another one for buttigieg here, dubuque, half still to come in dubuque county. this is mason city, you can see not only is buttigieg leading. this is where sanders could get into trouble. again he's not close to buttigi buttigieg. biden could be, sanders might get some, you see the potential for buttigieg to open up a bit of an advantage there. you're seeing opportunities here for pete buttigieg to get a little bit of distance. these are the only two population centers in the western part of the state. this is council bluffs. this is where sanders did well here in 2016, again two point advantage, about 60% in right there, sioux city and woodbury county. sanders fared well here in 2016, a little bit of a sense here, when you get into these rural counties, sanders having some trouble. he has some big population centers. that certainly could be key here. there are a couple -- some of these that look very small, under a couple of these college counties floating around. where sanders could clean up as well. basical basically, i want to see here, polk county, we're go

it was in dubuque. dubuque is a historic uniontown, pretty demococratic town, but ao place where presumably joe biden would have done quite well. i expected him to do pretty well in dubuque. it is one of the reasons i went there. when they did the initial breakup just in my caucus, joe running --arely essentially running about as well as andrew yang. as the night went on, biden char voters.me klobu in dubuque, in a town i thought he would have been doioing definitetely better, he was a wk fourth. i heard from acrcross iowa anecdotally from precincts all over that his numbers were falling way short of what was expected. that is significant because the iowa caucuses produce many losers.and some you can finish second in iowa and claim a better-than-expected run. you can even finish down the liline like andrew yang and stil point to a lot of people e who showed up anand were enthusiastc about your candidacycy. so not having those numbers creates a lack of clarity. it makes it hard for people who have done w

we started our week on a farm in west iowa and now east in dubuque.the across the state we have been talking to voters who could help make this a record turnout from folks who didn't show up in 2016 but sure are planning to be there on monday, to people who have never caucused before. we talked to them about what is getting them so eager to show up this time around. take a listen. iowans have an outsized role in american politics. the first voters to have a say in the presidential election. >> it feels really, really empowering. >> i've been knocking some doors. i think people are excited to come out. >> i get this feeling of i need to do something. >> reporter: in 2016 only 15.7% of eligible voters in iowa showed up to caucus. why didn't you caucus in 2016? >> i thought it was a done deal. i really thought hillary had it. >> reporter: this time around, though, the hawkeye state are expecting record turnout. what are you planning to do this year? >> i'm caucuses. >> reporter: tina lives in a rural farm in iowa with her husband john. >> within the last

among them: dubuque county-- a working class area in stern iowa along the mississippi river. last republican presidential nominee to win here had be dwight eisenhower in 1956. in their closing arguments this weekend, candidates said they could bring the area back to the democratic fold. former vice president joe biden: >> we have to unite not only the democratic party. >> reporter: that appeals to ron healey, a retired united auto workers member and vietnam veteran. >> i think that we have a candidate in joe biden, that that can help us put our country back together and put us in a president that when he speaks, we know it's the truth, thate don't have to wonder if it's some childish maneuver by ant or immature president, den, >> reporter: college professor louise kames likes biden's manyb years ofc service. >> why? experience and return government to civand, you know, follow protocol and not be a lone ranger? and again, just be civil. and, you know, i thi he can unite people. i think he can bring independents into support the democratic candidate. >> reporter: a broad appeal

s and it's the image of that first day that t comes up over dubuque. for the first time, donald trump is no longer tresident of the united states. >> we will, we must beald dump >> we are going eat this dangerous president. >> the heart of america is so much bigger than the heart of the guy in thehite house. >> you're terrible. done a terrible job. you, sir, are incompetent. >> i am the heaviest betting favorite to defeat donald trump in a head to head tch with anyone in the field. >> i do have a nickname i want to give him, former president donald trump. ( applause ) r orter: but this time, iowa voters say, it feels different. >> there's a wle lot more urgency this year than in prevus years, considering what we've seen just this past week, considering what we've seen for the past three years. >> it feels like if we don't elect someone other than donald trump that our democracy might not be a democracy. >> i've never, ever felt the much as i need it right now. >> reporter: iowa exemplifies e seismic shift the nation felt with president trump's election

