. >> and stay with me because i want to bring in our chief political correspondent dana bash. look, we already know the president says that he will nominate someone and this is after mitch mcconnell came out just about an hour ago and said, no, this should be left for the next president. >> reporter: that's right. and as you were talking, we got a statement from the senate

i'm dana bash. and news of justice scalia's death hit the campaign trail like an earthquake with political aftershocks immediate. partisans deeply divided over who should get the pick of the next supreme court justice. >> barack obama is president of the united states until january 20th, 2017! that is a fact, my friends, whether the republicans like it or not. >> so just how seismic an event is this for presidential politics and the race this year? joining me now are donna brazile, vice chair of the democratic national committee, conservative radio show host hugh hewitt and bob woodward, author and associate editor of "the washington post." thank you all, esteemed panel here. bob, i'll start with you. if republicans succeed in blocking president obama's nominee, what are the political ramifications? >> well, i think they're immense, and i think this is a potential mine field for everyone including hillary clinton and the obama white house because if you think ahead, because it was a conservative jus

dana bash, jeffrey lord and katon dawson. appreciate it. >>> this week i'm going to be hosting two republican town halls in south carolina. on wednesday, with dr. ben carson, marco rubio and ted cruz. that's wednesday night. thursday, john kasich, jeb bush and donald trump will be taking questions from me and audience members. that's 8:00 p.m. eastern wednesday and thursday, two big nights in a row right here on cnn. >>> just ahead tonight, president obama weighing supreme court nominees to succeed the late justice scalia. senate republicans saying essentially don't even bother. do they have a legal leg to stand on it? we'll talk about it next. was engineered... ...to help sense danger before you do. because when you live to innovate, you innovate to live. the all-new audi q7. a higher form of intelligence has arrived. you totalled your brand new car. nobody's hurt,but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do

miguel and alison. >> thank you, dana bash. donald trump, surprise, surprise, on the attack trying to upstage the bush campaign with his news conference. renewing his threat to stage a third party run in response to the boos he received at recent debates. now that george w. is campaigning for jeb, trump talked about the iraq war and 9/11. >> i heard for years he kept the country safe. what does that mean after? what about during 9/11? i was there. i lost a lot of friends killed in that building. the worst attack ever in this country? it was during his presidency. jeb bush has spent $20 million on negative ads that in many cases are false. his campaign in my opinion is going nowhere. ted cruz is desperate. i think ted's a very unstable guy. i have never, ever met a person that lies more than ted cruz. >> today, donald trump held a press conference where he apparently lost it. i mean, he was just going and on about how i'm the most horrible person in the world because i keep repeating the things he said. >> unvarnished. trump, bu

dana bash, back to you. look, the president is making this announcement before a lengthy sort of statement comes out from the white house. it's now clear that he will nominate another justice. also, he's going to make these remarks at 8:30 eastern time before the gop debate begins tonight. >> that's right. it's hard to imagine that that is an accident. he wants to get his perspective out there, to kind of put his political and presidential stamp on this before the people who want his job on the republican side start to debate. so that's an excellent point, upon poppy, that he's not even here, he's in california at rancho r mira mirage. and i'm guessing what he's going to say is something along the lines of what his democratic count counterparts in the senate have been saying. >> all right. dana, stay with me. michelle kosinski as well in washington. president obama will address the nation on this tonight in just a matter of about 20 minutes. we'll be right back. man: dear mr. danoff, my wife and i are now pa

dana bash, jeffrey lord and katon dawson. appreciate it. >>> this week i'm going to be hosting two republican town halls in south carolina. on wednesday, with dr. ben carson, marco rubio and ted cruz. that's wednesday night. thursday, john kasich, jeb bush and donald trump will be taking questions from me and audience members. that's 8:00 p.m. eastern wednesday and thursday, two big nights in a row right here on cnn. >>> just ahead tonight, president obama weighing supreme court nominees to succeed the late justice scalia. senate republicans saying essentially don't even bother. do they have a legal leg to stand on it? we'll talk about it next. why ts coricidin® hbp. it relieves cold symptoms without raising blood pressure. so look for powerful cold medicine with a heart. coricidin® hbp. i think when people hear about i think it's important for, everyone to know that there is so much more to memory support than the stigmas you hearabout. that these residents still have lives and their lives still matter and that they are st

i keep looking at dana bash. we'll get to dana in a little bit. the latest polls shows donald trump ahead of his challenger. it is getting nas tier and nastier. >> jeb is a lightweight. >> donald trump, you're a loser. >> we ever a lot to get to tonight, and i want to turn right away, as i said, to dana bash, cnn's chief political correspondent. dana, the snow is falling, but that's not stopping the drubidrg or clubbing of republicans. they're really going at each other, especially donald trump. >> let's look at the tweets they were sending to each other. donald trump: everyone is laughing about the money he spent, a pathetic figure. donald trump, you're not just a loser, you're a liar. john mccain is a hero. over and out. >> so what's going on? >> these two guys have been going at it for so long, and now they're finally on the precipece of the actual voting. jeb bush feels he's the only guy standing up to the guy he says is a bully. >> you got a chance to ask him about that today, correct in. >> i did. what i wanted to know from him was given how

