the big population centers, marco rubio, marco rubio, marco rubio, marco rubio.they're saying that's great i want to run up vote there but that's also what made third place in 2016. so spread out and go further north and try to pick up votes there as well. big population centers are critical, especially the way population has moved the last couple of years. it won't be enough particularly given trump's strength around the rural parts of the area. can they push out if you're nikki haley. if you are ron desantis can you get the evangelical vote and cut in in the suburbs as well? it will determines what happens tonight. >>> donald trump, nikki haley, ron desantis all today out with their parkas making their final pitch to iowa voters with dangerous subzero temps on caucus day, which candidate has the best ground game to get out the vote? >>> i think we've done it right here. we showed up, we answered the questions, we shook the hands and people know who tried to earn it and who didn't and who thinks they're entitled to it. we showed you've got to earn this thing. i'

both donald trump and marco rubio are red. but marco rubio is a right red. and you can see, the counties that marco rubio won are in these areas, the college towns, the capital des moines. and marco rubio finished third. it was a strong third, pretty close to first place. this is the type of finish that nikki haley would very much like to see on caucus night tonight. and marco rubio did campaign in that path. one group that thinks that nikki haley is some kind of threat, donald trump and his supporters. why do i say that? if you look at the ad spending in the closing weeks in iowa, you can see here, the political track. donald trump and his super pac spent $4.5 million targeting nikki haley and zero targeting ron desantis. the trump campaign sees haley as the biggest threat here. wolf? >> interesting, indeed. thanks, john. >>> joinings now, cnn political commentator, the strategist, former trump adviser, david irvin. and s.c. kupp. specifically not completely but with republican voters. can he get 50%? >> i think he will outperform tonight, wolf. they have b

you can see marco rubio won in des moines, in ames where iowa state university is, iowa city, davenport, these urban/suburban areas is where rubio did well. a very strong third place. not coincidentally. that is where joe biden, he won six counties out of the 99 in the 2020 election. a lot of them were those very same areas, dana, where marco rubio did well in 2016. that is where nikki haley wants to pick up a lot of votes. >> so fascinating. thank you for showing us that. we'll talk to dave kochle, a veteran republican here in iowa a little more about that very point, john. thank you so much. i've had a chance here in iowa to talk to a lot of voters about who they like and why. a surprising number are still undecided. including donald g. who are you leaning towards? >> i'm leaning towards, i think, nikki haley or desantis. i really -- i think governor reynolds in iowa, kim reynolds, a lot of people really respect her opinion and i think her endorsement of desantis mattered a lot. >> does it matter to you? >> yeah. that's why i'm in between nikki haley and desantis. i really like nikki

— especially with the endorsements of marco rubio and _ especially with the endorsements of marcoe lee and others is a consolidation _ marco rubio and mike lee and others is a consolidation around _ marco rubio and mike lee and others is a consolidation around the - marco rubio and mike lee and others is a consolidation around the party. is a consolidation around the party that donald — is a consolidation around the party that donald trump, _ is a consolidation around the party that donald trump, a _ is a consolidation around the party that donald trump, a week- is a consolidation around the party that donald trump, a week from l that donald trump, a week from tomorrow— that donald trump, a week from tomorrow night, _ that donald trump, a week from tomorrow night, can— that donald trump, a week from tomorrow night, can declare - that donald trump, a week from tomorrow night, can declare the | tomorrow night, can declare the primary— tomorrow night, can declare the primary over _ tomorrow night, can declare the primary overand _ tomorrow night, can declare the primary over and the

but look who won it in 2016, it was marco rubio.was attracting those voters i was just describing there, higher income college graduate, suburban urban voters. well, the polls suggest coming into tonight that the candidate who's making inroads there, nikki haley. so if nikki haley is going to make any noise tonight, you've got to look at it, there's not that many in the state. you look at polk county, this is the granddaddy of them all. 17% of the vote is going to come out of polk county tonight. this was a rubio county in 2018. how is haley doing in the big bedroom county of dallas county, western suburbs of des moines. we showed you story county. how about another one here? johnson county. this is where the university of iowa is. iowa city heavily democratic but there's a lot of population there. if haley, she wants to beat desantis for second, she wants to make a statement. those are the core counties to look at for haley tonight, and again, the other question to them too is has donald trump improved at all since 2016. >> yeah, a

marco rubio, who she endorsed in 2016 but now is endorsing trump.k to me about what she said to you about that. >> well, it was really interesting, erin. i was in ames, iowa, where she had one of many events that she is doing today. she had just come off talking about the need to move on, the need for a new generation, a lot of what she told you in that town hall a couple of weeks ago and then got the news about marco rubio. i asked her about that. also what donald trump had said about her at a rally where i was just before where he said that she is not tough enough to be president. listen to both. >> i was with you in 2016 in south carolina when you endorsed marco rubio. i don't know if you just heard he endorsed former president trump. is that disappointing? >> i mean, look, this is where they do that. i don't care as much about elected officials endorsing as i care about the voters' endorsement. i've never really cared for. i don't line up a bunch of endorsements to do that. i want to win the people's vote. because at the end of the day, they're

