attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in the hudson valley, with world class biotech. and on long island, where great universities are creating next generation technologies. let us help grow your company's tomorrow, today at business.ny.gov there are no existential threats facing us but if we made some good choices now, whoever the president is, whoever is controlling the next congress, there's no reason why we shouldn't own the 21st century. >> right now on a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" live from capitol hill, in nine hours, barack obama will enter the house chambers to deliver his last state of the union address. in the middle of a heated campaign to choose his successor. >> and i'm asking you to choose,

to caucus for me over either of the other two. >> secretary clinton and her campaign now know that she is in serious trouble. >> i like donald trump. i respect donald trump. he's welcome to whatever attacks he wants. >> ted cruz has a problem because the problem is, is he a natural born citizen. >> the president told matt lauer on "today" he is not talking about the republican front-runner. >> talk to me if he wins. >> can you imagine donald trump standing up one day and delivering a state of the union address? >> i can imagine it in a "saturday night" skit. >> and the vice president talked to savannah guthrie about what is hardest about deciding not to run for president. >> here's what's hard to let go. from the time i was 28 years old, i have held public office. it's hard to figure what replaces that, that sense of purpose, when you're not in this office.

>> coming up here, we will hear from all sides. deputy national security advisor ben rhodes, house republican congress fer congress conference chair and our exclusive interview with house democratic leader nancy pelosi. good day. i'm andrea mitchell on capitol hill. president obama will be trying to reassure americans about the threat of terrorism but already today, another terror attack shaking a key american ally, turkey, a member of nato, in the very heart of istanbul. a bomb blew up 25 yards from the famous blue mosque, apparently targeting german tourists. turkey's prime minister says the islamic state is behind the attack. at least ten people were killed, 15 others were wounded, most of them foreigners. officials say the suspected bomber was syrian-born, a man in

his 20s. the attack comes at a time of heightened violence between turkey and a kurdish insurgency as well. the country is also dealing with more than two million syrian refugees and a wave of migrants from other countries. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins me from istanbul. please bring us up to date on this terror attack. >> reporter: andrea, no doubt terrorism will be a focus of the state of the union speech tonight, and yet again, terrorism has struck. it appears that most of, if not all of the victims were german. they were part of one german tour group that was in this tourist area right in the center of istanbul. they were next to an egyptian obelisk that is very close to the blue mosque when a suicide bomber approached. a syrian man who has been identified as having recently entered turkey. he detonated a device, killed ten people, wounded 15 others. the tourists who were in this

area also class trip, we have been told a group of fifth graders was also in the area. the tourists and the visitors started to scatter. they went into the surrounding hotels and restaurants and shops that cater to the tourists, many of them pulled down their security screens, closed the doors, people barricading in place. the turkish government says that the bomber has been identified as someone from the islamic state, from isis. a terrible attack. isis has struck in turkey before, but not targeting tourists in the center of the city in this way. before they have been more politically motivated attacks against kurdish parties or against youth groups that are aligned against isis. this was a much more random target, if you will, in that it just targeted foreign visitors to this country. >> richard engel, chief foreign correspondent in istanbul, thank you so much.

i want to bring in ben rhodes, the white house deputy national security advisor. ben, thank you very much. i know you have been working around the clock on the state of the union but let's talk about this attack and how the president will frame the threat of terror tonight. >> well, first of all, of course our hearts go out to the people affected by this attack. we will provide whatever assistance is requested by the turkish government. they are working very closely with us, both hosting some of our infrastructure that is dedicated to the fight against isil in syria. they are working with us to seal their border so that isil fighters cannot move back and forth across that turkish border. i think what the president will be doing tonight, of course, is stepping back and laying out once again the strategy that we have in place to push back against isil safe havens, to take out isil fighters, weapons and oil infrastructure and to put this organization on a path to defeat. >> the president has said to newspaper columnists and other

visitors that isis is not an existential threat to america. that is the reality. but that's not the way americans feel. americans are now putting terrorism and the threat of terrorism and the fear that they or someone in their families will be the subject of a terror attack at the top of their list above the economy. this after san bernardino and paris, perhaps not surprising, but how does he frame that in a state of the union address that is optimistic and uplifting and looking forward? >> well, first of all, it's at the top of our national security priority list. every morning i'm in the presidential daily intelligence briefing with president obama getting the latest news on the effort against isil. we recognize that this is the greatest danger that we face as a nation. terrorist organizations like isil, like al qaeda, that seek to attack the american people and our allies. i think what he will reassure the american people of is that just as we were relentless in going after al qaeda and taking out their leadership and disrupting their plotting, and dismantling that network, we are doing the same thing with isil today.

we have seen isil pushed out of safe havens recently. in ramadi they lost a major population center in iraq. we have an air campaign in place. we have forces we are supporting on the ground. i think what he will convey is that the american people are up to this challenge and that we will be able to defeat the threat posed by isil and other terrorist organizations. >> wanted to ask you about el chapo and sean penn, because nbc news and others are hearing information first of all that american officials, embassy officials, security officials, people from the state department, actually told the mexican authorities to stand down back in october and delay a raid on el chapo because sean penn and the mexican actress were in the area. first of all, did the white house, the state department, tell mexico to delay raiding this most wanted man trying to capture him because of an american actor? >> well, look, the white house clearly does not get involved in operational with respect to --

>> are you aware of state department officials? >> i'm not aware of specific operational matters along those lines. what i would say is we have very robust cooperation with the mexicans when it comes to breaking up these cartels, going after cartel leadership. we share information, we provide support to their intelligence and law enforcement capabilities. we have been a partner in the fight to apprehend el chapo for years, and we recently had a significant breakthrough in his recapture again so this is an ongoing cooperative effort with mexico. in any case, of course you want to make sure you are getting the man who is the focus of your efforts and you want to be aware of what the circumstances are in terms of where he is, who he's meeting with, but our role has been one of supporting mexico's efforts and i think playing a critical role in helping them apprehend el chapo just as they have been able to take down or apprehend other cartel leaders. >> did sean penn help or hurt the effort? >> well, look, you know, i think sean penn as he has said himself

was there to conduct an interview. he was not there as a part of any u.s. government effort to apprehend el chapo. the fact of the matter is, though, we do dedicate significant resources to helping them find, identify and apprehend people like el chapo who let's bear in mind is responsible not just for the trafficking of so much illegal narcotics to our country and other countries, but also for some of the horrific violence we have seen in mexico. so this is an individual who belongs behind bars. it's a good thing that that's where he is. >> is it acceptable if extradition takes months, even years? when would you expect mexico to turn him over to u.s. authorities for a trial that could be, in fact, we are told, in brooklyn? >> well, we have had an ongoing dialogue with the department of justice. they handle matters related to extradition. we do believe it's very important that justice is done and that el chapo is kept behind bars. they are significant crimes he's committed related to the united

states, related to our people, so we want to see him tried and put in prison. i think the mexicans have been receptive to discussions with the department of justice. they of course are going to want to have their own process with el chapo, have their own interviews to gain whatever information and intelligence they can from those discussions with him, and those around him, but that's an ongoing process that we will pursue with them related to extradition. >> let me ask you about syria and the horrendous starvation. is there anything more that the u.s. can do about what is being used as a weapon of war by both sides as we see in these syrian cities? >> yes, andrea. first of all, we are the most significant humanitarian donor to try to provide support to the syrian people who are suffering. what we have been able to do in the past and i think we are going to be able to do in this instance is negotiate access for the united nations and for non-governmental organizations to get into syria and to get

assistance to those who are so badly in need. again, there should be a process in place and we have been able to do it in other parts of syria where we work with the government, we work with the opposition to ensure that when you are talking about vulnerable civilians, children who don't have enough to eat, that the united nations using the donations from countries like the united states, and their non-governmental partners, can get that access to the people who need it. we have been working to get that done in this case. i think we will, and i think going forward, we want to make sure that this war that has been raging for far too long does not continue to put civilians at risk of this type of famine and vulnerability. >> john mccain said today on "morning joe" that he would put several thousand american troops back into iraq and he would put 10,000 forces on the ground, sunni forces, regional forces, and go after isis and take them out. the president tonight is going to have a very different posture.