biden started in dubuque, three hours from where here here in des moines. the doors open to this gym in the next hour, let a crowd in for what they hope to be a enthusiastic rally here in des moines setting the tone for what they hope will be a strong finish here tomorrow. we haven't seen crowds as lanch as some of the rivals but the biden campaign insists they will be competitive here tomorrow. i travelled with the former vice president on his campaign bus this week and i asked him what his gut told him about what he thinks will hop here on monday night. let's listen to his answer. >> my gut tells me things are going well. it is not inconsistent with the polls. it is going to be close. it is going to be close. but the thing about iowa, as you know, mike, is that it depends on the day, the weather, depends on who shows up. >> you hear a little bit of expectations management from the former vice president. he also went on to say, listen, he thinks it is going to be tightly bunched here in terms of the final outcome in iowa. he talked about the fact that bern

was pete buttigieg who won dubuque just this week.n you're looking at joe biden right now, the fact is, that pete buttigieg is the target of bernie sanders and you should expect to see that more of today. meanwhile, the south bend mayor is going to continue to press that message that joe biden wishes he could be the one delivers. that is bringing over independents and bringing over republicans in an ability to win in new hampshire where donald trump won by just less than 3,000 votes four years ago, andrea. >> vaughn hillyard, mike memoli, thank you. joining me now jennifer palmieri and chris lu senior white house aide to president obama. you both know new hampshire well. the pluses and minuses of new hampshire, bernie sanders just swamped hillary clinton in new hampshire and it was not a fair fight. she ended up succeeding -- >> i'm having a little ptsd. i'm here again. you got to love bernie sanders saying i like pete buttigieg as he's reading the hit from a piece of paper against him. it's getting a little chippy in new hampshire. i

you didn't do well in dubuque and manchester. >> well, i did better in dubuque but i got outspent overwhelmingly in both places. i think bernie spent $25 million. >> and this is what has your supporters anxious. you're the former vice president. how are you getting outspent by bernie and by buttigieg? >> i shouldn't be, but i haven't -- i haven't spent the time. it's starting to happen now. i haven't spent the time going out, doing the fund-raisers and moving the way i have. now online we're raising about $400,000 a day. we have a lot of fund-raisers that are online and we've got a lot of union support now. so -- but i think you're right that my being outspent has had an impact. we're going to be able to compete from here on in, including these two. >> south carolina is it, isn't it? i mean you have to win that. >> well, i think i have to do really well. >> what's really well? is there such a thing as doing well without winning for you? >> i think so. but look, i'll be -- look, right after that within -- on march the 4th we end up going into all the states where the polling data is now showing m

and also, dubuque, this is one where buttigieg has a slight lead. and also about half to come in. by the way, why is biden doing so poorly tonight? there's a lot of reasons, but this county right here, dubuque, this is exactly the kind of county biden fought and hoped he'd be able to do well in. 22% is one of his better showings around the state. this is the kind of place that biden thought he could win. this is a blue collar, old city kind of place. >> bottom line, coming up on 24 hours out, we still have a lot of vote missing, still can't be definitive on the results. >> no. and because the most important outcome of iowa is momentum toward new hampshire and toward the other early states and into the early days of the primaries, it's very hard to know what the overall effect of this momentum is going to be. if we continue to have exciting days and nights of results out of iowa, maybe the candidates what do well there will get more attention. >> at this rate, we'll be talking about it during new hampshire. >> at this rate, we are literally talking about it during the state of the

. >> i always like dubuque a lot.a joke, you know that's true. there is something about the hills and mountains and rivers, you breathe some really strong folks. >> as they shift their attention to the super bowl , sanders hurrying back to d.c. to sit at the impeachment by day and the plans come back to iowa tomorrow night and the caucuses would start at 7:00 p.m. local. the caucuses can be complicated and there were reports that amy klobuchar's campaign and the biting campaign had a discussion about an alliance. supporters of klobuchar in places where she does not reach the threshold to be eligible would then backbite in as her second choice. but klobuchar insist that is not the case. >> nobody else in fact they just approach someone who is affiliated with the campaign but not our staff and some evening in des moines asked him about it and he said no and we said no, there is no deal. >> it is not just abide an event where were seeing a larger crowd crowd than normal. warren and booty judge also pulled in a big crowd