miguel. >>> dana bash, thank you for that. helping break all this down, we put our cnn political manager zach wolf in the hot seat this morning. zach, the blast from the past. george w. coming out for his brother saying this in a not so thinly veiled take on donald trump. >> strength is not empty rhetoric. it is not bluster. it is not theatrics. strength of purpose comes from character. in my experience, the strongest person usually isn't the loudest one in the room. >> pretty tough stuff. that's a comeback from the debate the other night where donald trump took on george w. bush, 9/11 and the iraq war saying they were all mistakes. is it smart politics on trump's part to take on george w. bush in south carolina? >> you know, i'm not sure anybody is qualified to tell donald trump what is smart politics or not. the guy has proven to know what resonates. at every turn, he does the unexpected. it seems to work out on for him so far. this is an interesting thing because george w. bush is a two-term republican president taking him

. >> let bring in dana bash and david chalian to talk this over. david, hillary clinton saying -- asking core questions about this, this is a one standard for clinton and nobody else is being asked to do the same. >> this is not an uncommon theme that you hear from the clinton campaign and, quite frankly, there's some truth to it. i do think that hillary clinton probably is held to a different standard at times. but my question to her there is why do you have to follow on this? why can't you lead and put out these speeches and have others come behind you. bernie sanders was asked about it as well. he was inviting this contrast, that he'd be willing to put stuff out, knowing hillary clinton's previous answer was she wanted everyone to put it out and she made it clear, tonight, jake, that includes all the republicans now there are only two people people running for the democratic nomination, giving speeches where you're paid a lot of money to wall street banks, doing so just months before you announce is a really big deal. bernie sanders department i

he joins me now with dana bash and david chalian. so this is such a neat experience. sometimes with our shots we show people, these rooms look big. they're not. it's small. it's intimate. it's you, the candidate and the voters. >> a lot of these voters here are undecided. they plan to vote in the republican primary but they have not made up their minds. and a lot of polls indicate there's a lot of people in south carolina who have not made up their minds. people could be convinced tonight. we did this with the democrats several weeks ago. the candidates liked it. the people in the room like it. these are unique, intimate venues that show different sides of the candidates. >> you can get some emotion. a candidate will have an emotional moment with a voter. >> after your democratic town hall, i met some voters who said they went one way or another because they saw the way the candidate handled themselves there. >> you are right about the undecided voter. i came from a rubio and cruz event here in south carolina. so many people who are going really have no -- at least th

cnn's chief political correspondent dana bash is following the trump campaign in plymouth. athena jones is at the jeb bush event and jeff zeleny is following the bernie sanders campaign in portsmouth. dana, let's begin with you at the donald trump rally. you just spoke to trump. what is he saying about last night's debate and how he feels he did? >> reporter: good afternoon, fredricka. that's right. just before donald trump went on stage, we were backstage and had a chance to talk to him and it was really striking how candid he was about the fact that the stakes were very, very high for the debate. he brought that up kind of unprompted. it's very clear that he realizes that he's so high in the polls that he has the furthest to fall of all of the candidates in the field. let's listen to part of what he said on that issue. >> i'm very, very happy the debate is over with but i enjoyed the experience. >> reporter: you keep saying this. >> there was a lot of pressure on the debate, i'll be honest, for everybody. not just for me. and there's more pressure when i see you and all o

dana bash, thank you so much in plymouth. appreciate it. >>> all right. remember to tune in to cnn on tuesday. we will have the most complete coverage of the nation's first primary on tuesday on cnn and we'll be right back from manchester. check this out, bro. what's that, broheim? i switched to geico and got more. more savings on car insurance? yeah bro-fessor, and more. like renters insurance. more ways to save. nice, bro-tato chip. that's not all, bro-tein shake. geico has motorcycle and rv insurance, too. oh, that's a lot more. oh yeah, i'm all about more, teddy brosevelt. geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. without looking at cable wires and boxes in every room. mother, we are settlers. we settle for cable. and the simpler things in life. like our drab clothing. that's right, daughter. and homemade haircuts. exactly, boy. besides, if it weren't for wires, how would cousin tobias get his privacy? hey - shut the blanket! i need my privacy! (vo) don't be a settler. get a $100 visa prepaid card when you switch to directv. ♪jake reese, "da

