iand quit a lot,t but ended up nowhere. now i use this. the nicoderm cq patch, with unique extended release technology, helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. i want this time to be my last time. that's why i choose nicoderm cq. at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like vacations equal getting carried away. more proactive selling. what do you think michal? i agree. let's get out there. let's meet these people. good afternoon, i'm ari melber, 3:00 on the east coast. we're live back here at j.d.'s tavern in manchester, new hampshire, republican and democratic candidates have only three days now left to convince these granite state voters why they should be the next president of the united states

and right now they are out in full force. out of nine republicans still in the race, five have fanned out across the state taking voter questions at town halls, knocking on doors, big events. our nbc political team following the latest on the campaign trail live from the debate tonight, we'll check in with them momentarily. but first, seven republicans will be on tonight's debate stage including dr. ben carson. he currently is polling around 4% in both our nbc/"wall street journal"/marist poll and "the boston globe" poll of likely voters in new hampshire. you'll notice in the poll he is in a tie with carly fiorina. she was excluded from tonight's debate for not meeting some of the criteria and tonight significant for the carson campaign as it will be his first face-to-face meeting with senator ted cruz since that campaign apologized spreading the false reports on the night of the iowa caucus that carson was dropping out allegedly of the presidential race. and i am joined now by

republican presidential candidate dr. ben carson. thanks for being here. >> my pleasure. >> i want to get to some of that news i just mentioned, but let me start here in new hampshire. why should new hampshire voters go towards you for president right now? >> well, there's a number of reasons. first of all, i've had a lot of life experiences. not as a career politician, but as somebody who has experienced life from the bottom 1% to the top 1%, who has had 11 different jobs and l s in lots of differe sectors, who has come up with solutions for very complex problems that have never been solved before, who knows how to work with people in order to accomplish things, who loves america, who understands economics and who has a very good grasp after traveling throughout the world of what's going on in the world. and who is a citizen statesman and not a career politician.

>> career politician means everyone but trump do you think shouldn't really win? >> no. i'm just saying that i'm offering that alternative. people should have alternatives. and, you know, hundreds of thousands of people, you know, petitioned me, they say you have to do this for us. i still hear from them all the time, and it is the people who are supporting my campaign. because i refuse to accept money from billionaires who want to influence me and from special interest groups. and i would never do that. >> the dispute with ted cruz that i just mentioned, you have now said there should be accountability. >> yes. >> for the mailers he sent out that were misleading as well as these recorded calls now that have been shared on the internet, people can hear form themselves, suggesting false information about you. has ted cruz sufficiently held his campaign accountable in your view now? >> if he has, i haven't heard about it. as far as i know, nothing has changed there. and it's been made pretty clear by the revelations that somebody

had nefarious motives in doing this. so, when that's the case and when you can excuse that, then that -- it seems to me, like, typical washington ethics, which says the ends justify the me mean -- means, and, you know, right and wrong is not the issue. it's whether it's legal or illegal. >> i spoke just earlier last hour to a ted cruz campaign official. when i asked whether they had lied as you alleged, he said, well, the carson campaign never said we lied. >> i said, you know, it's using information in a misleading way. and, you know, they were able to find the tweet that said that i was going home. there was another tweet within 30 -- within 60 seconds that said he's not dropping out of the campaign. i wonder why they couldn't find that tweet. it was from the same person. >> so, what would accountability

look like for ted cruz here? >> well, you know, when i discovered that my organization did not really represent me, i made some major structural changes in it. and that's -- you have to be willing to do that. because your organization must reflect who you are. >> right. >> now if, in fact, it does reflect who he is, then he doesn't need to do anything. >> looking at policy here, the policy distinctions as you make these arguments to new hampshire voters, what's the biggest policy difference between you and the people that are seen as the leaders right now, donald trump, ted cruz and marco rubio? >> well, there are number. first of all, as president i would make it very clear to congress that i'm not signing anything that borrows from the future. you know, the current generation is the first generation in the history of america expected to do worse than their parents, and that's going to be a continuing trend unless we change something. they call it the new normal. there's nothing normal about it.

