49ers. pled guilty in 1998 for failing to report a felony in a corruption case that involved the former louisiana governor. he did give up control of the 49ers to his sister. former 49 jerry rice was at this white house announcement and so was nfl legend jim brown. you can see them both in the background there at the white house. that's going to wrap up this hour of msnbc live. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today." "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. >> and right now on "andrea mitchell reports," place your bet. mike bloomberg making the stage for our debate tomorrow night in las vegas as he leaps to second place in a new poll which has bernie sanders cementing his front-runner status with a double-digit lead. >> and i hear the establishment saying, oh, bernie can't win the

election. take a look at this crowd today and tell me we can't win the election. >> and some surprising new polling in an important super tuesday swing state. that also coming up. no drama obama. former president barack obama is considering what role he will play in a possibly contested convention. remember this? >> are you fired up? ready to go? fired up? ready to go? >> and full-court press. in an extraordinary move, federal judges call an emergency meeting to deal with the president's unprecedented attacks on judges and jurors and attorney general william barr's interference with the prosecutors over sentencing. >> they feel like there's a crisis here. the president of the united states is tweeting and criticizing federal judges. that has not happened before in modern history.

and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. a big day in politics. michael bloomberg, his bet seems to be paying off. tomorrow night's debate could be a big showdown. he'll be on the stage for the first time, a showdown between bloomberg and bernie sanders. against a self-declared socialist who campaigns against billionaires and has enormous crowds. a new npr/pbs poll has bloomberg qualifying for tomorrow night's debate. he has 19% behind sanders at 31%. joe biden is at 15%, the other candidates are all trailing behind. another new poll today showing sanders and bloomberg tied in a key super tuesday swing state virginia.

each at 22%. joining me now, shaq brewster covering the sanders campaign and steve kornacki in new york at the big board. all of this polling really rich data, steve. let's talk about it first. bloomberg moving up to 19%, bernie sanders now with 31% in this national poll. that's a very big lead. >> it is some fascinating movement here. you talk about bloomberg getting on the debate stage. let's take a look at a few things that jump out here. you can say with bernie sanders, double digits over 30% now. this is somebody who has gotten a bounce, a bump from his victory in new hampshire, from however you want to describe what happened out there in iowa. he's gotten a bounce. he's got the lead. it's double digits. bloomberg has moved up significantly since this last poll. this last poll was taken back in december. bloomberg now in that number two spot in part because joe biden is going south, going south

pretty dramatically in this poll. we've seen this in other polls as well. something else that jumps out and is significant, these two candidates here, klobuchar and buttigieg, buttigieg coming very close there in new hampshire, having a strong showing in iowa, traditionally to be able to do that would move you up big time in the national polling. yet here is pete buttigieg all the way back in sixth place with 8%. single digits nationally. klobuchar you see getting a bump there from her strong showing in new hampshire, but only a bit of a bump. single digits for her as well. despite the strong performances for them in new hampshire, not much evidence that that's translating to the broader national electorate. one of the reasons here, we've been talking about the divide between white voters, black voters, iowa, new hampshire, heavily white states, super tuesday going to get much more diverse. you can see here, sanders leading among white voters. bloomberg moving to second place there a big reason for that, older white voters in particular

moving behind michael bloomberg and away from joe biden who is down in single digits. you look at african-american voters here. this has been the strongest spot for joe biden for months in polling. he continues to lead but barely. three points here. biden over sanders. that's the margin i can remember, this was 30, 40, 50 in polling months ago. now down to just three points and, again, michael bloomberg moving up there, double digits, 16% among black voters. a lot of that has eaten into the advantage that joe biden had. and you mentioned virginia, one of those super tuesday states, this is one of the states that michael bloomberg has dropped a fortune onto the air waves. we've seen this in a number of places and we're starting to get some polling from those states. that monmouth poll out of virginia shows you what that money has been able to buy. a lot of other candidates not on the air waves. bloomberg has had it to himself. we will see.

