. >>> joining me for insight and analysis are jeff greenfield of politico and the daily beast. helene cooper of the "new york times." jennifer jacobs of the "des moines register" and robert >>> welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning. apologies for all of you that didn't win powerball, but we've include ing my sit down with donald trump and the struggling everyday by some in the so-called republican establishment to figure out some way to stop either trump or ted we can say this -- they've got their work cut out for them. according to our brand new nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll out in iowa, ted cruz holds a slim lead over donald trump, 28% to 24%, marco rubio and ben carson fighting far distant third. as we'll show you later, if trump manages to bring in new voters, he does much better. we did two different electorates in iowa to test this phenomenon. here are the single-digit republicans in iowa, the ones who got at least 3% in our poll. there's jeb bush stuck at 4%. and by the way, the two previous guys who won iowa didn't even get 3% in

jeff greenfield, helene cooper, jennifer jacobs, and robert costa are all here., jennifer. it's a big difference in our iowa poll than what you showed a couple weeks ago. we have bernie sanders within three points of hillary clinton in iowa. we always knew sanders' home state neighbor in new hampshire. do these numbers surprise you? >> it's amazing. think of where he was at in iowa in january a year ago. nobody knew -- we asked what do you think about bernie sanders? not one even knew who he was. so yeah, but don't forget, there's still really strong passion for hillary clinton in iowa. just yesterday they had 500 volunteers turn out at 9:00 in the morning, frigid weather, lousy conditions to knock on doors and make phone calls for her, so there is passion for her as well. >> but, helene, she can't afford to lose both states. >> no. >> that turns into hand wringing, joe biden's phone starts ringing. there's all sorts of -- we all know the panic machine would kick in. >> that would be difficult but i don't think that's going to -- everything i say is always. >> i

jeff greenfield has made these arguments before. these are old arguments. yes, iowa doest not look like california. it does look like new york and neither does new hampshire. about it wehink have a sequential system. somebody has to go first. there isn't a way to get around that unless we have a national primary. think of it broadly. by, hampshire, south carolina and nevada. when combined, these four states will go before super and they are a good reflection of -- iowa, economically is a good representation. financial services are huge as our wind energy and alternatives. new hampshire has a different kind of republican party in iowa does. and in south carolina, the democrats, half of the voters are african-american and then in nevada, the latino population is significant. when you put them all together you get something that begins to approximate the country as a whole and i think that is the way to think about it. argument is that someone has to go first and it on theo be a place where ground operations and building a campaign is like building a business.

. >>> jeff greenfield may not be making friends in iowa.hy he says the state's, quote, inflated status fails the most basic test of what the political process should be. that conversation is straight ahead on "morning joe." >> keep him on the other side of the street in des moines. >> we'll be right back. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ yothat's lactaid®.k! right. 100% real milk, just without the lactose. so, no discomfort? exactly. try some... mmm, it is real milk. lactaid®. 100% real milk. no discomfort. (two text tones) now? (text tone) excuse me. (phone tone) again? be right back. always running to the bathroom because your bladder is calling the shots? (text tone) you may have oab. enough of this. we're going to the doctor. take charge and ask your doctor about myrbetriq. that's myr-be-triq, the first and only treatment... ...in its class for oab symptoms of urgency... ...frequency, and leakage. myrbetriq (mirabegron) may increase blood pressure. tell your doctor rig

. >>> joining me for insight and analysis are jeff greenfield of politico and the daily beast. helene cooper of the "new york times." jennifer jacobs of the "des moines register" and robert

ahead to the caucuses and talk about how much has changed, let's bring back political analyst jeff greenfieldnd the critic for the baltimore sun. trump has been ahead for many, many months. so much has changed in polling, we don't know how reliable they're going to be until tomorrow. >> that's especially true in a caucus state. it's so much harder to participate than a primary where you can show up any time and click a vote. the other part about this is the enormous expectations that have been build up for marco rubio to come in a, quote, strong third. whatever the heck that means. that, much as i dislike the caucuses, could have a real impact eight days later in new hampshire where you have four relative moderates, if that's the word, contesting for that slot. a big show in iowa can have an impact and may make the nontrump, noncruz voters in new hampshire say, well, maybe that's the alternative. >> meantime, all people are talking about is donald trump, as much as marco rubio or ted cruz might want the attention. a new poll from twitter shows he has been the most talked-about man on earth ex

. >>> joining me for insight and analysis are jeff greenfield of politico and the daily beast. helene cooper of the "new york times." jennifer jacobs of the "des moines register" and robert costa of the "washington post." >>> welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning. apologies for all of you that didn't win powerball, but we've got a huge show for you today, include ing my sit down with donald trump and the struggling everyday by some in the so-called republican establishment to figure out some way to stop either trump or ted cruz from becoming the party's nominee.

. >>> joining me for insight and analysis are jeff greenfield of politico and the daily beast. helene cooper of the "new york times." jennifer jacobs of the "des moines register" and robert costa of the "washington post." >>> welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning. apologies for all of you that got a huge show for you today, includeing my sit down with donald trump and the struggling everyday by some in the so-called republican establishment to figure out some way to stop either trump or ted cruz z om becoming the party's nominee. we can say this -- they've got their work cut out for them. according to our brand new nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll out in iowa, ted cruz holds a slim lead over donald trump, 28% to 24%, marco rubio and ben carson fighting far distant third. as we'll show you later, if trump manages to bring in new voters, he does much better. we did two different electorates in iowa to test this phenomenon. here are the single-digit republicans in iowa, the ones who got at least 3% in our poll. there's jeb bush stuck at 4%. an

jeff greenfield has made these arguments before. these are old arguments. yes, iowa doest not look like california. it does look like new york and neither does new hampshire. about it wehink have a sequential system. somebody has to go first. there isn't a way to get around that unless we have a national primary. think of it broadly. by, hampshire, south carolina and nevada. when combined, these four states will go before super and they are a good reflection of -- iowa, economically is a good representation. financial services are huge as our wind energy and alternatives. new hampshire has a different kind of republican party in iowa does. and in south carolina, the democrats, half of the voters are african-american and then in nevada, the latino population is significant. when you put them all together you get something that begins to approximate the country as a whole and i think that is the way to think about it. argument is that someone has to go first and it on theo be a place where ground operations and building a campaign is like building a business.

matt louis, robert costca, mark, jeff greenfield, great to have you on set this morning. >> it's onlyey can trap ted cruz. >> it's over. >> still ahead, he's going to instagram that. still ahead our interviews with presidential candidates. we'll hear from chris christie first and while he's known for tough talk it's his message for ambition. morning joe will be live at java joe's in des moines, iowa this friday. donald trump will be among our guests on set. if you're in the area, stop by. you want to get there early. you're watching morning joe. we'll be right back. you totaled your brand new car. nobody's hurt, but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutua