moderated by chuck todd and rachel maddow. that is tonight at 9:00. but as we say, miles to go before we sleep. up income, tamron hall filling in today as host of "mtp daily." if it's thursday, it's debate night. clinton versus sanders. their first one-on-one debate. their one before the new hampshire primary. the stakes couldn't be higher. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now! >> good evening, welcome to "mtp daily." i'm tamron hall. chuck todd prepping for the main event, moderating with rachel maddow, the first one-on-one debate between hillary clinton

and bernie sanders tonight on msnbc. just a few short hours, the candidates will have their only showdown before the new hampshire primary, five days away. and that comes on the heels of fresh polling in state. we have brand-new numbers at this hour from our nbc/"wall street journal"/marist poll for the new hampshire primary. despite, listen to this to such volatility in iowa and the race overall, not much movement here hours before the big debate. be and hillary clinton support remained unchanged since january. he leads clinton among likely democratic voter business 20 points. sanders' lead in new hampshire also extends to groups where clinton typically does well. this may come as a surprise. among women, senator sanders leads secretary clinton 50% to her 46%. we'll have much more on those numbers later in the show. first, the two democratic candidates gave us a preview of

what could be at the heart of the debate. what it means to be a progressive. >> i don't know the context. secretary clinton said some people call me a -- i'm paraphrasing -- some peel call me a mod ray and i productly say i'm a moderate. you can't say you're a moderate on one day and be a progressive on the other day. i do not know any progressive who has a super pac and takes $15 million from wall street. that's just not progressive. >> clinton fired back at sanders saying, by his standard, even the sitting president doesn't pass the sanders test. >> i was somewhat amused today that senator sanders set himself up to be the gate keeper on who is a progressive because under the definition that was flying around on twitter and statements by the campaign, barack obama would not be a progressive, joe biden would not be a

progressive, jeanne shaheen would not be a progressive. even the late great senator paul wellstone would not be a progressive. >> sanders' jab at clinton speaks to louder conversation and growing discord happening in the democratic party. with hours to go, new fund-raising totals creating another stir. sanders outraised clinton in january, according to numbers from both campaigns. look at the numbers, $21 million to $15 million. clinton comes in to the debate tonight with an apparent iowa win under her built but the raiser-thin margin is driving some debate even with iowa, and it's supposed to be in the rear view mirror. we're joined live by two of our best correspondents who have been in the trenches covering the campaigns for months now. kasie hunt and kristen welker here with me to talk about a lot that's going on. and guys, we've got four hours and a lot of bombshells already including "the des moines register," coming out say

essentially all of the heat that's happened with iowa needs to be reviewed and the results are in question, they say. >> the challenge is, they can't recount because of the way that the caucuses work. what happens next? well, are they going to release the actual vote totals? it's highly unlikely that's going to happen. i think more broadly think casts another cloud over what was already a very narrow victory and apparent win for secretary clinton and it speaks to the issue of momentum. she didn't have the momentum coming into new hampshire and trying to get it back. she's been very fired up on the campaign trail. very defensive on this issue about whether or not she's a progressive, arguing she's always been a progressive. i think you're going see fireworks there. she's trying to get momentum back but that's just one more challenge to that that "des moines register" editorial. >> four hours in, "des moines register" calling for an audit, new poll numbers showing nothing has changed since iowa and then you have this information coming in about women and their

relationship and how they view hillary clinton's candidacy at this point. bernie sanders is beating her in this state among women. >> a couple of things. first, to this "des moines register" question, i think while they may be raising issues, it doesn't really matter what happens except for the narrative that came out on the night of the caucus and nobody knows that better than rick santorum declared winner of iowa days late, not until we got to south carolina and the reality was, had he been the winner out of iowa, the campaign narrative would have been very different. >> it does nothing as far as changing the outcome of the raz razor-thin victory, if you're bernie sanders and portray the system is against you, she is the establishment, and that the fix is in, we all read social media, his supporters believe it is david versus goliath and all you need is that one razor-thin victory, one she has so far, to be in question if a lot of this is coming out of sanders' iowa

team as well. he has a couple of operatives working very hard on this and they have taken this personally. and they've always been suspicious of the iowa democratic party led by a former public clinton supporter. it's as you say, one of the things on a long list of concerns that they have about the quote/unquote democratic establishment. >> talk about the numbers, when you go inside the numbers -- i'd be curious to break down the women's number further to see what the age breakout is because i guarantee it's the younger women voters who are driving that disparity that you're seeing because he is outpacing her when it comes to women voters significantly, and that his her challenge. what is she going to do? retool her strategy? at this point they say no. but, at the same time you are hearing speak more forcely speaking about a progressive, which is a calculation to get younger voters on board. >> let's fast forward to the debate, specifically toward women. we heard a little bit of it last night in the town hall.