remember, super tuesday is when he makes his debut on the battle. we still have nevada, south carolina, before that. let's see if there's an effect of somebody else winning the states and bloomberg not being on the board if that affects the standing in other states. >> tomorrow night on the debate stage will be the first time people will have a chance to see him. his own performance in debates in the past has been erratic at times. he can appear irr itabl and it could become if he does well, a two-person race, could be shaping up going into super tuesday with bernie sanders and mike bloomberg. >> that's the fascinating thing. what he's been able to do with this money, again, he's been sort of uncontested on the air waves. you're mentioning the new dynamic of this race. candidates challenging bloomberg on the debate stage, bloomberg

being challenged in television advertising. these are things that have not been factored into his numbers yet. it's only been a few weeks since the rest of the field was up there debating. the last night bloomberg was in a political debate was 11 years ago, he was running for his third team as mayor of new york. that's the last televised campaign debate that bloomberg was in until tomorrow night. >> that is just so extraordinary, this newcomer to national politics and debuting this way with a ton of money and the big test is going to be tomorrow night, shaq, you've been with bernie sanders. how is he preparing for this? he's been going to super tuesday states, he was in california and richmond, california, then he went to washington state last night which is not until march 10th. he seems confident about nevada? >> reporter: that's right.

he feels confident about nevada. he'll be going to different college campuses. you've been seeing and hearing senator sanders preview the lines of attacks that we can hear at that debate on wednesday night. we're hearing it also from other candidates. vice president biden saying that bloomberg can spend as much money as he can, but that can't erase his record. senator sanders going after things like his opposition to the minimum wage and cuts to social security. you're seeing senator sanders ready and leaning into this fight with mayor bloomberg. >> what a matchup. shaq brewster and steve kornacki, thank you both. you can try your hand at the big board. become your own steve kornacki, create your own 2020 election scenarios at home. choose potential paths to a white house victory with our road to 270 interactive map now

at nbcnews.com/road to 270. candidates are pouncing on senator sanders, confusing sanders of not doing none to rein in his supporters. >> he has a lot of questions to answer here and i'm worried about what's happening with the attacks on members of the culinary union, making very aggressive threats against their own safety and the safety of their families. that is not how we build an inclusive democratic party and it is not how we build donald trump. we did not build on a foundation of hate. >> julian castro is a former presidential candidate, former mayor of san antonio and he's supporting elizabeth warren and joins me now. mr. secretary, thank you very much. great to see you and thanks for being with us today. big day in terms of these polls.

elizabeth warren, not doing that well in these polls. bernie sanders, her progressive soulmate, really way out front. is this now bernie sanders' race to lose? >> not at all. this is a new ball game. nevada is going to matter. it's the most diverse state so far. senator warren has been on the ground here for months with a campaign that is everywhere in the state. yesterday i was out at a community which is about an hour from las vegas and she had a lot of enthusiastic supporters that were ready to go out there and knock on doors, make phone calls. and that's indicative of the reception she's getting here in nevada. she had 1100 people in reno the other day. anybody who thinks that this is -- that this race is somehow -- it belongs to two

people or that it's going a certain direction, i think that they're going to have a surprise coming for them. because nevadans are going to have their say and this state is different from iowa and new hampshire and elizabeth warren, in so many ways, represents not only opposite of donald trump, but also the opposite of mike bloomberg. mike bloomberg was the biggest defender of wall street. he implemented and expanded policies like stop-and-frisk that targeted the black and latino community there in new york. throughout her time, elizabeth warren has been fighting for so many families, like families that i met in nevada, that went through that housing crisis and may have lost their home or are struggling to keep up with the rent. she stood up at to the protection bureau, she fought to hold wall street accountable. she's tried to make sure that the voices of people of color are heard not only in this election, but throughout her time in the senate. i think that's going to represent a good contrast on that stage to bloomberg

tomorrow. >> why do you think this campaign has gotten so nasty? elizabeth warren has been running a positive campaign. bernie sanders, according to some criticism from warren as well as from joe biden on meet the press has not done enough to discipline his supporters? >> when i decided to end my campaign, i had a decision to make. i could sit on the sidelines or i could endorse somebody that i believe would be a great president and one of the reasons that i endorsed senator warren is because she's run a positive campaign and her supporters have been positive. she's telling the people, these are my plans, let's build this together. that's the kind of campaign i think all of us can be proud of. other candidates are going to do their thing. senator warren has been focused on what's going to make a difference in improving the lives of americans out there whether they're in nevada or any state of our union and i think that people are going to respond to that as we get further and further down this primary

calendar. >> julian castro, thanks so much for being with us. thank you. see you out there. >> great to be with you. and coming up, benchmark, an association of federal judges calling an emergency meeting to address their concerns about how the justice department is getting involved in politically sensitive cases like roger stone's. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. your mission: stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some... rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints.

rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious infections and blood clots, sometimes fatal, have occurred as have certain cancers, including lymphoma, and tears in the stomach or intestines, and changes in lab results. your doctor should monitor your bloodwork. tell your doctor about any infections and if you are or may become pregnant while taking rinvoq. ready to take on ra? talk to your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. rinvoq. make it your mission. i need all the breaks, that i can get. at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide pods free & gentle. it's gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended.

tide free & gentle. safe for skin with psoriasis and eczema. lobster fan like wild caught lobster, butter poached, creamy and roasted. or try lobster sautéed with crab, shrimp and more. so hurry in and let's lobsterfest. or get it to go at red lobster dot com

in the last hour, the judge in roger stone's case announced that stone's sentencing hearing will proceed as planned on thursday, but his sentence, she said, will be deferred until she moves on his motion for a new trial. it's his second motion for a new trial. joining me now to explain all of this is pete williams outside the courthouse in washington. pete, you were in the courthouse, you heard this conference call. what is judge jackson doing with the roger stone case which has

been so controversial all week of course because of the resignations -- >> first of all, yes -- right. first of all, that didn't come up today, andrea, at all. there was no discussion whatsoever about the prosecutors getting off the case, barr's intervention. the judge said i want to know only one question, am i legally obligated to delay the sentencing because stone's lawyers have filed a motion for a new trial claiming one of the jurors was biassed. the judge said i can't find any case law that requires me to defer the sentencing and the lawyers for both sides agreed that there's no such law, nonetheless, one of stone's lawyers says this claim goes to the heart of the case and we want you to delay the sentencing. but today she said she's not going to do that. she will go ahead with the sentencing, still scheduled for thursday morning, but what she said to the defense is, there's no harm no foul with going ahead now. if i -- when i sentence him thursday, i will say that he doesn't have to start serving

the sentence immediately until i resolve this question of whether there should be a new trial. she said if i do grant a new trial, then the sentence is dissolved anyway. the defense has claimed that one of the jurors was biassed. this is a juror that has since spoken out since barr replaced those -- or since those prosecutors resigned. one of the jurors, a woman who was the foreman, went on social media to say that she thought the prosecutors did a great job and it's been discovered that well before the trial, she posted some anti-trump sentiments and based on all of that, the defense says he should have a new trial. but, you know, that's a very high bar to meet and i think the judge probably will deny that motion as she's already denied a similar motion about another juror. >> and in fact, the defense tried to get her off the jury, it's up to them to look into the

background if they had any questions about it. >> reporter: well, and they knew this juror was -- right, and they knew this juror was a democratic politician but did not object to her during the jury selection process. >> pete williams, thank you. and in an extraordinary move, the federal judges association is going to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the justice department's decision to intervene in the case of president trump's long-term ally roger stone and his tweets against judges. joining me now is mazie hirono. senator, thank you very much for being with us. these judges are concerned because of the president's -- it's good to see you as always. i know you've been a critic of the president, but now you have the federal judges and these are judges appointed under different presidents, concerned about the president's social media comments about judges, and in one case about this juror, the foreperson of the roger stone

case. >> are you asking me a question? i'm sorry, andrea. >> i guess, i guess the larger question is, the president's interference, political, and william barr as a member of the judiciary, what do you think congress or the senate can do at all? >> of course, the independence of the judiciary is a matter -- should be a matter of extreme concern for the judges and i'm glad that they're meeting to talk about it because with this administration and this president, the rule of law of an independent judiciary, checks and balances, out the window. this is why you have so many former attorneys for the department of justice, over 2,000 or so now who have called on bill barr to resign because they're concerned with the department of justice being compromised for this president. so all of these people and groups are coming together who are very concerned about the

