she thought this debate was terrific and thought lindsey graham was on fire and reforming to lindsey graham making laugh lines, particularly thurman having four kids and unless everyone wants to do that, time to get more legal immigration. everybody laughed here. this was a good one. the hall is smaller than the first debate. this is just 500 people. so it was quieter at first. people were very respectful for awhile, you could hear a pen drop but when candidates took to the podium, people loosened up, there was laughing and you know what was interesting, maybe i can show you, anderson, it's that, how close it is. how close the podiums are to the front row of where everyone was sitting. that made for a very, very intimate setting, as it will for the next debate, as well. i'll send it back to you guys right now. we'll be watching, wolf. >> alison, thanks very much. with us here inside this debate hall, our panel of cnn political commentators, the former obama advisor, van jones and political director jeffrey and columnist, s.e. cupp and kevin madden. how did this preliminary debate set

lindsey graham: if they wanted one. as a told you, i would try to have leverage to get a better deal, starting with denying access to american financial institutions. i would wait until the phone rings. it would. $450 billion economy versus a $17 trillion economy. how do you isolate us? that kind of thinking led to this bad deal. as to a war with iran. nobody wants it. if there is one, i can tell you how it ends. we went, they lose. in the process of trying to get a better deal, i would give them what they claimed they wanted, a peaceful nuclear power program. canada and mexico have power plants that they don't and rich. how many of you think they have been trying to build a nuclear weapons program and not a car plant? plant.r they are trying to build a nuclear power plant, you shouldn't be unable -- you shouldn't be allowed to drive home. [laughter] these people are lying. i would take their ambitions and curtail them so they can build a power plant, but not the ability to make a bomb. i would have a list of all the pe

lindsey graham offering a forceful deannunciation of what donald trump did or rather, didn't do last . i thought it was interesting to the degree which graham said it reflected so poorly on the party and it was up to the leaders in the party to denounce those things or it could prove problematic as the race goes on. >> i thought lindsey graham basically saying to donald trump in his words, give me a break about trump's explanation that he didn't hear, he was answering a different question than was asked. i do think lindsey graham is right that any time you hold a town hall or say you hold a bunch of town halls as a politician, there is going to be people who stand up and ask questions that sort of, the frame of the question is not something that you want to respond to. john mccain obviously set sort of the gold standard, taking back the microphone and saying i disagree. the thing that i doubt and lindsey essentially saying i think that donald trump should apologize and say i made a mistake, donald trump is not going to apologize for anything as far as i can tell in this race. think ba

#cnn debate. >> i'm a friend of lindsey graham, you got that accent all wrong. >> that is not a lindseyquip last night about the drinking and the bar, there's a joke there, i will not make it. guys, let me ask -- >> apparently donald trump has taught him how to tweet. >> it's okay, senator, we'll talk to you soon. there was some news made on this show at the beginning of the hour. we had shawn spicer, chief strategist for the rnc, who told us the next debate a month and a half from now may not have an undercard. that that predebate, that behindcy graham -- >> what does that mean for lindsey graham? >> how significant a development is that? >> i think it's starting to make sense, right? you had the first two debates. i think they were very fair about trying to include everyone. but at some point, if you are less than 1% in the polls, you've got to come to the realization that you're not going anywhere and it's nice to have -- to use this as a maybe, you know, business marketing plan as i think maybe george pataki is or, you know, bobby jindal. i can't even remember who the third person o

the lindsey graham we saw on fox news was sower. lindsey graham was one cracking jokes, loose.e has been in the mix on almost every exchange that we have seen. even the other candidates on the stage have turned to him and looked to him and he stood up on immigration. he said hispanics are americans. >> he has the guts in this crowd to do that. >> he stood his ground that he staked out and in that venue he looked at the camera and said i'm not backing down from that point. this is what we believe. this is where we should go. >> i think the best thing lindsay said in terms of government making it work as we believe in was he said to rick santorum you had an immigration bill. how many democrats supported it. how are you going to knock something is nobody is for it. lindsay challenged him i thought effectively. i thought he was being honest. your thoughts. >> i agree that lindsey graham really stood out and tried to establish as commander in chief and we know in his background as jag officer. he stood his ground and laid out the case on immigration and did it in a way that i believ

