they originally were against tarp until the stock market crashed. you might remember it dropped something like 400, 500 points. when that happened, their main political organization switched sides. >> you know, that is interesting lost chapter. there are a lot of fascinating revelations in this book. jane maier, thank you for being here. >> that is all in for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. >> thanks to you at home for joining thus hour. this year, this summer, summer of 2016. the republicans are going to have their presidential nominating convention in the middle of july. and then the democrats are going to go after that. the conventions are usually early this year which means the parties will i can their nominees sooner than they usually do. that means in effect that the general election will last longer than it usually does. but in terms of nominating a presidential candidate, technically peeking the republicans are going to go first this year.

and every cycle it's done a little differently. in 2008, not only were the conventions much later that year, they didn't happen till it august and september, but the order was reversed from this year in 2008, the democrats went first. democrats held their big nominating convention for barack obama and joe biden in denver. you might remember it culminated with that big speech in that huge arena in denver where barack obama spoke on than set with the big theatrical columns. it was very dramatic. the republicans that year in 2008, they made a bold decision that they would take advantage of the fact that the democrats were going first and they would take advantage of the fact that the conventions were so late that year. so the momentum coming out of the conventions was going to be really important for the general election. because of those two factors they decided to do something very bold. they decided in 2008 that one day after the democratic convention was over, the very next day, john mccain would name his vice presidential running mate. they didn't name the person who

was going to run with mccain till after the democrats had their convention. it's kinds of a genius move. it meant the biggesting move who john mccain was going to pick as his running mate was this is distracting parlor game that everybody was nattering about all through the democratic convention when they should have been talking about barack obama and joe biden. it also met when john mccain made his announcement, it by necessity would completely take over the political news cycle so it would squash all of the democrats' momentum from their convention. the day after that convention was over, it was over. it turned the whole narrative of the race on its head. in that tiny little window between the democratic convention and the republican convention in '08, the john mccain campaign basically just decided that they were going to defibrillate the election that year. and boom, they did. one day after the denver of convention was over in fair

born, ohio, john mccain basically yelled clear and then shocked everybody by picking sarah palin as his vice presidential running mate. the american people's initial reaction was i'm sorry, who now? gallup released this polling data the day after sarah palin was announced. look at the headline "palin unknown to most americans." but she quickly became very, very very famous. and she initially became very popular. she gave that roll licking well received speech at the republican convention, that was the lipstick on a pig speech. remember? she was in huge demand at republican campaign events. she was all over magazine covers at the time. there was this huge clamor and tons of interest in her. everything was going great and then she started doing interviews. >> do you agree with the bush doctrine? >> in what respect, charlie? >> the bush -- what do you temperature it to be? >> his world view?

>> no, the bush doctrine enunciated in september, 2002, before the iraq war. >> that was governor palin's first interview as a vice presidential candidate. didn't go well. she would do okay when she was interviewed in friendly territory like right wing talk radio or the fox news channel but anytime they let her out of that bubble, it went badly. >> i was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for their to stay informed and to understand -- >> i've read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media. >> like what ones specifically i'm curious. >> all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years. >> can you name a few. i have a vast variety of sources where we get our news. alaska isn't a foreign country. >> the sarah palin choice both its timing and the fact that it

was her, it was really an audacious strategic move by the mccain campaign to try to change the trajectory of the 2008 presidential race and the initial launch was very successful. she didn't withstand the scrutiny very well though and the close questioning. and in the end, between that republican convention speech that was so successful and ultimately election day, the overall trajectory of her impact on the mccain campaign was downtown ward. by october 30th, by just a couple of days before the election, whatever help she might have been early on had had very clearly evaporated. she had become a hindrance not a help. a "new york times" cbs poll found 59% of the country didn't think sarah palin was prepare for the job that john mccain had picked her for. that number was going up and up and up the longer the campaign went on. nearly a third of voters polled say the vice presidential selection would be a major factor influencing their votes and those voters broadly favor senator barack obama.

a couple of days later, senator barack obama and joe biden went on to win that presidential election and they won by a lot. but then in the political life of governor palin, thereafter, things just continued to go weirdly. within a matter of months that have election, governor palin had decided to inexplicably and without warning quit her job as governor of alaska. she was still in the middle of her first term as governor but she quit because she said she had other political desires that she could not quite explain but insisted those other political things she wanted to do insisted she would have to leave her job as governor. she got news jobs on the fox channel and various reality shows. eventually she starred what was basically an internet channel called sarah palin tv. sarah palin channel. that's over now too, i think. although how would we know? in 2011, she briefly flirted with running for president herself.

