democratic party, yeah, i would be nervous. sarah palin goes all in for donald trump. >> ready for someone who will secure our borders, to secure or jobs and to secure or homes. ready to make america great again. are you ready to stump for trump? i'm here to support the next president of the united states, donald trump! and taste of freedom after 545 days in an iranian prison. washington post reporter jason rezaian makes his first public comments. >> i can't wait to get home.

good day. i'm andrea mitchell. donald trump is in iowa after a political attack on ted cruz setting the tone for the next 12 days in the hawkeye state. >> ted cruz has a problem. he's got a problem. he was born in canada. he was -- he's a canadian citizen until just recently. the fact is he was born in canada and was a canadian citizen. that's big stuff. how can you be running with a cloud over your head? he borrowed money from goldman sachs and he borrowed money from citibank. what he wanted to do is say i will protect you from goldman sachs and citibank. because i'm robinhood and i'm this wonderful senator. and i'm going to protect you from these banks. and then he's borrowing from the banks. now he's going to go after goldman sachs. it doesn't work that way. goldman sachs owns him, remember that, folks, they own him. nbc's katy tur is live in iowa.

now, katy, she was supposed to be with him today and wasn't. what's going on there? >> reporter: we're not clear about what's going on. the campaign hasn't responded to our requests for comments about why she did not show up. we can say in the endorsement press release, they said she would be traveling with him to both wednesday events. the first in iowa and the second in tulsa in a few hours. and they told supporters there would be a very special guest here. donald trump recently tweeted he's now traveling with sarah palin to tulsa. so i'm not entirely sure what the mix-up was, but there were some voters here who were a little disappointed not to see her. other voters didn't really care, they were here to see donald trump more than anything else. the big question is, how is her endorsement going to play on the campaign trail, especially here in iowa where he needs it most. he's fighting it out with ted cruz right now. and as you saw in that video we just played, he's hitting them as hard as he can. this was a six-minute rant on ted cruz. and some of the most pointed

criticism we have seen against him so far saying he's owned by goldman sachs. sarcastically calling him robin mo hood. and it does seem to be working. a new monmouth poll out today suggests one-third of gop voters do have doubts about ted cruz's eligibility. >> and donald trump called in to the "today" show and talked to savannah today who asked him about sarah palin. let's watch. >> we've known each other for a long time. i've always liked her a lot and respected her a lot. and she called and she sees what's happening with the campaign. she called and it was such an honor, because everybody was trying to get sarah. everybody wanted that endorsement. she's somebody i really like and respect. and certainly she could play a position if she wanted to. >> you wouldn't rule her out as v.p.? >> well, i don't think she would want to do it. >> i don't know, you were in the room yesterday with the two of

them there, it seemed flat and not as exciting as it should be. and sarah palin today is not the sarah palin of 2008, she's had a lot of problems since then. >> reporter: that's right. this is not sarah palin when she came out to give the convention speech to send fear into the hearts of the democrats. this is a sarah palin who has been up and down since then, who has been portrayed as a -- whatever you want to call it on "snl." she's not the same, she doesn't have the same luster she used to have. and whether or not she's going to be a big -- make a big impact for indiana for iowans, hard-leaning right republican voters who really like her and trust her, she's been in politics a little longer than donald trump. and there are people out there who look to her to guide them in their votes. and so this battle between ted cruz and donald trump, to get her endorsement, donald trump is

coming out the winner. and whether that gets new people out to caucus for him, we're going to wait and see. we are almost to iowa. almost to the caucus on february 1st. andrea? >> indeed. we know where you are. even if it is hard for you these days. katy tur, thank you so much. >> reporter: i can't remember anything anymore. feel bad for me. >> i do. great job, katy. thanks. and is the bernie sanders surge in new hampshire turning into a political tidal wave? a new cnn/wmur poll released tuesday afternoon sent shockwaves through the democratic establishment. bernie sanders up nearly 30 points against hillary clinton in the first primary state. joe beniston is joining me now. joe, what is your take on the new numbers? >> first of all, the folks report the polls as you have heard me say as if they are tracking polls. this would be has been an outliar every time it comes out.

the poll would be close any time there's a new englander on the battle. the races are highly competitive. we said back in october and november these would be competitive races. you know, the other point about the states in new hampshire, in particular, it's very fluent. go back to 2008, the last time the primaries took place, president obama was an incumbent in 12. but 20% of them said they made it up in the last day, made their minds up. so these things are going to be volatile and competitive down to the end. and we just keep focusing on driving the message we have about americans who are voting and democrats voting in these primaries who want a candidate who can produce real results to make a real difference in their lives. that candidate is hillary clinton. >> what about the fact that in that poll, people questioned, viewed her as the least honest. >> well, i've been asked this question all the way through. we have a candidate who is

leading throughout the country. she's leading in all the super tuesday states by significant margins. we are neck and neck in these two states, which we always expected would be the case. these two states are rarely blowouts. and i think what people can count on and what they are showing all across the country is they are counting on her to be the democrat to get things done to make a difference in their lives. and i think we're seeing that played out in the campaign. i think we are seeing new scrutiny of some of the things senator sanders has been advocating and proposing. and that's why he had a sudden conversion for a guy who said he was running all the way through, i have never changed my position, you know, right before the debate he had to change the health care plan sunday night that he had been offering for 20 years, 25 years in congress. he had to reverse his position on defending good immunity for gun manufacturers. he defended that position for eight months and then hours, a day before the debate, changes

his position. so i think, he's getting a little unsteady as the scrutiny becomes more intense here. and i think the voters are going to take a look at that and say, which one of these people has what it takes to do all parts of the job. the president needs to get things done to make a difference in their lives. >> some people are suggesting that the clinton campaign is so worried, that's why you are seeing clinton supporters like claire mccaskill talk about hammer and sickle and going after him for being a socialist. what is your polling telling you? is that driving what we're hearing now about how bernie sanders could not be the nominee, could not win in pennsylvania and missouri and places like that? >> i think with democrats, they are speaking out about the fact that they see the evidence from the top of the republican national committee. they are trying to prop up bernie sanders and would rather run against him. you see in karl rove with a super pac attacking hillary clinton. i think what democrats are saying is, the republicans are

just licking their chops here to get a shot at bernie sanders in november. i think democrats will either factor that in to the calculus as we go down to the wire or not. but i certainly think the democratic people who are speaking out on it are reacting to that. there is a reason why the republican communications director from the rnc is saying that they would rather run against bernie sanders. so, all we can do is keep talking and all we're going to do is keep talking to voters in the democratic primaries and caucuses about how you get changes to make a real difference in their lives. senator clinton has real plans to do that. her health care plan and her approach on building on the progress of obamacare has broad appeal. the sea change, the 180-degree pivot senator sanders made the other night and put out a new plan, you even have progressives like paul krugman and ezra klein

talking about this. it is a contentious debate. we are moving to universal care through obamacare. to co back and start over is not a recipe for success and improvement. it's a recipe for more gridlock. >> i want to play part of what bernie sanders said about hillary clinton in questioning her judgment on foreign policy and comparing her to dick che y cheney. >> i think on the crucial foreign policy issue of our time, it turns out the secretary clinton with all her experience was wrong and i was right. it's very important. dick cheney had a lot of experience. a whole lot of people have experience but do not necessarily have the right judgment. >> you've got a new ad out now touting her experience. but doesn't bernie sanders under cut that with her experience on the iraq war and foreign policy decisions? >> the problem for bernie

sanders on the fundamental issue we have now, building a global coalition to combat isis, his recipe is not a recipe for building a coalition. it's a recipe for creating more crisis in the region. he is called for iran to send troops into syria. this would unravel our coalition we have built to take on this challenge of destroying isis. and he's fundamentally getting this issue completely wrong. i think he's -- you know, refused to take questions on foreign policy in some settings. i think when you're going to be the commander in chief and running for president of the united states, you've got to do all parts of the job and you have to do them well. and i think that what voters know is when it came time to pick somebody to lead the charge on diplomacy around the world, president barack obama chose hillary clinton to do that job, not bernie sanders. >> joel benneson, thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up, we'll talk about how team clinton is hitting

sanders for his socialist agenda. and the wall street journal tells voters to take the vermont senator seriously. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. about a biologic, this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me reach for more. doctors have been prescribing humira for more than 10 years. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contrubutes to ra symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection.