what does she connect to the women who 2008 would have championed the idea of a female president. >> shoo she's got to talk about being a female president more. she started off being the first woman president. but then she abandoned that. we haven't heard her talk about it because she's been on the defense on a number of issues. >> is and at a break with two of the clinton top aides and one thing that they brought up was this idea they call them the bernie bros, people on twitter, social media, who have taken on hillary clinton's top social media tweeters, surrogates, people advocating for hillary clinton, most women, and they've been the subject of some very aggressive vitriolic, nasty things to the point where the sanders campaign has had to try to manage it behind the scenes and apologized in some cases. i think that you are going to start to see people in the clinton campaign -- i'm interested to see if clinton herself starts to -- point out

instances of sexism. i think there's a bit of an undertone as well to the way, for example, she reacted to the progressive, you know, flap. it's -- she has not been overt about it but certainly people have privately said they feel as though the way sanders came across was sexist. >> thank you both. talking with you more. let's dig into some of the nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll out of new hampshire. sanders is leading clinton by 20 points. bernie sanders has a hold over the youth vote. he has 76% of support of voters under 30. hillary clinton only grabs a majority of voters over the age of 60. typically clinton does well among democratic voters. here, sanders has an advantage. he leads 51% to her 46% among democrats, joining me to dissect poll numbers we're getting in. two guests poring over the numbers, director of the marist

institute for public opinion and steve kornacki, live for us in new york. lee, what's the headline for you. >> kristen welker was exactly right. it's not just a woman problem for hillary clinton, it's the younger women who she is trailing among younger women by 29 points, trailing among younger men by 69 points. but only ahead among women of 45 years of age by nine points. there's -- if hillary clinton was banking on a gender gap, it falls apart when you start talking about women under 45. that's a real problem. they don't feel the urge to necessarily elect the first woman as president. hillary clinton doesn't have to be it. could be someone else at another point in time. >> and steve, we've talked so much about the clinton legacy last night in the town hall. i bet you'll hear tonight just how she has been on the front lines for health care, and the battle for equality as it

relates to pay, as it relates to gender. is it that these young people were not around, any under 30 does not get her legacy, or is it as pointed out the messaging of it all. >> you talk about i guess the cliche about younger people as they tend to be more sort of idealistic, maybe the message of the sanders campaign of a revolution versus the message of the clinton campaign, much more pragmatism, which is hey, look, last eight years a tough slog for the obama administration dealing with the republican congress, you know, this isn't about a revolution, this isn't about sweeping transformative change. this is about more progressive, pragmatic incremental change, might be something about that, contrast in messages. other thing i'm looking at in numbers, trying to look at clintons' positioning with a few days to go before new hampshire. i looked, so this poll says 20-point gap. in '08 hillary clinton came in third in iowa. a short window, only five days

between iowa and new hampshire in 2008. at this same point, same number of days after iowa, the polling had her down basically seven, eight points this time eight years ago. she was able to come back in the final days, take seven, eight point deficit and win the state by these three. how down by 20 it's tougher to see her reversing that and winning. there is the possibility here that -- if she could eat into this and make it a single-digit race between now and tuesday, that might be a situation where her campaign says we beat expectations, call it a moral victory. >> exactly. >> lee -- >> i was going to say. >> i was going to have you pick up on that point. >> if nothing else, this clamps down expectations. if she does better, she beats expectations. she gets the moral victory. >> we compare what we saw in iowa with marco rubio in third, you don't have to come out the winner to call it a victory.

