william porter, one of the six officers on trial for gray's death. the jury told judge barry williams earlier today they were deadlocked. the judge said, go back and deliberate some more, telling them, do not hesitate to reexamine your own views. the jury of course must reach a unanimous agreement. they are expected to wrap up their second day of deliberation about 5:30 eastern time tonight.

coming up, we'll tell you about five things we're watching for in tonight's debate.

>> it's debate night in vegas. the weigh-in has already happened. you'll hear from rand paul after the break. he's on the main stage, plus surrogates from four big others. we'll be right back. know, i lik! i like you too! at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card and talk to a real person.

tcount on someone's kid mistaking me for santa. i'm so sorry. come on sweetie. it's okay. and knowing right when my packages arrive. introducing real-time delivery notifications. one more reason this is our season. the republican field heads into their final debate of the calendar year in just a couple of hours. joining me now on the phone, one of the men who will appear, senator rand paul of kentucky. senator paul, thanks for holding there for me for a few minutes. let me quickly ask your reaction to how l.a. handled today's threat and what -- how would you have handled this as president? >> well, i don't like to second-guess people have to make

decisions based on limited facts. so, you know, people erring on the side of caution and closing down the schools, far be it for me to come and lecture them on whether it's a good or bad idea. i think these are difficult decisions and i think it's sad that we have these kind of things occurring and i wish it weren't so, but i don't see an easy way to say how we're going to make it better, how we're going to have less of that. >> one of the things you were talking about in one of your e-mail a couple days ago when you were trying to make sure you made the main debate stage. you were a little bit frustrated about trump and you said, if i could get the same media time as trump, i'd be up there too, but then, how do you explain ted cruz and marco rubio? how have they moved up under the same conditions you've had to deal with. >> i think the polls are very fluid, people moving up and down. and i think it's basically an argument for why the election is still wide open. some of our frustration is we shouldn't act as if it's

decided. we also shouldn't act as if polls are final. the polls have been getting increasingly inaccurate. they had our democrat winning our governor's race in the last week by five points, and the republican won by eight points. so they were 13 points off in the last week. i would hate to think that we are basing who's either in debates or who can be covered, or who can run for president on something that really isn't science. but because it has numbers, some people mistake it for math. >> i guess the final question i have for you, there's some conventional wisdom out there that says, as this has become more of a terrorism campaign, national security focused, that it hurts you, because your libertarian views are at odds with some of the security positions that other republicans have. what do you say to that criticism? >> i would argue the opposite. i think people like hillary clinton and marco rubio, who

want regime change in libya, syria, iraq, that the regime change has made us less safe. now that you have a failed state in libya, a third of libya pledge allegiance to isis. so i would argue the opposite. that rubio, bush and others and not been for strong enough border security. and all the people who have come to attack us so far, have come here through our legal immigration system. i think it needs to be reformed and needs more scrutiny and really, that's where the blame is deserved, not on those of us who want to still have the fourth amendment and have privacy. >> senator paul, look forward to the debate tonight. we'll be watching. >> thank you. let's turn now to bush supporter and nevada senator, i know you've been standing there, my apology. thank you for your patience. >> thank you. and everybody's asking where you are, how come you're not here in las vegas? >> well, it's another network's debate, so i heard. >> we got to get you west of the

mississippi some day. >> i love being west of the mississippi, trust me. >> all right. >> let me ask you about the state of the bush campaign. the more money he's spent, the lower his polls have gotten. how concerned are you as a supporter? >> actually, i'm not that concerned at this point. i've been in touch with the bush campaign. and one of the statistics that really comes out is that eight years ago, obama did not overcome hillary until after the new hampshire primary. i think there's plenty of time. i think we have to get through this holiday season. get into the first of the year, wait until the first votes are cast on february 1st and wake up february 2nd and see where we stand. i think there's a lot of reality that has yet to hit the american people. once they start talking about the issues, frankly, as i've been listening to you on national defense and the economy, i think people are going to come to the conclusion that one, we need a governor, a leader in the white house. >> why do you think so far republican voters, the ones we've interviewed, the last name, governor, they're not