race lindsey graham is not happy about that. >> and scientists found liquid refreshing bubbling water on the red planet. stay right here. it's one of the most amazing things we build and it doesn't even fly. we build it in classrooms and exhibit halls, mentoring tomorrow's innovators. we build it raising roofs, preserving habitats and serving america's veterans. every day, thousands of boeing volunteers help make their communities the best they can be. building something better for all of us. kennedy: senator lindsey graham, hello, he watches every night, he is an underdog in the republican primaries, he is telling the g.o.p. to quit trying to narrow the field, as a rnc spokesperson said he doubts the next debate will feature an under card event. is he right to blame the rnc for shrinkage. >> right. yes. that is up to network and rules, there are no set rules, everyone defines or changes them. kennedy: i love that, make your own rules. >> we don't need to shrink them, the candidate for pulling themselves out could they are running out of money, they feel they cannot compete. lindsey g

race lindsey graham is not happy about that. >> and scientists found liquid refreshing bubbling water on the red planet. stay right here. we live in a world of mobile technology, but it is not the device that is mobile, it is you. i am totally blind. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24. learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com. kennedy: senator lindsey graham, hello, he watches every night, he is an underdog in the republican primaries, he is telling the g.o.p. to quit trying to narrow the field, as a rnc spokesperson said he doubts the next debate will feature an under card event. is he right to blame the rnc for shrinkage. >> right. yes. that is up to network and rules, there are no set rules, everyone defines or changes them. kennedy: i love that, make your own rules. >> we don't need to shrink them, the candidate for pulling themselves out could they are running out of money, they feel they cannot compete. lindsey graham campaign manager had a great idea, two smaller debates, and pull the names out of

is south carolina senator lindsey graham. nator graham, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> you got a lot of praise from the pundit world for your performance in the so-called undercard debate, the 6:00 p.m. debate last night. do you feel good? >> yeah, i do. i mean, people have been very nice. i enjoyed it. i want to compliment the people who built that stage. it was the most awe-inspiring thing i think i've done in politics. to be that close to air force one in the reagan library, you and your colleagues you made it fun. you challenged us. and it was good to have real live people. the first debate was like debating in a bathroom. i thoroughly enjoyed this very much. and it was good. thank you for having me. >> well, more than 6 million people watched the undercard debate, so you and your colleagues were able to get your message out. i wonder if you watched the primetime debate. i did mention you at one point because i mentioned your commander in chief test that you're only serious about fighting isis if you're wi

i thought in a sense actually lindsey graham in first debate actually -- i know you're -- >> come on,ously? you just gave away my rolling of the eyes. >> i know, i know. but behilindsey graham -- >> lindsey graham will not be president. >> lindsey graham understood what the second debate was about. >> he did. >> he was passionate for his big thing. and the only person who came -- who has come close so far to doing that in the big boys debate has been chris christie. walker and bush and rubio, this is not going to -- in the first debate -- >> are they too scripted? is it too planned? are they too timid? are they not learning the lesson of trump's success which is to be bold politically incorrect, outspoken, a little flashy? >> yeah, because they weren't told that was what this was about. if you signed up to do a broadway play and you learned your scripted lines for weeks and weeks and you went out on stage and then suddenly some crazy minimum wage equity extra staggers out from the wings and starts just responding to you with lines that come out of nowhere, you're paralyzed. do i stick

that can't crack 5% group includes lindsey graham.buzz around rand paul and scott walker but 3% is around where they are settling in now. they are unexpectedly doing terribly. while being tied even at a low number with rand paul and scott walker might be a great day for if a cellular dwell wither like lindsey graham this south carolina result is a bad snowe showing for him because south carolina his home state and only 3% this his home state. the polling firm added insult to injury by adding republican voters if they thought their home state senator lindsey graham should just stop running for president. this is the proportion of south carolina republicans who said yes, lindsey graham should quit the race for president, 78% want him to quit and he's their home state senator. the poll came out under the headline south carolina republicans to lindsey graham, drop out. as weird as it seems, donald trump being hugely ahead in the race for the republican nomination, that's kind of like a dog bite man story at this point. that's normal news.