but when you compare, as steve pointed out, what hillary clinton was able to overcome against barack obama, compared to the numbers that you're looking at. again, the conversation on female women voters and young vote out there, what is the detail that strikes you most? what should people who are watching now be looking for in that debate tonight? >> she's got to provide some inspiration, got to be more passion, because that's what the younger voters want. she has to cut into these margins. look, bernie sanders is not going to draw a huge number of young people out, that's not what it is. it's that he's getting those who say they're going to vote. this is not barack obama in 2008. it does look familiar in terms of what 2008 is, the numbers are more polled but look, after new hampshire we move on to south carolina, we move away from iowa, new hampshire. we come to an electorate far more diverse and she won't be competing for african votes

against barack obama. so the clinton campaign wants to get down to new hampshire to single digits. do i recall a clinton who called himself comeback kid in 1992? we may get that again this time. >> an incredible headline. steve, let's talk about the undeclared voters in this state. from research, between 3% to 5% independent voters. but it seems that while the folks like to label themselves undeclared, there's a pattern often of at least aligning with one party for the other. >> yeah. certainly more in the general election there, i guess the question here is between the republican and democratic prime mars next week in new hampshire, al of the independent voters show up at polls on primary day and choose, i'm going to vote in the republican primary, in the democrat primary. a key is which way will they decide to go. when you get lopsided poll margins, seeing bernie sanders up by 20 points, i wonder, does

the independent voter trying to decide do i take the republican ballot, the democratic ballot? that democratic race is a landslide, maybe that republican race is more volatile, that's one thing i wonder about there and bernie sanders doing well with independents, neighbor would affect him. >> fascinating. independents go either way. if you don't like hillary clinton and you're an independent in new hampshire, do you vote for bernie sanders? well, maybe he won't get the nomination. maybe i vote for marco rubio, because that would be a tougher challenge for hillary clinton in the fall. so if you done like hillary clinton, it will be really interesting in the closing days of the campaign in new hampshire to sow whether independents move more to the republican ballot than democratic ballot as the best way to avoid having to face hillary clinton and having her in the white house again or clinton in the white house. >> lee and steve, thank you very inch. appreciate it. you both joining me. keep it locked on msnbc for complete predebate coverage. three hours and 45 minutes to

go. location, location, location. how far can bernie sanders' home turf advantage take him in next week's primary? the title fight, can hillary clinton convince voters she's a progressive heavyweight? top supporters weigh if after this.se -proclaimed financial superstars pitch you investment opportunities. i've got a fantastic deal for you- gold! with the right pool of investors, there's a lot of money to be made. but first, investors must ask the right questions and use the smartcheck challenge to make the right decisions. you're not even registered; i'm done with you! i can...i can... savvy investors check their financial pro's background by visiting smartcheck.gov the access informationlows us to from anywhere. the microsoft cloud allows us to scale up. microsoft cloud changes our world dramatically. it wasn't too long ago it would take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome. now, we can do a hundred per day.

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i think we're doing well. when you struggle to be able to say what you've done, that's telling because this is -- this is a big job. >> that was jeb bush this afternoon telling reporters he thinks his closing argument in new hampshire is working. he also kept up his attacks on ted cruz and marco rubio for what he calls their lack of accomplishments. it's a topic bush brought up with kelly o'donnell when she sat down with him today on his campaign bus. >> marco rubio is a gifted politician, but his whole life has been around his own

ambitions. and he's gifted, he can turn a phrase really well. what has he done if what has he done? that's the question that i think people here in the granite state will start asking. they want somebody with a steady hand, a proven record. >> do you think the accomplishments argument can work if a year when they want someone from the outside, new. >> marco rubio has been a politician since he was 26, gifted beyond belief, but he's not from the outside. he's been a career politician. there's nothing in his record that would suggest he could make a tough decision. my experience is one of a disrupter in the largest swing state in the country, and that's the story i tell. it seeps to resonate as you begin to see more and more people moving my way. >> meanwhile, rick santorum, just endorsed rubio, taking heat for having a hard time coming up with accomplishments that rubio can point to from his time in the senate. >> my feeling on marco is,

someone who has tremendous potential, tremendous gifts, if you look at being a minority in the united states senate where four years nothing got down, i guess there's hard to say accomplishments. tell me what happened during four years that was an accomplishment for everybody it it was a complete gridlock. >> after a town hall this afternoon, in manchester, rubio defended santorum. >> he just endorsed us last night. i wouldn't expect him to be entirely familiar with my record and time. i'm proud of my service of public record. we have real achievements not just in the us senate but as speaker of the house and state legislator to. tonight's big debate in new hampshire when "mtp daily" comes back after a quick break. ♪ this is a body of proof. proof of less joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis with humira.