dana bash is their top political analyst. the one they usew0÷$t for the debate. she clearly said that her reporter, moody, was saying. this so all the other stuff walks. you know, bs walked? it walks. >> shy didn't even read all three of his tweets. if you read all three of his tweets, at the worse. >> apologize or admit a mistake so everybody makes mistakes. everybody makes them admit it. >> i'm making your case stronger, not weaker. >> because carson got jobbed. this isn't what our democracy is supposed to be spent a lot of money and time this is wrong and it's out of control and it better stop. >> well with, let's look at the second part of this. because at 7:00 p.m. the cruz campaign spence rogers the tweet is headlined press says carson is going to take a break. then it says he is going home and he has a big announcement later this week so tell all the carson people to caucus with the cruz people. this goes out at 7:00 p.m. now, the campaign -- you just had rick tyler, the this by saying we only used his own words. nowhere in chris moody's conversation with

dana bash, jennifer jacobs. dana, there's a big difference between clinton/sanders and clinton/obama. that is new hampshire was still up for grabs with obama so she could go there and beat obama so it was level playing field. bernie sanders, who's from neighboring vermont, is double digits ahead of her in new hampshire. >> it would be shocking if clinton would use any momentum that she got from here, assuming that she wins the iowa caucuses, to be able to beat bernie sanders in new hampshire. the difference is that large. that's why if you're looking forward, it's south carolina that the clinton campaign is looking towards. that's the place that they hope to really stop any potential momentum that sanders has from new hampshire. they feel like south carolina democratic voters are more her kind of voters, it's more urban, less white, frankly, than iowa and new hampshire. >> and more moderate democrats. >> yes. >> so democrats in the state are very liberal. did i see a state -- tell me if i'm getting this wrong --

let's go live now to dana bash, following the bush campaign, chris with governor kasich. dana, let me start with you. really strong stuff going back and forth between trump and governor bush today. the tweets have been downright nasty between them. i want to read for you the first one that went out. and it had to do with -- kind of standard trump actually. he said this about jeb bush. "jeb bush has zero communication skills, so he spent a fortune of special interest money on a super bowl ad. he is a weak candidate." then the return, "you aren't just a loser, are you a liar and a whiner. john mccain is a hero. over and out." has jeb bush found what he thinks is going to work in new hampshire and beyond, dana? >> reporter: he hopes so. i actually just sat down moment ago with jeb bush. i'm around the corner from him speaking live. we didn't want to interrupt him. right before he began to speak, i talked to him because -- i asked him about that. also just about the broader idea that he came in to this campaign saying that he really only wanted to run if he could do so joyful

you will hear directly from governor kasich and his wife coming up next with our own dana bash. also, who is better qualified to serve as president? will it be a governor, an executive of a state or a senator? we'll talk to presidential historian doug douglas brinkley who will weigh in on that. >>> not only does james clapper say isis will attack in the u.s. this year but reveals what the terrorists are doing specifically with refugees. i'm brooke baldwin. do not miss a beat of this. you're watching cnn special live coverage. if i want to go up... hello. or if i want to go down... no. but then if i want to come back again... yes. it's perfect. my favorite part is to be able to lift your legs up a little bit and it feels like i'm just cradled. (vo) change your sleep, change your life, change to tempur-pedic. aren't moving in the right direction,bers it can be a burden. but what if you could wake up to lower blood sugar? imagine loving your numbers. discover once-daily invokana®. with over 6 million prescriptions and counting, it's the #1 prescribed sglt2 inhibitor that works to

dana bash, i'm really looking forward. it's going to be a very exciting night. >> you've been asking everybody else questions for the last hour. what are you looking for tonight? i am looking for -- to see if the republican establishment can get its act together because donald trump and ted cruz are anti-establishment candidates, truly to their core. they came in first and second in iowa, might come in first and second flipped here in new hampshire. is the establishment whom we cover in washington, d.c., and wielded power for many, many years under president george w. bush and they control the house, they control the senate, are they going to be able to take back the presidential nomination? >> so does that mean a real coalescing around one of the four establishment candidates? >> yeah. is there push for marco rubio or jeb bush? is that going to work at all or not? we'll see. dana bash stay here. that's it for this special edition of "the lead." dana and i will be back with cnn's special coverage of the new hampshire prima

reporter dana bash has the latest. " the third place winner in iowa declaring victory. (sen. marco rubio/(r) presidential candidate) "we could sense our energy in iowa growing." marco rubio's bronze finish is garnering nearly as much buzz as a frontrunner, as he looks towards the granite state primary next week. (sen. marco rubio/(r) presidential candidate) "we had a great time in iowa and a great turnout, and now we are ready to do it here in new hampshire." rubio's new hampshire goal is to edge out chris christie, john kasich and jeb bush here ... ... to consolidate fractured support and dollars from mainstream republicans around him. other candidates pouring everything into new hampshire are not pleased. ( gov. chris christie/(r) presidential ndidate) "when senator rubio gets here ... when the boy in the bubble gets here, i hope you guys ask him some questions. because it's time for him to to stay this race is over?" rubio's strong iowa showing appears to have helped cruz with his big victory ... ... because rubio siphoned votes from donald trump, who came in second. we as