, ted cruz, and otherformer party, like marco rubio, ted cruz, and other former officials and party they are now back in donald trump which shows you the strong standing he has and that many see him as the presumptive nominee. fix, him as the presumptive nominee. a couple of quick final questions. is there any sort of path for nikki haley to actually get to the white house? ., . ., ., house? you have got to win new hampshire _ house? you have got to win new hampshire if— house? you have got to win new hampshire. if she _ house? you have got to win new hampshire. if she wins _ house? you have got to win new hampshire. if she wins new- hampshire. if she wins new hampshire, this is a different race, but if you look at the polling right now, donald trump has a very strong lead as he does in south carolina and nevada, so in answer to the question, you have got to win states and you cannot win new hampshire, in the case of nikki haley, it is very hard to see how she has a path towards the white house or denomination. 50 towards the white house or denomination.— towards the white house or d

senator marco rubio was running against trump in 2016, and this is what marco rubio had to say. >> donald trump is a con artist. guys, we have a con-artist as a front runner in the republican party. we cannot allow the conservative movement to be taken over by a con-artistch you all have friends thinking about voting for donald trump. friends do not let friends vote for con-artists. >> that was the last time trump had a contested primary and what a difference eight years milwaukees. senator marco rubio who spent a fair part of 2016 calling donald trump a con-artist has this week endorsed trump for president despite the fact now trump has actually legally been proven to be a con-artist by a federal judge. in september judge arcter engoron ruled trump was guilty of defrauding banks and defrauding insurance companies, that he's been gaming the system. and that judge is right now as we speak deliberating how much money likely millions and millions of dollars donald trump must pay for his swindling. but marco rubio hasn't said anything about that con this time around. meanwhile, ted cruz who m

i kind of view marco rubio as the nikki haley of this presidential race here. she's focused heavily on the des moines suburbs. these are places where marco rubio actually won before coming in third place. but the question is, can ron desantis mimic a ted cruz type of performance? he has worked just as hard. he has gone to all 99 counties. but frankly, ron desantis and ted cruz are different people, and have different appeals. so, for donald trump, what 99 is going to show us here is just how firm of support he is able, then able to cement over the last eight years, because i can tell, you i haven't met many folks who caucus for donald trump in 2016, who say they're not going to caucus for him this time around. you don't come by those folks, but you do come by a lot of folks who caucus for marco rubio or ted cruz years ago who are now coming to trump rallies. the weather dynamic is going to be interesting. or talking windchill factor of negative 35 degrees, ali. i was with michael just last week, in events and sue center there, and it was cold. but you still had

marco rubio, ted cruz, and tim scott fell into line. was a big part of a big group of south carolina lawmakers who flank trump onstage an event last night. a big show of force from elected leaders from nikki haley's own mistake. earlier tonight, steve dads went so far as to column a non presumptive nominee. and he urged republican tonight around. dasha burns, ali vitali are here on the table. michael stephen -- and michael, let's start with you. you and i talked about the different vibes of donald trump. he seems to be in a temporary behaved mode, it's safe to say, where he's talking about people as gracious, he's thanking their spouses, it's awkward. but he's basically trying to lure people together. how much does that matter at this point in terms of the inevitability, and bringing the primary to an end? >> the inevitability is inevitable. it's a foregone conclusion, and he will be the nominee of the party. i think congressman daines and others got that right. the question then becomes, from 16 and 20, how much has trump learned in th

that's marco rubio. it has suburbs. this is marco rubio. it has suburbs. storey county tonight, the college town of ames. but storey county as well north of des moines. des moines itself is in polk county right here. donald trump from the beginning has struggled in the suburbs. he beat hillary clinton in the general election in the suburbs. he got blown out by joe biden. so do we see? that's his vulnerability. that has been his kryptonite. suburban america has been trump's kryptonite. do we see tonight that it's still the case or do we see that he is at least starting to rebuild that? he has to win over independents, moderates, very soft republicans. when you get to pennsylvania, ohio, georgia, michigan, wisconsin. but do we see seeds of that tonight? that has been as i vulnerability. we'll. >> and tell us a lot for the general election as well. while polling does suggest that trump's nomination could be, and i'm putting all these emphasis on these words for a reason, the polls do suggest it could be a sure thing. his republican rivals have been out on the