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sanders, one-on-one for the first time live from the university of new hampshire where the debate kicks off at 9:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. with just five days until the primary, questions linger over whether voters want the experience in clinton that she's running on or the revolution sanders promises. this week, the rivals have been battling over who is the true democrat and what it means to be a progressive. >> it was kind of a low blow when senator sanders said in response to a question, well, you know, maybe she's a progressive on, you know, some days. >> joining me now, bernie sanders' supporter, former ohio state senator, nina turner. we've talked a lot over the last few days and you've made quite a few headlines defending bernie sanders and his record. is hillary clinton a progressive more than on some days?

>> well, tamron, senator sanders was only quoting what the secretary said actually in my home state that she has been accused of being a moderate or in the center, guilty as charged. so all he was doing was reiterating what the secretary herself has said about herself. so now if she is a progressive and that's how she's describing herself, that's fine, too. but folks are making a whole lot about this. it was really the clinton campaign that got this whole thing started when she was a progressive who could get things done insinuating sanders is a progressive who can't get things done. this is about the mission here. senator sanders' mission always has been, continues to be today, to lift the poor and middle class in the country. >> every mission that some point needs to be accomplished or that is the goal and when you look at for example senator sanders saying that he will raise the taxes, that's the last thing that middle class families want

to hear but something that senator sanders needs to accomplish if he's going to reach some of the things promised including health care for all. >> health care for all, again, the premiums that people pay today will be less and so people want to call that a tax. i call it a premium. it would be a smaller premium they'd have to pay -- >> he calls it a tax. he calls it an increase in tax. >> the overall payment, though, from middle class families will be less than the premium they pay for the insurance today. again, the mission that senator sanders has is about universal health care. the mission is about increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour so people who are poor and work 40 hours a week can have a living wage. the mission to make sure we have college in this country, public college and university in this country so that every little girl and little boy can dream to go to college and not walk across the stage with degree in

one hand in debt in the other. >> when you look at the results out of iowa, i'm sure you've heard, we discussed "the des moines register" wants an audit of the results. is it time to leave eye behind and move forward or does this deserve a review? >> people need to know the game's not rigged. if it was the other way around the clinton campaign would be saying the same thing. "the des moines register" has spoken. the senator is moving on, he's in new hampshire. the people of iowa deserve to know whether or not the count is correct. but we've got to move on. >> and at this point, because it is a caucus, there's no way to do a recount. that is not something that is available. when you say that people need to know that the game is not rigged, how do you know about, or is it beneficial to have that cloud over hillary clinton's apparent victory? does it benefit sanders supporters and the sanders team to have that cloud when you know that there's perhaps no way to go back and count the vote

because it is a caucus? >> it's not about benefit, people deserve to know things were done properly. "the des moines register" said this, they said that there's a cloud over this and people deserve to know. whether or not we can go back or not go back, people still need to know whether things were done properly. so now we are in new hampshire, we're going to debate tis out in new hampshire. we'll move on to nevada, then south carolina. but people still need to know things were done properly, or even more importantly, what can be done so nothing like this ever happens again. >> nina turner, thank you so much. joining me now, former michigan governor, jennifer granholm, senior adviser for correct the record. thank you for your time. one of the lines from bernie sanders that's being repieeated how can you be a progressive when you have super pacs supporting you, getting millions of dollars from wall street. you advise a pro-clinton super

pac. what's your response to that test? >> my hope is that everybody working for super pacs are working to put themselves out of existence because if we get a president who appoints a supreme court that will review and overturn citizens united, super pacs will be no more and that is the hope. even bernie sanders has a super pac working for him. unilaterally disarming against the republicans would mean that you would end up going down to defeat presumably. but the point is, nobody on the democratic side wants to see super pacs. nobody wants to see them into the future, hopefully this is the last election where they are even a presence. >> what do you make of this debate over progressive and how it's defined? >> i think it's crazy. it's a title. all everybody knows that she's progressive and he's progressive. everybody knows that that she's been a lifelong -- a democrat for most of her life. he's been an independent

