larry gerston rejoins us next with the breakdown. stay tuned. tom: my mom always told me actions speak louder than words. she was a school teacher. my dad joined the navy and helped prosecute the nazis in nuremberg. their values are why i walked away from my business, took the giving pledge to give my money to good causes, and why i spent the last ten years fighting corporate insiders who put profits over people. i'm tom steyer, and i approve this message. because, right now, america needs more than words. we need action. >>> welcome back. there is two weeks for the darkest clouds hanging over washington as political combatan combatants sparred in the impeachment trial of donald trump and the clouds parted and the nation returned to normal. whatever that means. nbc bay area's larry gerston rejoin uss with his assessment of only the third u.s. impeachment trial in the nation's history. what do you think is the big takeaway? >> should say officially wednesday is when they close it down. but we know it is done. it's done, right. so we have to think

larry gerston joins us live p a few minutes. >>> but first, remembering a basketball icon. how the warriors honored kobe bryant last night. anthony flores is next with sports. obama: he's been a leader throughout the country for the past twelve years, mr. michael bloomberg is here. vo: leadership in action. mayor bloomberg and president obama worked together in the fight for gun safety laws, to improve education, and to develop innovative ways to help teens gain the skills needed to find good jobs. obama: at a time when washington is divided in old ideological battles he shows us what can be achieved when we bring people together to seek pragmatic solutions. bloomberg: i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. >>> good morning, everyone. remembering kobe bryant. the warriors honoring the basketball icon last night. he died two weeks ago in a helicopter crash. a 24-second moment of silence as a tribute for bryant and the eight other victims of the crash. andrew wiggins making his debut with the warriors. he's wearing a tribute t-shirt the warriors gave to fans. first qu

joining us now is political analyst larry gerston. larry, how important are these iowa caucuses? >> well, they're important. i mean, in many ways they're important. but look it, it's our first chance to get to see what real voters are doing. that's a really important thing. and out of that falls many of the candidates, because if they don't do well -- and many of them are all in in iowa -- if they don't do well, they've got no money left. if they have no money left, they drop out. so after iowa, you'll see a lot drop out. on the other hand, look, it's 1% of the delegates, just 1%. and everybody talks about the five out of seven less democratic first-place people becoming nominees. only one of them, barack obama, became president. so, you know, you've got to use your pros and cons here. >> so, for people that are not iowans, it seems like a confusing system to weed out candidates because there's a lot of walking around, standing under signs. it's just not what the rest of us are used to. it's just very, very different. >> well, you're right. i mean, it's not quite as chaotic as it

we're joined in the studio with our nbc bay area political analyst larry gerston. good morning.nd it is time to bring in chuck todd. moderator of the "meet the press." back home in d.c., after going to iowa and new hampshire, thanks so much for joining us this morning. >> it is good to be in d.c. even if it iss just for a day or two. >> even for a day or two. ch chuck, after the first two contests in the democratic primary you headed to, bernie sanders and pete buttigieg are now on top. now the race moves as you kind of referred to. they moved to nevada and south carolina where you're headed next. what are you watching for as you head into those races? >> well, i think it is what we learned out of new hampshire. in new hampshire we saw that while sanders clearly has a devoted base right now it appears his coalition is very narrow. he's going to be the nominee he has to expand beyond the 25%, 26% he's gotten in iowa and new hampshire. there clearly was a large moderate majority or plurality that could have swamped sanders in the new hampshire primary had they all coalesced around

our political analyst, larry gerston tells us what to expect. i work hard and i want my money to work hard too. so i use my freedom unlimited card. even when i'm spending, i'm earning 1.5% cash back on everything i buy. (shouting) earning on headphones! huh? earning. earning. still earning. always earning. i don't know where you're pointing. not that one! the big one. you can't sneak a good earning opportunity past me. in fact... i've got a hand modeling gig that starts right now. earn 1.5% cash back on everything you buy with freedom unlimited. oooh. my hand looks good. chase. make more of what's yours. of millions of americans during wall strethe recession.advantage so, my wife kat and i took action. we started a non-profit community bank with a simple theory - give people a fair deal and real economic power. invest in the community. in businesses owned by women and people of color. in affordable housing. the difference between words and actions matters. that's a lesson politicians in washington could use right now. >>> right now at 6:30, thre

our political analyst larry gerston is here. we have been sitting on this desk for a couple of years, watching this all unfold very slowly. it's finally over. did we accomplish anything as a political party? >> the sad thing is we were very divisive, polarized people would say before this thing happened. we're probably just as divided now. >> if not more? >> people talked about let us come together and let's stop the partisan bickering. but at the same time they were taking shooting at each other, both sides. and nobody has really come forward to make this a better place at a better time. and now we're going into an election in just a few months. and you kind of wonder what kind of barbs are going to be thrown all over the place, and where that's going to lead the american people. how many people are going to say i've had enough of this? i want to stay out of this. on the other hand, the american people have to take some responsibility. so many never even learned so much about this. so there is a lot of things going on right now

our political analyst larry gerston joins us no people can decide which democrat to vote for. >> absolutely. you can learn and make your own choices with information that you might not have had. interestingly enough in nevada their caucus system is working different. they have an absentee caucus voting. as we've seen, ranked choice, up to the first five, turn in your ballot and then on caucus day they wind up moving your ballot around. >> instead of the people like in iowa. >> and they say that will increase participation. >> target number one across the. how big a breaker is it for him to go to the debates since he's done this well so far by spending $400 million on ads? >> it has to happen because, look, he's now spent over $400 million. $45 million in california. bernie sanders spent $5 million. bernie sanders has 80 people. bloomberg will have 800 by the end of the month. you can't just spend money. at some point you have to put yourself out there. people want to see how does this person perform? tweet by tweet and money is not enough. >> we want to see him as well. we're interesting ho