>> well, a number of things. first of all, the iraqis are not requesting for the united states to put thousands of troops into iraq. that is not the way that they want to deal with this threat and it's frankly not the way that we believe this threat can be dealt with most effectively. what the president will say tonight is that we have to be relentless in going after terrorists and taking out their infrastructure, their fighters, their safe havens, but the best way to do that is not for us to take ownership of these countries as we did in iraq for so many years. not only is that an incredible amount of resources and blood and treasure from the united states, but frankly, it's not the sustainable solution. we need forces to stand up on the ground in these countries, take responsibility for their own security. we can support them with air power, with intelligence, with special forces so they are more effective but we should not take ownership of rebuilding these societies. that is too costly and frankly, has proven in the case of iraq to not be the most effective way. when it comes to foreign forces on the ground, we are doing exactly that in syria. we are working to organize and

support both kurdish and sunni arab forces that have made progress in pushing back isil. again, that's why the president authorized the deployment of special forces teams to facilitate their operations and that's why we have taken thousands of air strikes in support of their advances on the ground in syria. >> finally, personally, just looking at the picture on the front page of the "new york times" today and it is of course online as well, you sitting on the couch next to the president, the other side is his speech writer, across is jen psaki, communications director. you have been at his side since the very beginning. what are your emotions going into this? so many personal connections through tragedy and triumph over these years. >> well, it's eighth state of the union i have worked on with the president. this is the tenth year i have worked for the president. and i think the emotions really are stepping back and taking stock of all that we have been able to do. all the difficult things that we have had to respond to but also, i think the president will speak

tonight to the year we've had in having a nuclear agreement with iran that is about to be fully implemented in the coming days, having the opening to cuba, accomplishing a trade agreement with 40% of the global economy. these things are things that he's been working on for years and that's why we do these jobs, to get things done. i will say in looking at the photo, my daughter looked a lot better in her elephant costume in the oval office than i do. that gives me a lot greater joy, looking at her, than seeing me on the couch there. but i'll take it. >> that's one of my favorite pictures, your daughter, your baby, in the elephant costume. i know you said it only in passing but the opening to cuba was your secret negotiations so i just want to say these are historic moments. thank you for being with us and sharing them. >> thank you. >> you bet. coming up, the state of the race today on the 2016 trail, new polls sounding the alarm for the clinton campaign in new hampshire. as they dispatch chelsea clinton

to fend off a surging bernie sanders. the latest just ahead. i take pictures of sunrises,

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paul ryan will be viewing tonight's address from a new vantage point, behind the speaker's rostrum sitting next to the vice president. ryan of course ran against joe biden four years ago. >> this is a year where we are going to go on offense on ideas. this is a year where we are going to give the country a bold pro-growth agenda so that they can choose the direction this country will head. that way, next year, when it's a

republican president coming to address congress, we will have a mandate to do the big things that we need to do to get the country back on track. >> washington congresswoman kathy mcmorris-rogers joins me now. thank you very much for being with us on the other side of the hill. let's talk about paul ryan and what changes do you see from the john boehner speakership to paul ryan? is there any wiggle room, any chance to work together with this democratic white house in the closing year of this administration? >> well, sure. paul ryan believes it's very important as we head into this year that we are putting forward as he just said, that clear choice for the american people and i can tell you that the members in the house have been reinvigorated by his desire and are ready to go to work, to present those bold and specific proposals, whether it's economic growth, the future of health care, and an area where we should be able to find common ground is on protecting the

country, the security of this country, which is on the forefront of so many people's minds right now as you see continued terrorist attacks. >> what is the biggest difference between ryan and boehner in working with him as the new leader? >> i think for paul ryan, that he has come in at a time when the conference wanted that person that could really just unify us, that welcomed the competition of ideas that needs to take place in the house. in many ways, we are the think tank for these ideas and welcoming all those ideas. he's come in with broad support from our conference so he's on -- one part is to unify but also to inspire. as we head into 2016, be presenting, challenging the members. he wants it to be bottom up. he wants the members to have their voices heard in this process because then that means the people's voices are being heard in their government. this is how representative government should work.