rule of law in this country and it's a concern that many of us who sit on the judiciary committee, the democrats, anyway, have been expressing for some months. in fact, andrea, i called for bill barr to resign back in may of 2019 when it was very clear that he had put his thumb on the mueller report and mischaracterized that report. i called on him to resign then and it's only gotten worse since that time. his desire to protect the president. >> he's agreed now to testify in march to the senate judiciary committee. what do you want to hear from him? how can he reassure you that he's not interfering in these cases like roger stone, the sentencing, the rejection of the proposals from the -- the proposed sentences from the prosecutors on the case and again on the michael flynn case. >> at this point, i frankly, don't know what bill barr can

say to the house committee or to anyone that he truly is going to behave in a way that he's an attorney for the people of our country as opposed to president trump. from the very beginning he auditioned for the judge about talking about a unitary executive which is basically an all-powerful president. i don't know what bill barr can say to us that will -- that will enable us to get over the fact that i think his reputation is shot and he's compromised his independence and basically that of the department of justice knowing full well as i do that there are lots and lots of career attorneys in the department of justice who are doing their jobs. >> i also want to ask you just briefly about the latest polling today. you have bernie sanders with an extraordinary double-digit lead, 31%. he's the front-runner going into

nevada, south carolina and super tuesday. it could boil down to a stop bernie movement that can coalesce around mike bloomberg or else he could run away with this? how would that suit you in terms of the party and him being at the top of the ticket? >> i and the democratic party -- it is very critical that whoever emerges as our nominee is a person that we all get behind because what is more dangerous in another four years of this presidency and the lack of control that this president has, the vengeance, vindictiveness, the impulsiveness that endangers our country and so we need to get together, we democrats, and i hope that the people of this country that will realize with this president who is just submitted a budget that makes massive cuts to social security, medicaid and medicare, that he's a danger to all of us and our

country and our national security. i'm not overstating it. not to mention, of course, that he's attacking our health care even as we speak in spite of the fact that he lied at his state of the union saying he's the person who's protecting people with pre-existing conditions when he is contesting or he is challenging the affordable care act that protects people with pre-existing conditions in front of the supreme court. at so many levels internationally and domestically, trump is a danger to our country and so whoever emerges from our long nomination process, our democratic candidate, is someone i'm prepared to get mind. although there may be some issues that arises to their positions and we will deal with them. they will need to provide responsive answers to the questions that may come up during the process of the

election. >> thank you very much. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. and coming up, fire it up, but not yet ready to go? he hasn't publicly endorsed anyone, but what is former president barack obama saying about the democratic race behind closed doors. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

pnc bank has technology to help a pnc business line of credit, because sometimes inner peace requires a little external soundproofing. or pnc total auto. a place online to easily find and finance the right car for you. and your passengers. or pnc home insight, to search for a new house within your budget. hopefully with a grass yard. pnc - make today the day.

set yourself free with fleet. gentle constipation relief in minutes. little fleet. big relief. try it. feel it. feel that fleet feeling.

little fleet. big relief. try it. feel it. it's our most dangerous addiction. so we took our worst vice, and turned it into the dna for a better system. we created bionic and put the word out with godaddy. what will you change? make the world you want.

in the democratic primary heating up, a fragmented field, the chances of a contested fight all the way to the convention are improving unless some party leader steps forward to broker a truce. who is that person? could it be barack obama? new york magazine is reporting in a new article entitled what obama is saying in private about the democratic party that obama is going to look at the delegate mass to determine the outcome. his biggest dilemma is if bernie is at 30 to 40% of the delegate, does he say you have to go with who looks to be the true

front-runner. joining me now is gabriel debenedetti. thank you so much. with me here, jonathan capehart, opinion writer for "the washington post." let's talk about, of course, the party leader is barack obama, although he's been very much taking a backseat, trying not to put his thumb on the scale, if you will, but now it's shaping up as potentially a mike bloomberg versus bernie sanders race. say that the moderates fragment in california and bernie sanders comes out with 35% of the vote with a 200-delegate lead and he will be unstoppable. what does barack obama do? >> he's made it clear that he has no intention of stepping into this primary. he's told of the candidates this, and the people who are still surrounding him have made this clear to other people within the campaigns, but if that does happen, i think he'll look very closely at this race.