. >> nbc news correspondent is live for us in dubuque this morning. early morning hour. at this time some 45% of voters in iowa said that they were undecided. do you have any sense of what we can expect tomorrow? >> reporter: well, one thing that iowa is definitely expecting is record turnout. guys, we started our week here on a farm in west iowa and now we're all the way in the east part of the state in dubuque county. all across the state we've been talking to voters to try to understand why this new sense of engagement here this time around. we talked to voters who are caucuses for the very first time. people who have never caucused before. some folks in the latino community, that's doubled here in iowa since 2000. they're very engaged. they feel like this administration has sort of attacked their community and they're ready to stand up. i talked to a woman on that farm in western iowa who has caucused in the past but sat out 2016. she told me she thought hillary had it. she was good. she was at peace, but this time around she's actually going to be her precinct chair

. >> we're going to go to vaughn hillyard standing by in dubuque, iowa. in terms of the stakes for buttigieg, we see someone who has struggled in the polls in south carolina. really the challenge for the buttigieg campaign is to get on the map and behind a way to win these iowa caucuses. what are they doing to try to bring that about monday night? >> reporter: monday is crucial to pete buttigieg's campaign, because throughout the last year of his campaign, he has essentially hinged his candidacy on the idea that he's the one to beat donald trump here in the midwest. iowa voted for barack obama twice before going for donald trump by 10%. mike was talking about this identity of unifying the party. pete buttigieg is setting himself up as the candidate best to turn the page. i want to let you hear from him just a little bit earlier down in waterloo. >> i'm here to say the less 2020 in our party and in our country, the less 2020 resembles 2016, the better. it's time to do something different. [ applause ] >> this is a respectful difference of approach among pe

. >> i've always liked dubuque a lot.plause] no, no, no, not a joke. you know that's true. you know that's true. it gets me in trouble saying. that -- [laughter] or down in your old hometown saying that. there's something about the hills, the mountains, the lives. you breed some really strong folks. >> reporter: bind has been mostly left alone by his democratic trials, but pete buttigieg is trying to contrast himself as politely as possible. >> i have so much respect for the vice president and everybody else i've been competing with. people with values and experiences that are a credit to my party. but what i'm offering is just a different approach. >> reporter: the buttigieg campaign got complaints that a des moines register and cnn-sponsored poll was leaving his name out at least once, and so the pollsters wound up spiking the poll, they did not release it. and that makes it a lot more difficult to try to figure out exactly where things stand on the last day. bill. bill: a major development late last night. that's been

nbc's dasha burns is in dubuque, iowa, with the latest on the caucuses there. good morning. >> reporter: hey, willie, good morning. well, this is it, candidates making their closing arguments, and we're about to find out who pitched it best. the polls aren't giving away any spoilers. this could be anyone's game, and iowa is expecting record turnout for these first votes of the 2020 election. after more than a year of campaigning, it's all come down to this. in just one day, iowa will set the course of the 2020 race. candidates making their final case to voters across the state. senators on break from impeachment jury duty trying to make up for lost time. >> so, i'm asking you to caucus for me. >> reporter: elizabeth warren preaching unity. >> all wanting us to build a better america. we will, we must, come together as a party and beat donald trump. >> reporter: a stark contrast to the recent controversy in the sanders campaign. >> we're not going to move. we're classy here -- >> no, no, i'll boo. boo! >> reporter: when campaign surrogate rashida tlaib led suppo

i watched that dubuque thing and i thought, man, i'll tell you what's too old. $7.25 an hour.hat's too old. [applause] michael: denying that we're in a climate emergency, that's too old. [applause] michael: women not being paid the same as men, that's too old. [applause] michael: now, we need somebody who just didn't figure out what the difference is between right and wrong. we're so fortunate to have -- it's the gift of the elders and him because he's remained so consistent. we know what we're getting. and i have to tell you that's because -- something happened today that kind of broke my heart, made me kind of angry all over again. you know, we've been out here on the trail here in iowa for, at least myself, for these last 10 days. and we've been stressing unity, supporting each other, let's not -- we've all got to come together at the end when the primaries are over and remove donald j. trump. [applause] michael: so. [cheers and applause] michael: and every day, bernie cautions us, don't say anything, you can point out the record of our opponents. that's good. but don't tra

