i want to talk more about this with adviser to four former presidents david gergen. nice to see you, david. >> good to see you, poppy. >> we heard donald trump say he's doing ted cruz -- this is a quote -- a favor by raising the issue of citizenship. >> sure. >> i'm not sure ted cruz views it that way. he said i don't woont ant it to mired in the courts. here's what cruz said this morning. >> i think most americans they couldn't care less about a bunch of politicians bickering like schoolchildren. >> they care if you're constitutionally eligible, right? you get asked about that. >> but the substance of the issue is clear and straightforward. as a legal matter the constitution and federal law are clear the child of a u.s. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen. dynamic that's happening, it's interesting, three weeks ago, almost every republican candidate was attacking donald trump. today, almost every republican candidate is attacking me. and that kind of suggests maybe something's changed in the race. >> david, how does ted cruz put this to bed once and for all

joining me former adviser to four presidents, david gergen. what do you think, david? so much talk about this momentum and enthusiasm for rubio. you don't see it in those numbers. >> you certainly don't. and this is a very important poll as you've said all along. and what we see right now is despite the talk of momentum on the ground by rubio, the poll does not reflect it. if this is where the votes come out with rubio 13 points back of trump right now, 8 points behind cruz, i don't see where rubio goes because in new hampshire he's fifth right now in the poll -- in the average of polls. so he has to get close than this in order to make this be much more competitive. otherwise cruz can -- i think cruz has been smart to go after rubio. it may have helped to hold him back. >> mm-hmm. i think if there is one word synonymous with iowa it is ground game. i mean, how many times do we hear it's the ground game, it's the ground game because of the unique character of the caucuses? i want to play this clip for you circa 1980, going back a little bit, "saturday night live." it d

take one last look at the candidates they're going to vote for monday night in the caucus. >> david gergen, do you -- go ahead, david. >> well, i just think the voters have seen an awful lot of donald trump and the other candidates. we've had an extraordinary number of debates already. i think we're now down to a situation that's sort of a -- it is a trump versus ales mano-a-mano thing. if trump blinks, he'll do it. he's not going to blink, i don't think. >> isn't this, though, bill, the ultimate anti-establishment blow by donald trump? having all these establishment traditional republicans get onboard with him. the tea party, sarah palin, jerry falwell endorsements, and says, fox news, you've become too soft, i'm going to call the shots. aren't there a lot of voters that are going to say, way to go? >> he's chickening out of a debate. >> you say it's the complete opposite? >> it is. we're talking about two hours on a stage with the other candidates. >> if he debated right after the muslim issue, which he did -- >> you know, this is a little bit ahead. >> david, ted cruz and marco rubio ar

david gergen. >>> and "outfront" next, donald trump tripping on a bible reference.night is the man that trump says gave him the exact line. >>> and jeanne moos on sarah palin's famous endorsement sweater which is flying off the shelves. across america, people... ...are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes... ...with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar. but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® works differently than pills. and comes in a pen. victoza® is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once a day, any time. victoza® is not for weight loss, but it may help you lose some weight. victoza® is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults... ...with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people... ...with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. victoza® has... ...not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza® is not insulin. do not take vict

. >> joining me now to discuss cnn senior plit analyst david gergen, former adviser to presidents nixon, ford, reagan and clinton. thank you for being here. >> thank you. good to talk to you again, poppy. >> the president of iran hassan ruin said this, we extended a hand of friendship and despite the challenges, conspiracies and doubts, managed to open a new chapter in our reblgss wi s wre the world. will history remember president obama as the deal president? >> absolutely. and bob gates, distinguished secretary of defense for both president bush and president obama told me in his 50 years of public service he'd never seen a problem as difficult as this one. how to stop iran from getting a nuclear weapon without going to war. and here president obama and secretary kerry deserves a lot of credit, too. having negotiated a deal that at least on paper will prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon for 10 to 15 years. let's be clear about it. there was a lot in this deal for iran, and that is they got credit of over $100 billion or so. we'll have to wait to see how much that is. so on its

david gergen is with me again. white house's spokeswoman said the president does not intend to -- >> the president wants to claim credit, as he should for his accomplishments, good for him, but if you want to be credible on foreign policy you have to acknowledge this very evening we have ten sailors basically being held hostage. we don't know -- all of us want them out, of course, but to be president, you have to be square with people. you have to say, look, here are the great things. we have this problem here, but here's the rest of it. >> especially when it comes with his iran deal, which is they have put forth as perhaps the greatest achievement of his presidency. >> absolutely. they want to go down in history for obamacare and the iran nuclear agreement. there are others, but those are the big ones. for the iran deal to stay together, people have to believe he's being straight with them, telling the complete truth, not shading it in some way. if he doesn't talk about this, at least acknowledge it. he should at