dana bash, thank you very much. we've got eyes on you in that chris christie event. thank you. meanwhile, hillar clinton is also here in new hampshire, stumping together with her husband and daughter. in her race against sanders, it is not class but gender that's getting a lot of play today. senator sanders today was hailing the progress of women. >> and their male allies. sorry, women will not be third class citizens in america. women will be -- women will be able to control their own bodies. >> could senator sanders words there really be a counterpunch to the pounding he and his supporters received from bill clinton? the former senator lashed out at the quote vicious trolling supporters of his wife were hit with from sanders supporters. as you well know, here in new hampshire, he is a dominant front-runner in the democratic race with just one day to go before the all-important primary. >> people who have gone online to defend hillary and just explain why they supported her have been subject to vicious trolling. and attacks that are literally too profane often -- not to mentio

joining me to talk more about tomorrow's primary, my friend and colleague dana bash. dana, it is hard to remember a time when we had less clarity about the republican candidates. i really have no idea what's going to happen. >> nor do i. i know you've been out all day talking to voters at candidates' events, so have i, and it is remarkable how undecided voters are. and even those who say that they're decided, obviously not all of them, but a lot of them say i think i'm going to vote for x, but i could definitely easily be suede swayed for y. there was all this hoopla about marco rubio's debate performance. she said i was definitely all in for marco rubio. then the debate happened and i said, i'm going to vote for jeb bush. that is happening all over as these candidates do work incredibly hard. and they have so many fronts on their wars. like jeb bush, for example, he's fighting really intensely with donald trump today but he's still trying to figure out how he gets into the whole marco rubio, john kasich, chris christie situation. >> i know, it's grueling, it's grueli

our cnn chief portfolio correspondent dana bash is there. dana, looking at these polls, big leads for trump. that the point from the view of the trump campaign, is it just a matter of how much he wins by in south carolina? >> reporter: they have a lot of confidence. there's no question about that, jim, inside team trump, but they also now have experience under the belt. and they're experience in new hampshire was quite good. the polls bore out. he did well. he won by big margins. iowa, not so much. so they are a little bit more cautious than in the past. and they should be because although he is doing quite well, and although you see the big crowd behind me, a lot of people here and people who are already all until for trump, a lot aren't. a lot are undecided. i talked to several who went to a cruz rally, rubio rally and now i'm checking out trump. so you know, the cliche taking nothing for granted, that should be sort of the wash word for all of the campaigns going into tomorrow's primary here. >> no question. we talk a lot about south caro

now, dana bash, the reporter is doing live television. live television is hard. we have ear pieces. she has an ear piece there. this is mine right here. okay. weave have ear pieces. and when something new happens, somebody in the control room whispers in ear and they tell us what's new. somebodyhs should have told dana bash that her own reporter in the field had just tweet ben carson's campaign tells me plans to stay in the race beyond iowa no matter what the results are tonight. she didn't update that because i'm assuming nobody told her that and somebody should have. so cnn should have said our bad, we should have updated that information in a timely fashion and we didn't. instead, they circle the wagons and they stonewall and that's the mistake. but what cnn did, bill, in my view, in my view, what cnn did isn't nearly as bad as what the cruz campaign did. because dr. carson's campaign announced that he was not dropping out of the race. okay? he was not dropping out. that didn't stop senator cruz's national chairman. co-national chairman, congressman steve king from sending out hi

now our senior political commentator david axelrod and dana bash. the stakes are incredibly high tonight and this is going to be a small intimate crowd. we're very much in what we call a crow's nest everybody. this is one of the final chances they're going to have to talk to voters en masse. sanders has a 23-point lead on secretary clinton. can he maintain that? can he build on that? i think one of the problems for him is that's an enormous lead in polling. as we saw in iowa, expectations are everything. i'm sure there's a little anxiety in the sanders camp on whether they can maintain that. new hampshire voters are famousfamou famously contrary. things can change. that's why events like this are important. >> expectations are everything, da dana. that's got to be what bernie sanders is worried about. he has to significantly beat her to maintain his momentum. >> he's trying to lower expectations, which is not so easy to do right now. hillary clinton is desperacembs trying to lower expectations as well. i'll tell you i've spent the last day and a hal

with dana bash, not so much getting into the game of playing the expectations. >> so if i had two seconds, i think i'm doing okay. i would much rather win. i could say if i came in second or third, i'd be thrilled. that way we lower expectation. i know all about expectation. we lower expectation. if i came if second, i wouldn't be happy. okay? if i come in second, you can go around and say boom. i would much prefer to win in new hampshire. >> that was donald trump. where are we on both sides of the race? one day before the voting here in new hampshire? we are joined by goldie taylor, the editor at large of the daily beast. the new line of attack for bill clinton. he has been careful and restrained on this stump in this race up until now. it was a very big change to see him go after bernie sanders directly. he was talking about the fact that the sanders campaign is misrepresenting endorsements. he talked about supporters for bernie sanders, who bill clinton says is saying sexist things in social media. >> people who have gone online to defend hillary and explain why they supported her have