happy with any governor either. we all thought a governor was going to be -- and governor seems to be the last characteristic they're looking for. what's going on here? is it just not his time? >> actually, it's one phenomena right now and that's trump. i think he's a product of the media. this is reality tv. i think "morning joe" ought to be changed to morning trump. all they do is spend the first 30 minutes of their show -- >> but how do you explain ted cruz? but same question i had for senator paul. those guys have made progress. ben carson made progress in this world. >> right, i do believe that people are coming to the understanding that trump right now is out in the front, carson, you're seeing him drop. and someone had to replace carson, i think cruz and rubio right now are the two candidates that are getting a look at right now by the average voter out there. at least those that are paying attention. so this thing is going to ebb and flow, there's no doubt about that, but there's no doubt that

trump has received a majority, far majority of the media attention thus far. >> to win nevada, what's it going to take? granted, this is still a new system for nevada republicans. and this is probably the first time that it's really been competitive this time. where before it was mitt romney or ron paul the last two times. what is the best way for somebody to win nevada? who do you think, other than bush, would have the edge? >> well, first of all, we're in las vegas today, because that's how important nevada is to this process. keep in mind, the final debate in the general election is also here in nevada. so to your point, nevada has become a crucial part of moving this country forward and trying to elect the next president of the united states. there are three issues. the first one, of course, is national defense. we need a strong commander in chief. number two is the economy. and number three, frankly, is

the public lands. i'm just hoping our moderates today understand that. i know they'll talk about national defense and the economy, but i certainly hope they hone in on some of the lesser issues, like public land and other issues, fire, water, because this doesn't just affect nevada, it affects the whole western portion of the united states, and i certainly hope that's where the discussion goes today, because that's the one that's going to do the best. >> i'm guessing you don't like donald trump on eminent domain. i'll leave it at that. >>. [ laughter ] thank you. we miss you out here. >> you got it. doesn't take much to get me out to vegas, but, you know, when you're network's involved, i'll see you soon. >> love to have you. >> thanks. still ahead, top surrogates from the cruz and trump campaigns on what to expect from their candidates tonight. >> and violence is the new

norm normal? we'll look at the threat that fear plays. stay tuned. when it comes to social security, we need more than lip service. our next president needs a real plan to keep social security strong. (elephant noise) hey candidates! enough talk. give us a plan. prge! a manufacturer. well that's why i dug this out for you. it's your grandpappy's hammer and he would have wanted you to have it. it meant a lot to him... yes, ge makes powerful machines. but i'll be writing the code that will allow those machines to share information with each other. i'll be changing the way the world works. (interrupting) you can't pick it up, can you? go ahead. he can't lift the hammer. it's okay though! you're going to change the world. and i'm still struggling with my diabetes. i do my best to manage. but it's hard to keep up with it.

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more vegas debate previews. we'll have top surrogates from the trump and cruz campaign, the two front-runners. but first, it's time for the cnbc market wrap. here you go. >> thanks, chuck. we saw stocks rally. the dow climbing 156 points, the s&p up by 21, the nasdaq rising by 43 points. federal reserve policy makers began a two-day meeting earlier, they are widely expected to announce a quarter point rate hike tomorrow afternoon, the first since 2006. consumer prices were flat in november as gas prices fell, but core inflection, which strips out food and energy costs did inch upward. and 100 million people are expected to travel for the holidays. the most ever. thanks to those lower gasoline prices at the pump. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. understands the life behind it. for those who've served and the families who've supported them,

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ted cruz is riding high heading into tonight's debate. he's the only elected official that has successfully so far straddled the line of outsider status and not fallen in the polls. he's jumped to second place. in iowa, a couple of polls have him up big. the des moines register has him up ten points. cruz's rise doesn't come without consequences. rubio and trump are both taking aim at him. and we could see a big clash tonight. maybe. joining me now, the national spokesperson for the cruz campaign. rick, good to see you. >> good to see you. wish you were here in vegas, chuck. >> i hear you, i hear you. four years ago you were working for newt gingrich. at this same point in time, newt gingrich surged. it looked like he was the