socialist more oat of his life but now a democrat. who cares about that? how are you going to get stuff done for real people? that's what she's pushing. i am a progressive who can get things done and you know the frustrating part is, we all wish weren't true, that no matter who is elected, no matter how many people turn out because of the math, paul ryan is still going to be the speaker of the house. you can promise all of these great policies but if you can't get them through, it's not really, you know you don't want to set people up and not deliver. >> you say set people up and not deliver. people need to know you're on their side. when secretary clinton was asked about the $600,000 plus and why that amount of money she shrugged it off saying, well that's what they offered. was that a disastrous answer? >> it wasn't disastrous. you'll see more discussion about that tonight, my guess is. but her point that she made at the end of that was, name one

thing that they have gotten as a result of paying for a speech. you know, journalists, i'm sure you are part of the speakers bureau, a lot of journalists are -- >> i don't get paid for speeches. >> some do. >> i don't. >> the point is -- >> you're not compromised. it doesn't mean you're not neutral as a journalist. >> when the dollar figure is $600,000 -- >> it's a huge number. >> as a believe it was george stephanopoulos, it's access. they may not get something immediately. you can't sign a document saying i will allow goldman sachs to do this or that but it's access that the every day people, the people on the streets with today in new hampshire did not have. my point is, is there a better answer than, that's what they offered me? >> here's what they got in return. the quid pro quo that they got. they got a policy that taxes fast trades, they got a policy that says that you should enforce and put people in jail on wall street who violate rules, they got a policy from

hillary clinton that said she's going to bolster the volcker rule and separate investment banking from commercial banking. they got policy that paul krugman said was tougher than bernie sanders. if that's the quid pro quo, then i'm sorry the argument fall as part. >> how does she need to answerer she needs to go over what she is proposing, how tough she is going to on wall street no contribution -- you can't point to a single contribution that has made this difference -- no contribution is going to prevent her from fighting for real people. she's fighting in new hampshire. she's an underdog. the poll came out, she's an underdog but she's here and saying she's not going to let any vote go. she's going to fight for every vote in the country, every person. that's why she's here. she's a fighter. >> thank you so much for joining us. appreciate it. just over 3 1/2 hours until tonight's democratic debate, in just minutes, senator sanders will hold a get out the vote rally in new hampshire.

we'll bring you part of that live. debate moderated by chuck todd and rachel maddow 9:00 p.m. eastern time here on msnbc. stay tuned. vo: know you have a dedicated advisor and team who understand where you come from. we didn't really have anything, you know. but, we made do. vo: know you can craft an investment plan as strong as your values. al, how you doing. hey, mr. hamilton.

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with just about 3 1/2 hours to go before clinton and sanders go head to head for the first time in our msnbc debate, bernie sanders is holding a get out the vote rally in rochester, new hampshire. looking at live pictures. preparing for the senator to arrive. we'll take you live when sanders arrives. and as we wait to hear from senator sanders, hillary clinton and her team are working hard to portray her as the underdog in the fight, especially when it comes to new hampshire's proximity to vermont. >> here in new hampshire, where i am, in senator sanders' backyard, as you know, as a political expert of your many

years, that new hampshire votes for neighbors and so i have to really get out there, make my case, which i intend to do this week. >> you can't forget the local dynamics. nobody from the state more than new hampshire has ever lost a democratic primary to a nonincumbent president. >> this is bernie sanders' backyard. in the last few decades, no border state candidate has lost the state. so, you know, the expectations there for bernie are high and we understand that. >> that's just one of the ways that clinton team has been trying to lower expectations here in new hampshire. joining me now, the msnbc debate spin room which is behind me, msnbc's alex seitzwal, he's the senior there, nbc's kristen welker back with me, and no one knows new hampshire politics like university of new hampshire political science professor. talk about the home-field advantage, is it an

overstatement to say that this is sanders' country. >> parts are certainly sanders' country. go to the border of vermont, dartmouth, down to the southwest corner of the state, connecticut river valley, strongly liberal and it's bernie sanders' backyard. it important to keep in mind there aren't that many voters in bernie sanders' backyard compared to counties bordering massachusetts like hillsboro, rockingham. that's where hillary clinton did well, sanders is going to have a big night, he's going to have a big night along the massachusetts border and the vermont boarder. >> alex, how does it benefit her campaign to portray this as an underdog situation when we know tonight, in a few hours on the stage, she'll be anything other than a strong force of nature on that debate stage? >> i mean, it's every front-runner's dream to have a place that looks like you're the underdog, right? everybody loves an underdog. she came out of iowa with the squeaker of a win.