like where is lindsey graham.second debate is typical peppery, funny, lively lindsey graham. >> look, that was his first debate as a presidential candidate it's a big stage. bright lights but it's also a very strange debate. they put those candidates in an arena with no people in it. you could hear a pin drop from behind -- it was bizarre, very difficult situation to expect, especially someone like senator graham who feeds off people, who has this great sense of humor to perform in such a stale environment. i think that was a really unfortunate way to introduce those candidates in that sort of setting. >> were you guys aware before and they would not be a so basically in the agreement except for just a few family and friends? >> i do want to get too far into what we heard, what we were told. >> we are here to get in the weeds. weeds. >> were told a number of different things. before and, afterwards, things change. we knew there was going to be much of an audience. that was not a surprise. >> how do you think he di

lindsey graham drinking habits.for the candidates this is a good sign that they're getting their message out there. people are interacting to find out more about them. >> did anybody google where is jim gilmore? >> that didn't really come up. >> jim gilmore did tweet a lot last night. >> he did. >> let's look at the google spike. this is how people ranked from their most searched candidates and their search from the first debate. so take a look at this. donald trump came out once again on top. so in the last debate he was first in this debate. he was first. for people searching for him. carly fiorina, of course, wasn't in that main debate last time. she came in two. so rocketed, i mean like a huge rocket for carly fiorina from that first search to there. and then jeb bush third. he came in a little bit better than he did the last time for search results. >> you know it's interesting. definitely reflected the time in which they had to speak because trump was number one. number two was jeb bush number three and govern

ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm national press club welcome to senator lindsey graham. [applause] senator graham: thank y'all very much. my new phone. [laughter] yeah, i went with the iphone so i'm sure their stock -- yeah, the number is not part of the speech. to the press club, thanks a ton. a real in depth analysis of iran will be held on the steps of the capitol when trump and cruz speaks but i'll bore you between now and then what i think. i think i'm lucky to be here to talk about something so important to so many distinguished people who jealously guard the first amendment. it is in your care, use it wisely, and i don't give many written speeches but this is too important. i can't think of a thing i'm -- that i've done in the senate more important than what this week and maybe next will behold. president obama's deal with iran could only be reached through a long series of mistakes and miscalculation. his biggest mistake of all was disassociate iran's destabilizing behavior from their nuclear ambitions. by separating the two, obama opened up funding for the war ma

lindsey graham was the wise acre in chief.sn't pull any punches. >> your brother's administration gave us barack obama. because it was such a disaster the last three months that abraham lincoln couldn't have been elected. >> you know what, as it relates to my brother, there's one thing i know for sure, he kept us safe. >> i don't feel so safe. >> jeff bush's defense earns ridicule on social media. he ran the comment and even turned it into a graphic to campaign on. bush didn't mind making himself the butt of a joke either. he made light of past indiscretions and an apology to his mother. >> 40 years ago, i smoked marijuana and i admit it. i'm sure other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. my mom's not happy that i just did. >> joining me now, sirius xm radio host. thanks for being here. as a comedy standup, three hour, four-hour extravaganzextravagan would you rate what you saw last night? >> well, in terms of intentional comedy and the other kind. jeb may have won last night for

senator lindsey graham. he spoke at the faith and freedom coalition event in iowa with seven other gop candidates. we look how vital it is to connect with that crucial group of evangelical voters. >> good morning. dr. carson's comments on religion are in the headlines today. for 15 names they've gathered in the name of religious liberty. it was the annual iowa faith and freedom coalition. a very key part of the iowa caucus. >> i brought my bible. see? i'm better than you thought, you see? >> donald trump playing to the crowd also brought his confirmation picture trying to reassure skeptics about the depths of his faith. half the gop field addressed the gathering. while evangelicals make up a majority of the caucus, the caucus results have been uneven when it comes to picking the eventual gop nominee. in 2012, ruk santorum beat mitt romney in a squeaker. >> what the people of iowa do matters. you look at the candidates. you interview the candidates n meet with them and look them in the eye and do their job. >

