ublican race taking a nasty turn with ted cruz hitting donald trump after being labelled, quote, a nasty guy. >>> and behind the scenes last-minute drama that could have stopped the free american prisoners from reunited from families. tonight we're in german and richard engel is inside iran with reaction. >>> a dangerous virus spreads. more cases of the virus that puts unborn baby at risks are discovered in the u.s. no known cure. how could it be stopped? the growing outrage that has some in hollywood telling the academy the show may go on without them. "nightly news" begins right now. >>> good evening. for hillary clinton and bernie sanders, a week of sharper and sharper jabs on the campaign trail all came to a head in ruckus fashion on the debate stage in charleston, south carolina, last night. it is a critical moment in the race.nd new hampshire where the voting takes place two weeks from tonight are both in contention, providing the set-up for the sharpest exchanges yet contest. andrea mitchell, who comoderated the debate has the details. >> reporter: the democrats courting black vot

sot - hillary clinton / presidential candidate"rep ublicans seem to have a particular fixation on blaming president obama and me for everything that happens in the world. i've noticed that ." the blame game will intensify this week when president obama uses his executive action on gun control. sot - marco rubio / presidential candidate"all these executive orders he's gonna come out with tomorrow that are going to undermine our second amendment rights, on my first day in office, they're gone." kenneth moton oncam close: for the next few weeks, the candidates will be crisscrossing iowa and new hampshire. ted cruz will win the day with the most events...five campaign events appearances in iowa. kenneth moton, abc news washington. one republican candidate behind in the polls hopes to win iowa voters. yesterday, mike huckabee spoke to a crowd of about 100 people in a des moines suburb. throughout his speech, huckabee stressed the importance of iowa in the election process. in 2008, he won the iowa caucus and is sticking to his plans to win over voters. " i don't think there's any shortcut than

you look at the conduct of the media toward trump, he has not gotten scrutiny that all other front ublican nomination have over time. believe me, been around so long, i've seen them over time. he doesn't get the scrutiny. he i to doing things with the media like others aren't. >> like what? >> how many times do the media allow him to call into tv day shows, the bread and butter, he calls into sunday shows. opportunity.d here. we have extended an invitation many times that we want him live and color in the studio. >> he is only a few blocks away. >> we could throw ahim. in his statement there he talks about press releases written by a child. this is from the trump camp. unlike the very stupid highly unning our country into the ground, mr. trump knows when to walk away.% roger ailes and fox news think they can toy with him butesn't play games. does this hurt him, rick, i'm not showing up because i don't want to? >> i think the gs are starting to show up. franklin the more attention and scrutiny he gets the more inconsistent he is.will, maybe i won't don't know what i'm going to do. his campa

--ublicans knowledged acknowledge the intent of the spirit political bill is to deliver on years of campaign promises to rescind or repeal the affordable care act to the president. the one thing that i know is repetition that i say to you, when i advocated universal health care i did not know barack obama's name. here and you have been successful in your messaging too asy and it is not looked at praiseworthy when you say obamacare. you started it as a nuance in a way that was being critical, not only of the policy but of the person that happens to be incident. i have said tmall all before, in my view we have not gone far enough with reference to health man.and rather than admitting obamacare, ,ince i was are as did others long before dr.'s came to congress. long before mr. yarmuth came to our congress are working on it. i would like to start calling it hit/obamacare. hastings, obamacare. so we can have a reference. ago, 24 million americans did not have health insurance. that was the two years ago. when i came here. now, the thing that would be alarming to the republican and things like this

. >> trump joined us in our last hour. a running mate should he win the ublican nomination. >> certainly there would be a role somewhere in the administration, if she wanted, and i'm not sure that she does want that, but there would certainly be a role. >>> in other news, the coast guard suspending the search for 12 marines who are on two helicopters that crashed off hawaii nearly a week ago. debris and life rafts are all that's been found so far. officials say they will now transition to recovery and salvage. >>> and a big storm is brewing, and it couple pact tens of millions on the east coast friday and on into the weekend. we're talking heavy snow, as much as 3 feet possible in some areas. high winds and ice, and al is watching it closely. a lot more on that in a moment. >>> let's start this half hour though with a real life drama for jamie foxx. the oscar winner coming to the rescue of the man who was trapped inside a burning car. this happened right by fox's house, and this morning he's opening up about his selfless act. here's nbc's morgan radford. >> you need to send an ambulance,