conservative alternative front-runner, right the position that cruz is in now. how does cruz avoid the fall like gingrich did? >> well, a little different. this has been really a slow, steady strong climb, it hasn't been a surge or peak. but the other thing, we're so organized in iowa and throughout the march 1 states, all the way up to march 15th. we've had 170,000 people sign up to volunteer at ted cruz.org. 3,800 volunteers knocking on doors in iowa, making phone calls. the reason that makes a big difference. when people see other candidates on television running negative ads and your neighbor rings your door bell and asks you to vote for ted cruz. who are you going to believe? we believe the ground game is important. these people want to be found, they're excited and we're going to carry that through state after state after state. >> i know you guys are tired of this question. but if ted cruz is attacked by donald trump, he's not going to fight back? is that the way we interpret

that tweet and the irene kara video? >> i think you see a lot of corn, peas and mashed potatoes flying around the stage. but ted cruz will defend his positions. there's been a lot of talk on national security and he's strong. he's ready to lead. he understands the substance of the policy issues to keep us safe. and so that's what ted cruz is going to project today. when people try to tear down his record, on foreign policy or anything else, he's going to defend his record. you can call that fighting back, but i think that's -- i think that's the way we've handled that. >> but he seems hesitant about going after trump, is that fair? >> well, to be fair, he hasn't really gone after anybody, he's defended his record. but he has not engaged -- >> he's more comfortable going after rubio than trump, no? >> i don't know about that. i think donald trump likes ted cruz. ted cruz likes donald trump, there's been a little banter back and forth, but we'll see

how it goes tonight. >> we'll see. rick tyler, sorry for the glare, just proved it's still sunny in las vegas. >> no problem. >> ted cruz is on the rise, but for now, it's still donald trump on top nationally. trump will stand center stage tonight once again, a position he's had for every debate. as much as trump is exciting primary voters, he's had the opposite effect on many members of the republican establishment. ahead of tonight's debate, he insists he's helping the gop. >> the other candidates should be thankful. because i'm giving them a chance to make total fools of themselves in front of millions of people. but, no, honestly, i'm doing a good job for the republican party. people are able to get their votes out. and people may like this one or that one, and that's okay with me. >> i'm joined now by sam clovis, national co-chair and senior policy adviser for the trump campaign. mr. clovis, welcome to "meet the

press daily." >> i'm going to pile on, chuck, why aren't you here in las vegas? >> i know, it's becoming a theme. you know, perhaps i can't afford it anymore after my last visit there. now i've told the real truth. >> well, if i had your money, i'd burn mine. >> i doubt that. coming from the trump surrogate, i doubt that, sir. [ laughter ] mr. clovis, let me ask you this. obviously you guys expect a lot of incoming tonight and for various reasons on various issues. sometimes mr. trump likes to fight back, sometimes he doesn't. does he have a strategy, or does he go up there and wing it? >> well, i don't think -- it's like anything. you lay out an outline, you have a plan of what you would like to do, but like mike tyson said, everybody has a plan until you get hit on the nose the first time. so i think that's really the situation. i think mr. trump is really looking forward to this. i think he's prepared to have a lot of shots come in from a lot of different people, because

there are a lot of people that are polling in single digits. and the only way that they're going to make any ground is to go after mr. trump or senator cruz. and i think that's really what we're going to see more of than anything else. and i think both mr. trump and senator cruz will do what they're supposed to do. they're going to be standing next to each other. there's a reason that they're out in front. >> what is that reason? >> well, i think the reason is that they're able to offer up to the voting public, and certainly in the primary process, that they're offering something that the rest of the government has failed to offer for the last 28 years. we haven't had very good leadership going all the way back to h.w. bush, i don't think we've had a tremendous amount of leadership out of my generation, to be frank. so i think what we're really looking for is someone who can come forward and lead. someone who is not part of the establishment. and in mr. trump's case, he's a