and there's no way that i will tolerate that under any circumstances. i'm also the first one who has been out there talking about what is the next thing that you can expect isis to do. i've been saying this for several months, that they're going to attack to libya. of course, they're going to attack to libya, because they need to increase their caliphate and because libya is strategically located. you go north across the mediterranean you are into southern europe and you go north and there is chad and niger and there's oil there. and we need to make it harder to get the caliphate. >> you're projecting, you predict, what, a further isis encroachment in libya -- >> of course. >> -- that should merit a u.s. response. >> we have to be able to anticipate these things. see, our plan recently has been to wait until somebody does something and then to react to it. >> so, would you put ground troops in libya now?

what are you doing differently than what anyone else has said? >> what i would do in general in the fight against isis is to define a goal. the goal is to make sure they can't spread the caliphate but to take the caliphate that they have. and you have to consult with the joint chiefs and your military experts, tell them, this is the goal. what do you need in order to accomplish that? and then you decide whether you're willing to give them what they need. i would give them what they need. and i wouldn't tie their hands behind their back. >> looking on the democratic side, republicans have criticized hillary clinton a lot for her time as secretary of state, her handling of classified information in her e-mail. new reports out this week that colin powell also had retroactively classified information on his e-mail the same snacenario and he's saying the entire classification system is broken and you would have to shut down the state department if you didn't want people to e-mail like this. do you accept colin powell on

his word, do you think hillary clinton doesn't have a problem on that part of the issue? >> again, that's one of the typical washington ethics that i hate. they say, well, they did it, they did it. therefore, it must be okay. none of it's okay. that's the problem. it hasn't been okay for decades. >> what's not okay with what colin powell said specifically? >> well, what's not okay is that hillary clinton used a private e-mail server with information on it that she should have known could put a lot of people at risk. she was the secretary of state. she was a united states senator. she spent eight years in the white house as the first lady. if she doesn't have enough judgment to recognize that is a problem, what will she do when we give her the keys to everything? >> my last question on that, though, is your point is not saying everybody does it, means when she says the last debate you would have to investigate other secretaries, what's your response to that? >> i have no problem. but recognize the trouble that we are in now predates barack

obama. this has gone back for decades, the kind of things that we have been doing. the use of, you know, executive orders, you know, it -- that was for the purpose of doing something that needed to be done when congress was not in session. it's supposed to be a stop gap measure. obama is not the first president to abuse that. that's been going back. we need to re-examine who we are. we need to re-examine our constitution. >> right. so, you're partly talking about checks and balances when you think about the supreme court, who would you nominate if you were president to be on the court? >> i would nominate people whose record indicates that they are constitutionalists. and you don't determine that by an interview or a series of interviews. you only get that by looking at their record. >> is there a record of a current justice that you find appealing? >> i would not want to talk about various people that i'm thinking about reet now.

i think that probably is way premature. >> what's your approach to tonight's debate? >> the approach will be what it has been, and that is, to tell the truth. always tell the truth. try to get into some actual substance. if we can somehow direct the moderators in that direction, and because the american people really need to know what is it that these candidates think, you know, not how good they can argue with each other. >> what do you think has been the biggest misconception about you so far? and i'll give you some choices or you pick your own. on "saturday night live" the joke -- satire of you is they present you as somehow sleepy or tired or low energy to use trump's term. in the political press, there have been crit sich icisms abou your campaign is running, whether it's organized and clear and whether you have the staff going where you need to. >> sure. >> and there's a criticism that your views are extreme on a lot

of issues like abortion or health care. are those all misconceptions or is there another thing that you think people have wrong about you? >> well, none of my views that i can't back up. they're all based on logic and common sense. as far as energy and sleepiness is concerned, you show me somebody who is sleepy and nonenergetic who can do 20-hour operations, who can separate conjoined twins in ways that have never been done before. who has designed a number of very complex procedures that have saved lots of lives. it's not consistent, quite frankly. and, you know, many of the things obviously that the press has come out with said, well, the west point story was not right and the yale story was not right and the temple story, and then, of course, when all of those things are busted, they don't come back and say, oh, we were wrong about. so, you know, this is just garbage, but, you know, i expect that. everybody said, you know, when you get in there, they're going