basically what my reporting shows over the last few weeks is that when he talks to folks about possibilities like this, the way that obama talks about this is saying, i'll have a responsibility to bring the party together or the opportunity to do so later in the summer once it's clear who the nominee actually is. there is the prospect of this brokered convention that you were talking about. but that's still a ways away. if it looks like sanders is running away from this, it seems it will be a calculation for obama and those who are close to him to basically say, well, does he -- has he already hit this margin? has he hit the point where he's likely enough to be the nominee and we should support him. if it does come down to bernie and bloomberg, these are two people who have not been democrats historicallily and they're two people with whom president obama has had complicated relationships. there's a lot going into the calculus here. >> certainly is. and there's the whole question of joe biden who has been fading

in the polls and has a chance to revive himself in nevada and south carolina. if he doesn't, he will be hard pressed to keep the donors coming with money into the big super tuesday field. >> right. right. south carolina is particularly important for vice president biden. african-american vote is 60% of the democratic electorate and so that is a signal about the vice president's support within the african-american community and then three days later, more states in super tuesday, southern states go to vote. we saw in the quinnipiac poll that was released last week that vice president biden's support among african-americans has shrunk. mike bloomberg was only at 7% a month ago. >> and has a complicated record

to defend with stop-and-frisk. there's an article that preceded your reporting by some months, back in november he reported that when sanders seemed more like a threat, obama said if bernie would run away with the nomination, obama would step up. but bernie, may well, despite not great results from new hampshire, he was on top, but not by the margin the last time. it was the smallest margin of any democratic winner in new hampshire primary history. but now he really is widening his lead in this new poll. >> that's right. and i think an important thing to keep in mind is that the dynamic of the race has been shifting since november. there are a lot of people around president obama who would like to see him say something like that. he's not suggesting that he's going to do that now. a very important piece of this of course is that obama realizes the weight that his voice has in the party right now and he understands a number of people who have spoken with him recently tell me that if he were

to speak up against bernie sanders right now, for example, all of a sudden a lot of the left of the party would hate him and he wouldn't be in any -- he wouldn't be in a good position to june fi the party which is going to be much needed later on down the line. as it currently stands, my reporting suggests that president obama has no intention of standing in bernie sanders' way even though it looks like he's by far in the best position of anyone in the race. >> it's all fascinating these personalities and past relationships as well. complicated. gabriel debenedetti and jonathan capehart, thank you both very much. >> thank you. coming up, hype man, a no show during impeachment, john bolton shows up to plug his book. you'll find out what he's saying and what he's not right here on "andrea mitchell reports" next.

it took plenty of work to get here. but it's still important to be prepared for what's next. at fidelity, we can help you build a clear plan for retirement without the unnecessary fees you might expect from so many financial firms.

we'll make sure you can cover the essentials, as well as all the things you want to do. because when you have a retirement partner who gives you clarity at every step, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. ♪ here's wishing you the bluest sky ♪

president trump's former national security adviser john

bolton was out promoting his book at duke university last night in his first public appearance since refusing to testify in the house impeachment inquiry. when asked about the president's call with ukraine's president, bolton responded, you'll love chapter 14. bolton accused the white house of censorship in reviewing his book, slamming two of the president's top foreign policies as well, negotiations with north korea and iran. joining me now david jolly, michael crowley, and anne rumsey gearan, white house correspondent for "the washington post." welcome all. and to you, john bolton ousted, either fired or quit, depending on whose tweets you read, it was all happening in realtime during our program once. he is now suggesting that the classification process is onerous and improper because he

above anyone would know what's classified and what isn't. so this is basically censorship he believes. but he's plugging the book. he made it clear he didn't want to testify, wouldn't without a subpoena and wasn't subpoenaed in fairness on the house side, then the senate let him off the hook. he made it difficult to appear and has not cooperated with any of the inquiries. >> right. so he keeps lifting his skirt a little on the book and on what he says happened -- >> i'm sure he'd love that metaphor. >> he's showing some ankle. we could go a lot of ways here. he wants people to buy this book, he wants to stay relevant, he's doing two university speeches this week which -- if the one tomorrow goes like the one last night, he goes right up to the line of telling you what's in the book and says, no, i can't tell you everything that's in the book because the white house won't let me. but buy it when it comes out next month. here is how you can do that. and certainly he's running into a lot of criticism and if he has