that said lindsey graham had a good night in early debate. he had one liners and he had some back and forth and he had substance. i think he is probably the winner out of that early card debate. >> all right. i was watching the debate in my office in new york city. i had two slices of pizza. i was frying not to chew that loud so i could hear them. i didn't really hear anything out of the ordinary, all right. it was the standard here are the problems, here is how going to solve it except for this from bobby jindal. roll the tape. >> my fellow republicans, let's stop treating donald trump like a republican. if he were really a conservative. [ applause ] >> if he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, i would endorse him. evidence is not a conservative. is not a liberal. he is not a democrat. is he not a republican. he is not an independent. he believes in donald trump. >> now, jindal has gone after trump before. do you think that's a winning strategy? >> well, listen, he has to do something to get on the radar because his poll numbers

lindsey graham has fared quite well, a number of one-liners, this is a much more relaxed lindsey grahame fox news debate. last time he was stiff and out of sorts like the thing is too overwhelming for him. this is the lindsey graham, who whatever you think of his policies and people disagree with him on things like immigration is a likable enough guy and coming across as likable in this debate. he'll be declared the winner by consensus when this thing is done. lou: all right, steve, thank you very much for being with us, steve hayes, jessica tarlov. >> thanks, lou. lou: if you're not a fan of drones, you may be a fan of tampa bay lightning captain steven stamkos shows he has pinpoint accuracy on the ice, we knew that. not only does he hit targets in the corners of the hockey goal, he hits targets, whoa! flying overhead, from drones, and yes, drones were hurt. we call it damaged, hurt is a little -- anyway. pretty good. way to go. >> i hate drones. lou: i hate drones. he hates drones, i love drones. >>> the senate announces a plan b to stop the president's nuclear deal with iran. it will

there because we believe in lindsey graham.and if we were doing it for the money, if we were doing it because he's a front runner or because of polls, we would all be there for the wrong reasons, and we're not. >> and do you buy, i've asked some of the other candidates who, former senators, do you worry that just the mood is so much in favor of outsiders and people that have no political experience, the single worst case you can make as a candidate is i've been in the senate a long time. i know things. i've tried to do things. give me this job. >> it's a tough case to make right now, isn't it? but i think at the end of the day, when you get closer to election time, people start thinking about different things. they're going to think about who's ready to take this fight to radical islam. they're going to think about who's going to be kmader in chief. for military families out there, they're going to think who do i want commanding my son or daughter as they go off to do this job? who do i trust to make sure that our troops have t

there because we believe in lindsey graham.his for the money, if we were doing it because he was a frontrunner, if we were doing it because of polls, we would all be there for the wrong reasons and we're not. >> and do you buy -- i've asked some of the other candidates who are former senators. do you worry that just the mood is so much in fvor of outsiders and people that have no political experience, the single worst case you can make as a candidate is i've been in the senate a long time, i know things, i've tried to do things. give me this job. >> it's a tough case to make right now, isn't it? but i think at the end of the day, when you get closer to election time, people start thinking about different things. they're going to think about who's ready to take this fight to radical islam. they're going to think about who's ready to be commander in chief. for military families out there, they're going to say, who do i want commanding my son or daughter as they go off to do their job? who do i trust to make sure that our troops h

[ applause ] oh, and this week lindsey graham, i love lindsey graham, he qualified for the next republican debate when he managed to get at least 1% in three different polls. [ laughter ] this is the most relieved lindsey graham has been since

that was a great interview you had with lindsey graham. thanks so much.tchell reports" weekdays here at noon eastern. i'm sure we will see her tonight on "nbc nightly news." >>> want to check in with our colleague who has been monitoring the bing pulse question of the day directly dealing with what trump should do. >> what we have heard from lindsey graham, hillary clinton, josh earnest, we are asking you should trump reject those who call president obama a muslim. look how we are scoring here. 77% of our viewers say yes, that is the case. 23% saying no. in real time, as you were having that conversation with andrea, look at that, just in the last minute, spiking towards yes. a couple of dips in the last five minutes to noes. interesting to note how we are looking when it comes to political party. democrats mostly saying yes, if we can take a look at that and single out the democrats. but look, independents, no one voting so far. actually, we have a couple right here on the republican side as well in real time. not too many. maybe that will be what trigge