>> speaker ryan has not pulled his punches when it comes to criticizing donald trump's temporary ban on muslims entering the country. how does that shake up the conference and what do you think about it? >> you know, i think that our responsibility is to make sure that we are doing our jobs as representatives of the people, that we are being effective. people across this country look at congress and you know, the polls show that our approval is not good. they see us as being dysfunctional, as fighting too often rather than really focused on them and on the needs that they have, the concerns that they have. so it's really a new day, a new start for us. it gives us a chance to present what we believe to be those solutions that are going to give everyone greater opportunity and give them -- and recognize that we trust people to make the best decisions rather than so often, the solutions coming out of this administration by president obama that are top down

government knows best solutions. we want to provide that choice to the american people heading into 2016. >> congresswoman, donald trump has made a big issue out of ted cruz's canadian birth although of an american citizen mother, and he said that it needs to be clarified legally. do you think that ted cruz has an issue, that he needs to clarify as to whether or not he could serve if he ends up being the nominee and gets elected president? >> i will let the legal folks figure that one out. what i know is that i want a president, i want a president that is committed to inspiring this country, unifying this country and presenting a vision in which every person in this country no matter who they are, no matter where they come from, have the opportunity for a better life. and that's what we are on a mission to do this year is to present those solutions that are really driven from the bottom up that are going to result in every person having the

opportunity to live the american dream. >> congresswoman, thank you very much for being with us. >> great to be with you. coming up next, we have an exclusive interview with house democratic leader nancy pelosi.

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do you mean you think you made the wrong decision or you're sorry you're not running for president? explain. >> i made the right decision. i'm positive of that. the right decision for my family in terms of the timing that was available. >> is there no scenario in which you could see yourself getting into this race in 2016? >> i learned never to say no but i can't imagine one. i can't imagine one.

>> well, you heard it there. the vice president did not completely slam the door on a run for president with savannah guthrie on "today" although the calendar and missed filing deadlines certainly argue against that possibility. house democratic leader nancy pelosi joins me now. leader, welcome. very good to see you. >> good to see you. >> you can sense the regret. he said he regrets it every day. is joe biden still an option if something were to happen, something, you know, really bad happen to the front-running nominee? >> let's go with the candidates we have for now. they have made an intellectual political personal commitment to the race and let's watch the race as it goes forward. >> watching the race as it goes forward, a lot of people, democrats, tell me privately they are worried about hillary clinton's progress or lack of progress, that bernie sanders has surprised. he is now ahead in new hampshire, that's next door, but

he is now just a few points behind her in our latest poll within the margin of error in iowa. a very surprising finish in iowa. what happens to her if she loses iowa and new hampshire? don't people start revisiting, are we putting our money on the wrong person? >> after iowa and new hampshire is nevada and south carolina and other states. but i think that all of the candidates on the democratic side are going to contribute to the success of our eventual democratic nominee which at the moment appears to be hillary clinton and i think the respect that everyone has for each other and the people who support our candidates is going to be essential to our success. >> the last couple of days it's gotten pretty nasty out there, though. they have been taking shots at each other which they hadn't done before. this is what joe biden had to say today to savannah about who was out front really on the issues of banking and banking reform and wall street. >> what i meant was for the last

five years, she has been engaged in foreign policy, for four years here this has been bernie's mantra from the time he got involved. even when income inequality isn't as serious as it is today, it was his drumbeat. so that's what i meant. she is coming up with some very good ideas but bernie is pushing the envelope on this, and for everyone, for everyone involved. >> does bernie sanders have a better message about wall street reform for the general election than -- >> well, bernie has a strong connection with people who are disenchanted with what happened in 2008 and since. the issue of income inequality but i would enlarge it to just say opportunity and fairness in our country, prosperity, where many more people participate in the success of our economy, is one that is the lifeblood of the democratic party. it's in our dna. it's what we fight for. it's what president obama has had such tremendous success with, not complete, though,

since when he took office, imagine this, seven years ago on the steps of the capitol, almost to the day, he called for swift, bold action now to create good paying jobs and education for the 21st century. a week and a day later, congress responded. at that time, when he stood there, the deficit was $1.4 trillion. it's almost $1 trillion less. unemployment was at 10%. it's at 5%. the stock market was at 6,000 something. it's now 10,000 points higher. 70 straight months of job creation, almost -- more than 15 million jobs created, and 17 million or 18 million people having access to quality, affordable health care in our country. a major accomplishment. but more needs to be done to have -- and the fight will be over the trickle-down economics of the republicans where the middle class economics of those in the middle class and those who aspire to it, and they both,