you might remember at one point in the summer of 2011, her exploration of a possible sarah palin presidential run produced a palin family bus tour. remember that? in which she and an entourage of relatives and assistants, staffers set off across the country. they said they just wanted to be tourists and sight see memorably in new york city, the sarah palin is maybe running for president bus tour also involved governor palin eating pizza in midtown manhattan with donald trump and his wife where donald trump famously ate pizza with a knife and fork. ultimately though, governor palin decided she would not run for president in 2012. although again, her quitting announcement, her announcement why she was not going to run for president like the time she quit running for governor, it was a little hard to understand. just in terms of her choice of language and how she was trying to explain herself, it was just hard to get.

>> you know, there was that is sense through my own personal internal deliberations in making this circumstance i would go back and forth about whether now is the time and if i say no to the opportunity that's in front of me via running for office now will politically speaking will i die, will i be ineffective. but no, after making the decision today and making the announcement, i know beyond a shadow of a doubt after great confirmation today too, greta, personally speaking. > i don't know. i mean, i can tell because of the questions that greta asked her that night because of what it said in terms of the words at the bottom of the screen. i could tell them what was going on there was she was announcing she was not running for president in 2012 but listening to her it was very hard to get. that tends to be a theme with governor palin. but she has not had a job in politics since she quit as alaska's governor in 2009. she is mostly a conservative media celebrity now. not a particularly prolific one though. the only major appearance she has made in the last six months

was at that the washington d.c. rally against the iran deal last september where the crowd seemed very happy she was there. it seemed almost news worthy she had flown all way from alaska to washington to be there. but again, once she started talking, it was hard to follow exactly what she meant. >> remember, the enemy comes to kill still and destroy. but now they're going to inspect themselves? oh, what could go wrong with that? yeah, don't call us. we'll call you, they say. and that's really good because obama is standing by with his mighty phone and his mighty pen in case they stretch the truth a little. and they start dropping bombs. no, only in an orwellian obama world full of sprinkley fairy dust broken from atop his

unicorn as he's peeking through a pretty kaleidoscope would he ever see victory or safety for america or israel in this treaty. this treaty will not bring peace. you don't reward terrorism. you kill it! >> it is sometimes hard to know what sarah palin means. just on a day to day basis. sometimes it is hard to follow what she is talking about. but it is also hard to know what she means in republican politics anymore. and that is newly relevant because today she is backing in be to republican presidential politics in a big way with a big high profile endorsement decision. that is, i think, probably going to cause a lot of upset in one particular part of the republican establishment. and it's not about sarah palin's popularity with the conservative base. it's not about how much pull she's got with her, i don't know, facebook followers or wherever people follow her now. it is about something personal. and specific.

because when the john mccain campaign in 2008 decided to elevate sarah palin from total obscurity to make her his vice presidential running mate, they knew they were making a big strategic gamble. they knew they were taking a big risk and it turned out in the end to be a bad choice. it hurt john mccain's chances. who knows if john mccain could have won that presidential campaign in any circumstances when george w. bush the outgoing republican president had a 22% approval rating, right? but picking sarah palin we now know did not help. it hurt his chances in the end. and john mccain has there ever been asked about that bad decision he made concerning sarah palin. he's been asked about it over and over and over and over again. and john mccain from the very beginning has been united nations flinchingly loyal toler. he has never thrown her under the bus. he has never conceded it was a bad decision to pick her. he has never ever said a bad word against her. >> i have the greatest appreciation for governor palin and her family.

there's great joe to know them. she invigorated our campaign. i have great respect and admiration for her and her family. >> that was your choice, you're proud of it. >> i'm very proud. >> think she could be president one day? >> sure, sure. >> after john mccain and sarah palin lost that election in 2008, a friendly interviewer's confrontational interviewers everybody interviewing john mccain would basically ask him about that decision more or less trying to goad him into saying that yeah, sarah palin that choice was a bad mistake. he would never a it. even later in 2009, when governor palin inexplicably quit as governor can of alaska, nobody understood her explanation for why she was doing it, he still would not criticize her. >> i respect sarah palin. i appreciate her and her husband enormously. i think she will continue to play a major role in the future of the republican party.