to try to do everything they can to destroy you and in your case it will be double because they won't be able to find any scandals, and it's okay. you know, if you can't take that, you certainly won't be able to take it in the white house. >> one of the things we learned -- last question -- about iowa voters on the republican side, from the data last week, was that the issues that animated them were jobs, national security and terror, under 15% cited immigration, although that's been a big topic. when you think about an issue that you want voters to have in their minds as they go into the voting booth on tuesday here in new hampshire that's strong for you, what is the issue? what is the issue that animates your campaign right now? >> well, we have -- i would encourage people to go to our website bencarson.com and read about our tax plan, which has been described by many as the best one out there. read about our plan to destroy isis and to protect the homeland and how to revive the economy. i think those are huge issues

for us right now. >> well, we'll be watching you tonight and on tuesday. dr. ben carson. appreciate you spending time with us. >> thank you very much. >> absolutely. now, that was dr. ben carson as i said. be seeing more from you tonight. up next we'll talk about both sides of the aisle what's happening with bernie sanders and hillary clinton as well as the other republicans, live from manchester, so stay with us. ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid.

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been made pretty clear by the revelations that somebody had nefarious motives. when i discovered that my organization did not really represent me, i made some major structural changes in it. and that's -- you have to be willing to do that, because your organization must reflect who you are. that was dr. ben carson, just moments ago in our interview here at j.d.'s tavern in new hampshire calling out the

ted cruz campaign for not -- not -- having accountability for dirty tricks. several of his gop fellow candidates out in new hampshire with the final gop debate tonight before tuesday's first in the nation primary. three candidates notably not out campaigning today, ted cruz, new hampshire primary front-runner donald trump and the candidate climbing fastest right now, marco rubio. we've got a preview of everything tonight with our political correspondents live on site, and as well as gabe gutierrez somewhere but not on camera, so that's the nature of live events. i want to start with halle, you heard the response right there. this thing is not over in the mind of ben carson. what he just told me is he doesn't think that there has been accountability and that ted cruz was acting in a nefarious way and that that is relevant to this campaign. we go to you with the take from the cruz campaign. >> reporter: the cruz campaign's take is what it's been, ari, for

days now, is as they've gone back and had to relitigate iowa due to the accusations from the carson campaign. cruz has apologized for not following up with supporters and clarifying that carson was, in fact, not dropping out of the campaign. but they point out that the initial news report that they passed around they was they feel accurate. they believe that ben carson outperformed his polling there so even if there had been anything going on, it didn't affect how he did ultimately in iowa and they pointed out the campaign, hey, it shouldn't come as a surprise that carson leaving the campaign trail and going back home to florida instead of campaigning in new hampshire or south carolina is a news story, it's something is significant that they say it's not unusual for candidates to leave the campaign trail in a short time period. >> let's dig into that because you are reporting what they are saying. but in thinking about that argument. ted cruz is a very talented

lawyer, i would be the first to note. >> reporter: you would know. >> and that seems to be a very lawyerly defense. he's not saying, hey, we stand by this thing that was true. he's saying we stand by the thing that somebody else said and it's true that somebody else said it. >> reporter: correct. >> which is especially rich coming from ted cruz who has been such a vociferous critic of the media, does he run the risk of being too cute in a dispute that they've acknowledged they got something wrong, and ben carson a nice, mellow candidate not exactly on the attack. >> reporter: here's a couple of points here. are you asking if it will make a difference if it will come off as too cute. i don't get the sense the cruz campaign is worried about it, anecdotally there's a sense among a few voters in new hampshire that it's making a difference. gabe gutierrez spoke to somebody at a rubio event who was a cruz

supporter but switched over to support rubio, because of this dirty politics issue. it can be a difference. it remains to be seen whether it moves the needle in new hampshire. but the more people talk about it and as carson brings it up the more it will be part of the cycle. >> i find it fascinating, because ted cruz could have said my bad, let's move on, but he's tried to have it both ways. you mentioned rubio gave gutierrez, i want to tell folks now, is with us so we'll go to him soon. but, first, on this issue here because it has been a big intermural fight among republicans, we have donald trump's sound about the so-called dirty tricks kicking around all of this still out of iowa. let's play that. >> a lot of people said don't go to iowa, skip iowa, start in new hampshire. new hampshire we're doing really well. but start in new hampshire. i said, no, but i like iowa and i like the people and i have a