all three of our candidates are making that argument. >> donald trump accused by hillary clinton of sexism. he then tweeted out watch out, if you go there, i'm going to go there and then he goes after bill clinton, and bill clinton's past, and we saw a noticeable change in clinton world. i was out on the campaign and the pulling back by both hillary and bill clinton, the new caution out there, because obviously, donald trump is a volatile adversary. how fraught is this with risk for the democratic party and for hillary clinton's candidacy? >> well, i believe that hillary clinton wants to talk about the issues that affect people and their everyday life. >> but on this issue of sexism and the issue of bill clinton's past, is that fair game and -- >> it would be if he were running for president, but he isn't. hillary clinton is running for president. >> but he's a chief surrogate for her. what do you do now that trump has opened this up?

>> well, i think that you stick with what is important to the american people, and what is important to the american people is their financial stability, and that is what elections are about. that's why i say it's a race between trickle-down economics, tax breaks for special interests and the very wealthy and hopefully it trickles down and creates jobs, or recognizing we are a consumer economy and the success of the middle class and it's consumer confidence is what is going to grow our economy. it's essential to the growth of our economy, and that's what this election should be about. not about what bill clinton did two decades ago. >> why do you think younger women on the trail don't seem to be connecting with hillary clinton as much as older women? younger women don't seem to have that same sense that she would argue is an historic opportunity to elect a woman president? >> my understanding is between women between 18 and 35, among the very young, between 18 and

say 20 something, she doesn't do as well but she overwhelms among women 26 to 34. she overwhelms. so i think she's doing just fine among younger women but young women are just like young men. they are part of their generation, and their generation is attracted to what bernie sanders has to say and that's a good thing. hopefully he delivers them in the general election for the election of a democratic house, a democratic senate and of course, the most important part of all, electing a democratic president of the united states. >> how important is it to you to have a woman be elected president and that person obviously would be hillary clinton? >> well, with all respect for all the candidates, i'm a big fan of martin o'malley being from maryland myself originally, bernie sanders, my former colleague and now great messenger for economic fairness and justice, and of course, hillary clinton respecting all three of them, i think if we

were to let a woman president of the united states, i can only speak for my own experience when i was elected with and then leader and then speaker, the response i got from all over the country, and from fathers of daughters saying thank you for breaking the marble ceiling, now my daughter has much more opportunity. i think the presidency of course is so far beyond that, it would send a message to the world. >> what can be accomplished in this final year of the obama presidency? are you finding in your dinner with paul ryan that this is a new relationship and that something can be done? >> i certainly hope so. when i was speaker, and president bush was in office, we disagreed where we disagreed but that was not a barrier to issues where we agreed like energy and low income tax credits, those kind of things. we had a number of successes working together. i hope and wish the speaker much success and hope that we will

have some accomplishments this year. i feel pretty confident that we will. >> you will have a great seat tonight to watch all the action. thank you very much for taking time today. >> my honor to be here. coming up, state of the union meets stump speech. what will the 2016 candidates be listening for tonight? here's the president's speech writer on the monumental job of writing tonight's address. >> the moment you stare at a blank page what's going through your mind? >> an equal mix of hope and fear. fear that you won't know what to say. hope in that you can make it into something nice. to folks out there whose diabetic nerve pain... shoots and burns its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain.

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>> when you stand and deliver that state of the union address in no part of your mind or brain can you imagine donald trump standing up one day and delivering a state of the union address? >> well, i can imagine it in a "saturday night" skit. look, anything's possible. >> anything is possible. in fact, donald trump getting the nomination is now being taken seriously by a lot of people as he continues to dominate the polls. joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and founder of the "washington post" fix blog. "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page. nbc's hallie jackson in new hampshire covering the ted cruz campaign. and nbc's kristen welker live in iowa covering the clinton campaign. kristen, first to you. now we see as the polls are tightening, hillary clinton really ramping up her criticism against bernie sanders on the gun issue. this is what he had to say -- she had to say, rather, about him moments ago.