. >> david gergen, thank you very much. thank you all. our special coverage of president obama's final state of the union address starts now. >>> we're following breaking news, as president obama prepares to deliver his last state of the union address. iran has taken ten american sailors into custody. >> we're just learning about some surprises in the president's speech that the white house has kept under wraps. >>> at the white house right now he's preparing for the biggest speech of his last year in office. soon he heads to the capitol to face the nation, and hear the words that remind the world that he's still in charge. >>> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. >>> tonight, barack obama's final state of the union address. with a president with more work to do and more fight left in him. >> we do have to feel a sense of urgency about it. >> he's raising to. >> we have an agenda, and we know it works. >> grappling with urgent threats to america's security. >> we cannot and will not succumb to fear. >> and competing with the s

joining me, david gergen, former adviser to presidents nixon, ford, reagan and clinton. avid axelrod, former senior adviser to president obama. your first reaction to this news? i mean, this is obviously most unfortunate for the ten sailors and their families but a horrible time for a president who wanted to convaey optimism o the public. >> this is a presidency, at any given moment they can hijack your plans. i'm sure what's going on at white house a discussion where do you think this will be at 9:00 tonight and if it's ongoing, how do we deal with it in the speech? >> what would you advise president obama, were you you you in there and facts remain what we know them to be, we keep getting assurances they will be released. >> two alternatives. go a or b at the last second. if they come out before the speech, he's -- that's something to crow about. at a time when people are questioning whether this iran agreement's work the way it was supposed to. we were supposed to see a friendlier iran, constructive iran out of the agreement, what we were led to believe. if the sailors

. >> page pate, david gergen, thanks. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we'll talk more about that over the next few hours. you don't want to miss this live exclusive town hall about guns in america. this thursday 8:00 p.m. eastern. president obama will join anderson cooper. among other things he'll discuss the executive action on guns that he is expected to announce any day now, we understnd, at least before his state of the union address. and the president will be taking questions from a live studio audience. the town hall on guns in america with president barack obama moderated by anderson cooper right here on this network this time. >>> a group of armed protesters break into a federal wildlife refuge in oregon. their demand in to use the land as free men and they say they are prepared to stay for years. >>> we're following a developing story out of oregon. armed protesters are holed up in an unoccupied federal building in the middle of a government-owned wildlife ref e refuge. they claim to be taking a stand against the

. >>> "outfront" next, david gergen. it's great to see you.o spouses, they are an important asset on the campaign trail. why do you think the trump campaign is not using melania more? >> well, some people think that he's hiding her, that he's uncomfortable to have her out there. i don't think that's the case at all. i sense that he's very shrewdly waiting for a moment when he's going to -- she'll become much more visible than she is now. and it will be something fresh in the campaign. i think he feels he's going to get the nomination on his own but he's going to need her in the general election. don't you think, kate, there's already the possibility that he's trying to set melania versus bill clinton? people will say, i'd much rather have bill clinton but a lot of people say, you know, melania is interesting. she's sort of gorgeous. and think about this. without any real interviews, she's being compared to nancy reagan, a stunning model in france married to the president and to jacqueline kennedy, jackie onassis. she's already come a long way.

national co-chair for ted cruz's presidential campaign, bob vander platte and jeffrey lord and david gergented cruz has been brushing the citizenship issue off. he tweeted "trump, trump the shark" and then took it a bit more seriously. does he need to do a better job of responding to this question? >> i don't think he has to at all. i think it is a settled issue, as ted cruz has said, it's a settled issue. everybody here in iowa knows that ted cruz is eligible to be president of the united states. i think what it is -- and i respect donald trump a lot -- but donald trump sees ted cruz with a lead here in iowa growing momentum in iowa, uniting around him in iowa and he knows if he loses iowa, that puts a puncture in his balloon that he's going to win wherever he goes. so i think ted cruz is a real threat but ted cruz is going to stay on message and that's what is going to unite iowans around his campaign. >> jeff, is it a settled issue? >> i don't think it's a settled issue in this sense. legally -- and i'm not a lawyer. i've heard a lot of people say it's a settled issue. the problem here i

also joined by cnn senior political analyst and former advisor david gergen. welcome both of you. gloria, mr. biden didn't exactly give hillary clinton a ringing endorsement. or aim reading that wrong? >> look, he thought about running against hillary clinton. and as you just said the door is shut on that. but i do believe that there is something about bernie sanders populism that appeals to joe biden. he did go out of his way to say that hillary clinton was doing other things and these are issues that not have been on their docket for as long as whereas something bernie sanders has spent a lifetime doing. >> is it possible that hillary clinton could lose both iowa and new hampshire. >> one would not have thought say three weeks ago that she might lose both. and you must think -- and glo a gloria -- looked a little more vulnerable today than she did, maybe i could have taken this. he must be thinking this. >> he does, i think. >> he does. you think he does. >> well he's said it both ways. he has said he thought he could win and he thought he couldn't win. i don't think he goes the

on the flip side, david gergen, who is on cnn all the time, he is also a veteran, and he said this lasthen fox issued an extraordinary snarky and insulting statement about trump, he said "i'm out of here." he stood up to the media. that rarely happens in media. i think it drives home the point that trump is running as a guy who's not going to be owned by anybody and he's willing to stand up to people and walk away it i also thought frankly he was smart to schedule this thing on the veterans. he's been arguing for a long time with all these ratings, the people ought to take their extra advertising revenue and give it to veterans, now he's doing it himself. >> i don't know how many twists and turns you followed about this whole thing, about the ayatollah and putin and if you're the -- all the twitter followers. it was a snarky statement. trump's like, all right, i'm not coming. can you understand where he's coming from a little bit? >> in the sense i think it speaks to a larger trend in the media. when i was a young man, when i was a kid, it was just cnn. it was sort of center, center lef