what you see is what you get with lindsey graham. he can interact with people as good as anyone i have worked with. that sort of talent that helped him so much in south carolina is perfectly tailored to iowa and new hampshire as well. >> would you expect him along the line. you begin to pick up endorsements from his fellow senators speak with i don't know if endorsements are really the name of the game. i think the key is how you're doing in iowa, new hampshire and south carolina. that's going to be more of our focus. >> do you have a secret weapon in iowa and a large number of people there in the national guard? >> i think that certainly helps out. senator graham is the only candidate in the race today aside from jim gilmore who has served in the military. he was in the national guard. he's been a reservist. i think there's a large population of national guard and reservists in i was going to be good for you. there's a strong veterans population in new hampshire and in satellite as well. >> does have a particular strategy for reachi

was it lindsey graham and jim gilmore? was it "c," john kasich and jeb bush? or was it "d," bernie sanders? >> that would be c. >> jeb bush and john kasich. is that right? >> let's check tuesday's segment. >> republican presidential candidate john kasich served as managing director of lehman brothers from 2001 right up until the company's collapse seven years ago today. there's jeb bush who served as a lehman brothers adviser for years before the bankruptcy, through the bankruptcy and on to barclays bank once barclays inherited the smoking rubble of

there because we believe in lindsey graham.and if we were doing it for the money, if we were doing it because he's a front runner or because of polls, we would all be there for the wrong reasons, and we're not. >> and do you buy, i've asked some of the other candidates who, former senators, do you worry that just the mood is so much in favor of outsiders and people that have no political experience, the single worst case you can make as a candidate is i've been in the senate a long time. i know things. i've tried to do things. give me this job. >> it's a tough case to make right now, isn't it? but i think at the end of the day, when you get closer to election time, people start thinking about different things. they're going to think about who's ready to take this fight to radical islam. they're going to think about who's going to be kmader in chief. for military families out there, they're going to think who do i want commanding my son or daughter as they go off to do this job? who do i trust to make sure that our troops have t

we're going to drink more. >> so, i mean -- lindsey graham in the first debate was not the usual lindseyvintage lindsey graham last night. tons of zingers. he's witty, quick off the cuff. that was a lively, substantive debate. that served as a take-away for all of this. republicans had a lot there to like among the other candidates last night. >> did any of them jump to a different echelon? >> i think lindsey graham could. there are some on fumes their campaigns are too big. scott walker. this fund-raising period that's about to end at the end of this month say key moment here. so he may be in the next debate if a couple people drop out. we don't know if they will or not. lindsey graham is lean and mean. it's him in a rental car across the country. he could be in the next debate. >> the standings changed last night. that's my prediction. i'm not saying in dramatic ways. i'm not saying that donald trump is not on the top. >> it will be interesting when the first polls come out. maeve, jeff, thanks so much. >>> chris christie played a very unique role that was in a way christie-esque. and

i guys like lindsey graham who has zero. anyone ever heard of lindsey graham? this guy. he made a very big mistakes when he ran, because the people of south carolina are watching this farce. >> so a poll came out the other day. he was at zero. zero. even pataki was higher. pataki was at zero with an arrow up. so lindsey graham says to me, please, please, whatever you can do -- i'm saying, what is this guy, a beg garr? he gave me his number, and i found the card. i wrote the number do you want let's try it, 202-[ bleep ] i don't know, maybe it's three, four years ago, so maybe it's an old number. >>> all right. pretty tough words there. let's discuss all of this with senator lindsey graham of south carolina. you were smiling as you were hearing it. but he was really going after you. >> at the end of the day, one, it was my number, and i suggest you don't give your number to him. here's what's going to happen eventually. somebody will look at his ability to be commander in chief, bring us together as president of the united states. tomorrow is the 14th anniversary of 9/11.