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hillary clinton is now taking bernie sanders seriously as concerns rise. senator claire mccaskill are warning that a nominee who calls himself a socialist would jeopardize the rest of the ticket. mccaskill told "the new york times" the republicans won't touch him because they can't wait to run an ad with a hammer and sickle. political correspondent kasie hunt is here and caught up with claire mccaskill on the hill, what did she tell you? >> reporter: pretty tough words

from claire mccaskill were printed in "the new york times." she walked about the hammer and sickle comment, she wouldn't go quite there with cameras, but she did talk about what the dangers might be for the democratic party if sanders is the nominee. >> my colleagues said the republican attack machine has chain saws for hands. and i think the point i was trying to make is, bernie has not felt those chain saws and they would come out with a vengeance if he was the nominee. >> reporter: do you think a self-declared socialist could be the nominee for the united states? >> i think it would be absolutely impossible. you have to win states like missouri, indiana, states like ohio, states like pennsylvania, it is very hard, i think, for most americans to see how socialism would cure the problems that we are facing right now. >> reporter: so that really underscores how suddenly seriously the clinton campaign supporters are taking what's

going on with bernie sanders in some of these early states. of course, andrea, you know better than anyone what happened last time she didn't focus enough on iowa or take her challengers quite seriously enough. so i think you're seeing a pretty aggressive escalation. i have to tell you, it doesn't sound that much different from the argument that jeb bush is making against donald trump, for example. it's saying that this is not somebody that is going to lead the republican party into a place that will help them. but whether or not this argument is ultimately going to work against sanders is going to be tested over the next couple of weeks. >> indeed it is. thank you. and the senior adviser to bernie sanders is here. ted, what about the argument that claire mccaskill makes, if he were the nominee he can't win those states? >> i don't agree with it at all. if we are going to win in 2016 as democrats all across the country, it's going to be because we have a candidate to mobilize a coalition, bring out young people. as president obama did in 2008. bring out new first-time voters

to this process. get people disaffected and left out into the process because someone is speaking to them finally. so i think the way we win is with a big coalition, not a small coalition. and bernie sanders is the best guy to build the coalition. >> do you really buy the number in new hampshire, the cnn number, up 27 points? >> i wish it were 27 points. i think we're in strong shape in new hampshire. i think bernie's been in strong shape there for a while. i'm not going to say we are 27 points ahead but i think we're moving there and elsewhere. >> what about the argument that bernie sanders in iowa has 14,000 volunteers as you say, huge enthusiasm among the young people, but is not well positioned in some of those rural areas. we saw him on the bus yesterday going exactly there. but does not have that kind of ground game. >> i think our ground game in iowa is second to none. we have a great team out there, experienced people in politics. we have thousands of volunteers. it is very incredible the turnout. we have had more than 100 people on a paid staff and many more working as well.

i don't think we're going to lose because of our ground game. i think we're going to win because of our message and our candidate. >> bernie called in to "the rachel maddow show" and took a number of shots at hillary clinton. let me play that. >> we're taking on the political establishment. so i have friends and supporters in the human rights, funds in planned parenthood. but some of these groups are part of the establishment. >> she tweeted out, personally taking offense at that, calling planned parenthood -- yeah, calling planned parenthood and the human rights fund the establishment. >> sure. well, first, i would say on the issue of gay rights and the issue of abortion rights, that bernie sanders is second to none. this is a guy who voted against doma before bill clinton signed it into law. so, i think bernie is referring to, we are seeing it not just in those organizations but others, a lot of national groups with

headquarters here in washington and the leadership, the headquarters has one agenda. and i think the people in the states and the grassroots have another. these are important allies and we want them to be with us, once we proven he's the strongest candidate, i think you do that with voters. >> i'll tell you what some establishment democrats are saying. you've probably heard this. that bernie sanders with his, you know, his age, his background, democratic socialist, all the rest, could not be the nominee of the party. that he is analogous to trump, but the republican establishment haven't figured out how to stop trump. and if something happens and he wins big in iowa, wins in new hampshire, wins in nevada, goes south to south carolina and that's no longer a firewall for her, they are talking about we have to replace her. we have to think about joe biden. i mean, you hear that?