senator marco rubio's run against trump in 2016, and this is what marco rubio had to say. >> that trump is a con artist. >> guys, we have a common harvest as a front runner in the republican party. >> a con artist is about to take away the republican party and the conservative movement. we come out of the conservative movement to be taken over by a con artist. you have friends who are thinking about -- plans to not let friends vote for candidates. >> that was the tenor of things the last time there publicans had a contested primary. and when a difference eight years makes. senator marco rubio, who spent a fair part of 2016 kind of a trump a con artist, adds this we can do a style trump for a president despite the fact that trump has now actually in the bed proven to be a kind of just a federal judge. in september judge ruled that -- guilty of defense and defending insurance companies, that he has been gaming the system. and the judge is right now, as we speak, deliberating how much more me, learns and millions of directors, donald trump must pay factor swimming. but marcus rubio has not

bush, mitt romney and marco rubio. jim, thank you so much forjoining the programme. i don't believe that's what today's announcement was about. i suspect donald trump is going to be looking in a different direction for a vp position, but i do think it's obviously significant to the course of this race in that it's consolidated rapidly. so i think it's impactful for the remainder of this campaign, but i do not believe he'll be in consideration for vice—president. impactful in what way? do you think any of his supporters would flock to haley, or are most of them going to go to donald trump? i suspect a lion's share will go to donald trump. i think that, from that standpoint, trump benefits. and i think it makes it a little more difficult for nikki haley to break through in new hampshire on tuesday. but i do think that it creates pressure for haley to do well in new hampshire, to give her momentum heading into south carolina. there's been a great deal of consolidation behind donald trump's campaign over the last week. the desantis decision today to drop out and endorse

senator marco rubio is endorsing former president trump.e is a former presidential candidate himself. he said the leadership -- mick trump's leadership is the only way to fix the quote disaster biden has created. >> will talk about that the panel just a bit thank you. ♪. bret: let's take a look at the monday forecast meteorologist janice dean is that "fox weather" center in new york. janice is going to be cold but how cold is the question? we'll soon be below zero. negative 201 shows us what i'm concerned with you're going to be outside in frostbite is going to be a factor if you are outside for a great length of time. there is the live radar. no storms in the forecast no snow or ice which is great news. it's all about the cold air and not just for iowa for the northern plains feelings in the coldest air in years here. and with that wind chill negative 20 -- negative 30 degrees range that is where i am concerned. people need to stay inside. they cannot be outdoors for a long period of time because frostbite sets and anywhere from 30 to 10 m

bush, mitt romney and marco rubio. jim, thank you so much for joining the programme.a shot at a vp slot? i don't think so. i don't think that's what today's announcement was about. i suspect donald trump is going to be looking in a different direction for a vp position, but i do think it's obviously significant to the course of this race in that it's consolidated rapidly. so i think it's impactful for the remainder of this campaign, but i do not believe he'll be in consideration for vice—president. consideration for vice- resident. ,. . vice-president. impactful in what way? _ vice-president. impactful in what way? do _ vice-president. impactful in what way? do you - vice-president. impactful in what way? do you think - vice-president. impactful in what way? do you think any vice-president. impactful in i what way? do you think any of his supporters would flock to haley, or are most of them going to go to donald trump? i suspect a lion's share will go to donald trump. i think that, from that standpoint, trump benefits. and i think it makes it a little more difficult f

it reminds me a bit of senator marco rubio who tried _ bit of senator marco rubio who tried to — bited to anything. and she is pulling behind president trump _ is pulling behind president trump in south carolina in the double — trump in south carolina in the double digits and senator tim scott — double digits and senator tim scott of — double digits and senator tim scott of south carolina, who nikki — scott of south carolina, who nikki haley appointed, just endorse donald trump. so it is hard _ endorse donald trump. so it is hard to— endorse donald trump. so it is hard to see _ endorse donald trump. so it is hard to see how she could building _ hard to see how she could building momentum offer second—place finish here in new hampshire. i was with her today and she — hampshire. i was with her today and she talked to reporters for the first— and she talked to reporters for the first time in a long time, and— the first time in a long time, and was _ the first time in a long time, and was trying to say that she never. — and was trying to say that she never, was trying to set expectations

