now from washington to look ahead at the agenda on capitol hill is newshour political director lisa desjardins. lisa, just had your story in the middle of the week about the "do something "congress. we did get some stuff done on highway transportation funding and making some tax cuts permanent. but as we start the new year, it looks like the repeal of obamacare will actually land at the president's desk. >> reporter: so, that's right. they're starting with some contention on one of the biggest political issues but, of course, we expect a veto on that. republicans, probably, hari, will try to pass more repeels. it's good for them in an election year and it's obviously something they feel strongly about. >> sreenivasan: what does it look like in terms of things they do want to get accomplished? >> reporter: here's the good news. there are some major piecees of legislation to watch this year. i think the biggest one by far is criminal justice reform two reasons i think that we will see major reform this year or that it's likely. one is that want way our prison system works right now, hari, about

political director lisa desjardins reports. >> i probably won't bother doing the debate. >> reporter: with that, the campaign spotlight made it's near-daily turn to donald trump. >> let's see how much money fox is gonna make on the debate without me. ok? >> reporter: the previously center-stage debate star said last night he'd he will shun the next one, set for thursday night. >> mr. trump... >> reporter: his reason? "fox news" wouldn't remove moderator megyn kelly, who trump has said she's biased, going back to the last debate on fox. >> ...that you are part of the war on women? >> reporter: trump's latest shots at fox news quickly became ammunition for his rivals, like ted cruz. >> i would like to invite donald, right now, to engage in a one-on-one debate with me, anytime between now and the iowa caucuses. major candidates have pulled out of primary debates before, including ronald reagan and george w. bush. both of them ended up winning the g.o.p. nomination anyway. so, is there really any a risk for trump? maybe. a study out of the university of missouri, looking at debates this c

political director lisa desjardins explains how the presidential race has quickly hit another gear. >porter: just try and take it all in. the many candidates are scrambling as months of build-up are over, and the actual 2016 is here. it means a mounting frenzy of rallies and big-time surrogates. but today's biggest move came over the airwaves. >> the politicians can call it something else. >> reporter: a provocative new donald trump ad, stressing security. >> that's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of muslims entering the united states, until we can figure out what's going on. >> reporter: it's trump's first t.v. ad of the campaign, and it's raising the intensity of the race. at the same time, his rivals are revving up their opposition to him. in new hampshire today, new jersey governor chris christie called trump's security promise an empty one. >> these are the most dangerous, perilous times in our country's recent history. showtime is over. we are not electing an entertainer-in-chief. >> reporter: meanwhile, on the democratic side, something new from the clinton campaign:

political director lisa desjardins guides us through the gauntlet of activity in just the past day. >> reporter: in campaign land, the biggest heavyweight is now the calendar. we're at tuesday, so candidates and voters have six short days left until next monday-- the iowa caucuses. and, as time wanes, intensity waxes. >> all right, we are live at drake university. >> reporter: last night it was des last night, it was des moines, iowa where democrats engaged, at a forum hosted by cnn. >> is secretary clinton simply better prepared for the job? >> don't leave, we have another 15 minute. ( applause ) >> reporter: >> reporter: bernie sanders, the former underdog, now co- frontrunner, was first on stage. >> this calls for a standing up response, that's all. >> reporter: the vermont senator argued that his judgment outweighs hillary clinton's experience. >> yeah, it's easy to get rid of a dictator like saddam hussein. but there's got to be a political vacuum. there will be instability, and it gives me no pleasure to tell you that much of what i feared in fact happened. hillary clinton voted

for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> ifill: we follow the money now with matea gold.he's a national political reporter for the "washington post." matea, you've covered a lot of these campaigns, but compare this to last cycle. how is the money being raised and spent differently? >> what we've seen is a full-flowering of the super pac effect and nearly every candidate with the exception of bernie sanders and most recently donald trump are running with the support of super pacs this time and that's changed everything. that's changed the way they've gotten in the race, raised money and the way money is being spent. through mid-december, we saw more than 40% more ads on tv than at the last cycle and eight out of ten were by outside groups. >> ifill: as lisa pointed out, it's not biographical. it's not let me tell you who i am anymore. >> one of the things i think we're seeing in the republican contest is because it is so incredibly competitive and it's really been focused on issues about terrorism and i.s.i.s. that these issues have really come to the foreign advertising m