do you see that the party is not going to be willing to see him as a standard bearer? >> i read that in the press and understand how people think he's not a strong candidate. that's because they do not know him and have not seen his political strength up close. i've seen in vermont where the last re-election he won 71% of the vote including 25%. >> that's vermont, not ohio, florida. >> i will tell you, in 2006 he ran against the wealthiest guy in the state. his republican opponent ran a vicious campaign against him. we beat the guy by 30%. bernie sanders knows how to win coalitions. he'll bring people into the process that never would be there unless he's the nominee of the party. i've been a part of the democratic party, let the voters decide who the strongest nominee is. let's not decide in the back rooms. if the voters decide he's the won they want, let's benefit from it as we did when president obama won in 2008 and elected a democratic, 60 democratic senators and huge majority in the house with him.

that's what bernie is capable of doing. >> ted devine, thank you very much. see you on the trail. tragic news out of iowa, brayden joplin from ben carson's campaign died yesterday after a van carrying four staff members flipped over on a patch of ice. ben carson has temporarily suspended his campaign and last night spoke to supporters about his legacy. >> his death may have people think about the hard-haeartednes that has infested our land. people don't care about anybody but themselves. and he was just the opposite of that. and i hope his death will not be in vain. i think it landed last tuesday.

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we have breaking news from wall street where the dow jones has dropped more than 500 points. falling oil prices now up under $27 a barrel are pulling down world markets. and we can see that the dow is now down to 15,480. now it is the lowest it has been since april 2014. meanwhile, the senate today voting on whether to proceed on legislation already passed by the house that would create tough barriers to any syrian refugees entering the united states. two spent a month in a refugee camp in jordan and now we are

join joined with both of them from new york. this was such a up challenging experience. first, tell me why you decided to go to jordan to live amongst the refugees and find out what life was like for them. >> well, actually, about two years ago we met our fellow producer who is american but the daughter of palestinian refug s refugees, and we had a conversation of what it means to be forced to leave the country and start a life in a new country. and we we are not seeing the answers in the news and wanted to immerse ourselves as much as possible. so we ended up living inside the refugee camp for a month. >> chris, what was the experience like, the conditions? i know jordan put in a lot of infrastructure and has done extraordinary things, but it is still a refugee camp. >> yeah, the aid workers on the ground have done an incredible job providing services, but i think what's tough, like you said, imagine living yourself

inside of one of these camps. and on average, refugees are displaced for 17 years, often living in these camps with very limited movement, very limited access to work. and so i think at the end of the day every refugee we talked to said they wanted to live a dignified life again. >> how did you gain the trust of the refugees? let me just play this, you talked to the father of one young boy about his son, abu mohommad, and the experiences they have had. let me play a little bit about that. [ speaking foreign language ]

>> so this child was so traumatized by the bombings hitting his school that he didn't even want to get an education where he could in the refugee camp. >> right. so rauf, in this young boy, we saw so much of ourselves in him. he loves to play video games on his dad's cell phone, he wants to become a doctor. but unfortunately he's gone through incredible trauma. and as we got to know him more, we actually went through that experience with him being not able to go into his classroom in the school and luckily, though, he found a small center run by save the children where he was able to get psychosocial support. he represents a young generation of young children who really rerpt the future rerpt /* /- re

the lives of them there. >> thank you for coming in with us. >> thank you. and gunmen stormed northwest pakistan today killing 19 people, injuring 60, triggering a heavy gun battle with police and army troops who rushed to the scene. the pakistani army says all four attackers have been killed. a taliban commander initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but a spokesman for the group is denying involvement. today's attack comes a little more than a year after an assault on a school in pashiwar that killed more than 150 people, most of them children. and coming up, we'll talk about the market plunge and check back in on wall street with the dow down more than 500 points. stay with us.