let's go to chief correspondent dana bash who is following the cruz campaign in new hampshire today. dana, what is the cruz campaign saying now to what donald trump is throwing their way? >> reporter: first of all, we are at a ted cruz event going on right now. it's quite intimate so we decided to step outside so we're not disruptive. he has not personally addressed these tweets or really any of his opponents so far. however, his campaign -- his communications director, rick tyler, did say the following to me earlier today about donald trump's tweets saying, reality hit the reality tv star in iowa. so nobody is talking about him now. so he's trying to regain some attention on twitter. there are twitter addiction support groups so he should seek out his local chapter. you can see there, they are trying to kind of poke fun at the billionaire, trying to sort of have a tongue in cheek reaction. but here's the reality. the reality is that this has been an issue and this is all about ben carson. and the fact that cnn reported on caucus night that ben carson was going back to florida and he

like mules. >> it's our busy season. >> wolf blitzer, dana bash, thank you. back to you. >> thank you. coming up next, more conversations with more candidates and the reality check with one of the claims made on stage. we'll be right back. >>> we're back in the debate hall that looked more like a ballroom blitz. we are joined by donald trump. they really came after you. ted cruz and marco rubio. how did it feel? >> it felt fine. i expected it. i was told by watching you and everybody else, in particular, i was told it would happen. i expected it. based on every poll, i hear i did very well. i felt comfortable. >> how do you prepare? >> it's very interesting. i never debated before professionally. i'm against these politicians. they talk. they do a lot of talking. the first debate was good. i think we did very well in the debating. according to every single poll. the more important polls are the polls we have now. bloomberg came out with a poll a couple hours ago. double digit leads practically everywhere. we are happy. i love to do well in texas. in theory --

now, dana bash, the reporter is doing live television. live television is hard. we have ear pieces. she has an ear piece there. this is mine right here. okay. weave have ear pieces. and when something new happens, somebody in the control room whispers in ear and they tell us what's new. somebodyhs should have told dana bash that her own reporter in the field had just tweet ben carson's campaign tells me plans to stay in the race beyond iowa no matter what the results are tonight. she didn't update that because i'm assuming nobody told her that and somebody should have. so cnn should have said our bad, we should have updated that information in a timely fashion and we didn't. instead, they circle the wagons and they stonewall and that's the mistake. but what cnn did bill, in my view, in my view, what cnn did isn't nearly as bad as what the cruz campaign did. because dr. carson's campaign announced that he was not dropping out of the race. okay? he was not dropping out. that didn't stop senator cruz's national chairman. co-national chairman, congressman steve king from sending out his

dana bash takes a look. this is molly maddox with the ted cruz campaign. >> hustle at ted cruz iowa headquarters accelerated to a frenzy. to get out the vote. >> can you see this, there's obviously a lot of buzz here. >> we are definitely making a lot of calls. 27,000 calls yesterday. which is just it beats our record. >> cruz campaign aides boldly boast about the size and scope of their operation. >> 2,500 doors yesterday out of this office alone. we have camp cruz, a lot of the people are staying, we have two dorms, 830-plus people. >> when people check in, they put a pin where they're from. so we have people from california, we have a lot from texas. a lot from iowa. missouri. florida, georgia, massachusetts. new york. >> still it's the candidate who has to close the deal. he did with some, but james gray still isn't sold. >> are you still on the fence? >> i think i'm probably closer. >> but not 100% sold? >> well you know i'm going to go listen to marco in a little bit. >> iowa congressman steve king is

. >> dana bash joins us as well as matthew dowd and donna brazile. how significant is some of this reporting about discontent in the clinton campaign? >> it was discussed in 2004 after a bad summer he had. john kerry had had a bad summer, came in september, he was behind. i think there was some changes that they made. i think it's never a good sign when this happens. i remember here in new hampshire in 2000 about the same exact time as we're here now when after george bush lost by 18 points to john mccain, there was all kinds of conversations from the establishment that said he needed to fire his team and change his team. he had just suffered a huge loss. george bush actually at that moment said i'm not going to change the team. they brought me here. they're going to take me there. this is who we are. i think every campaign that has been successful, if you look back at the clintons, at barack obama, at many of the campaigns, they've had a team that's been with them from day one, consistent with them throughout the campaign. this to me -- in 2008, hil

cnn's dana bash looks at the love stories of some past presidents and current white house hopefuls. ♪ >> reporter: it doesn't have to be valentine's day for jeb bush to wear his heart on his sleeve. he talks constantly about his whirlwind romance with wife columbia. >> when i was on the town square in mexico, lightning struck. i met the girl of my dreams. i didn't know it at the time, it took me about 1.5 seconds to know it. >> reporter: cruz has jeb's brother to thank for his marriage. he met his wife while working on the george bush campaign. >> he was interesting, a good-looking guy, he greeted me with a smile. >> reporter: john and karen kasich? they keep it real. >> this is not one of these adoring wives where oh, my husband. are you kidding me? she's not like he's so great. would you pick up your socks? >> reporter: on the democratic side, bill and hillary clinton famously met at the yale law library. >> i was sitting in the library, and he was standing just outsides door. and he was looking at me, and i was looking at him, and i finally thought, this is ridiculous. every time i