. >> marco rubio chooses trump. senator threw his support behind the former president in a social media post on sunday. >> he cited his work to expand the child tax credit along with sanctions on cuba and venezuela when trump was in the white house. >> nikki haley brushed off his endorsementment of trump despite him endorsing rubio herself in 2016. dana bash spoke with hah low on the campaign trail. >> ufs with you in 2016 in south carolina when you endorsed marco rubio. i don't know if you heard he just endorsed former president trump. is that disappointing? >> this is where they do that. i don't care as much about elected officials endorsing as i care about the voters' endorsement. i don't line up a busmg of endorsements. i want to win the people's vote. they are the ones i'm working for. so as long as i get theirs, i don't care about the rest. >> larry hogan endorsed you. >> if anybody want thes to, we'll take it. but it's not something that i seek. it's not something i fight for. i want to make sure that people

a lot of the marco rubio vote went to nikki haley. picked up votes, relatively speaking, because curz --■p cruz beat him in the ■)2016 caucus. the weather was a big impact. now, trump's voters skewed older , so u would think if somebody's voters were going to be detd that doesn't seem to bee case. i have no doubt it had some impact, because turnout was definitely down. and the concern, i think, republicans in general should have, and particularly republicans running against that purely the weather? it certainly was cold. >> we will keep our 40-year commitment to live coverage to congress.

you did work on marco rubio's campaign here. >> i did. >> in iowa we were looking at the rubio counties won or did well in 2016 because that could be potentially where nikki haley would do well. do you see similarity in terms of the kind of voters she's going for, and if so, what did you learn working in the marco rubio campaign when he didn't do well here against donald trump that she could learn a lesson from? >> yeah. i think that, you know, her focus is going to be on, you know, hillsborough, rockingham county, the south, where the lion's sl lion's share of the republican vote is there. most of the top 20 republican towns in the state are concurred south, out towards the seacoast, and i think she has an opportunity to do well in those communities, suburban voters that resonate with her. >> one piece of data from last night and i want to get your take on it. the entrants poll showed 65% of republican caucus goers said yes, donald trump is fit for presidency, even if he is convicted of a crime. 31% said no. to you which is the most significant impactful figure, the yes or no? >> i thi

ted cruz and marco rubio. senator rick scott gave his nod. that is slow compared to tommy t tuberville. we'll have more on what this says about the former president and his party in a moment. first, at the new hampshire trump event where senator scott will give his expected endorsement. what do we know about this event tonight? >> reporter: this is a huge pick-up for donald trump. in typical trump fashion, they are trying to make this potential, or this expected tim scott endorsement a moment. we saw the senator tease this endorsement earlier today. he tweeted a photo right before boarding the private plane that trump flies on and flying with him to new hampshire for this event tonight. i'm told that he will come up and give remarks and praise the former president and call for four more years. what's important to note is how this came together. donald trump and his team, according to my conversations with his campaign. they've really pursued tim scott for this endorsement ever since he dropped out of presidential race last year. and they were

and i should add that nikki haley endorsed marco rubio back in 2016. i was there at that event. i asked her about that, about her reaction to it and she brushed it off and says the endorsements she is looking for are those from the voters. >> of course, marco rubio from the home state of ron desantis as well. speaking of those voters what are you hearing from them on this election eve? >> you know, there are still undecided voters, believe it or not. and then there are some who are completely and totally intent on voting for those who they went to see. that is especially true, abby, at the trump event that i was at. i mean, you know, you covered donald trump, i covered donald trump in the past. we saw firsthand people support him. and that is still very, very much at play here. i talked to somebody at his event who is going to be a caucus captain tomorrow night and listen to the way she described why she supports donald trump. >> is there anything that he could do that would make you walk away from him as a supporter? >> i would not have any idea what possibly he could do to mak

marco rubio, ted cruz, and tim scott fell into line.ig part of a big group of south carolina lawmakers who flank trump onstage an event last night. a big show of force from elected leaders from nikki haley's own mistake. earlier tonight, steve dads went so far as to column a non presumptive nominee. and he urged republican tonight around. dasha burns, ali vitali are here on the table. michael stephen -- and michael, let's start with you. you and i talked about the different vibes of donald trump. he seems to be in a temporary behaved mode, it's safe to say, where he's talking about people as gracious, he's thanking their spouses, it's awkward. but he's basically trying to lure people together. how much does that matter at this point in terms of the inevitability, and bringing the primary to an end? >> the inevitability is inevitable. it's a foregone conclusion, and he will be the nominee of the party. i think congressman daines and others got that right. the question then becomes, from 16 and 20, how much has trump learned in the art of