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breaking news from wall street. more on the dow where top average has dropped below 500 points. or rather has dropped by more than 500 points. falling oil prices under $27 a barrel pulling down world markets. nbc's olivia sterns is here with more. joining me is cnbc's sue herrera. olivia, first to you, oil markets obviously affecting the dow. other factors as well? >> yeah, it is red all out there, andrea. in fact, the price of oil is down 6.5% right now. west texas, that's the benchmark. here in the u.s., trading below $27. we haven't been this low on the price of oil in nearly 12 years. so that's one thing investors are focused on. and they are focused on all the selling we have been seeing overseas. so overnight, we saw the nikkei, the benchmark for stocks in japan. that means it's off 20% or more from the recent peak. earlier this afternoon, a couple minutes ago, in fact, the ftse

over in london, that fell into bear territory as well. so a lot of selling off globally. the global benchmark also in their territory. the s&p 500 down so far this year 7%. there are a lot of things out there that are causing investors a lot of uncertainty. and that's what markets don't like. markets like confidence. so it is not necessarily that any bigger theable thing has happened in the u.s. economy, but it is that investors don't know where things go from here. they are worried how fast is the economy in china growing or how quickly is it slowing down. and they are worried how much lower oil can fall. a lot of economists say they could see $10 a barrel. >> and olivia, let's go to sue herrera, what is the bottom on the price of oil? because iran isn't even online, it is just the anticipation of where iran is coming. >> exactly. and i think that's one key factor, andrea, of many that's driving oil lower. and also, saudi arabia probably

wouldn't want to cut back on their production of oil no matter how far the price drops because they don't want to give the advantage to iran. so there are a lot of international and geopolitical crossfires and crosswinds in this market. and that's unnerving investors among many things. lower oil is good for consumers to a point. but at some point it can become donatieflatio deflationary. it really has a big ripple effect among equity prices and also on the geopolitical front. >> sue herrera and olivia sterns, thank you very much. we'll be watching this very closely. and meanwhile, "the washington post's" jason rezaian made his first public appearance today at the medical center in germany. he's one of the five freed americans in a prisoner swap negotiated with iran by the white house. >> welcome back!

>> i can't wait to get home. >> joining me now from lanstuhl is kooeir simmons. what do you know about them coming home? >> reporter: i'm expecting them to head home in the next few days, but we don't know for sure. the medical facility said they need time to, quote, decompress. that's what they we trying to help them with, first of all their acute needs, but there could also be longer-term needs. jason rezaian releasing a statement as he held that photo call, if you like. and in it, he said what an unusual situation it is as a reporter to find himself at the center of the story. he said, i've spent a lot of time in my life writing about the united states and iran, and

i never imagined and never wanted to become a part of the story. particularly at such an extraordinary moment. he said, andrea, that he is looking forward to getting back to just being a reporter. by the way, i think when he does head back, he'll very likely head back first to washington where, of course, his newspaper is. and then head to california where his family is. but before that, he -- the people here say, he needs -- and the other two here need to be able to make sense of what they went through. remember, the other two cases, they have spent years in a prison in iran suffering from solitary confinement. and in one case, just having a small yard to exercise in. that will take some thinking through. jason rezaian, by the way, in his statement, andrea, saying he's looking forward to finding out what's been happening in the

world, to going to a few warriors games and to seeing the "star wars" movie. >> that and a lot more are ahead for jason rezaian. thank you very much, keir simmons. and a storm is taking aim at the east coast in the next 48 hours. storm predictors say the direct hit could be right here in washington on friday afternoon. different models are predicting snowfall totals in the d.c. metro area ranging from 18 inches to 3 feet! say it isn't so. the storm then will move north hitting new jersey, new york city on saturday where there's also a strong risk of coastal flooding. we will continue, of course, to bring you updates constantly as the storm develops. and we'll be right back. it's time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. mark coman of paul's photo has totally reshaped his business.