and i have to respect the decision she made. >> even after she quit in the middle of her first term as alaska governor. that was john mccain refusing to criticize her for that. in 2010, are he had her to come to arizona to campaign for him in his senate re-election bid that year. by 2012 when the republican party was once again confronting this choice of who their nominee in 2012, mitt romney would pick as his running mate, at that point when he was considering who he would with, a lot of people talked about once again how terrible john mccain's choice had been. how deb stating it had been for his campaign. what a terrible choice she was. even then, he refused to criticize her. he never would. >> senator mccain, i want you to hear a sound bite from one of the sunday shows. dick cheney talks about your selection of vice president candidate governor palin. listen.

>> i like governor palin. i've met her. i know her. she's an attractive candidate but based on her background, she only was governor for what, two years, i don't think she passed that test. >> being ready? >> being ready to take over. i think that was a mistake. >> do you agree, disagree? >> well, i'm always glad to get comments four years later. look, i respect the vice president. but the fact is that i'm proud of sarah palin. i'm proud of the job she did. i'm proud of the job she continues to do. >> i love sarah. i think she is still the best decision that i have ever made. >> the best decision i have ever made. that actually that last comment from the radio show was john mccain on the day of the new hampshire primary in 2012. he has steadfastly stood had i her and refused to ever

criticize her, to ever admit there was anything wrong about her choice. he has been capital "l" loyal to her in such an unwavering way. even has his entire party has turned against this is decision that he made for obvious reasons, he has been unflinchingly loyal to her. today as a thank you for that in response to everything john mccain has done for her and the way he today by her for all of these years, today in thanks, sarah palin issued her endorsement for the 2016 presidential race. she endorsed this guy. >> i inspired her for president. i raised a million dollars for him. he lost. he let us down. but he lost. so i never liked him as much after that because i don't like losers but frank, let me get to it. he hit me -- he's not a war hero. >> five and a half. >> because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured, okay? >> he's not a war hero.

john mccain's running mate from 2008 today endorsed donald trump. what does this do to the race? what does this do to the republican party? >> reporter: we've actually got somebody on deck next who may know better than anybody what impact this is actually going to have. stay with us. that's next. sure, tv has evolved over the years.

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bigger. it's gotten 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. we still have a lot of political news to get to tonight including a live one-on-one interview with bernie sanders. estates hill ahead. but the political world came to a halt tonight with some very sad news out of iowa. we had heard earlier if the day this had been a serious car crash involving campaign workers for dr. ben carson. now the very sad news that a ben carson campaign volunteer who was seriously injured in that crash earlier today has now died. there were four carson staffers

and volunteers involved in this crash. three of them were treat anderson released at a hospital after their van went off the road in icy conditions and was hit by another car. but one of those campaign staffers was taken to the nearest trauma center. the nearest trauma center was just over the iowa border at the university of nebraska in omaha. he was 25-year-old carson campaign volunteer braden joplin. and again, we got word tonight that he has died because of his injuries in this crash. very, very sad news, especially a 25-year-old kid. it's a reminder for all of the roll licking pitch and catch and crazy competition and crazy personals of the presidential campaign, it's real human beings who are involved. it's very sad news. the carson campaign suspended work today when they heard about the accident. dr. carson says he plans to meet with braden joplin's family once he arrives in omaha later this evening. before we got news that mr. joplin passed away, the carson's campaign plan had been to suspend their campaign today and tomorrow but restart on thursday. now that the circumstances have changed and olympian joplin has

died, we don't know if that's still the plan that the carson campaign been basically unsuspend the day after tomorrow. again very sad news tonight for the ben carson campaign and for everybody involved in politics. more ahead with robert costa and the live interview with bernie sanders coming up later this hour. please stay with us.

look what's happening today. our own gop machine, the establishment, they who would assemble the political landscape, they're attacking their own front-runner. now, would the left ever, would the dnc ever come after their

front-runner and her supporters? no, because they don't eat their own. they don't self-destruct but for the gop establishment to be coming after donald trump's supporters even with accusations that are so false, they are so busted the way that this thing works. we, you, a diverse dynamic needed support base that they would attack, and now some of them even whispering they're ready to throw in for hillary over trump because they can't afford to see the status quo go. otherwise, they won't be able to be slurping off the grave train that's been feeding them all these years. they don't want that to end. >> well, and then funny, ha, ha, not funny, but now what they're doing is wailing, well, trump and his trumpeters, they're not conservative enough.