something that he wants to say about his time in service to the government and if he really thinks that things occurred at the white house that would be important for the national security of the country to be known, he should not wait to put it in a book and he should go out and say it in some venue. he hasn't done that yet. i think every day that goes by, there's greater pressure on him to do so. >> and michael crowley, we kind of can infer from what he said that he's going to be critical that the book does take apart some of the policy agreements, certainly there was tension between him, for instance, and mike pompeo. >> that's right, andrea. i would say more than tension. i think there was active hostility between john bolton and the secretary of state. in many ways, it was a power struggle and pompeo emerged

victorious and pompeo is now the president's closest foreign policy adviser by many accounts. and bolton is advertising that there's lots in the book. these books can be hyped to the skies and anti-climatic when they come out. i believe the phrase he used last night when asked about what was in the book about ukraine, i think he said something like that's just the sprinkles on the ice cream of this book. he's making it sound like he's serving up a giant sundae of score-settling and policy disputes. he shall see. i think on the one hand, he's got conflicting incentives here. on the one hand, you make money, sell books, get attention by kissing and telling and, you know, basically making headlines by, you know, criticizing the president. on the other hand, you know, bolton wants to retain his good standing among consecutive

republicans who love president trump. he's had his own political ambitions and once tried to run for president. i wonder if he will pull some of his punches with the president and maybe, as you suggest, he'll go after other people likely including mike pompeo to try to generate headlines but not do too much damage with the president, that's one possibility. >> that's intriguing. to david jolly, what about a political career for john bolton? at some point, this book is going to come out. >> sure. john bolton is not a politician whose name is on the ballot. he served in previous administrations and several decades, as you know, andrea, of service to the country. politically, as a political profile, if you will, he has been supported by the right. he's been criticized by decisions in the middle east and he's been willing to accept those political liabilities. but i think john bolton is making a mistake here.

i think he underestimates how he's destroying his personal reputation through this process. his comment last night that if you really want to know the truth, buy my book and read chapter 14, screams of somebody putting profit over country. it was just last month, the entire nation needed to hear from john bolton. whether it exonerated donald trump or provided damning evidence, the calling on history was last month to speak to the senate and share what he knew. he didn't just say, no, i'm not going to do it for legal reasons, last night he admitted the reason he didn't was because he wanted to profit from his silence. i think he roundly should be condemned today. i think he's destroying his political legacy, and i think millions of americans are saying i will never give that man a dollar and buy his book. he can't be trusted in moments of crisis in the nation. >> david jolly, michael crowley and anne rumsey gearan, thank you all so much. coming up next, free advice,

dan pfeiffer offers his take on what democrats need to do to beat president trump. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. chicago!

ok so, magnificent mile for me... i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. until i realized something was missing... me. you ok, sis? my symptoms were keeping me from really being there for my sisters. (announcement) "final boarding for flight 2007 to chicago" so i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications.

and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. 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. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

democratic presidential candidate mike bloomberg is out with another campaign ad today touting his work with president obama. he did not endorse obama in 2008. he endorse obama in 2008, he did in 2012, but five days before the election. he said he was disappointed by obama's first term, called his policies divisive. it is jarring to see the bloomberg ads that suggest obama has endorsed him, especially considering how perfect funk tree his endorsement of obama was in 2012. perfect funk tree is putting it kindly responded a speech writer on twitter. joining me, dan pfeiffer, former senior adviser to president obama whose new book is called un-trumping america. congratulations on the book. great to see you again. >> thanks for having me. >> what do you think about the ads where it truly looks as though mike bloomberg and barack

obama are best buds. >> that's not how i remember it. i do remember the 2012 endorsement that came five days before the election. to say it was damning with fake praise -- did they work together on issues, absolutely. i think the ads tell a story belied by reality that is somewhat complicated. >> do you think president obama or people close to him objected to the ads? >> i don't know president obama's reaction to it. i heard from a lot of people from the larger obama universe who are surprised by them. maybe frustrated since you can't turn on a television in most states in america without seeing them 100 times in a row. >> well, they worked. he is on the debate stage tomorrow night. 19% in the polls. bernie sanders of course is right now looking more like a prohibitive favorite at 31% if this proceeds, if he isn't derailed in nevada or south