she's going to make it look like destined to be that new hampshire would be bernie sanders' country. disingone uous, i think, she did win the state in 2008 against barack obama. it is the state that made her husband the comeback kid and responsible for him going to the white house. she has come here 77 times i believe to bernie sanders' 84. on par with him. spent millions of dollars here. you know, she's trying to lower expectations. she's down 20 points in the polls now. she's trying to make it if she finishes ten points down she can call it a win because she cut in half his lead. >> kristin, it's mentioned this nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll nothing has changed since iowa. >> right. he's had this 20-point lead since january. it's not a big surprise he's maintained it. what's interesting, know, the clinton campaign is making a real effort here. they're bringing in or than 100 staffers, volunteers from clinton world coming in to try

to work the ground game here in new hampshire and as alex pointed out, what they want to do is narrow that really wide margin so going into nevada and south carolina, that -- those are states where she thinks she's built up a fire wall. she has more momentum hand now. >> out on the street of manchester today talking with people, just randomly selected. i heard something interesting from a fella, ken close, here's what he said about how he's making his decision. >> my concerns are foreign policy, economics, because there's a great disparity in this country between the rich and the poor, and something has to be done about that. and bernie sanders has talked about it. donald trump has talked about it. i'm an undecided voter. i'm undeclared is what they call it here. and so i can go and register as either republican or democrat.

and i just watched the debates and try to find out who's telling truth and who's the best person for the job. >> so, ken, we will be watching the debate tonight. went from bernie sanders to donald trump, the outsiders. but then i'm undeclared. that badge of honor so unique to new hampshire and how the folks here like to wear it. >> yeah. we like to think of ourselves as free agents. i mean, a lot of the undeclared voters, they technically are. a lot of them are habitually partisan voters democrats or republicans but there are those in the middle. sanders and trump have both hit a nerve with certain voters, especially from working class backgrounds, who are looking at economic equality, look at the great recession and say, economy never recovered for me. >> interestingen sight. greatly appreciate it. keeping an eye as i mentioned, bernie sanders he's got this

rally going on in rochester, new hampshire. we'll have much more from there and more "mtp daily" right after this. ♪ ♪ sfx: car driving. ♪ sfx: engine revving. ♪ ♪ sfx: car engine. sfx: car speeding away. sfx: car engine. ♪

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>> the other day in iowa, where we started off 40, 50 points behind we came in virtually tied. and today, in new hampshire where we started off 30, 40 points behind, some polls have us in the lead. so what this campaign is about, why it has established, i think, a lot of momentum, is that we are doing things different than traditional candidates. when we began people saiding well, bernie, you know, it takes a lot of money to run a national campaign to become president of the united states. we're talking about a lot of money.

>> listening in to bernie sanders, seem the feel of the day both sides, both campaigns, wanting to appear at least before this big debate tonight as the dog. meanwhile, new hampshire certainly is sanders' backyard, but the state where hillary clinton had her come from behind back in 2008. steve kornacki joins us again with a closer look at one area of new hampshire where clinton and her campaign are certainly going to be keeping a close watch on steve, where is that? >> so we want to show you where hillary clinton biggest strength in the state is. the biggest challenge for bernie sanders going into this. so start by taking a look at 23008. this was the clin tomorrow obama map. remember, hillary clinton won the state by three points over barack obama. so this is sort of a good starting place for bernie sanders. if he's going to knock hillary clinton off in new hampshire, he wants to at least take the obama areas, the big thing to see here, right along the vermont border, connecticut river valley, the most liberal part of new hampshire, obama did very well here in 2008.