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for more than seven years, john mccain's running mate made these comments back in july. >> he hit me -- >> he's a war hero. >> he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured, okay? i hate to tell you. >> but is mccain willing to accept donald trump as the standard bearer rather than senator ted cruz with he's feuded off and on the senator floor since cruz became a senator? kelly o'donnell is joining me now, you know john mccain better than anyone, what is the play here? because we know how hostile his relationship is with ted cruz. is trump the lesser of two evils? >> reporter: in some ways that's a good way to describe it,

because john mccain doesn't need to interact with donald trump on a day-to-day basis. and he sort of brushed off the slights you played about his time as a p.o.w., and said trump should apologize to veterans but didn't take it personally. but with ted cruz, they have had battles on the senate floor and in the armed services committee, which john mccain is a chairman of. and those matter more to mccain in terms of getting business done. so in some ways, sarah palin standing with donald trump is less of a sort of elbow than it would have been had she chosen to go on the side of ted cruz. you may recall ted cruz said in many of the conservative events, remember a president mccain as an argument to say that the former nominee of the party somehow harmed the party. mccain takes that personally. while he says he has a cordial relationship with ted cruz, if you look at how this plays out

from the mccain point of view, if sarah palin is not going with the traditional establishment candidate and no indication she ever would, then it does make more sense for her to be with donald trump. and part of that endorsement also serves the purpose of denying that endorsement to ted cruz. at a time when he's trying to sort of amass his strengths in iowa and try to deliver on the caucus night. and that could be difficult now because of palin for however narrow her audience may be, she brings that glitz and attention and she speaks very kind of heart felt terms to those most conservative voters, pes herbes conservative women. so that's really where this comes down. and for the mccain relationship, they have always been careful to be respectful of each other. they really run in different circles now, but you will never hear mccain diss sarah palin. she does her part to stand by

him, even in sometimes when she's in the company of those who aren't as big of a fan of john mccain. >> and jeremy peters here, one of the new factors today is the monmouth poll to show planted seeds among concern for republican voters nationally. 65% say they are now concerned about, or at least have doubts that ted cruz is eligible to run for president. >> right. and this is what donald trump is always very good at, finding a vulnerability and exploiting it. and blowing it up. and that's what he's done. i think what is going to be more harmful to cruz ultimately is what trump seized on lately, which is his lack of likability. i mean, ted cruz, say what you will about him, i think most of the people who work with him, john mccain being one in the senate, probably the prime example, do not find him to be a particularly agreeable person to put it nicely. i think that comes through with

voter. when you talk to voters in iowa, one of the things i have heard a lot is he seems plastic, like there's something insincere about him. and i think that will be -- >> compared to donald trump? >> you know what? people look at trump and they say, hey, he says what's on his mind and there's authenticity that bleeds through there, so yeah, as strange as that may seem to some people, i think they really do. they see cruz as more plastic compared to trump. >> and kelly, you cover him in the senate. what is it about ted cruz that has so inflamed all of his colleagues in both parties? >> well, typically when you join the senate, there's been a long tradition of trying to work with other members, especially of your own party. and what really lit a fire for so many is that he had been part of an outside group raising money to create primary challengers to incumbent senators. so being in the club of the senate within the republican party, and yet actively working to unseat some of his colleagues, that didn't go over very well. and not working with them on

some of the issues that are important to them, joining on a vote, for example, or trying to work in a spirit of unity. he's also done something that in the life of the senate is really rare and is frowned upon. and that is he went to the floor of the senate and called out mitch mcconnell as a liar. that may play on the campaign trail and in harsher rhetoric of the day. but inside the chamber they try to be civil to each other in the bitter most battles. >> kelly, i was going to say to jeremy, you're in iowa all the time, isn't that a good calling card for him in iowa? that ted cruz takes on the republican establishment? >> yeah, exactly. the problem for him, though, in that respect is that he's now competing in that space with donald trump. who won't only call him a liar but put an expletive in front of