carolina on the way to super tuesday. his fundraising machine is as good or better than it was in 2016. what is the democratic picture looking like? >> i think you're right. as we sit here today, two weeks before super tuesday, he is the prohibitive frontrunner. there are four big events between now and super tuesday. a debate tomorrow night, nevada, another debate in south carolina. there are opportunities for a sanders or another candidate to rise. it is a huge test for mike bloomberg who up to this point is an idea, basically known to millions of voters around the country as a progressive hero who is best buds with barack obama. he is going to go from being an idea to a person with a record on stage wednesday night, how he handles that will determine his ability to stay viable in the race i think. >> i want to ask about a couple of points you make in your book which is a road map how democrats could fight back. you point out democrats have to

recognize that donald trump is not an aberration or accident. there will be no republican epiphany during or after trump. the media won't save us. bob mueller didn't save us. >> they're working on an incredible social media campaign and fundraising, and in couple ben see has huge advantage. is it true democrats shouldn't be kind of lulled into complacency that he hasn't hit 50%? >> we should not in any way, shape or form. there is this idea that trump is a glitch in the system, the system will ultimately save us. we have to recognize that trump didn't break the democracy, we have trump because we have a broken democracy. the only way to stop trump now and stop future trumps is to win election 2020 and democrats take on the idea of reforming our

political systems, fixing our democracy so the majority of voters in this country have their voice heard which is not what's happening now, as we have a president sitting in the oval office getting 3 million less votes than the woman he was running against. >> and the president tweeting yesterday, did you hear the latest con job, president obama is trying to take credit for the economic boom taking place under the trump administration. he had the weakest recovery since the great depression. think back to 2009 and what you guys inherited and the tough measures that you had to go through. when you think of that and the results of a sustained recovery as weak as it was, what's your reaction? >> the facts are clear that the last three years of the obama, job growth in the last three years of obama administration are stronger than the first three of the trump administration. i think fighting that

retroactive battle for credit is something to fight for in the history books, not the election. ultimately the way the democrats win the election is take on trump, reframe the argument from how strong is the economy to who is the economy working for. we do that by pointing out the fact that trump's plan is not to help middle class folks and working class folks, his plan is to cut medicare and social security to pay for a giant tax cut for corporations and wall street. we need, every democrat should say all the time there are major corporations like amazon and netflix paying zero in federal taxes while americans, some are paying more under trump. we have a great argument to make. we have to take it head on, argument over who gets credit for where we are is not going to work with voters we need to turn out in the election. >> that's exactly what nancy pelosi has been saying to members, move on, it should be health care, health care, and the economy. thank you so much, dan. great to see you. thanks for the book.

the book is "un-trumping america, a plan to make america a democracy again." we'll be right back. butter poached, creamy and roasted. or try lobster sautéed with crab, shrimp and more. so hurry in and let's lobsterfest. or get it to go at red lobster dot com

so hurry in and let's lobsterfest. through the at&t network, edge-to-edge intelligence gives you the power to see every corner of your growing business. from using feedback to innovate... to introducing products faster... to managing website inventory... and network bandwidth. giving you a nice big edge over your competition. that's the power of edge-to-edge intelligence. [ fast-paced drumming ]

and that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. thanks for being with us. tomorrow we'll be in las vegas, i will be speaking with bloomberg senior adviser sheekey and jeff weaver, all that tomorrow as the big debate, the showdown in las vegas.

nbc news, msnbc, telemundo. watch us online. here is chris jansing in new york. >> with those amazing guests tomorrow. i am chris jansing in new york. the democratic race for president got a whole lot more complicated. at the last minute former new york city mayor michael bloomberg qualified for tomorrow's debate, and we're also learning he has been preparing for it. he got on the stage because the new npr marist poll puts him in second place behind bernie sanders and ahead of former vice president joe biden. an astonishing rise for a candidate that hasn't been on a ballot or on debate stage yet. he is not running in nevada, but has his eyes set on super