the public dubuque prompted a tuesday afternoon defiance.ll four career prosecutors quit just before that sentencing upon the timeline is key. u.s. attorneys filed the original sentencing memo monday evening. tuesday morning, the president tweeted his outrage about their proposed sentence. tuesday afternoon came that statement from main justice, then the resignations. the president speaking yesterday insisted he had nothing to do with the sudden change except -- >> no, i didn't speak to the justice -- i would be able to do it if i wanted. i have the absolute right to do it. i stay out of things to the degree people wouldn't believe. i didn't speak to them. i thought the recommendation was ridiculous. i thought the whole prosecution was ridiculous. i look at others that haven't been prosecuted or i don't know where it is now. when you see that, i thought it was an insult to our country. >> i didn't speak to them, i stay out of things. cnn's sara joins us and michael from the "new york times" as well. i didn't speak to them, i stay out of thin

let's begin with peter in dubuque where the joe biden making a final appeal to voters.eporter: good morning, bret. joe biden should be here. he is squeezing in a rally before the super bowl begins. hopes iowa democrats want somebody with decades of experience in d.c. >> folks, i'm only one running who has done this so far. so when you talk about who you will caucus for, here is what i can tell you, it is not enough to make promises. you got to be able to keep them. i've got a record to prove it. reporter: there have been reports that the biden campaign was pursuing a caucus alliance with amy klobuchar, so democrats who caucus for klobuchar tomorrow in precincts where she doesn't have enough support to be viable would go to biden as second choice. klobuchar is saying that is not so. >>, no deals. in fact they just approached someone who is affiliated with our campaign but not on our staff in some evening in des moines asked him about it. he said no. we said no. there is no deal. reporter: klobuchar, warren and bernie sanders are taking full advantage of the break in the

listen to joe biden in dubuque iowa. >> people tomorrow night, tomorrow night when they caucus, can hold trump accountable, causing the candidate he's trying to destroy with his spears and his lies to get to say the word that trump fears the most. we're going to caucus for joe biden. so, folks, if you stand with me, we'll end donald trump's reign of hatred and division and begin to unify this country. >> reporter: now, biden has also told caucusgoers that they should pick a candidate who doesn't just make promises, who can actually execute on the plans that they are putting forward. that could be seen as a dig at someone like bernie sanders who biden has sometimes said those plans might be unrealistic in actually becoming legislation and becoming a reality. now, biden has been on the ground here in iowa for the past nine days. his events tonight in des moines will be his 22nd event as he's chris-crossing the state trying to make his argument and his case to iowans before they caucus, and biden told me he sees sees iowa as a toss-up, he thinks there will be different candidates coming out

he says he can do it as well, he's winning up here in dubuque county, a place where hillary clinton wonars ago, he says he can win establishment votes as well, especially out in these rural areas out here. one of the efforts mayor buttigieg has made in new hampshire, he says there are 31 counties in iowa, pivot county, voted twice for barack obama and then voted for trump. if you look at those 31 counties, mayor buttigieg proved his point. he went into these counties and said we need a moderate, centrist democrat to can reach out to both sides of the party. so an impressive night. we're not across the finish line yet. in almost two-thirds, mayor buttigieg is leading or tied. if you look at bernie sanders, if you go back to four years ago, in some ways this is not fair because it's a two-person race but you see how well bernie sanders ran the lighter blue, especially here in eastern iowa, he's sharing. mayor buttigieg running strong and bernie sanders, to the place where he ran first across the straight, mayor buttigieg tied and leading with 63. just a couple other quick points if you co

if they micro target it to 800 pro-life roman catholic women in dubuque, iowa that have shown predilectionmessaging, they know it will be received well. microtargeting isn't new, it is not something the trump campaign invented, they're using it at a much more sophisticated scale and doing things previous campaigns weren't willing or able to do. >> they didn't invent it but mastered it. anything can be done to stop it? >> you know, microtargeting probably not. the wave of disinformation that's coming through, there's open debate among democratic strategists that i report in the piece where some are arguing that to beat president trump, they need to fight fire with fire. there are democratic operatives openly calling for adopting some of the same tactics the trump campaign is using. i don't have a partisan dog in the fight, but as a reporter, my bias is towards truth and accuracy. there's a real risk going forward, no matter who wins this year, the information ecosystem in the country will be so polluted after this cycle that nobody will be able to know what's true on a day-to-day basis. tha