oh, my goodness gracious. what the heck would the establishment know about conservatism? and now though. >> former republican vice presidential candidate sarah palin speaking earlier tonight in iowa endorsing republican presidential front-runner donald trump. mr. trump famously refused to apologize early in his campaign for insisting publicly that governor's palin from 2008, senator john mccain was in donald trump's words quote not a war hero. now governor palin has endorsed mr. trump. what impact is this going to have on the race and on the republican party? what effect is this going to have on john mccain? joining us is robert costa from "the washington post." a story about sarah palin will be on page a 1 as of tomorrow. >> great to join you. >> is the sarah palin endorsement expected to be politically important in iowa or more broadly? >> yes. what we're watching, rachel is a paradigm shift in real-time

because this is a party dominated by the outsiders. the anti-establishment voices, they are now the establishment. so following the traditional rules an endorsement like this can wouldn't rock the boat and wouldn't have that much impact. but in a race 13 days before iowa where the two leading candidates have not been endorsed by a senator or a governor a voice like palin thus matters. >> in terms of the what i'm starting to think of as the mythical beast of the republican establishment, which is the sort of idea that we keep talking about what they're going to do and it never seems to have much impact or be manifest in visible ways. it is one thing for donald trump to have taken a shot like he did early in his campaign against john mccain calling him not a war hero. john mccain has been incredibly loyal to sarah palin ever since he picked her as his running mate. does that hurt dissing john mccain this way, by signing up with donald trump, does that

cleave the republican party at all? what sort of impact is that going to have? >> they have a long-standing personal relationship. but i think what you're going to see from senator mccain is a move toward a more mainstream republican hawk. he will likely not follow governor pail lip's move toward donald trump. whether mccain could lift someone in new hampshire where he's won twice in two, 2008, it probably will have the same impact as someone like governor palin. a voice like mccain still matters in a state like new hampshire. it's all about the fear of duck dynasty stars and sarah palin and all these different voices who are not elected lady leaders. they're the power players. >> robert the last time we spoke, you had just reported that republican big dollar donors were starting to look at the rise of ted cruz and the sort of top tier of the i merging firm top tier of donald cruz -- ted cruz and donald trump and were start to think about apply thing their troth with donald trump even though

unlikely earlier in the process. now are you starting to see that idea spread that between cruz and trump, the donors are happier with trump? >> yeah, i do. they see trump as nonidealogical. i spoke to several of them today. they see in cruz someone to strident close to the base, not really a dealmaker. the most striking thing to happen on the establishment side was iowa governor terry bransted speaking out against cruz. you see the establishment class looking at trump and cruz as likely nominees and beginning to make decisions and picking side. >> robert costa, reporter for "the washington post." thanks very much for your time. robert's story on this subject and the impact of the palin endorsement among other things will be a 1 in the "washington post" tomorrow morning. we're going to be talking to democratic candidate bernie sanders live from iowa. stay with us.

after turning out a whopping 7,000 people last night in birmingham, alabama, of all places democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders is just right now wrapping up another pretty good-sized event in sioux city, iowa, with just two weeks to go till the iowa caucuses, senator bernie sanders is making a big push in iowa. he's got four separate events just for today. he and secretary clinton are very close in the iowa polls. senator sanders just got news from the state that goes right after iowa. a brand-new poll shows bernie sanders with a 27-point lead in new hampshire. not like he has 27% of the vote. he's leading hillary clinton by a margin of 27 points. bernie sanders has just hit 60% in this new new hampshire poll just out from cnn and wmur. senator bernie sanders is going to be here live with us momentito. stay with us.