that. thank you to both of you. and karen weaver here for a mayor's conference talk about the contaminated water supply at the u.s. conference of mayors. >> people ask, who do you blame? we know the buck stops with the governor, but there's fault to go, if we want to start pointing fingers, there's enough blame to go all the way around. that's absolutely right. one of the things i have decided to do with my energy and with my time is, let the investigation show us who knew what when. because i've got to focus my energy on making sure the people of flint get the resources they need. >> she met with the president yesterday. yesterday michigan governor rick snyder apologized for the water crisis promising to fix it. the governor pledged to release all e-mails related to the flint crisis. they are expected to be published later today. coming up, bill to the rescue. bill clinton campaigning today in new hampshire. we'll hear live report from kristen welker coming up. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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after years of working with hillary and praising her to the heavens, she all of a sudden became the embodiment of all evil. the republicans can distract, divide and demonize. leave no smear behind. >> bill clinton back on the trail in new hampshire where bernie sanders is now leading by as much as 27 points according to a new cnn poll. joining me from concord, new hampshire, nbc's kristen welker. and i think bill clinton is just walking in behind you. kristen, what about the fact that the clinton campaign clearly worried about bernie sanders is now using surrogates like claire mccaskill to point out he's a socialist and wouldn't play their claim in a general election campaign? >> reporter: it underscores the fact that the clinton campaign is increasely worried about a

surging bernie sanders. as you pointed out, senator claire mccaskill one of surrogates using the s-word, socialist. trying to argue that bernie sanders simply isn't electable in a general election. arguing that secretary clinton has the stronger case and has more experience to get elected. senator claire mccaskill just today telling our kasie hunt senator sanders could win in a state like missouri or ohio. we heard concern about this strategy saying using those labels could backfire and alienate the voters that hillary clinton needs to win in order to win in states like new hampshire and iowa. now, more broadly, what we are seeing is that clinton campaign to focus on electability arguments. the campaign is not using the terrible socialist. former president bill clinton not using the term socialist. but today we have seen president clinton ramp up attacks against

senator sanders. and this electability argument. he had a stop prior to this one in concord and argued secretary clinton is the only one to take on the republicans in a general election. he's about to take the stage moments from now and listen closely to see how sharply the attacks are from bernie sanders. >> now we see the governor thse, earlier they didn't take on bernie sanders by name. they are being too cautious about not being too heavy handed, but using surrogates like claire mccaskill. >> reporter: well, isn't that interesting, andrea, it's a device that we see. they are really deploying surrogates to take the sharpest lines of attack. as you point out, former president clinton being careful with his language. he's not using the term

socialist. instead he's talking about electability. and he didn't mention senator sanders by name, but it was clear when he was talking about it because he referenced this weekend's debate. we'll be curious to see if he mentions senator sanders by name. as you know, he's choosing his words very carefully trying to stick to the script. andrea? >> kristen welker with bill clinton on the campaign trail. thank you, all. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow we're hitting the road live on the campaign trail in iowa where hillary clinton is campaigning. follow us on line, at twitter and @mitchellreports. thomas roberts is up next on "msnbc live."

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oil prices, which are at the lowest levels since may of 2003. we have a series of reports for you starting off this hour. i want to begin with msnbc's olivia sterns. explain why we're seeing this happen in the markets. and we're talking about this constantly. >> yes, and there is no one specific reason why markets essentially are in panic mode right now. the dow off 450 points. you can see right here, we're just off session lows. but this is a very dreary picture with the dow off 2.8%. we are below 16,000. the s&p and dow are trading at levels they have not been trading at in almost two years. all the gains of 2015 have been completely wiped away. there are a couple of reasons. and the fact that there's no specific one reason is uncertainty. and that in and of itself is a reason. some of the reasons are oil. the price of oil today alone is down nearly 6.5%. that's a huge move for the price of crude. the reason is because we just have way too much of the stuff. there's a supply glut.