dana bash, thanks so much. don't forget we are just hours away from part two of cnn's republican town hall. tonight south carolina voters will get to ask questions of john kasich, jeb bush and one mr. donald j. trump starting right here on cnn at 8:00 p.m. eastern. let's talk more about the back and forth between donald trump and his holiness, the pope. i'm joined by father timothy kasicke, president of the jesuit conference. pope francis is a jesuit. father, thank you for joining us. >> good to see you again, jake. >> i want to make sure we get the translation right. is it that the pope said that donald trump, if he believes what he believes in terms of building a wall is not a christian or is not christian, because there is a difference there. >> i would say is not a christian. i think we need to look at the entire statement. you have to look at the question that was asked of pope francis and how he framed his response. so he was asked if he was being a political pawn, a political pawn of mexico. he said, wel

. >> and stay with me because i want to bring in our chief political correspondent dana bash. look, we already know the president says that he will nominate someone and this is after mitch mcconnell came out just about an hour ago and said, no, this should be left for the next president. >> reporter: that's right. and as you were talking, we got a statement from the senate judiciary chairman who would have to take this up and begin the proceedings for any kind of nomination process. not surprisingly, he is totally with his leader, mitch mcconnell, on the idea that he does not want to move any kind of nominee, no matter who they are, saying that, from his perspective, this is chairman chuck grassley, it's been standard practice over the last 80 years not to elect supreme court justices during an election year and criticizes president obama trying to push his agenda through the courts and it's important to elect a new supreme court justice. you have the intensity from the statements, the democrats, harry reid and chuck grassley's democratic counterpart on the important judiciary

cnn chief political correspondent dana bash joins me now. so, dana, what's behind all of this? what's he trying to do here today? >> look, what is going happen in a couple of hours in south carolina is what the jeb bush campaign tells me -- senior advisor told me earlier today, their best press day they hope since he announced on june 15th. donald trump is very, very savvy. he understands the media. he understands kind of the ebbs and flows of a news cycle. so what does he do best to get into that news cycle is goes off. not just on the bushes, both bushes, but also on ted cruz. listen to part of it. >> i've heard for years he kept the country safe after 9/11. what does that mean after? what about during 9/11? i was there. i lost a lot of friends that were killed in that building. the worst attack ever in this country. it was during his presidency. and i must tell you one thing about ted cruz that i can say that only to a minor extent by comparison for the other politicians, i haven't been doing this long, i've been in it since june 16th. i will tell you i have never, ever met

as you heard from dana bash, they're still looking for the candidates. potential risk there, ted cruz making that decision tow go back to washington for the funeral after really laying into president obama for missing the funeral himself. saying president obama has time to visit cuba, but he doesn't have time to attend this justice's funeral. and its been interesting to see how in these final days, how much antonin scalia and his death in the vacancy that has been left on the court has really honed ted cruz's final closing message here in south carolina. here's ted cruz earlier this morning in myrtle beach. >> the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe even four supreme court justices. we will have one of two outcomes. either a president who nominates and confirms principle constitutionalists that will protect the rights of our children or a president who fritters away the supreme court and gives away the bill of rights for the next generation. >> reporter: so you saw there, really a ratcheting up the wording so to speak from ted cruz. real

jake tapper and dana bash, they're both in des moines for us. >> that's right. as we know, this is a night where anything could happen in an election where anything could happen. you mentioned the improbable cases. we've seen huge crowds here for them, dana. as we said, the pundits have been confounded. nobody knows what's going to happen. tonight the voters finally get their say. >> even at this late hour, it is all about getting their supporters to the caucus sites. for example, the hillary clinton says they knocked on 188,000 doors just in the last three days. that gives you a sense of how critical it is to get everybody to the caucuses. >> correspondents are located at key spots across iowa at the sites of actual caucuses and at the campaign headquarters with the leading candidates. let's go to sarah murray. she's in west des moines. sarah, one of the biggest mysteries of the iowa campaign is trump. what are you learning? >> that's absolutely right, jake. one of the things that's haunting the trump campaign tonight is this question of whether or not it might

that is precisely what he told our chief political correspondent dana bash. the billionaire businessman, came in second, as you know, from the iowa caucuses. dana bash is now live in plymouth where you just talked to him back stage. i love the conversation. i love that he said to you, yes, thanks to you, i knew the pressure was on for his debate performance last night. he also told you he understands the expectation game. what did he mean by that? >> what he means is that in p l politi politics, the whole idea is that you go into election day or primary day or caucus day saying, oh, no, i don't think i doll that well. then when you do well, everybody says oh, wow, better than we thought. that's exactly what happened to marco rubio in iowa. he only came in third but he came in a strong third. and better than everybody thought which is why, as chris christie said correctly, he has been at the center of attention for the past few days in new hampshire. while that has been going on brooke, you and i talked about this this past week on the air. donald trump has re