>> yes, i did represent new york as one of my opponents constantly reminds people. i find it kind of interesting, he always, whenever i say you know, you voted against the brady bill five times, you voted for what the nra said was the biggest nra priority, giving them immunity, he says well, i'm from vermont. pat leahy, the other senator from vermont, voted against immunity for the gun lobby so no, that's not an explanation. >> kristen, this has gotten a lot nastier on both sides since we have seen a tightening of the poll, a new monmouth poll shows him with a bigger lead than the former tie, he was a couple points ahead in our poll just yesterday. what are you sensing out there? >> reporter: well, i'm sensing that the clinton campaign is feeling the heat, and as you

point out, you are seeing that play out in secretary clinton's increasingly sharp attacks against bernie sanders. not only on the gun issue, as you pointed out, but again today, she slammed him for his health care proposal, essentially arguing that it's unrealistic and would ultimately lead to an increase in taxes on the middle class. the sanders campaign pushes back against that. but she's making a broader argument which is that she is the strongest candidate to go up against republicans in a general election. she laid out a series of instances in which she could have essentially been taken down and she said i'm still standing. this is part of her closing argument, the counter to that on the sanders campaign you hear vermont senator bernie sanders saying look, she's not necessarily the inevitable candidate so that's where the battle lines are being drawn and as you point out, the rhetoric continues to just heat up as we get closer to the votes being cast. >> and hallie, when we talk

about the republican candidates and who is the stronger democrat, our own "wall street journal"/nbc/marist poll shows in hypothetical matchups, bernie sanders does better than hillary clinton against the republicans, including the republicans whom you have been covering. >> reporter: absolutely. ted cruz is one of those folks. one of the things that he's been dealing with over this last week or so are an increased attack from donald trump on this issue of his canadian birthplace and his eligibility to run for the white house. others weighing in even in iowa, the governor saying if we take a look, saying quote, when you run for president of the united states, any question is fair game, so let the people decide. i can tell you that from the cruz campaign's perspective, the people have decided in their view this is not an issue that is resonating with voters or that will resonate with voters, particularly in places like iowa and new hampshire and in fact, there's a sense that by forcing this issue to the top, donald trump is forcing other candidates to talk about ted cruz and not their own

messaging. we should note that with senator cruz today, we are out in new hampshire, not in washington, obviously, for the state of the union. the senator making the decision to skip the president's speech tonight. i asked a campaign aide about this and was told the senator could be disappointed in president obama's policies in the chamber or he could be disappointed out here on the campaign trail in new hampshire and they made the decision to be in new hampshire doing this second amendment pro-gun rally. >> and chris cillizza, donald trump and ted cruz are basically neck and neck in iowa now. >> i think one of the most fascinating things, we talk about hillary and bernie rightfully so. one of the most fascinating things, i think most people thought ted cruz is now passed donald trump in iowa, he will keep going up. trump remains strong in new hampshire. well, donald trump showed this when ben carson challenged him. it wasn't that long ago that ben carson was in first place in iowa. he has a sticking power. he is able, there's a resilience that exists here and i will tell you even if president obama can't imagine this, if donald

trump wins iowa and new hampshire, it's going to be hard to stop him. doesn't mean it can happen but it will be difficult to stop him from being the nominee and if so, who is going to do it? that's -- you got to beat -- you don't beat something with nothing. who's going to do it? rubio is the most obvious, maybe cruz, but if they can't beat him in iowa and new hampshire it complicates the argument. >> indeed it does. susan page, on the democratic side, bernie sanders in your "usa today" poll of millenials, younger voters really are thronging to bernie sanders over hillary clinton. we talked about that with nancy pelosi, about the younger women. we are seeing younger women, young men, they like bernie. >> you know, our poll found not only does bernie sanders lead among millenials, voters under 35, he has a gender gap working in his favor. that is, younger men millenial men support bernie by four percentage points.

millenial women support bernie sanders by 19 percentage points. so the argument that has worked for hillary clinton with older women, with baby boomer women, that it's time to break the last glass ceiling does not apparently resonate with younger women who have had very different life experiences and who are much more intrigued with the idea of bernie sanders as president. >> susan page, just very quickly before we go, you have seen so many of these states of the union speech. how does barack obama keep it fresh tonight? >> i think he's going to keep it shorter. i think he's not going to do the laundry list. he's going to try to tie it back to the big themes he struck way back in 2008. >> susan page, hallie jackson, kristen welker, chris cillizza, thank you so much. coming up, building the legacy. we will hear the president's renewed push for action on guns. will congress be listening? in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives,