clayton county, on down into dubuque, to jackson and clinton. again, this is all pete buttigieg. what they will tell you in iowa, these blue-collar counties here on the eastern side of the sta state. in 2016 in new hampshire, and bernie sanders did so well. in a lot of ways, this is bernie sanders race to lose. and if you look at the score he ran up against hillary clinton, 70% in cheshire. a pop on up here to sullivan, just a little bit under 70%. grafton county 66%, just an overall big performance for bernie sanders and that's what he doesn't want to. they don't want the screen to go black. but it has and it did. thanks for being here today. big show tomorrow and that doesn't today. i'll be at back at 3:00 eastern the dnc and head of the new hampshire primary will be here as well. we will have martha maccallum, chris wallace and rich hume. you don't want to miss it. in the meantime neil will come up talking about the coronavirus and the effect it is having on the markets. i've had a lot of angst against that virus, whether the ability to contr

mike tobin in dubuque with the latest on that. >> reporter: mayor buttigieg has interest, you can see the crowd of people lining up to get into the fieldhouse to get a look at him. the biggest reaction we have seen from the crowd thus far is when he cuts right to the message that he is the guy to beat donald trump in the general election. in a brief poll, we were able to get some reaction from mayor buttigieg about the president's statement that he is going to be exonerated. >> at the end of the day, this is not only about the president's abuses of power, this is about our everyday lives and the president turned his back on workers and farmers, this is a chance to make sure we run an election that's not just about him but more than anything it's about us. >> reporter: the only democratic rivals out buttigieg is paying attention of to in the last couple days are the guys at the top of the polling, senator bernie sanders and former vice president joe biden. buttigieg says with sanders you have a choice between revolution and status quo and nothing in between. as far as joe biden, buttig

what happens in between all the way from des moines to dubuque, to davenport to chicago pretty much toe, milwaukee may see the heaviest, possibly 6 to 12 inches of snowfall for chicago. those temperatures go from the 40s to the 30s. dropping down to single digits overnight into the rest of the workweek. only into the 40s coming into the workweek. so a lot of big changes that reminds us winter is still here. >> thank you for that. >>> let's get a check on cnn business this morning. global markets tanking as the coronavirus spreads beyond china and we're expecting that ugly red ink to spread to the united states. big move on wall street expected. dow jones industrial average now looking like it's going to be down almost 3%. that is big one day move. and that will be about 800 points on the dow jones industrial average as those worries about the virus weighed on markets. the dow closed 227 points lower. and look, goldman sachs says the likelihood of a near time correction is growing. a correction is defined as a 10% decline from a recent high. stocks may be overdue from a pull back. the l

him was able to do pretty well with this constituency and not urban areas of des moines but rural, dubuquerking class areas like that. it was amazing to me about the number of working class white men who democrats need to win back over who are actually open for a buttigieg candidacy. >> chris, have you a new piece out onhow the trump economy isn't working for everyone. we knew that. one of those issues, the disaffected, disgruntled worker who the economy wasn't work for before, they propelled trump into office. even though things aren't better for them, they stand with the president. he speaks to them. they are giving him more time. >> the old mantra used to be, it's the economy, stupid. it's not clear if that ever was the case. in these hyper part sewn times they look through lenses. in the working class support for trump, it's not just manufacturing in recession, farm bankruptcies up 40%, wages for blue collar workers is stagnant. the data, they aren't getting better. the perception, this is the president that stands up for them. the flip of this, when you look beneath those numbers like

take a listen to the pitch he made to voters in dubuque, iowa today. >> here's the great thing. the people of iowa tomorrow, tomorrow night when they caucus, can hold trump accountable, causing the candidate he's trying to destroy with miss lies to get to say the word what trump fears the most. we're going to caucus for joe biden. so folks, if you stand with me we'll end donald trump's reign of hatred and division and begin to unif i this country. >>> joe biden spoke on a training call with precinct leaders earlier today. he said the person that wins iowa is going to be because they have a strong organization and biden is really making these puts in the final days as he's hoping to secure the support of caucus fwoers to win. >>> now we go to m.j. who is in ames, iowa following elizabeth warren. elizabeth warren is in ames. has been trying to reach out the students there and she's talking herself and laying it all out there in these final moments. >> reporter: that's right. every single democratic candidate knows just how important iowa is and senator warren is no exception. the