this is also a good natural fit for bernie sanders. not so much because vermont is next door, just the politics of this. this is a liberal area. the rural north, lightly populated, very native borp, working class. she did well here. the key to hillary clinton was down here in the southern part of the state. this is the boston media market. these two counties right here count for half the vote in the state. this one in particular, hillsboro, nashua, her biggest in 2008, bellwether county, in this primary every dooim since 1968, so the challenge for sanders, could he make inn roads, hillsboro answers that question. in this county in the marist poll we put out earlier, bernie sanders has pulled ahead of hillary clinton. so when you see the over all number with sanders having that 20 point lead statewide, a big part is he went right into

hillary clinton's strongest area in the state and now ahead there. >> wow. all right, steve, thank you very much. up next, some surprising answers from new hampshire voters weighing in with their picks for the presidential race. stay tuned, we'll be right back. made a simple tripvere chto the grocery storeis anything but simple. so finally, i had an important conversation with my dermatologist about humira. he explained that humira works inside my body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority were clear or almost clear in just 4 months.

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but i mean, he brought up some good issues. >> have you made your mind up, who you will support? >> i like to see hillary. >> i'm just hearing many views and what they could bring to middle class and lower class people like myself. most likely i'll probably go bernie's way because he is for the people and he knows what is affecting people. >> i was looking for an alternative to trump. i can't imagine someone of that ilk in the white house negotiating with our enemies as opposed to being in a situation where he's going to get something done in a treaty. >> and those were some new hampshire voters discussing the tough choice they'll make in five days when they head to the polls in the first in the nation primary. counting down to msnbc's clinton/sanders debate. university of new hampshire, and

dante, funny thing happens when you're going to dunkin' donuts. >> i know. >> you just randomly ask people what they think. what do you make of some of those opinions and voices that we heard? is that a true snapshot of your state? >> well, i mean there are voters now, a flood of voter whose are just tuning in, and that's probably hard to believe. but these aren't the people who necessarily have been going to taun hall meetings, comparing the candidates, just ordinary folks, an election coming, let me think through the can darts, and left and right, doesn't necessarily apply so much. >> alex, how do you believe hillary clinton will tailor message on that one question about goldman sachs saying that's what they paid me, that's what they offered. >> you know, it's the one part of her 2008 campaign ha she might want to ememulate. we saw her opening up about religion. time magazine cover story where

she talks about how difficult it is in the public eye. playing up that under dog imagine. so i think that is what you might see on stage tonight. for her, the stakes are much lower than they are for bernie sanders here. she doesn't have to win. she just has to not lose horribly. so i think you're going to see herb softer, take umbrage at the tax that sanders has been lobbing her way. >> kristin, let's talk about the heat for bernie sanders, the boston globe endorsed hillary clinton based on bernie sanders' gun record brady bill. some of these things will come up tonight. how does he diffuse that? >> that is his biggest challenge, by the way, i say secretary clinton will go after him aggressively on that. she has in the past. he will likely say, look i'm come around on these pieces, i'm lined with you, but it's one issue where she's a little to the left of him. i expect her to go back to that

point quite frequently tomt. she's be strong in terms of defending herself. i think you'll hear her talk about her record going all the way back to her days as first lady. i think its's going to be critical for her to tap into those independent voters. >> because you lev heive here, is the closest for home tonight? >> young suburban moms, places like hillsboro county, the young middle aged voters, above 30, below 50, if they move back to hillary clinton, it will be key. >> if we see any shift in the poll numbers as well. >> absolutely. the other thing i'll be looking for, secretary clinton started her push for increasing the amount of money that we spend getting people off of drugs, dealing with the heroin crisis in this country. it started here in new hampshire. that's one of the key things you can expect to hear her talk about. >> alex, we have seconds. will we hear donald trump's

name. >> i think you'll hear his name. it's a democrat debate. >> thank you for being with me this hour. thank you for watching. of course, "mtp daily" will be back tomorrow with chuck todd. but meanwhile, keep it here on msnbc, full coverage of the big debate, moderated by chuck and rachel, 9:00 p.m. eastern time "with all due respect" starts right now. i'm mark halperin. >> and i'm john helemann. >> "with all due respect" this ain't no way to protect your neck. >> why you tang, is that the name of the group? >> on the advice of counsel, i invoke my fifth amendment respectfully decline to answer your question.