it's been just over a month since the mayor of flint, michigan declared a state of emergency in the lead poison city and today look, she was at the white house meeting with obama administration officials. here she is with senior visor valerie jarrett and met with the president himself today. she talked about what flint needs now that the population of that city has been lead poisoned and their water infrastructure has been basically ruined because of actions by the rick snyder administration, the state government. president obama issued his own emergency declaration for flint over the weekend and tomorrow, he says he's dispatching nicole lurie, the official you see here from the health and human services department. most recently she led the domestic i can response to e bowl la in the united states. she's a very experienced public health person. she's going to be taking lead for the federal government on the crisis in flint. the white house says president obama will not personally be visiting flint when he travels to michigan tomorrow. but flint and its lead contaminated water are now the

focus of sustained national attention including political attention. the two leading candidates for the democratic presidential nomination have made the flint crisis a big part of their campaigns. hillary clinton's campaign arced a conference call with the flint mayor karen weaver and reporters today ostensibly about the situation in flint and what the campaign was trying to do to help. on that call, the mayor made unexpected political news when she was asked if she was ready to endorse hillary clinton for president. you can actually hear the clinton campaign staffers reacting with surprise in this recording of the call. >> we want a friend like hillary in the white house. that's exactly what we need to have happen because we know that this is -- could go away and we need a fighter. we need someone there fighting for the city of flint and making sure we're getting what we deserved to happen and hillary clinton has shown us she's ready to take that on. >> it sounds like you're endorsing her for president.

>> it does sound like it, doesn't it. i like hillary. >> some of the people react were hillary clinton staffers going, oh, i guess we just got an endorsement. that may have been the first time a mayor of flint has been asked by the national press to make a presidential be endorsement. i don't know. that is just how much things have changed in the last month that winning the flint mayor's endorsement really counts for something right now. so does knowing enough about flint to talk about it on the campaign trail. bernie sanders didn't win the flint mayor's endorsement today but he has gone further in his response to flint than secretary clinton has. senator sanders has repeatedly called for the michigan governor to resign office over this crisis. governor snyder told the national journal yesterday he does not plan to resign. but the possibility that he will resign is starting to creep into the regular local coverage of this scandal. the governor gets asked all the time now if he is going to step down.

there's also renewed attention locally to the lieutenant governor of the state who would take over if snyder did step down. the governor has been under enormous pressure and criticism for this disaster. protests have spread from flint itself to ann arbor to the state capital of lansing tonight as rick snyder was named in two new class action lawsuits filed today and as governor snyder stepped to the rostrum this evening to deliver his annual state of the state address. >> tonight will be a different state of the state address. there's so much we could discuss about how we can make our great state even better, stronger, over the next year. but tonight, i will address the crisis in flint first and in depth. to begin, i'd like to address the people of flint. your families face a crisis. a crisis you did not create and could not have prevented. i want to speak directly, honestly and sincerely to let

you know we are praying for you, we are working hard for you, and we are absolutely committed to taking the right steps to effectively solve this crisis. to you, the people of flint, i say tonight, as i have before, i am sorry and i will fix it. no citizen of this great state should endure the kind of catastrophe. government failed you. federal, state and local leaders by breaking the trust you placed in us. i'm sorry most of us hey let you down. you deserve better. you deserve accountability. you deserve to know that the buck tops here with me. most of all, you deserve to know the truth, i have a responsibility to tell the truth. the truth about what we've done, and what we'll do to overcome this challenge.

>> governor's remarks tonight in the state of the state address. the only microfact check i would make on the governor's remarks is when he said government failed you, federal state and local leaders by breaking the trust. in this case, local leaders were not at fault. they were replaced in flint by the people who reported only to the governor. they used the emergency management statute in michigan to replace local leaders with emergency managers who reported to rick snyder and those are the people who made the decision that resulted in the poisoning. that is how this started. as protesters yelled outside outside while he spoke at this address tonight, governor snyder did spend a solid 15 minutes of his speech addressing the issue of flint. tomorrow he's going to release his own e-mails from the past two years related to flint, something the local press has been hounding him to do. he plans to send more national guard troops to flint tomorrow. he asked the legislature today for another $28 million for flint and made a point of saying

that services will be available for flint kids who have high blood lead levels or who may have had high levels which, of course means all of flint's kids, every single one of them who drank that water. but some big questions are still left unanswered. what about the governor's i mails are not from 2015 or but 2013 when the emergency manager he pointed made the initial decision to drink from the flint river. governor snyder said nothing about the exorbitant bills charged to flint residents for water they can't drink and still can't and whether those bills will be refunded or forgiven. the biggest question is whether his speech tonight will convince the people of michigan he's up to the task of fixing this problem or do anything to quell the calls for his resignation. the presidential capped senator bernie sanders joins us live next.