joining me to talk about it all, dana bash, van jones, and amanda carpenter, former communications director for senator ted cruz. van, hillary clinton has a lot of momentum heading into south carolina particularly with african-american voters. bernie sanders got this in endorsement from spike lee. do you think that this endorsement will ultimately mean anything with voters of south carolina? >> you know, it's hard to know if it will. she had -- he had to do something. he is just getting out foxed, outfoxed, outclassed, outmaneuvered in the black community. it's a shame to see. he does have an argument to make to the black community. he's a one-note guy, it's criminal justice, criminal justice. once she brought out morgan freeman, he had to bring out somebody, he brought out spike lee, harry belafonte. you think an endorsement can move the needle at all? he's getting clobbered with black voters. >> i think it won't hurt especially given that the kind of message that he's got out there. but i do think it's a little bit unusual that he's -- he, bernie sanders is having the challenge he's havin

jake. >> dana bash, thanks so much. we'll hear more from barbara bush later this hour. joining me now is katrina pierson, the national spokesperson for the trump campaign. thanks for joining us. two days ago donald trump accused senator cruz of stealing the iowa caucus, even threatening to sue. now he told anderson cooper he doesn't care about that anymore. does he not care about it anymore or is he worried that talking about the issue could make him look like a sore loser and hurt him with voters? >> i think everyone agrees there was some shenanigans going on in iowa. of course he cares about it, he's just not going focus on it. i think bringing attention to it like mr. trump and ben carson have done have raised eyebrows at how the cruz campaign is conducting itself. you can't call yourself the most honest person with all the integrity and do things like this. i think now that everyone knows what happened, it's time to move on. >> mr. trump was forced to cancel a campaign event here in new hampshire today because of the snow. he, of course, flew home last night in his

dana bash, thank you for that. we'll let you get back to the speech. candidate donald trump is going to join anderson cooper in new hampshire. that will be 8:00 p.m. eastern, right here on cnn. >>> free college. boy, that sounds good. no more health care premiums. wow, that sounds great! but can america really afford this? bernie sanders says he's got a way to pay for it that includes raising your taxes, but in the end, saving you money. when you really crunch the numbers, though, does that actually ring true? you might be surprised at what you're going to hear. jay knows how to keep nice shorts, dad...g. they don't make 'em in adult sizes? this is what the pros wear. look at the lines... -uhhh... look at the other line... -mm-mhh.. that's why he starts his day with those two scoops in deliciously heart healthy kellogg's raisin bran. ready to eat my dust? too bad i already filled up on raisins. by taking steps towards a healthy heart, jay knows he'll be ready for the turns ahead. hey, don't forget to put up your kickstand. (bike bell) (sighs) kellogg's

i want to go to dana bash. we have a new statement out from senator minority leader harry reid on this. >> that's right. you heard just a few minutes ago the confirmation of what we were talking about earlier, that republicans who run the senate do not want to have any kind of confirmation for an obama nominee to replace antonin scalia. harry reid, the top democrat in the state issued a blistering statement saying that the president should send the senate a nominee right away because there are a lot of important issues pending before the supreme court. but then he goes on to say it would be unprecedented in recent history for the supreme court to go a year with a vacant seat. failing to fill the seat would be a shameful ad vocation. very, very strong language from the top democrat in the senate. probably not surprising, poppy. because as much as republican leaders are getting a lot of pressure from their rank and file and from the presidential candidates that they want to hold off and to wait until the presiden

dana bash, earlier. really a fascinating conversation and we'll keep talking about this one for sure. and we're going to be back to the race for the white house in just a moment. but first, a stunning report from the v.a. vets looking for help through a suicide crisis hotline that got sent to voicemail and many of those voicemails were never answered. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor y

i want to go to dana bash. your sources are talking to you on the phone about perhaps the next appointment. >> that's right, poppy. you've heard jeff talking about the fact that we are -- never mind there is an opposition party running capitol hill, especially the senate which has the duty of confirming and approving any supreme court justice, but we are just 11 months short of a new president taking the oath of office. so i've within talking to a senior republican source in the senate who said that it is unlikely at this point for the president to get a nominee through this senate while president obama is still in office. both for logistical challenges, because it takes a long time for the paperwork and everything else but much more importantly because of political challenges. you are already seeing republicans, both on capitol hill and off capitol hill, conservatives saying there is no way they want, in the twilight of president obama's administration, they want him to be able to pick the next nominee to the

