o'malley was pleading for a chance to speak. our coverage begins with abc's megan hughes in washington. megan, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, kendis and reena, yeah, the timing is critical. the fact this was the last debate before the iowa caucuses, it was very clear that for hillary clinton and for bernie sanders, the gloves are now off. in south carolina, front-runners hillary clinton and bernie sanders come out swinging debating health care. legacy. >> i'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the congress. >> reporter: sanders says clinton is lying about his plans for health care. >> that is nonsense. we're not going to tear up the affordable care act. >> reporter: clinton slams sanders on gun control. >> he voted to let guns go onto amtrak, goes go into national parks. he voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. >> reporter: the debate step as way from the charleston church where a white

martin o'malley and mike huckabee announcing that they will be suspending their campaigns with potentially more to come as we head now into new hampshire. reena, kendis. >> all right, new hampshire just one week away. lana zak in des moines for us this morning, thank you. >>> as you just heard there in the words of bernie sanders, he and hillary clinton are locked in a, quote, virtual tie. >> the clinton campaign however declared victory overnight after this upbeat rally that lana alluded to and avoided the worst, a loss like the one she suffered in 2008. abc's political analyst matthew dowd explains what's next for the clinton campaign. >> like donald trump she had an opportunity to basically start to put this race away with a clear victory tonight. she didn't get that, so now she faces a likely loss in new can win is south carolina, so that race is now, which could have been shortened if she had won tonight overwhelmingly, is now going to be a much longer race and go into march for sure. >> well, iowa voters delivered a split decision for the republicans, as well, but ted cruz took the l

. >> martin o'malley. >> hillary clinton. >> all three democratic candidates taking part in the forum hosted by abc news' sister station fusion. on stage at different times answering rapid-fire questions. >> is it off brand for a democratic socialist to live in a mansion like the white house? [ laughter ] >> well, i would consider it more like public housing. [ laughter ] >> but it wasn't all laughs. the candidates laying out their plan for guns and immigration plus bernie sanders and hillary clinton taking aim at each other. >> have you noticed this lady, that she's been getting more aggressive with you? >> it could be that the inevitable candidate for the democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today. my tax plans, and my friend, senator sanders, has said that he will lay out his before the iowa caucus, and i and others will be anxious to see them. >> the candidates also taking shots at republican front-runner donald trump. >> who would have thought donald trump would be leading in of national polls? [ laughter ] i mean, for those of you who ever thought about running for pre