time, the importance of who our commander in chief is going to be more relevant and that is when lindsey graham will truly shine. rich: can you talk a little bit about the history of lindsey in south a vote getter carolina? i understand he is the best in south carolina history, eclipsing even strom thurmond. christian: he has never lost a race. he won his last race against its opponents with the overwhelming majority. he has not necessarily been seen as the front runner in those races, but he is a great, grassroots politician. what you see is what you get. he can interact with people better than anyone i have ever worked with. i think that sort of talents that helps them so much in south carolina is perfectly tailored to iowa and new hampshire as well. rich: would you expect him to begin to pick up endorsements from his fellow senators? christian: i don't know if endorsements are really the name of the game. i think the key is how you're doing and iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina. that will be more of our focus. rich: do you have a secret , the large number of people there in the nationa

should know because lindsey graham is a member of the lollipop guild. [ laughter ] [ lindsey grahamression ] "i'm a member of the lollipop guild. i'm lindsey graham and i approve that joke." [ laughter ] a former senior adviser to president obama suggested today that hillary clinton is like the scotty pippin to obama's michael jordan. "hey!" said both scotty pippin and hillary clinton, for different reasons. [ laughter ] a new cnn poll shows that carly fiorina has pushed chris christie out of the top ten for the republican nomination. unfortunately, she threw her back out doing it. [ laughter and applause ] you got to use the legs. gotta push with your legs. [ light laughter ] presidential hopeful marco rubio accidentally hit a little boy in the face with a football today -- [ audience ohs ] while playing catch. "really, i'm fine," said bobby jindal. [ laughter and applause ] you're going to be okay. you're going to be all right. fans of the pandas at the national zoo are wary of the new possible pregnancy, because the zoo's female panda has faked pregnancy five times before. [ ligh

let's watch. >> has anyone ever heard of lindsey graham? this guy, i mean, he is -- he's out of control. i think it was in south carolina, we're way up, and lindsey graham is at 4 and he's a senator. i'm at 30. i wrote him a note, congratulations, i'm only beating you in your home state by 26 points. i see your senator. what a stiff. what a stiff. lindsey graham. i wrote the number down. i don't know if it's the right number. let's try it. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ] i don't know. maybe it's -- you know, it's three or four years ago. maybe it's an old number. >> i presumably changed your number. i think you've changed your cell number since then. what has he got against you? >> oh, nothing. i mean, it was my number, by the way. i won't give him the new one. but you know, this is politics. here's my problem with mr. trump. he's been very successful. hats off to all his success. and he's helped people along the way. i just think he's ready to be commander in chief of a great nation and a military that needs somebody who understands how the world wor

down there jogging in the corner of the screen lindsey graham was not there when they started taking the picture because they apparently forgot him. once they finally found him and reconvened they snuck him on the end. the tallest candidate being next to the shortest candidate. this is the awkward thing that happens when you have arbitrarily divided your group of candidates. as awkward and embarrassing it was for lindsey graham whom they forgot to wait for as he was coming from the kids' table debate, it was even sadder for bobby jindal who missed the photograph all together. when all the other candidates were lining up for the big group photograph, i mean, yeah, sure it's bad enough lindsey graham was late and half forgotten. bobby jindal was in the spin room alone after the weirdly separate four-person kids table debate. when that broke up nobody knows what happens to those guys. they dispersed. some are around and some are not. i guess we lost one. it was embarrassing. >> apparently according to the republican national committee that is not going to happen again. the republican pa

like lindsey graham and running on a shoestring and doesn't matter how long lindsey graham stays in the race. but i could see a lindsey graham dropping out. maybe even rand paul. a number of people who will not be at the -- at the grownup table at the debate this week, one of them probably after the debate. somebody after the debate. >> in earlier campaigns the conventional wisdom at this point would have been that some of these people who aren't in the top five or the top six, now we have to say the top dozen, would start running out of money. and that's who would drop out. is that happening to anybody at this point? >> well, it's interesting. because now the superpacks -- superpacs and rick perry has $17 million in -- but this proves you have to have more than super pac money. >> he couldn't pay ordinary salaries and filing fees and dumb stuff like the daily bills basically. gwen: is it also possible the lesson of rick perry that if you take on donald trump, yoump might not win? taking him on so far, has benefited from it. >> the lesson also rick perry he maybe never was going to get