, he finished in a close third here, marco rubio actually won in these areas that i circled right there, where there are probably a lot of caucus sites and a lot of precinct you could show off two, maybe that would benefit nikki haley. we will have to see. >> joining us is doug hi, in terms of the ground operation, who has the better ground game? >> without question, donald trump. one of the more interesting things, in the general but also the primary, donald trump has a real professional organization which he didn't have his result was impressive in 2016 yes, he was a force of nature but i was all about organization, and that's why ted cruz actually one. >> trump was a force of nature that merely won't at all. trump doesn't have to work as hard as the other candidates, he gets more attention in whatever he does any's better known by i voters as well so we are going to see trump do very well in counties that ted cruz did. >> it's also an indication, a little bit of the benefit of having been the president, he runs the republican party, full's, at the same time, he's also running l

five counties in 2016 went for marco rubio.es, polk county where the state county is, biggest county in the state, almost 17% of the vote will come from polk county, rubio won it. why was rubio winning these counties, these are counties that tend to be urban, suburban, high concentration of college degrees, higher income. that was rubio's core base in 2016. that is also nikki haley's core base in these caucuses. you take a look at polk county, the big bedroom communities of dallas county, right outside des moines. johnson county, iowa city. if haley is going to have a breakout showing, this has to be the core of it. the five rubio counties, is she winning any of them, rolling up big numbers there? that could get her second place, could get her a strong story line she's looking to have coming out of tonight. >> steve kornacki, thank you. >>> in 60 seconds we'll dig into the candidates' strategy on this cold and critical day with the editor-in-chief of the iowa capital dispatch and former advisor to george w. bush and john mccain

of course, it took the lengths of marco rubio, a great many months to come around and endorsed donaldrump, and donald trump and return embracing them. this go around, it was a little different not only from rhonda sanders announcing his endorsement on the day he drums, but donald trump just hours later on this stage striking a much different tenor about the florida governor that he has ridiculed for the better part of the last year. >> i would like to take the time to congratulate ron desantis, and of course a really terrific person. i have gotten to know his wife casey ran a great campaign for president. really, he ran a great campaign. i will tell you it is not easy. they think it is easy doing this stuff, it is not easy. as you know he left the campaign trail tonight at three pm, in so doing he was gracious and he endorsed me, so i appreciate it. >> jan, politics for donald trump is perhaps the most transparently transactional, more so than any other politician in modern american history. for donald trump he spent the last part of the year, i followed him on the campaign trail, he

marco rubio won this county.has the second highest concentration of residents with college degrees of any county in the state. that's the other kind of county that trump struggled in in 2016, the urban/suburban, lots of college degrees, higher income counties, trump struggled there. those are the counties when we look at the polls that nikki haley seems to do poised to do best in. tonight you want to look for nikki haley, what is she doing in story county, polk county where des moines is, dallas county, huge suburb outside of des moines. those are the kinds of places haley needs to put up big numbers tonight. >> of course, 8:00 eastern is when those caucuses get under way. you will be honing in on those counties as we get those realtime results after people give their secret ballot and results start coming in. thank you, steve kornacki. >>> the people of iowa are not just voting for presidential candidates, they're always remembering be loved principal dan marberger. after ten days in the hospital he died after a

in senator marco rubio of florida jumping on the trump train yesterday as former maryland governor larryan gets behind nikki haley. >> ainsley: plus a potential white house walk-out. several federal employees could walk off the job tomorrow to protest biden's stance on israel. >> brian: i love what the speaker is going to do if that happens. and gull in the family? see the hilarious moment one young packer fan relishes his brother's misery as the packers dominate the cowboys, lawrence. upset of the year. >> lawrence: that would hurt. >> brian: killer. [cheers and applause] >> lawrence: second hour of "fox & friends" begins right now and remember mornings are better with friends. [laughter] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> steve: 13 hours from right now folks in will to local areas, warm buildings, obviously, to do some caucusing. there is something like 1500, 1600 caucus sites across the great state of iowa where after all the door-knocking and hand-shaking and all of the back slapping it comes down to turnout and ultimately it comes down to the weather because it is freezing right now. the air temperature here

we have seen in recent days a flurry of endorsements for donald trump, marco rubio being one, severalss now coming out and saying they would support mr trump for president. how much does that surprise you, that coalescing of support from the establishment around donald trump? well, it surprises me that it comes these early and it is disappointing. it reflects the hold that donald trump has notjust on the party operators but on the leadership and his threatening tone in the primary are going to have a contest in the re— election, that fear factor has influenced many to jump on the bandwagon and support him, so that adds to his momentum and it adds to the challenge that nikki haley faces in new hampshire to overcome that but new hampshire is very independent, new hampshire thinks through it all i am hopeful that they will go a different direction next tuesday. governor, you are officially out of the race back home in arkansas. i'm going to ask you, is there a candidate you would endorse now in this race? i could see myself down the road endorsing an alternative to donald trump so i'm wa