lot of friends that live in iowa. so we went to iowa. we should have come in first. a lot of things happened there. a lot of things. a lot of things happened there! >> katy tur, break it down, what's he trying to do there? >> reporter: what hose trying to do is ille leallude to the vote controversy where they implied that ben carson was dropping out of the race in order to get the support for ted cruz. there's a lot of crossover for the two and any more that came to ted cruz would give him an advantage over donald trump who was seeming to surge in iowa, mopping up the moderate vote. in fact, if he had more -- if the moderate vote was just what was going to put him over -- if the moderate vote was the only thing that counted in iowa, let's put it that way, donald trump would win, and ted cruz needed as much evangelical support as he could get. donald trump is trying to hit on

it. he hit it on earlier this week more bluntly saying that it was voter fraud, saying he would sue ted cruz. he's walked that back. he says he doesn't care anymore, now he's looking forward. but that was certainly a veiled reference to it over in south carolina. it depends -- we have to wait and see how much that's going to hurt ted cruz here and potentially help donald trump. right now his biggest competition is not ted cruz in this state. it is marco rubio and he's the one to take down, the establish candidates know this. their ticket out of new hampshire is marco rubio. the only one that is coming up against him with that is marco rubio. he's surging in the polls. he could do a lot better than is expected of him. remember those polls weren't necessarily correct in iowa. he did a lot better there. and so the trump campaign the last thing they want to see is a rubio rise in this state. >> right. and to that point, we have been monitoring this closely because it's down to the wire all these messages and we've heard candidates going in hard on

marco rubio. i want to get gabe's thoughts on this because he's been with the senator who is of everyone's interest all of a sudden. let's look at some of these attacks, though, play that. we don't have it. we don't have it, gabe, but you know what it is. it's a bunch of different candidates hitting rubio. go ahead. >> reporter: yeah, certainly. we have been hearing those attacks for several days. chris christie and jeb bush taking -- >> the boy in the bubble. >> reporter: that's right the boy in the bubble is the attack that chris christie keeps repeating and, you know, it's a situation where every -- every -- every attack really focuses on marco rubio's experience or lack of it. and what he's going to have to do tonight is try to convince the public and convince voters that this lack of experience, that his opponents keep harping on, will not affect his ability to take on the democrats in this general election and that's what he's been focusing on his stump speech. he says, look, i am best positioned to take on bernie sanders and hillary clinton in this general election. but chris christie, there was

that huge moment earlier in the week when rick santorum endorsed rubio and the next morning he was asked to pick one of his accomplishments and he couldn't do it. and rubio campaign put out his list of accomplishments and obama and obamacare. go ahead, ari. i can hear you. >> i'll jump in here because what you're saying, of course, is what everyone said, and yet i wonder who cares whether rick santorum has memorized marco rubio's resume. isn't the larger question about leadership? >> reporter: it's embarrassing. >> reporter: yeah, exactly. but here's the thing he was a surrogate, his campaign put him out there as someone who was going to back up marco rubio and at the very least why didn't they give him the talking points to be able to defend his record. this is manage that has dogged roo ruble ruio for a very long that he's a, quote, empty suit. and chris christie going back to the boy in the bubble, those are going to be attacks that marco rubio will have to fend off

today. what he'll say, yes, his campaign is very scripted but he's really trying to get his message across. he says, look, i'm well prepared for this, i have been preparing for this for a long time and then that's the big criticism that he's a career politician. >> reporter: i think part of it is also optics. he looks very young. he's a first-term senator and one of the big knocks republicans have had against obama for the past eight years he is a first-term senator and he had no real experience and marco rubio is facing the same thing. he's got a terrible voting record and he doesn't show up for votes and that's what his voters keep hitting him on and the santorum thing is a an embarrassing headline, ari. >> i get that because i work in the press. i'm talking about voters, oh, my god, santorum should have been a better ready surrogate, don't the voters look at the field and look at the sum result of a trump, cruz, rubio, it's clearly not a politician at all or at least a new one who might not be like the old ones, isn't that