builder. he's not a debater. he's a person who's accomplished. he's a person who's done wonders. he's created tens of thousands of jobs. he started over 500 companies. this is an individual who has done more for america than all of the rest of the people on that stage combined when it comes to creating jobs and creating an economy in this country and i think that's what the people are looking for. >> let me ask you if you're concerned about, you know, look, ted cruz is -- donald trump has had a great ride in the press, as every candidate that comes on my show will say to me, ad nauseum, but ted cruz hasn't had the same ride and he's made inroads, very on the ground, hand-to-hand campaigning. mr. trump doesn't do a lot of retail campaigning. he does big rallies and those are important, but are you concerned that the lack of retail campaigning is going to cost him in a place like iowa that expects it? or new hampshire that expects

it? >> well, not at all. you haven't talked about our ground game in iowa, have you? >> no, and i need it's a good one, but you need a candidate front and center to do those smaller venues, to do the handshakes in every county. >> this campaign is not like anything you know. it's not like anything i know. it's not like anything that's been done in this country ever before. and i think what we're seeing is, when we go out to events and we have between 25 and 30,000 people show up at events, and we collect thousands and thousands of pledge cards, and we have thousands and thousands of pledge cards that we're following up on. we're creating those databases. we're doing the data mining. we're going after these voters the same as we have always done in iowa. it's just that we have not been on the ground doing six pizza ranches a day. >> all right, sam clovis, be very careful. remember, don't put a lot of money on the double zero greens.

always get you in trouble. >> what i do, i just throw 20 dollars on the first table i go by, i figure that's my cover charge, chuck. >> there it is. sam clovis with the trump campaign, thank you, sir. still ahead, the 2016 fear factor. how big is it, and how long will it last as a top issue in the primary? i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? this holiday, i can count on my going off list.again, and knowing right when my packages arrive. so that's two things. introducing real time delivery notifications. sign up at myusps.com start the interview with a firm handshake. ay,no! don't do that! try head & shoulders instant relief.

it cools on contact, and also keeps you 100% flake free. try head & shoulders instant relief. for cooling relief in a snap. still ahead, more "mtp daily" and more on tonight's debate in las vegas. and next, the who, what, where, when, and why in today's headlines that you missed as the world was focused on l.a. including what milestone more

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time for the ws. the who, congressman charles luth any, the latest to announce he's running for the senate seat. he's the second congressmen to jump into this primary. to the what, it's graduation day for a record number of high school students. the department of education announced 82% of students graduated high school during the 2013-'14 school year, the highest rate ever recorded in the united states. not too shabby. the where.

it's seattle, which became the first u.s. city to gift uber drivers the power to unionize. the the bill which will let contract drivers collectively bargain. now to the when. it's 2015 and merriam webster's word of the year, it's a cop-out, they made it "ism." the top-searched "isms" were fascism, and terrorism. they didn't want to do a word. they did t an "ism." the why. our eyes are on tonight's debate, but another debate has yet another chapter. rob manford announced he would not lift pete rose's ban from baseball. as for the why. rose had a press conference today. >> you lose some, you win some. and you get rained out unless you're in the dome. it's just part of life.

if i could change the way my life was lived, obviously, i would change. >> and to all my political reporter friends in las vegas, pete rose is in vegas. go find him. i guarantee you he's got something to say about tonight's debate. up next, the role fear will play in tonight's debate and the rest of the 2016 campaign. stay tuned.

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it's gotten squarer. my moover the years. brighter. bigger. thinner. even curvier. but what's next? for all binge watchers. movie geeks. sports freaks. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. and we're back. it's time for the lid. joining me now former rnc spokesperson, katie burke,

heather mcgee, and steve kornacki. let's talk about fear in l.a. katie, you worked in the west wing today. look, everybody's going to -- we're going to have some hand-wringing, but the important thing will be, quote, the lessons learned. but the other part of this is, this is a country that is on edge. l.a., more so, probably, because of san bernardino. but the whole country is on edge. we saw it in our poll. >> yeah, absolutely. and it's not helped by eight years of a president who has really failed when it comes to going after and defeating isis. you know, we have a foreign policy that's now led by the presidents of russia and france in their efforts to defeat isis. people are nervous. people are uncomfortable. >> it's a big charge. you're putting it all on the president. it's a big charge. >> i'm just saying, there's a pretty big impact, chuck. >> fortunately, the american people actually understand and the polling shows that they actually lay the blame for isis on the foot of the bush administration, which led us into a reckless war in iraq which created the void for isis. so that actual blame is going, i