i can see donald trump going after lindsey graham. though he's a zero in the presidential race even in his home state lindsey graham says to anyone that will listen one of the main reasons he's still running for presidentings one of the things he most wants to talk about when anybody interviews him is that he thinks donald trump is so terrible. he wants to stay in the race to be on record even if he never makes another debate he wants to be on the record in the race as having opposed trump in every possible way. i can see donald trump going after lindsey graham. but rick perry? it's hard to imagine a reason to spend time singling out rick perry as his campaign keeps circling the drain. he poses no threat to anyone. but donald trump went after him today. that gave rick perry a reason to go on television which he did just after donald trump's remarks to answer donald trump's contention that he, governor rick perry is about to jump out of the presidential race. it didn't go well. >> joining me now former texas governor rick perry. do you

so in terms of lindsey graham i think the one word i would use to describe him is sincere.what you see with him is exactly what you get. he is as approachable as anyone i have ever worked with in politics, as sincere and caring as i've ever been around and also just plain funny. he is a really funny person to be around and it's not so much that he has the same jokes and hear over and over again. i worked with john mccain and i can tell you that if you asked me today what what the funny thing he said, i'm not sure that i could come up with it because everyday something new. so that creates an environment that's a great deal of fun to work in and i'm truly thankful for that opportunity. >> thank you. >> coming up next is very done it with ben carson campaign. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. >> okay, so we have this breaking news maybe in about 10 minutes that scott walker is out of the race. what do you make of that and how do you analyze that we met what does it mean to . >> i think last time it was so -- you know, don't give up, you're going to hit rough spots. >> can y

it hasn't worked for lindsey graham. it hasn't work ford a lot of candidates. we'll see fit works for jeb. >> a new poll to this point finds that donald trump is benefitting from support of those who think that president obama is a secret muslim born in another country. and that immigrant children should be deported. public policy polling find that two-thirds of trump supporters believe the president of the united states is a muslim. only 12% will say he's a christian. that is 12 points higher than the mainstream of the republican party. another 61% think he was not born in the u.s. 21% admit he was, again, substantially higher than the rest of the party. and 63% would amend the constitution to remove birthright citizenship. 20% would keep it intact. again, more conservative than the rest of the party. >> there is a new piece out on "politico" called donald trump's coalition of disdain. 61% of trump supporters say he's a muslim. 62% say he wasn't born in america. and then you have another high number that want to actually change the 14th amendment. do away with

you started off playing the lindsey graham quote.he one reason that lindsey graham is the one politician that sounds -- that makes sense here is because he has no chance of winning with, right? he can talk the way that i can. i have nothing to lose, and neither does he. >> what's that say about the gop base? >> dan savage, that will be the last word that i was going to ask you for. thank you for joining us. >>> coming up, donald trump surrenders his independence to the republican party and elizabeth warren was asked a couple of questions about her future here in boston this week. and she gave some new answers. today, boston might as well have renamed itself brady town. you should have been here when the patriots conquering hearing conquered the nfl in court. take a look at these bbq trophies: best cracked pepper sauce... most ribs eaten while calf roping... yep, greatness deserves recognition. you got any trophies, cowboy? ♪ whoomp there it is uh, yeah... well, uh, well there's this one. best insurance mobile app? yeah, two years in

senator lindsey graham has been praised for his debate performance last night., he'll join me live to talk about the big night. what message he hopes he got across to voters. stay with us. >>> welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer. we're coming to you live from simi valley, california, where four republican presidential candidates hope their performance in cnn's so-called undercard debate will be enough to shake up the race for the white house and move them to the top tier. the four exchanged passionate, even witty jabs, topics from taxes to same-sex marriage to trump. here are some of the highlights. >> a leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television, the cartoon network. i'll big, i'm strong, hit him in the head. >> flat out, i guarantee you that. >> they got a socialist that is gaining on hillary clinton. folks, you can't make that up. >> what the supreme court did is against the national law, against god's law. >> the gay couple or the baptist preacher would kill ya'll if they could. >> i would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. >> across t