what's coming through? in a sense marco rubio's newness to washington is a strength? >> reporter: so potentially but i was speaking to a rand paul supporter and i was trying to find out who she would support whether it's an outsider like donald trump or someone more mainstream like marco rubio or even ted cruz, she said the problem she has for marco rubio, she said it's about principles and trust and she doesn't have the trust because she doesn't have his voting record and she doesn't know what he's done. when the santorum interview came out and it's a bad headline and the press harps on that, i think the voter sees that as well, they want to know they can trust the person they are electing to office, they trust what they are saying they can back up, while donald trump doesn't have the record either, it's not like he was in office and didn't show up to vote. marco rubio is in office and hasn't showed up to a lot of those votes. and they say they like what he's saying and his message but they're worried he can't back it

up when he's in office. >> reporter: and building on that speaking to rubio supporters in the rally, some of them say, when you ask the supporters, does the experience question bother you, they say, no, we want someone that is fresh. even, you know, if he gets that critique of the republican obama, the one they are supporting right now, they don't seem to mind. the question will be, will that, the question about experience, will that attack stick during tonight's debate. ari? >> right. it's certainly relevant, whether it's relevant right now with this mood, i don't know, but katy tur, you sort of convinced me that i was wrong. so, this segment was good for something. and gabe and hallie, thank you as always. i want to turn back to j.d.'s in manchester, "time" magazine political reporter and zarini parti. how are you doing? >> it's going good. >> i remember when you used to be at buzzfeed.

now you write for a magazine. did that make sense to you, is it a problem for marco rubio? >> it certainly is a problem for marco rubio with the headline out there. at the same time if you look at the republican field when we started there were seven governors in this race. right now, you know, the leaders are two senators and a former reality television star and businessman. right now experience and accomplishments are not what voters are rewarding. and the governors are trying to make the case that maybe that's what is needed, maybe something else is needed but they are selling that, and voters aren't buying it right now. it's vulnerability more of a general election potentially against hillary clinton than the primary right now. >> i was speaking to a big political operative who basically said, look, the idea that marco rubio is new and presents well, the idea that he's less of a conservative is factually false. and if you look on particularly big domestic issues, i mean, the rhetoric on isis is all fairly similar it's fair to say. on domestic issues marco rubio's positions on abortion, on

obamacare, on funding for domestic needs, on poverty programs, is all as conservative as anyone else with the possible exception of donald trump because we don't know what his positions are and nobody seems to care. >> that's exactly right. if you look back at marco rubio's trajectory he was tea party, you know, when he first came to the senate he came on the tea party wave, he had that sort of conservative mantle and a lot of them could be a problem in the general. he has a conservative record on abortion. >> what's his position? >> he doesn't believe in exceptions he said in one of the debates and you can see that in an attack ad in the general election so -- >> that means, just spelling it out here, he's basically of the policy position that if a woman is raped or is in a situation of incest or a child, that there is no exception in marco rubio's vision of federal law where that

would be legal? >> in that first debate on fox news that's what he clarified to megyn kelly, right? >> the only thing is the life of the mother and the rubio supporters -- >> for emergency health exception. >> and they'll point out that's the same position where ronald reagan was at the same time we're seeing jeb bush and chris christie saying that's just an unpalatable in a general election is where the country is right now and they're envisioning tens and tens of millions of dollars being spent against him if he's the nominee. >> let me ask you the question without an answer, the best question to ask on television, why is that not part of either marco rubio's reputation or potentially strength? in other words, we're talking about something, "a," relevant to policy facts as they make up their mind, and, "b," in this republican primary where everyone is trying to be the conservati conservative, why don't people say he's conservative on that? >> if you are jeb bush started looking at this issue three months ago they backed away

because they were worried, you know, you don't want to cast marco rubio as not being -- you don't want to attack him from the left because that makes your guy look less conservative that he may be. it would have an impact when you go to south carolina of making jeb bush look less conservative than he is. >> i think the big thing is voters really aren't responding to policy ideas as much in general. donald trump has the celebrity factor. it's more about personality which is why rubio is sort of portraying himself as this fresh-faced young guy who is the future of the party. policy doesn't come up as much and, you know, he's focusing on that youth factor to sort of get him ahead. >> how is buzzfeed doing? >> that's her question, not me. >> well, past and former, whatever. you know, should people rely on these websites as much as they do? >> i think so, certainly. >> absolutely. >> one last thing on that, it was so interesting when the audio we were discussing earlier, these were secret basically last-minute phone calls that were made to households in iowa about the