political director lisa desjardins reports. >> reporter: voting day gets closer, and-- what do you knowhe race suddenly gets sharper. in each party, the two frontrunners, previously friendly, are going on the attack. for republicans, the ted cruz/ donald trump detente has exploded into shots fired. >> cruz is going down. he's having a hard time. he looks like a nervous wreck. >> donald has been an active supporter-- he gave $100,000 to the clinton foundation. >> reporter: and in the last day, the candidates have each launched new ads, each arguing the other is not a real conservative. trump's play: immigration. his ad raises cruz' past support of some legal status for the undocumented. >> i want immigration reform to pass, and that allows those who come here illegally to come in out of the shadows. >> reporter: cruz' ad plays a different card, pointing to trump's defense of "eminent domain:" the taking of private land for development or roads. >> ...it made him rich. like when trump colluded with atlantic city insiders to bulldoze the home of an elderly widow. >> reporter: their fight f

for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: with more on last night's debate and the raceng the republican candidates. for "politics monday," we turn to tamara keith of n.p.r., and filling in for amy walter, susan page of "usa today." is welcome to you both. >> thank you. >> so they didn't hold back, tamara. did either one of them land any lastk blows? >> i think that they both came out and they defined themselves the way that they wanted to be defined. which is hillary clinton came out and she really was the pragmatic one. the one who said you know, i've fought this fight. and this is going to be tough. and tried to paint senator sanders of ideal statistics and etty good job of painting her as willing to settle for less. and why should the u.s. do what it's done before and sort of settle for what the washington establishment says is possible. i think they both came out and they were themselves. >> woodruff: susan? >> such a different toam from the previous three debates. remember that first debate when bernie sanders said we're sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-

for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: for more on the race for the white house we turne political reporters, covering the presidential campaign in the early voting states. o. kay henderson, news director for radio iowa, joins us from outside des moines. james pindell of the boston globe is in manchester, new hampshire; and andy shain who writes for "the state" joins us from columbia, south carolina. and we thank you all three. o. kay henderson, let me start with you. since iowa is first, less than three weeks away on february 1, as you know very well. we were just talking about donald trump. he was an unnamed if significant theme last night. how is he doing in iowa and what does that race look like? >> well, the "bloomberg politics" des moines register poll out just this morning shows it's a tight race for the lead here between donald trump and ted cruz. ted cruz is actually leading. the same poll showed cruz with a wider lead in december, so that race is narrowed between the two of them. so the angriest voices on the republican field are leading among iowa republicans.

political director lisa desjardins reports on the large g.o.p.d last night's debate here in iowa. >> i did something that was very risky. and i think it turned out great, because i'm on the front page of every paper... >> reporter: donald trump, today in new hampshire, crowed about what happened last night in des moines, iowa. he held his own rogue fundraiser for veterans-- claiming to raise at least $6 million... ...as just across town... >> donald trump has chosen not to attend... >> reporter: seven other republicans gathered, to soak up the extra oxygen and try to move past trump. >> let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. it's not about donald trump. he's an entertaining guy. he's the greatest show on earth. this campaign is about the greatest country in the world >> reporter: this debate drew fewer viewers than all but one g.o.p. face-off this cycle-- around 12.5 million people. but it kept up in quality and quantity of punches. >> i would note that the last four questions have been: rand please attack ted, marco please attac

newshour political director lisa desjardins has been looking at what he can do in his remaining months in office. >> reporter: president obama wasted no time kicking off his 2016, just five days into the new year with a highly publicized announcement that he's going it alone on certain gun control measures. >> there are actions within my legal authority that we can take to help reduce gun violence and save more lives, actions that protect our rights and our kids. >> reporter: the president is well aware his days in office are numbered: 374, to be exact. and so are the items he can tackle in that time. what kind of meaningful action could the outgoing leader get done? that depends whom you ask. >> you look at the president's biggest accomplishments: they all happened in the first two years of this presidency. and he's been trying to protect that legacy ever since. >> reporter: that's john feehery, g.o.p. strategist and former spokesman for house speaker dennis hastert. >> i think the president is really kind of finished on the legacy front. his relevance is diminishing, every day, somew

now, while we have been talking lisa desjardins has been on the capitol getting reaction from the president's speech from members of congress, and i believe one of those individuals she talked to was congressman chris van hollen of maryland who happens to be running for senate. let's go to that right now. >> joining me now maryland congressman chris van hahn, also a member of the democratic leadership in the house, quickly what did youable make of some speech? >> i thought it was an optimistic speech about future america, the president ticked off many of the challenges we face, progress we have made recently toward those challenges, but also our huge potential, as a country to meet those challenges whether they are here at home on the economy or foreign policy and national security challenges, the one big win flag was we need to fix way politics is broken in this country, the fact that people are not willing or seemingly not willing to come together to forge compromise, the divisions that people try to draw and the fear they try to impose, so i think it was a call to try to change the nature