think, in the right place. >> actually, i can make you both right here. in this respect, president obama is joining president bush in the seventh year of his presidency to have a foreign policy job rating under 40%. his is slightly higher. president obama is sitting at 38. and at this time in '07, president bush was at 34. i mean, what we have is a public that is rejecting both arguments, actually. >> it's interesting, and today is a day among the other things happening, hillary clinton giving her speech on radicalization and isis and how to combat that. it is interesting to watch hillary on almost any other issue this year, she's gotten as close to the white house as possible. this is the one where she at least rhetorically, at least, she can read those numbers and trying to create a little difference. >> did you catch what senator mccaskill said about president obama on tone? i thought it was interesting. >> i've never heard president obama described as a, you know, unenergetic speaker.

it was an interesting characterization she made and definitely a walkback and an effort, i think, to help senator clinton out. >> and on national security issues, there's a hesitance in his voice, sometimes. >> i don't think there's a hesitance. listen, there is the person that brought bin laden to justice. his and his administration kept us safe -- >> but he's not a bravado guy. >> and and i think that 69% of the american people are anxious about the idea of a president trump. because that kind of chest beating is exactly what got us into this mess, it is exactly what radicalizes teenagers across the world to want to join isis. we're in a terrible position, but we're in a terrible position that more of the same will not get us out of. >> what are we looking for tonight? what's the most underrated story line? >> i think the wild card is chris christie. chris christie is looking for an opportunity to get into it with donald trump. he'll try to force something with donald trump, and watching them go back and forth will be something to keep an eye on. >> katie, what can jeb bush do?

or does it matter? i sit here, the more money he spends in iowa, he's upside down. what does he have to do tonight? >> he definitely has to take a stand. and what he has been unable to do, chuck, successfully, is to go after fellow republicans in a way that still makes him look like a statesman. and i think he'll make some effort on that front tonight. the question is whether he's going to be able to pull it off. he hasn't been able to pull it off in the past. >> and what's a good night for hillary clinton, if this debate is about ted cruz and donald trump, and not about marco rubio, and jeb bush, and chris christie. >> i think it will be good if people are responding to the speech she gave, if there's a real sort of conversation and she becomes the person they're contrasting, i think it's good for her. because i think it's been a little bit difficult for her to break into this conversation in terms of media coverage. >> and then there's trump, right? what does he? does he pull back on going after cruz after getting the little tongue-lashing he got on talk radio. >> and the pattern with trump, there always seems there's this big buildup going into debates.

we're going to get the guy we see when he's alone on stage. he seems different in these debates. it's really what he says after the debates. when he gives his analysis of what played out up there. that's when we see the real trump. >> but day got him out there earlier. he's going to get a full night's -- i think he gets tired of these debates that go late. and this time he's had a whole day in advance, katie. >> those things do matter. and anytime anyone's tried to predict what donald trump's going to do on a debate stage, we've all been proven wrong. i think cruz handled himself incredibly well when trump punched him in the nose a little bit. it will be interesting to see the interaction between the two of them on that stage tonight. >> i hope there's a real conversation on that stage about donald trump's comments about not having any muslims enter the country. >> i think there will be a conversation. i don't know what the conversation will be. >> it has to be a place where people follow paul ryan's lead in saying, this is not conservatism. this has to be a place where ideally there's a sense of being better than this.

>> all eight of the nine criticized his comments in some form or another. will they all be comfortable criticizing him -- >> in person, in that room. >> katie, heather, steve, thank you. we'll be back tomorrow with more "mtp daily." erica hill picks up our coverage right now. right now on "msnbc live," it is fight night in vegas. republicans preparing for their final debate of 2015, as donald trump opens his widest lead yet. jitters and fears. a bomb threat shuts down los angeles public schools, the nation's second largest school system. >> i could not take the chance, as it relates to one student or our staff that serve our students. plus, hillary clinton laying out her plan to stop terrorism at home and abroad. >> i want to begin by saying, we cannot give in to fear. >> and good tuesday evening. thanks for being with us here on