joining us now for the interview tonight, live from underwood, iowa is bernie sanders. the independent senator from vermont, contender for the democratic presidential nomination. senator sanders, great to see you. thanks very much for being with us tonight. >> my pleasure. >> senator, i want to talk with you about flint, michigan. i want to talk with you about some of what's going on between you and secretary clinton in the race right now. we're going to get to that. but there is -- a couple of other things have just happened on the campaign trail today i'd like to get your reaction too to first if you don't mind. the first one is this very sad news from the ben carson campaign that one of ben carson's volunteers was killed in a car crash today on an icy road in iowa. i wanted to know if you've reached out to dr. carson or if you have any thoughts on that today. >> well, actually, rachel, i'm right now in sioux city, iowa. we just had a rally here. one of the first things i did do is mention the fact that a volunteer who works for dr. carson died on the roads

here, very slippery roads here in iowa. clearly, dr. carson and i don't have much in common politically. but the fact is when you have kids getting involved in the political process, doing their best to elect the candidates of their choice, that's what the american democracy is about. so we issued a statement and i will call up dr. carson to send our condolences. you know, when it's just a tragedy that a young man involved in volunteering at a political campaign should lose his life. >> 25-year-old man. that's very sad. senator, you called a few days ago for michigan governor rick snyder to resign over the lead poisoning of flint. he gave his state of the state speech tonight in michigan, talked about flint at length it was h. he was emotional at times. he's clearly taking significant responsibility for that. he said it on the he won't stop working on this mess until it is fixed. do you still stand by your call for him to resign? do you think he is not the man

to fix this problem? >> rachel, i don't go around every day calling for governors to resign. i heard governor snyder in your report talk about his prayers for the people of flint and that's fine. but the truth is, this is one of the worst public health crises in modern american history. we don't know the full extent of the crisis. we know that thousands of children and others have been poisoned. we don't know how many will end up with brain damage. but clearly, this a horrific, horrific public health crisis. and i think that in terms of the governor's office, there has been a real dereliction of duty. i think it's not good enough to be talking about prayers. it's important to say listen, we certainly didn't mean to do that, but we screwed up terribly

and people will be paying the price for this for their entire lives. how many we don't know and the right thing in my view to do is to resign. >> you brought up the subject of flint without being asked about it in the last debate as did secretary clinton. you both mentioned it at the end of the debates. it was very large reaction from the crowd when you did had that. this is obviously something that moves people. i think in general the debates have been really illuminating and have brought forward a lot of things people didn't necessarily expect. they've been spontaneous and moved the campaign forward. that's just my perception as an observer. have you been loudly critical of the democrat party's debate schedule in the primary. the last three debate have been on weekends. there are no more scheduled democratic debates before iowa or new hampshire. in contrast, the republicans have another one next week and another one before new hampshire. is this lack of debates on the democratic side and hiding them in these obscure places in the schedule, is it a big enough

problem that you and the other candidates might revolt and try to at least get another up with scheduled? >> well, look, you know, when the republicans do primetime debates they get 20, 25 million people watching it. when we have debates, the one here in iowa was literally on the night of a huge football game. it was iowa state versus the university of iowa. probably the worst time that you could possibly schedule a debate. if we want to win in november, it is important that the american people hear our ideas. and debates are one way that millions of people can hear our ideas and hear the differences between the candidates. so i think we have got to do a lot better than that, but by the way, when i talk about the democratic party and leadership, it is not just debate scheduling. we need, rachel, a 50-state strategy. i was just in alabama yesterday. the problems facing the african-american community in

cities like birmingham, alabama, are mind blowing. we don't talk about it. what i learned was incredible. you've got what they call a 21st century jim crow. the alabama democratic party as well as many other democratic parties around the country have been written off by the democratic leadership. somebody gets a collect for $5,000. that's crazy stuff. we need to defend working people and we need to defend people of color in 50 states in this country. and one of the points that i made yesterday in alabama if elected president, we are going to have a 50-state strategy. we are going to bring new people, new energy, working people, young people, into the political process. that's what this campaign is doing, and that's what i will do as president. the way republicans win election is when people get demoralized, when people giving up on the political process and when we have low voter turnouts.