cruz thing, right? but now they're on the internet, they're everywhere. how do you think that's changing the way they campaign? >> i was actually at the carson headquarters this morning and he is definitely bringing out over and over again, he wants people to go online and listen to these -- >> listen to the calls. >> he wants them to listen to it so it sort of inspires people to go out and some of his supporters told me they want cruz's vote as, you know, a revenge of some sort for iowa. >> it's another fascinating part the way the campaign is changing and if you want to do the so-called dirty tricks or lies, they might help you in one state and reverberating later. we might hear about it in the debate tonight. >> absolutely. >> there's a high cost to some of these debates, appreciate it. we have so much more from manchester, we're talking "rs" and going back to the "ds" and hork houck is ho hillary clinton is holding a town hall and we'll bring you

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welcome back. i'm ari melber coming to you live at j.d.'s tavern in manchester, new hampshire. earlier this afternoon hoke had a pretty large rally in concord and she was joined on stage by former secretary of state madeleine albright who served in the clinton administration as well as new jersey senator cory booker. albright drew applause with a message clearly directed at women voters. >> there's never been anybody that is better at understanding things and ready to go than hillary. and just, remember, there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other. >> don't go to hell, vote for hillary, part of the argument there. during the rally clinton continued to take on a recent line of attacks that, of course, you've heard by now from bernie sanders that she's not a true progressive.

>> and am proud to stand with them in the fight they are waging. i will defend marriage equality and work to end discrimination against the lgbt community. i will defend voter rights, and i want 18-year-olds to be automatically registered to vote. i will reverse citizens united through the supreme court or constitutional amendment. >> strong stuff, and you can hear a lot of applause there. meanwhile, bernie sanders, of course, her democratic rival, rallying voters this morning. >> when people come together and demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors, when we do that, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.

let's get right to it, msnbc's casey hunt was at that rally, nbc senator political editor mark murray has been all over this race and all over this country. viewers who have been watching for a little while, casey, remember when your call dropped to me. we had a nice close-up of your face. people say why do you do that shot when the person's in the car. that's how you know casey hunt is everywhere. well, the call dropped, but you made it here which is the most important thing. what did you see at that bernie sanders event? >> he's now on his way to new york city to do "saturday night live" but he wanted to make sure that they got a campaign event in this morning. i think it was a lot more of what we've come to hear over and over again from bernie sanders, of course, one of the things he's, you know, worked -- used to his advantage against hillary clinton is that he does have a very specific message that people respond to, and he stayed on that message today, again, at this rally, not too far from here franklin pierce university. there was one moment where he handed his jacket off to the

crowd. i want to show it to you. >> i feel like a rock 'n' roll star. >> a rock 'n' roll star, there you go. i've spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what it is that sanders brings to the table that appeals to so many young voters. we've obviously seen the gaps with hillary clinton even among young women, for example, notable when you hear madeleine albright talking about this, of course, but they say over and over again that they feel like he has authenticity and that's why they are gravitating towards him spm >> mark, this goes to a key thing in politics, there's representation and there's aspiration. and representation may be a famous jay-z line when you see me see see you i am of you and like you and you can root for me

in that context. and sometimes that's all there is in politiciitipolitics. bernie sanders is probably not like you, but yet his passion and his desire for what he calls revolution is striking with young people. >> it's the only time i've gotten a jay-z politics question before. >> it's bound to happen. >> but the representation that you were talking about and what struck me about hillary clinton really bringing up what it means to be a democrat and a progressive and the line from madeleine albright, women, it is time to turn out for women, the representation argument are the ones that hillary clinton can bring the 20-point race or 15-point race down to single digits by being able to do that. the outsider appeal that bernie sanders has and the big concentration of independent voters this state is tailor-made for him, but for hillary clinton to really bring down the margin and get into the single digits were, she needs to do better with women and democrats. because right now bernie sanders

is overperforming with both of those groups and the arguments that hillary clinton is making and the surrogates around her going after democrats and women is a way to make the race more competitive. >> you mentioned madeleine albright out on the stump and the symbolism and tshe knew clinton in the clinton administration and what they've been through for now there's nothing unusual about a woman secretary of state between condi and madeleine and hillary and let's listen to madeleine albright with our own kristen welker. >> sanders says she has the better judgment when it comes to foreign policy. how do you respond to that? >> i find that a passing strange statement because i've been very concerned about his lack of knowledge. when they were asked about which of the three countries were the most threatening, i think that he gave very kind of simple answers to things. most people know how many dictators north korea has.

but in contrast to secretary clinton who not only talked about what was going on in each of those countries but also the other concerns about it. he has never been to any briefing that whether when i was u.n. ambassador or secretary of state or since then i've gone up to the hill to brief and it's not his thing. >> casey, that's an argument that he's a no-show. >> well, and look, i think we were talking a little earlier about how sanders has this center strong message. the weakness in that it is focusedstrictly on the economy and he's not as comfortable on foreign policy turf obviously as she is or some of his other colleagues in the senate might be. sanders campaign you can't give a commander in chief test in the time they stood on the debate stage, but clinton's campaign feels very strongly this was a moment that highlighted weakness for him and especially in the world we live now with isis and the attacks in paris and san

bernardino is something that the voters should be focused on. >> a final question for mark, because you are a numbers guru, there are numbers and data to support that contention that this is an argument she wins in the long run in this field? >> there's so much that does benefit hillary clinton in the long run, ari, and not only the foreign policy and commander in chief argument, but when you start to count the superdelegates hillary clinton has an eight-point lead when you start adding superdelegates, when you go to south carolina and the march 1st contests and georgia and alabama and texas, the long run looks good. the short run looks really bad for them just because you look at iowa, you look at new hampshire, even nevada and the caucus contest it could be a little bit competitive for them and so if you're the clinton campaign you have to keep your cool and think, yes, the long game benefits us, the short game, though, bernie sanders particularly here in new hampshire is the guy with the upper hand. >> as you say, it's a calendar and it's superdelegates who have a binding choice and they know

hilla hillary, and that brins us to our second jay-z quote, allow me to reintroduce myself. thank you. appreciate it. we have so much coverage, we'll talk about this beautiful state of new hampshire and its impact on the overall outccampa. how do the election rules affect it and does that hurt hillary clinton in the long run in this independent state? stay tuned. 85% of men say eating right helps prepare them for a healthy future. but up to 90% fall short in getting key nutrients ... ...from food alone. let's do more. add one a day men's ... ...complete multivitamin. with vitamin d and magnesium to help support healthy blood pressure. one a day. at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like grandkids equals free tech support. oh, look at you, so great to see you! none of this works. come on in.

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when you're on hold, your business is on hold. that's why comcast business doesn't leave you there. when you call, a small business expert will answer you in about 30 seconds. no annoying hold music. just a real person, real fast. whenever you need them. so your business can get back to business. sounds like my ride's ready. don't get stuck on hold. reach an expert fast. comcast business. built for business. welcome back. i'm ari melber coming to you live with our special election coverage here in j.d.'s tavern in manchester here, manchester, new hampshire. hillary clinton making her way from an earlier rally in concord and i'll have to work on my -- tell me. >> hanecker.

>> that's 30 miles north. i'm joined on an associate professor from the department of political science from the university of new hampshire and co-author of "the four faces of the republican party" a historian of the special primary in this state and my copilot because i need help in new hampshire. learning my way around. >> we're here to oblige. >> let's start with what you did because there's so much noise and punditry day to day. you've taken a much more long-term approach, digging into what we know from the long-term data about this electorate that plays such an important role. what have you learned about who the republican electorate is in new hampshire and what does it mean for tuesday? >> so, looking at exit polls dating back to 2000, what we know about new hampshire republicans, they're dominated by moderate, even liberal republicans, who will make up about half of all the voters who go to the polls, and those very conservative voters, including the religious conservatives who were so prominent in iowa,