i think president trump is probably looking at marco rubio with, byron donalds, wesley hunt and manye issue of abortion, and that's not most republicans. j.d. vance of ohio, marco rubio of florida did fabulous in debates, and i think it's somebody that has to be ready on day one. all this stuff about nikki haley, she doesn't have a. pat: if p. those independents and democrats who voted for her in new hampshire are probably going to vote for the democrat in the fall. you know, don't forget in 2016 bernie sanders won over 1800 delegates, maria. he won 23 contests against hillary clinton and over 13 million votes. she got just under 17 million votes. that's a real competition. if you're going to compete with trump or try to be his vp, you've got to win some contests. even at the end of 2016,ing i mean, even marco rubio had won three contests, john kasich has won one contest. so you've got to win a couple things and not just have donors who pretend you can. he can look at all these women, katie brit and joni ernst -- maria: great. kellyanne, thank you. >> -- somebody who can complement h

four years ago that was prime territory for marco rubio.kki haley can replicate what she did. some people believe you can take iowa and cut it in three, right? more conservative, more moderate, more liberal. i want to draw your attention throughout the evening to these mississippi counties where donald trump did really well. and on the west side of the state along the missouri river, look what trump did here. this is conservative iowa. woodbury county. he was successful over ted cruz that year. pot that bought me county. maybe the best name of the night, actually ted cruz as well. lay of the land, maybe some sort of expectation it's a blank slate, okay? sometime in the 8:00 eastern hour, the colors will start popping in. and we are going to see red or orange or blue or green, depending on who does the best here tonight in iowa. bret, back to you. >> bret: yeah. it's going to be fascinating. county by county, precinct by precinct. bill, thanks. >> if you elect knee in this caucus today, i'll be the one who defeats joe biden and we will get o

or even for more educated voters who went for marco rubio last time. a broad coalition that they hope will continue to show up tonight and not be distracted by either complacency from what the polling has shown or the cold. you mentioned negative 45. it's a dry cold. >> all right. i'll take your word for it. vaughn, let me ask you about, garrett touched on who donald trump is trying to get out there. you were able to talk to some voters. one of the groups that the campaign says they're focused on is new caucus goers. new caucus balloters. what are you hearing from people on their eagerness to get out there, even in the frigid temperatures. >> reporter: if we go back first of all, to 2016, we were taken aback with how many new caucus goers there were in 2016. the record for the gop turnout in 2016 shattered any other republican caucus ever. the previous record was 120,000. in 2016, it was 186,000. but the trump campaign says there's a heck of a lot more people that they are able to mobilize and have already identified as would be first time caucus goers

and does the fact that vivek ramaswamy is pulling a ted cruz and a marco rubio, falling in line, surprise you? >> amen, look at the fact that anybody would be surprised, after eight years. donald trump is only loyal to himself, donald trump only cares about himself. the vague has been on his knees this entire race, trying to ingratiate himself with donald trump. vague has learned that trump doesn't give a dam about anybody but himself. to what molly said, republican donors, and republican consultants, whatever the republican establishment class has wanted donald trump to go away. but wake the, i caught myself there. [laughter] wake the hell up america. republican voters are behind this guy, more than they ever have been. the general election is starting now, we better wake up to that. >> ron desantis is probably learning that, in a very bitter way. this was the darling of the republican party a couple of years ago, had some big name republican backers, at least if they were not publicly willing to get behind him, thought that he would be able to derail trump. he has learned the hard way,

marco rubio didn't even register here in 2016. it was ben carson in all of these counties. s to show signs of strength in places like southern iowa here. that would get her to second and would show she's expanding on the base we're seeing in polls. >> boy, those maps show it so clearly. of course, steve, when you go to the general election, it's even more dramatic. those trump maga supporters are in rural america. nbc's steve kornacki, thank you so much. it's going to be a fascinaing night. let's go to des moines to ali vitali. you talked to nikki haley over the weekend. what did she tell you? >> reporter: we covered a range of topics. i think steve is right when he says we should look to the counties that went well for marco rubio in 2016, because that's where haley's campaign is looking to run up the margins. if we see it going well for haley, we are looking at those stories that make a donut around des moines and around any of the other population centers. i can tell you where we've been on the east and west sides of the state, hanging around places like iowa city and dav

for nikki haley, one of the things to watch, can she replicate the map of marco rubio in 2016? he did well in urban centers like des moines and suburban areas and college towns. iowa city is where the university of iowa is. not coincidentally these are counties that joe biden in the 2020 election also did well in. these are the areas where nikki haley wants to run up the score, run up the vote total if she's going to have a good night. wolf? >> interesting. joining us now s.e. cupp and democratic strategist maria cardona. maria, what is the biden campaign looking forward to in tonight's caucuses? >> i think most importantly to see if the polls play out. if donald trump wins, which i believe he will, but then the key will be what is that margin? does he go up more than 50%? does he keep the margin -- do the candidates keep the margins smaller? that will tell a lot about his strength within the republican base, the republican maga base. that will tell them how competitive he is within his own primary. we all still believe he's going to be the one who comes out on top, but i think