what a day as our dana bash said. i don't think you would have woken up this morning and thought this fight might break out but, hay, anything happens in politics. this is not the first time that a leader of the catholic church has delved into a political issue, this may be the most direct. what do you make of the back and forth? >> first, i want to commend cnn for accurately reporting on this story unlike some of your competitors. you say the pope suggests he may not be a christian. quite frankly, the pope was set up by the reporter because the question that was the lead up to the question to the pope was, what about somebody wants to deport 11 million illegal aliens, separating families. well, on august 16, 2015, chuck todd, of "meet the press," explicitly said to trump, you're going to separate families. he said no, not at all. we want to keep the families together. >> to be clear for our viewers, trump wants to deport 11 million parents and kids. on that same meet the press show, he said, speaking of undocumented

logical dana bash. what do you know? >> hey there, brooke. well, it's kind of a wild day. i know, as you mentioned. rick santorum, we understand, is going to drop out. and ran paul made it formal that he is going to drop out. we haven't heard anything about any endorsements from either of them yet. on the santorum side we can tell you that he is planning on making an endorsement to one of his now former competitors. i know that you played some moments that i had with marco rubio here at the event where he was just moments ago. he said that he is not sure if he's going to get the endorsement. but he obviously wants that. one of the reasons i asked him is because the thinking is it is likely to be either marco rubio or donald trump. and brooke, you remember in iowa the night that donald trump blew off the fox debate after rick santorum and mike huckabee went to the undercard debate they showed up at donald trump's even for veterans. so that's one of the several reasons why the thinking is that he could help them. and the other question you might be asking is why does it matt

senator sununu, dana bash, thank you. we have much more, cruz asking his communications director to resign. we'll be right back. what makes this simple salad the best simple salad ever? heart healthy california walnuts. the best simple veggie dish ever? heart healthy california walnuts. the best simple dinner ever? heart healthy california walnuts. great tasting, heart healthy california walnuts. so simple. get the recipes at walnuts.org. ick and choose, choose, choose. but at bedtime... ...why settle for this? enter sleep number and the ultimate sleep number event going on now. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. you like the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store, all beds on sale right now save 50% on the ultimate limited edition bed. know better sleep with sleep number. i...just me...me andrd my four daughters.... ah, there's a lot of dancing and pageants that go on in our kitchens and living rooms and thin

our chief political correspondent dana bash is on the scene for us. dana, what impact could all of this, this feud shall we say, this rift between the pope and donald trump, what impact could it have on this race? >> reporter: well, wolf, i've been talking to republican veterans here in south carolina who tell me pretty much that they don't think this could hurt donald trump. that's at the very least. at the most, it could actually help him for several reasons. one is certainly there are a lot of people here in south carolina who are spiritual, who are religious, but when it comes to the raw politics that the pope is pushing out there on a number of issues, a lot of people who vote in the republican primary here in south carolina don't agree with him, from climate change to immigration. but let's just drill down on immigration for a second. i talked to one republican here who said this is donald trump's sweet spot. this allows him to go back to the issue that really helped put him on the map and that is immigration. and to have a back and forth of thi

joining us, our chief political correspondent, dana bash. also joined by national political reporter for real clear politics rebecca berg and cnn politics executive editor, mark preston. mark, as you know trump skipped that town hall in new hampshire due to weather, he couldn't get out of new york earlier today. jeb bush tweeted this. my 90-year-old mother made it out to campaign. she met destiny, age 5, a little girl. you see over there. do you think skipping this event today will cost him? >> look, i think it was a mistake for donald trump to leave new hampshire and go back to new york to sleep last night and of course we had weather issues here in new hampshire all day. he has an 11-point lead right now. he doesn't have a 30-point lead in new hampshire. we've seen in past campaigns deficits like that be overcome. we saw that happen in 2008 when hillary clinton came into new hampshire. she was supposed to lose new hampshire and she overcame it and defeated barack obama, even though barack obama was doing so well in the polls. to the point

dana bash explains, that's why being absent from the granite state today is the last thing trump needed. it turns out being a billionaire with your own plane can be politically perilous. presidential candidate"i'm number one in new hampshire. will you please keep me there?" after last night's rally, trump went home to new york. he said his plane couldn't get back to new hampshire this morning because of the snow tweeting: "big storm in new hampshire. moved my event to monday. will be there next four days." and posting this on facebook. presidential candidate"the great slogan of new hampshire 'live free or die' means so much to so many people. all over the world they use that expression." but granite state voters expect to see candidates in person. being absent for a day this close to the primary is not ideal. stepping it up - with more traditional retail campaign events. jeb bush trolled trump about it on twitter, saying: "my 90-year-old mother made it out to campaign." as for bush - he suddenly seems to be embracing the bush brand ...bringing his mother - the popular former first lady.

. >>> hello, i'm dana bash in washington where the state of our union is stealing for a fight. the sudden death of supreme court justice antonin scalia sent an already-tense presidential race into overdrive. and the political drama played out live on television last night just moments before the start of a republican debate, president obama vowed to fill justice scalia's seat. >> i plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibilities to nominate a successor in due time. there will be plenty of time for me to do so and for the senate to fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote. >> but within minutes, the gop candidates on the debate stage demanded that the senate block any potential nominee.