together they're probably going to make the libertarians and evangelicals and elid s and re conservatives only make one out of five new hampshire voters. it's a tilt to the left a bit from iowa. >> that's a statement about ideology. then there's a statement about process, about how people make decisions, right? >> right. >> decision theory and academia is a richfie field how do peopl decide to do what they do? we can put it up on the big screen. people make this decision carefully and they wait to make it late. look at this. half the people say their minds are made up. 9% totally undecided, up for grabs. and another third -- this is new polling. another third say they are open to changing their mind. >> yeah. >> in your research do you find that is something in particular about the new hampshire elect electora electorate? >> there's nothing more volatile than a primary with multiple candidates in it and new hampshire is in this place where they get to choose from the whole field. later primaries there will be two or three candidates left but

when you're a new hampshire republican and you have to choose from 10, 12 different candidates all of whom have a similar ideology and policy positions you have to dig deep into the intangibles for voters to make the point you just made. you're saying it's not so much what the people here are like, it's what the calendar is like. in the same way that if you put ten items on a menu, it might take you longer to make a decision than two. >> it's a much more complicated decision for new hampshire voters to make than a georgia voter to make when there are only two or three candidates left. >> what do you think is key in a closing argument based on your research that can actually move those people? >> i think a big question now is going to be electability. i think you find in new hampshire a lot of pragmatic voters who are looking for a reliable conservative who can beat hillary clinton or bernie sanders, whoever the nominee is going to be. i think they were looking a bit to iowa for some clues. that's why we've seen marco

rubio get a bit of a bounce. tonight in the debate, you'll hear the rest of that center right lane, jeb bush, chris christie, john kasich, try to make marco rubio down a peg or two and though more undecides back into the mix. >> and that goes into another point, the framing of the results is so key. pat buchanan came in in the 30s here one time and 20s in another time. when it was better for him was when he came in in the 20s and he won. donald trump raised expectations on himself, maybe because he's a rookie to politics and doesn't realize marco rubio is doing pretty good running on third because he outperformed. maybe we're scoring it the wrong way but as research shows, it does matter a good deal. >> if trump comes back down to earth, there could be more voters undecided, even more volatility going into tuesday. >> you know what they say, nobody likes a loser. >> definitely the donald. >> thanks so much. up next, we'll checkup with our

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you're looking at live footage here of hillary clinton. this is live right now. she is in a town hall. she was just introduced by a student who handed her a university sweatshirt. you see her listening, nodding, because hillary clinton just skipped the opening speeches that you sometimes see. we are in the red zone here and she's skipping her stump speech and taking questions live, going right into the town hall. john kasich says he's done 101 but hillary clinton not to be outdone. she is retail politicking new hampshire style. that's the best video you have.

that jumps in and out. that's live tv. we have more video of that and more sound of the appeal she's making. as i told you earlier she was out with cory booker talking about rising up, getting back on your feet. that is what she is saying in her closing arguments. we have a lot more for you today. i am ari melber and our special coverage is wrapping up but not msnbc's election special. steve kornacki will pick things up right after a short break and we are still just four hours away from, of course, the final gop debate before voters head to the polls here in new hampshire and, unlike iowa, it will include the donald. he did miss the last one but he is here. how will that affect the dynamics? steve will have a lot more coverage on that, everything you need to know, plus our correspondents in the field. stay tuned to msnbc election coverage. we'll be right back. me off righ. oh no, i'll take you up to the front of the school. that's where your friends are. seriously, it's, it's really fine. you don't want to be seen with your dad? no, it's..no..

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good afternoon, everyone. i'm steve kornacki. we are live in manchester, new hampshire. across the state today, the mad dash is on for last-minute support. all of the 2016 candidates out there scrambling around with a primary here just three days away now. for republicans the clock is ticking ahead of tonight's final debate. that will be the last chance for them to go head-to-head before the polls open on tuesday. several of the candidates also making their appeals in person at town halls and rallies, including dr. ben carson, who was here on set just in the last hour making his case. >> why should new hampshire voters go towards you for president right now? >> well, there are a number of reasons. first of all, i've had a lot of life experiences. not as a career politician, but as somebody