because i just used marco rubio in 2016. take a look at how rubio did in these counties in 2016.e. rubio, these are rural areas. lower income, lower college degree concentration and rubio just wasn't even registering. ben carson in third, no rubio. ben kars non-third, no rubio. ben carson in third, no rubio. this is what tripped rubio up in 2016. if he'd shown a pulse in these rural counties i'm showing you some examples of, he could have passed trump and gotten second place. he might even have been able to beat ted cruz in 2016. but he absolutely fell flat in those places. the polling we're seeing that nikki haley is not going to do that much better. if she does, that would be a surprise. that would indicate an expansion of her base away from just non-republicans, away from trump-skeptical voters to more of the core trump-era republican base. and that would be an interesting development, certainly one her campaign i think would welcome and would make a lot of noise about if they could get it. >> and steve, are you able -- in your polling you track if people voted for trump in '1

marco rubio came in second place.ns that ted cruz did not succeed outside of iowa, he could not do well of nonevangelical voters. look what happened in 2024. donald trump, 48%. if you're trying to find a hole in donald trump's support, noneva nonevangelicals. he's doing ridiculously well on that bloc. 53%. nonevangelicals, 48% of that vote in the bloc. it doesn't matter where you look on the religious or then in religious side of the republican party, donald trump is doing quite well. if you try to find a hole in donald trump's support going forward, i don't know where you find it. if he's doing well with evangelicals and nonevangelicals, he is likely to do well in new hampshire. >> if you're nikki haley and ron desantis, you want to find those holes. both of them campaigned heavily in iowa. trump wasn't running as much as walking for iowa. >> this is the question going forward. we are looking at the future of the iowa caucus. if you award donald trump getting support, evangelicals and nonevangelicals and you do not s

florida senator marco rubio says it is another example of joe biden pretending to address the crisis,n us coming up. after nine seasons and national title at michigan, coach jim harbaugh heading to the n.f.l. hall of famer anthony munez will join us on what the shakeup means for the league. "before and after". then, there's the 'after the after' that boost you get when you look and feel your best. and that's why more men choose just for men®. here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you

nikki haley returned a favor by endorsing marco rubio not jeb bush in 2016. and marco rubio returned the favor last week by endorsing trump the day before iowa. and now tim scott, appointed to the u.s. not nikki haley is endorsing donald trump. so you know, if you want some loyalty in washington, do what you did, jim acosta. get a dog. >> exactly. yeah. as they say, the only cure for potomac fever is em balming fluid. thank you. appreciate it. we'll be right back. this election is a choice between results or just rhetoric. californians deserve a senator who is going to deliver for them every day and not just talk a good game. adam schiff. he held a dangerous president accountable. he also helped lower drug costs, bring good jobs back home, and build affordable housing. now he's running for the senate. our economy, our democracy, our planet. this is why we fight. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. >>> in georgia, there is an inquiry into allegations against the district attorney there leading the state's criminal case targeting donald trump. willis i

marco rubio, everybody that used to represent the party, people who told us trump was a threat the first time around, they're all falling in line. the only people, our last line of defense are the people who saw trump up close, who know what a danger he is. they cannot stay silent as we go into the general election. >> and are tim scott, the likes of tim scott or marco rubio falling in line because they have a sense that's what the republican party by and large wants at this point? sayer y sarah, you talk to republican voters from time to time. are you hearing this evolution when it comes to what republicans are saying to you? you guess contrast that with what you heard in the days after january 6? are people coming home to trump inside the republican party? is that kind of a round about way of putting it? >> yes. absolutely. i go further than that. i think the remembepublican par changed. i was a republican my entire life. the party is unrecognizable. it no longer stands for limited government, free markets, you know, american leadership in the world, all the things i valued as a younge

a lot of the marco rubio vote went to nikki haley.rump boat, but trump picked up, relatively speaking, because curz -- cruz beat him in the 2016 caucus. the weather was a big impact. now, trump's voters skewed older , so you would think were goingo be deterred it would have been his. that doesn't seem to be the case. i have no doubt it had some impact, because turnout was definitely down. and the concern, i think, republicans in general should have, and republicans running against trump is, is that purely the weather? it certainly was cold. or have republicans started to check out of this race? if it is the latter that has to be concerning for nikki haley. host: the post highlights the fact that when it comes to former president trump's campaign they had 18 caucus captains, one for every side. -- site. guest: they did a much better job organizing than they did in 2016, and, you know, their ground game was actually pretty good. now, i think their task was a little easier than desantis', in that they had lots of supporters, so they just

marco rubio announced he's back. former candidate and north dakota governor today's doing the same in the former maryland governor is endorsing her. new polling from the des moines register shows her head of governor desantis. the polling also shows some of the significant and how enthusiastic his supporters said they were. 88% they are extremely or very enthusiastic compared to 62% to 39% for desantis and nikki haley respectively. we will go first to a town in the south of des moines >> donald trump and his only event of the weekend three of four of its counsel because of the weather. he spoke for nearly 2 hours and he had a very long and multilayered message. one was airing of grievances and two was attacking nikki haley and three was stressing how important it is to show up on caucus on monday. listen to some of what he chose said. >> if you want to save america from cricket joe biden, you must caucus tomorrow. you cannot sit home. if you are sick as a dog, even if you vote and did not pass away, it's worth it. if

this is an area that marco rubio polled off. this was supposed to be where hnikki haley had big wins. not this time around. in 13 of the counties cnn labels as suburbs, donald trump won 12 of them. only losing 1. back in 2016, he lost 10 of those 13 counties. so across the board, whether it's evangelicals, educated voters, donald trump winning almost every single place 98 of 99 counties. that's why he won 51% of the vote. >> phil, thank you so much. let's bring in bakari sellers. not only did he win, but he won so many evangelical voters in iowa. he took them. why? >> he's been able to have those voters really identify with him. donald trump is not angel call by any means. he's not a strong christian, but religious conservatives identify with trump as a lifestyle, as a brand. that's been very hard to shake. it's why the counties that phil pointed out in northwestern iowa turned so dramatically. i think it's what's going to make not so much new hampshire, but south carolina very interesting. if nikki haley has a strong showing in

the gop measure has been drafted by marco rubio of florida, aims to ensure taxpayer money used to build charging stations would go toward american products and materials but biden says he had to veto the legislation because it undercut the goal of increasing domestic production. depends on who you believe, they could override the veto but it doesn't appear there's enough support in the house or the senate, another example of how turning us all into ev drivers is no smooth ride at all. stuart: they name the the one country in north america that's the safest place to travel this year. it's not the united states, is it? >> it's the great white north, canada. travel protection put out a list every year. canada ranked number one, cold weather and population density making it safer travel. the survey considers also things like health measures, terrorism, weather emergencies and the safety of underrepresented groups. new houses on the list, behind canada, switzerland. score high marks for the stability of its politics and economy, also ranked as the best country in the world six times and you

. >> a year ago, marco rubio was running. it was tim scott, marco rubio and nikki haley. and you saw this picture, it was an african-american, a hispanic and asian-american. and you were thinking, is this the new face of the party. that would be something crazy twilight zone episode. this republican party is moving in the right direction and here you are a year later. how can a tim scott who represents decency, who represents civility throw nikki haley under the bus in this way to stand next to donald trump. there's something really bad happening in that party and it's distressing. >> last year when nikki haley was preparing her campaign. you read a new york op-ed. it said, her rise and fall only highlights what many of us already knew. mr. trump didn't change the republican party, he revealed it mrs. haley strives to win at any cost. a strive to ruthless it has transformed the gop into an autocratic movement. i wonder what you make of her and trump going at each other in recent days. i remember the stuff nikki haley was saying when president trump was first running or wh

especially in light of this. >> our next president will be marco rubio. take a picture of this, because the new group of conservatives has taken over america. >> i'm joined now by our republican strategist, and the former deputy assistant to president biden, jamal simmons. i think no one is surprised that tim scott is endorsing donald trump. but what i thought when i first saw this, when "the new york times" broke it earlier today was ouch. he's choosing to do it not when people thought it would have the most impact in south carolina but when new hampshire was when she could do her best. >> tim scott probably should have waited until after tuesday. with him doing it at this point is pettiness. some people won't be willing to believe that about tim scott. he's so aw shucks nice. i would say this. he's already shown us number one by making this endorsement that he's not willing to put country over party. number one. he's willing to go along with how washington works. washington takes care of their own. and that's how this will go. this is tim scott audition

marco rubio, he had a brief moment when he was really focusing on trump's character. ted cruz had a longer moment. it was never that one-on-one contest haley is having. rubio and cruz were never able to sustain those attacks even though they had a chance to get under trump's skin. haley has an opportunity to do that because it's just her and him in the race. can she keep this up? if she can, other republicans have generally folded when they've been in this situation. >> that's such a good point. what i found interesting, and iowa's entrance poll, new hampshire it was an exit poll, they made decisions when to vote for donald trump. 58%, 59% iowa, new hampshire made their decisions just a few days before the polls closed. essentially these are not -- these people have decided a long time ago that they're going to support donald trump, which makes her path even narrower. >> that's right. but i think the other important piece of data out of those exit and entrance polls is the -- that passionate support that trump has from his supporters, he doesn't have a lot of non-passi