so yes, the scheduling for the debates has been a disaster. we should be ashamed. as a democratic party that voter turnouts are so low. we have got to reignite energy in this country and get people excited about the political process and when we have large voter turnouts as i think our campaign can bring about, we're not only will we regain the presidency, we're going to retake the senate, do well in the house and in governors races around the country. >> senator, i'm going to press you on this one part of it, and it's not because i'm trying to form any sort of revolt here. i'm really not. but i'm trying to follow on what you said and thinking about in particular those deep south states, so many of which are going to be voting early this year. they're going to be voting on march 1 when a lot of those southern states, very early in the process because of the way the primary calendar has been changed up this year. given that you feel like in particular southern states aren't getting their due from the democratic party, given that

you feel like the democratic party screwed up in the way they scheduled these dibaits, given that you said there ought to be more of these debates, i feel like the candidates are more important than the party is, do you and governor o'malley and secretary clinton, do you envisage the three of you getting together and telling the party to stuff it and do how all three of you think you ought to rearticulate. >> i think there are ways to inform the. i think that's a great idea. if the other kwands are in, count me in. your rights should be were very attractive to groups including planned parenthood that make very early endorsements for secretary clinton. are you competing? >> i would love to have the endorsement of every organization. i have one of the relatively few

i have one of the relatively few i have friends and supporters in

the human rights fund and planned parenthood. but hillary clinton has been around there for a very, very long time. some of these groups are, in fact, part of the establishment. i will challenge anybody with regard to my record on lgbt issues. i have one of the relatively few to impose and vote against doma, et cetera, in terms of women's rights. i believe we have a 100% life-time pro choice record. but, you know, that's what happens in politics. look, i'm going to do well and hopefully win, not because establishment support. what we are going to do well at and what we are doing well at is rallying the grassroots of this country. we're going all over the country, having just huge turnouts . rachel, i can see, i'm not going to get establishment support with few exceptions, many of the major organizations. but the reason that we are doing so well, why we're ahead now i

believe in new hampshire, while we're closing the gap in iowa, why we're gaining, while we're gaining in nevada and is k sk, and why we're doing better and better all over the country is not from the establishment, it's from the grassroots of america. >> senator bernie sanders of vermont joining us from iowa tonight, sir. thank you very much for your time. i know it's been a very long day for you and i really appreciate you giving us your time again tonight, sir. >> thank you very much. rachel. >> stay with us. and move, groove, wiggle, giggle, swerve, curve. lift, shift, ride, glide, hit your stride. only always discreet underwear has soft dual leak guard barriers to help stop leaks where they happen most and a discreet fit that hugs your curves, you barely feel it. always discreet underwear so bladder leaks can feel like no big deal. because hey, pee happens. get your free pair and valuable coupons at always discreet.com

today, a weird thing happened. a bill that was passed with a unanimous vote with a state legislature, unanimous, was nevertheless vetoed by that state's governor. i will tell you that governor is currently applying for a much bigger job. you will not believe the thing he just did. that story is next.

one of the more unusual ways to find ourselves cursed in time is to limit where your governor decides to run for president. even if it works out well for your governor, it almost never works out well for your state. take an example, new jersey. recently, new jersey politicians came together to pass a bill unanimously, unanimous support from both parties. the law already says in new jersey that you can't have a gun if you're a person who's been convicted of any of a whole long list of serious crimes like homicide, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, stalking,

sexual assault, certain drug crimes, domestic violence. if you've been convicted of a crime like that, you can't have a gun in new jersey that is settled law. last year, new jersey republicans and democrats unanimously voted to add a few other serious crimes in that list. they added carjacking, game criminalalty, racketeering or threats. convicted carjackers, and people who have made terroristic threats york uh can't have guns in new jersey. along with convicted kidnappers and burglars and all the rest. unanimous vote, bipartisan vote. the definition of noncontroversial, as long as your governor is not running for president. today, the convicted carjackers can't have guns bill was vetoed by chris christie. this bill had zero opposition. 37-0 in the senate, 68-0 in the assembly. nobody was opposed to the bill except for chris christie because, of course, he's expecting a big endorsement for the carjackers league of new hampshire or something. it's just amazing.

congratulations, new jersey. you want your next governor to run for president, too? the the water crisis in flint, michigan, reaches a fever pitch as the governor faces an onslaught of criticism. and tens of millions of americans are in the path of a monster storm that our bill karins is predicting will be an historic nor'easter. "first look" starts right now. and good morning, everyone. i'm shannon mulaire. we begin with the breaking news an