you see, i grew up in a small town a little bit north of dubuque. it has more cows than people. my dad was a union pipefitter welder. my mom was a school secretary. there were four kids and my family, and we were all first generation college graduates. [applause] iowa and inere in this country, we were never promised it was going to be easy , but we were promised that if you work hard, you can make it. that is what we were told, and that is what we were promised, and that is what we have to fight for and what we know joe biden, as our next president, will think about every single day in that white house. [cheers and applause] and, i have to tell you, the first time i met the vice president, it was because of my grandfather, who was a firefighter. who indfather was a guy looked up to my whole life. one day, in 2007, i had been happy to work down at the statehouse as a page at the time. i was an 18-year-old. you guys remember 2007, when we had a lot of candidates running, but i did not know everybody in the race and anything like that. i did not know why my grandfather was calling

joe biden where i expect he will do well in catholic areas like around dubuque, rural areas maybe heits from statewide weird rules. pete buttigieg we think he'll do well in well educated suburbs like des moines. elizabeth warren does well with educated voters, cedar rapids, college voters in college towns. bernie sanders college towns, college towns, college towns as well as working class in the areas. each of the candidates have to do well in their own areas. hope for a boost in turnout and that themselves will perhaps get them over the top. >> what time are we going to know something tonight? >> i think this is so important. i went back and looked at the past few cycles and said when were these races called. they really sort of varied. high single digit for huckabee and obama called in the 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. hour, less than 100 votes for santorum, less than 1 point win for clinton in 2016. that was called less than a day but still took a while. 2016 three-point win for cruz. >> you looked at the weather. what's the weather in iowa. >> 30 degrees in des moines around caucus time, mix

. >> reporter: i have mayor pete buttigieg here, ahead of his event in dubuque, iowa, it has been a prettyhirlwind couple of days for you, obviously, a whirlwind cycle, how well do you need to do in iowa on monday? >> well, we certainly need a strong performance, because one of the things that's on the mind of so many voter, including in the states beyond iowa, is not just a vision that's right for the country but demonstrating that we can win, and the process of proving that my campaign is the best to go on and defeat donald trump starts right here in iowa, where we're going to be turning folks out to the caucuses. and making sure we can demonstrate a strong ground game, as well as a compelling message. >> one of your top advisers said to reporters this morning, that you don't necessarily need to win iowa, in order to come out of it, claiming some kind of victory. do you think that is true as well? >> i'm letting strategists and pundits at the goal post, and that's what we're working toward and i was on the phone with precinct captains in some high turnout areas and you can feel it on the

this is dubuque, about 6 points over bernie sanders, pop down here to clinton. again, a winner.ump counties from 2016. and as the math comes out here, you can see what he did along the mississippi river. he almost ran the table in this part of iowa, and a big reason why he's, what, one-tenth of a point ahead of bernie sanders based on the latest tabulations. there you have it. again, martha, bret, it's amazing when you've got data, the things you can do. martha: nice to see numbers. bret: and we'll see them tuesday too. listen, the democratic party doing some damage control following the botched reporting in the iowa caucuses, even leading the calls for dnc chairman tom perez to resign. here with more, dana perino, co-host of the five, juan williams, fox news political analyst. the knives are out, dana, for tom perez. >> yes. bret: does he survive, is the question. >> that he should resign partly because they're in the middle of this, and so another -- remember, they had a leadership change in 2016 in the middle of it, and that didn't work out so well for them either. he was con

i want to let you hear a little bit of pete buttigieg just at his last campaign stop in dubuque. >> sompetition among good people who share the same values in our party, i'm asking you to consider the different approaches that are being offered because we have a real, a respectful but real and meaningful difference of opinion on the right approach. vice president biden is making the case that this is no time to take a risk on somebody new. but i believe history has shown us that the biggest risk we could take is to go up against a new kind of opponent in a new kind of moment by falling back on the familiar. it's going to take something different. >> reporter: lawrence, pete buttigieg is relying on a broad coalition here in the state that includes independents as well as disaffected republicans. to note, he has two last campaign events tomorrow, one just off of the campus of the university of iowa before finishing it all off in downtown des moines. lawrence? >> vaughn hillyard, ali vitali, mike memoli, thank you all for joining us tonight. you don't get to sleep until tuesday. thank you