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union speech, there will be an empty seat in the first lady's box in remembrance of the victims of gun violence. senator chris murphy of connecticut is someone who knows a lot about this, dealing with the tragedy of sandy hook in 2012. how do you even assess the lack of progress on combatting gun violence, for everything the president said, everything he will say tonight, still no action. in fact, we are going backwards. >> my guess tonight is mark barr bard, who lost his son in sandy hook. the fact is, there are 20 families who every night deal with an empty seat at their table in newtown. it's maddening, frustrating that there hasn't been much progress at all except for the fact last week was a really important week for those families and the anti-gun violence movement to finally get an executive action that is going to save lives, that gives life to the movement and i think to hear the president follow up with it, with what i think will be emotional words on this issue

tonight. i think it's going to sustain this organization and this grassroots effort for a long time to come. and that is some so lslace. not enough, but some. >> isn't it likely this will all await legal action, lawsuits from critics? won't the president be stymied on his executive action? >> i don't think so. i think this executive action is on absolutely frm legal ground. this is bread and butter executive function, taking a look and interpreting it to help people who are selling guns and law enforcement. i don't worry about how this will play legally. what we do need to make sure is that republicans don't gut the enforcement that is necessary to actually make this executive action -- >> by taking away the money. >> for atf or the prosecutors throughout the country. they are certainly going to try to do that. i don't think they had have any democratic support in the senate. i think this executive action will go forward. >> are you disappointing that the president hasn't been able to create better coalition, show more effectiveness?

>> i am not disappointed. in fact, i'm thrilled with how emotionally invested he's been in this issue. listen, he can try to lead a horse to water but can't make them drink. republicans right now are in the pocket of the nra. i think he's right to really challenge america to go to the voting booth and elevate this issue of gun violence when they are casting their votes. the nra built their political power over the course of 20 to 30 years. the president's legacy is going to be building up an anti-gun violence movement that has power and i think he's committed himself to spending his post-presidency on this issue as well. that's really important, too. >> hillary clinton has been making it a big issue again today against bernie sanders, yet he is doing surprisingly well in the polls and in fact, leading her, not only leading her in new hampshire but in a virtual tie in our poll in iowa. >> this is an important distinction between the two of them, and you know, i don't see any reason why as a party we wouldn't nominate a candidate who isn't 100% on the issue of

guns. this is a seminal issue for our party and i want our standard bearer to have been there on this issue since day one. and this is an issue that does distinguish the two of them. bernie's a good friend, but this is an important issue in new hampshire and iowa and i don't think it's a mistake for her to be playing it up. >> senator chris murphy, thank you very much. we will all be watching tonight. we'll be right back. (ray) i'd like to see

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it's a wonderful spectacle. i remember the first time i did it, and you're standing behind the door and mr. speaker, the president of the united states, and you walk down that row and members of both parties are on either side and they'll shake your hand and as you said, you see all of government gathered in one place --

>> it's the one time of the night where even the opposing side stands and cheers you. >> it's not just the cheers. it's the sense of a celebration of democracy. there's no doubt that i will always remember the ritual, whether i'm going to miss writing the speech and leading up to it, i don't know. we'll see how this one goes. >> of course, that was the exclusive "today" show broadcast, historic from the white house. you can see more of that, the president, with matt lauer, savannah and joe biden throughout the day here on msnbc and of course, stay tuned to msnbc tonight for the state of the union address with all of our great team led by rachel and chris matthews. as well as on nbcnews.com. stay with msnbc for full coverage of the state of the union address. right here on msnbc. i've been blind since birth. i go through periods where it's hard to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. learn about non-24 by calling 844-844-2424.

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mr. speaker, the president of the united states. >> so just eight hours from now, president obama will make that walk across the house floor and deliver his final state of the union address. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. great to have you with me. 9:00 p.m. eastern tonight, that's when the president is going to speak to congress and the nation. the white house saying expect a non-traditional address, not the usual laundry list of proposals. instead a president reflecting on his time in office, the challenges and the triumphs. obama saying this about tonight's speech to nbc's matt lauer. >> we went through a lot over these last ten years. we went through katrina, we went