he's like -- [ lindsey graham impression ] "general whiskers, where were you all day?" [ laughter ] meanwhile, wisconsin governor scott walker says that he thinks only 12 states will decide the presidential election. and if trump wins, those 12 states will include shock, confusion, outrage, despair, denial, anger, bargaining and finally acceptance. [ cheers and applause ] of course, people are still talking about the state department releasing over 7,000 pages of hillary clinton's e-mails this week. yeah, and even though 150 censored messages seem to be revealing a lot of information. see if you can tell. check out some of the subject lines. first one is, "sure hope these e-mails never come back to blank me in the blank." >> steve: what? [ laughter and applause ] >> jimmy: know what i'm saying? check out this other one. it says, "regarding making bloutank winfrey my running blank." [ laughter and applause ] that's big news. >> steve: seems like they're blanking the wrong words. >> jimmy: they're not, i mean, but i can figure out what they're doing. this information that

in many ways, that's the role lindsey graham is looking to play. he wants to be the kind of foil that can ultimately try and push the party to a place where they can win. he feels strongly they can't win without the hispanic vote and the debate is going the wrong way. he was saying, i believe hispanics are american. that's way thinks the party needs to say. >> that was an amazingly refreshing line. >> it was stark and he said it over and over again. >> hispanics are americans. >> you saw this in his senate race, too. he ran to prove a common sense person willing to make compromises, make those deals can win in the republican party. he's trying to prove it on the big stage. >> i was impressed by carly fiorina's, she is willing to go after hillary's neck. this is really, i'm going to fight with this person if she is the nominee. i don't think any other candidates are as unabashed to make a mano a mano as the woman candidate and i think she knew it. >> howard fineman, as always. >>> up next, the war hawks were out tonight. we'll hear the hawkish state

go ahead. >> i thought lindsey graham did a great job. and the other three candidates failed to reach the mark that lindsey graham did. >> i was disappointed in bobby jindal. he spent too much time of his going after trump. it was a lost opportunity to stand out. >> a lot of the republicans on stage went after trump last night which i understand they feel they need to take him down. but was it frustrating? did you want to hear it more directed at hillary than, you know, than another republican on the stage? go ahead. en i don't know if that was there strategy necessarily. it certainly was the questioning that came from the moderators it seemed like this is going to be a debate where all the other republicans tell it us what they think about trump. that's not so helpful for the rest of us in making our decisions about these candace. >> you raised the inner about the moderators and the debate itself. he we will get to that next with our panel right after the break with the most must-see moments from last night's showdown when we return our

observer told the "washington post" that in the last debate lindsey graham seemed like someone had "just killed his dog." tonight lindsey graham tried to turn that one around by being the jokester of the kids' table. >> i wasn't the best law student. by the end of this debate it will be the most time i've ever spent in any library. [ laughter ] we're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally but we'll start with felons and off they go. as to the rest, you can stay but you have to learn our language, i don't speak it very well but look how far i've come. speaking english is a good thing. ronald reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. he sat down with tip o'neill, the most liberal guy in the entire house. they started drinking together, that's the first thing i'm going to do as president. we're going to drink more. [ laughter and applause ] >> you're having a good debate but there is this problem of washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. >> i've been called wonderful things but never "elite" before. my dad owned a liquor

but just to paraphrase, jeb bush and lindsey graham both criticized donald trump for not challengingoner. rick santorum actually echoing donald trump's point, saying, it's not his obligation to do. i want to ask you, meeky, in the silence we've heard from other republican candidates on this issue, do you sense that they see a political benefit in not challenging that kind of questioner and that kind of line of questioning, and really thoughts about muslims? >> you know, what this highlights, the lack of candidates stepping out, except for jeb bush, and chris christie to be fair, as well, and lindsey graham, it highlights a leadership deficit in this party. this election, everybody's been talking about how everybody wants to get -- they want to move on from the politician. they want to vote for the people outside of the political establishment. we, leaders challenge this type of conversation. leaders step up and speak the truth and highlight the truth. that's something that chris christie even said today. this is a problem in the republican party. when a quarter of your demographic, y