and of new hampshire that scranton joe is supposed to connect with, the blue collar manchester, the dubuque. it didn't happen. >> that's a problem for him. >> the electability guy, that's what that was about. >> that's the problem, because the best argument that biden's folks have been able to make for him being someone who can beat trump is that he'll be able to rally those specific voters, that he'll be able to pick up pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan. if he can't even get those voters within the democratic primary, that's just a problem. that's just -- it's hard -- >> and he's short of money it sounds like. if you're a democratic donor, two, three months ago you were moderate, you might have gone with biden. then why didn't you? i think bloomberg had a big effect in seizing moderates from going. >> bill, what's your sense of this independent voter this year in new hampshire? the hardest part of following the polls in new hampshire, and i will tell people, is, first, look very closely what the independent number is and then still ignore the poll. i say this. follow the trend line, becaus

the point the sanders campaign makes, let's pull out dubuque county, for example, mayor buttigieg is leading here over senator sanders by a bit, but we're at 51% here. let's move back down. i just want to give you one point of reference before we do this. why am i looking in the eastern part of the state? let's go back to 2016. h this light blue is bernie sanders. this, erin, is the progressive part of the state where he ran strongest. a lot of buttigieg there, made inroads not only in moderate rural areas but the progressive counties here. let's give the sanders campaign, let's see what happens here. scott county, which is dav davenport, it's close, buttigieg on top. still, only at half the vote. the sanders campaign says wait. we will. at the moment, that's a buttigieg map. >> all right. john king. thank you very much. and i want to go now to our chief political correspondent dana bash, david gergen who advised four presidents, mark preston, our senior political analyst, the former democratic mayor of tallahassee, andrew gillam. former special assistant to president george w. bush,

right now, buttigieg is winning with the decent lead there with delegates and in dubuque county, backo 2016, that is hillary clinton country and out here, it is more rural, and the smaller counties are blue for clinton out there, and buttigieg now. so part of the case is that this is elizabeth warren's case, and buttigieg is going to say, i have broad appeal across the party. one more thing, that i wanted to show you the congressional districts, and show you back in time here. this is the 2016 map. you can see the light blue, and that is bernie sanders, and 2020 and one more thing to show you how did senator sanders do in the top ten counties from four years ago and not the biggest counties, but the counties where he ran the strongest and the margin of victories are the largest and you can see it in six of bernie sanders' top ten counties four years ago, somebody else is in the lead and right now it is not over yet, but that is an interesting perspective of how the race is different and coming back to the main map. >> i wanted you to explain once again for the viewers, 23450thee the s

democracy in action. >> dasha burns in dubuque, iowa, that was great. and we'll take them. back with you. we'll use them as a focus group for the rest of the caucus. >> we're going to meet up at a bar after this. >> bill me. bill me. i will pay. >> nice to see people getting along. >> yes. and the strategy is the point. you know what? there is no shame in the fact that you worked out what you were going to do if your plan a didn't effectuate. that's part of this process. that's part of what makes this different than a primary. >> all right, gang. >> well, you know, people have gone home rather than participate. obviously they said all the biden people have gone home or buttigieg had gone home. and the irony is that they changed the rule this year so that if your group was viable, you couldn't move from that group. >> so you're incentivized to scoot. >> and the reason it did that is because it would take less time. well, don't know about that. it seems like we're still here and we have nothing. so i'm not sure that worked. and it seems weird to me that this kind of horse tra

dubuque 11 below. that air mass will make it to the northeast for tomorrow. concorde, new hampshire 13 degrees below zero. new york city tomorrow about 15 or 16 degrees, anthony. coldest air we've had in new york city so far this year. then we get down the south. you talk about the flooding. all the red dots show you where the flooding is. this area is running a surplus of about a foot of extra rain than they should have. there are portions of mississippi right here that have picked up 12 inches of rain in about a week or so. the jet stream is responsible for a lot of this. it's dipped so far to the south that places like atlanta and nashville, tennessee with cold temperatures and that jet stream is so far south it's south of the jet path flying from new york to heathrow. getting there in record time last weekend. this week, a little slower. we see everything here. >> lony, thank you very much. now the coronavirus outbreak in china growing by thousands of cases a day. 15 people in the u.s. have now cntracted the illness. chinese officials say they confirmed a

>> let's go to dubuque, iowa. what are you seeing? >> reporter: hey, guys.et's see. there were 29 in the warren camp and 27 in amy's group over here. i'll walk you that way right now. and 29.4 rounding up to 30 was the minimum needed for viability here. so a lot of people now not sure what to do. buttigieg way ahead of everyone with 53. there were about 195 people total here. so buttigieg with 53 at the top, bernie sanders , biden 43. hey, guys, are you surprised you didn't get viability? >> we're close. we need one more. >> reporter: you need one more. you think you can get there? >> we can get there. >> reporter: what are you doing to convince people? >> probably get up. >> reporter: get up and go, all right. you got one? >> we already got the one. >> reporter: you think you're good to go? we're going to check in with amy klobuchar over here and see what's going on. >> what i like about pete is the ceiling. >> reporter: are you with pete buttiegieg? >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: let's watch it unfold. >> we need new blood. bernie and warren, they're old. the

joe biden is about to take the stage in dubuque in three hours. he'll be back for a caucus eve pre-super-bowl rally. his focus since he announced his candidacy has been on donald trump, he announced this is a battle for the soul of the nation. shaq will tell you this, ali will tell you this, who have been covering this campaign for over a year now. voters' number one criteria they've cited that they choose is who will be the candidate best able to beat donald trump. did joe biden spend too much time focused on donald trump and not enough time establishing contrasts with his rivals? last night in waterloo we began to hear joe biden doing both at the same time. let's take a listen. >> the old saying is that talk is cheap. in politics, talk is sometimes very expensive. especially when you don't tell people how you're going to pay for what you tell them you're going to do. i wonder why they don't know how much it's going to cost to have medicare for all? how much it's going to cost to forgive all student debt, how much it's going to cost, go on down t

. >> biden -- granddaughter in dubuque but got angry and divine when asked whether his son hunter wased by ukrainian energy company eager to get access to his dad, the vp. >> you do not know what you're talking about. no one said that, who said that? >> don't you think that it's just one of those things were people think "well that seems kind of sleazy, why would he have that job, it's not for who his father was"? >> he's a very bright guy. >> the biden campaign also sprung to squash nbc news, the biden surrogate john kerry was overheard at the des moines hotel talking about possibly joining the race bernie sanders runs away with the nomination. first came in denial and social media, then a shout out. >> a guy who should have been president of united states of america. a guy i have come to know to be friends with, just as we know each other, john kerry. >> candidate biden's closing argument is having on health care. >> everybody talks about health care. i'm the only one who actually led into law health care reform called obamacare. >> but he disagrees he's too much like obama. >> a th

we just left his second campaign stop and on the way up to dubuque we came right up to the field.t the organization to put him in the it's a matter of whether folks show up on caucus nights and support him. not only democrats but independents and republicigg ca is the midwest state. the state, the region that pete buttigieg has essentially set his entire kantd pcandidacy upo he could beat donald trump here in november. that is why the stakes are so high. i caught up with pete buttigieg just a bit ago. this is what he told me after his event this waterloo. >> mr. mayor, do you need to win iowa? >> we need to do very well in iowa, we're in it to win it and we believe we're going to have a result that will propel us forward. >> reporter: and propelling him forward, that's why this is key. his poll numbers are good in new hampshire. everywhere else they're in the single digits. that's why a victory on iowa caucus night is so significant, and well, senator sanders may have picked up a new legislative endorsement. we should note kevin costner in this race endorsed pete buttigieg. we're

you go up to this part of state here, dubuque. this is interesting. a little bit of a change here from what we saw earlier. sanders slightly ahead of buttigieg in the early tabulation here. so these are initial preferences that are coming in. sanders continuing to hold a narrow advantage in the initial preference. but at the same time, in the state delegate equivalents, and that is the category that's used to determine ultimately national convention delegates, i actually don't have that graphic. i can write these out for you, though. the gap here -- let me get the dark colored pen. the gap here on state delegate give equivalents, if that thing would ever select itself. buttigieg right now has 418 of those. bernie sanders has 393. there is a gap here of 25, 25 state delegate equivalents. that's about 1%. there are about 600 state delegate equivalents yet to be assigned. again, the gap is 25. it was 25 at the last update. so, sanders so far has not been able to cut into that while continuing to lead in that initial preference. >> steve, do you have any