Marco rubio is in third at 18 . Preludethe statistical to tonights republican president ial candidate debate here in des moines iowa at the iowa event centered, just a few blocks from where were sitting. Don trump, as of now, is not planning to be at the debate it is holding his own comic impeding event to raise money for veterans down the road. We will talk about that in a minute. This will be a highstakes evening for us. What are you looking for in the trumpless debate . Different kinds of weapons are deployed against ted cruz and how many actually cut, lesser it, or bruise him. Believed onto be the stage. Everyone will be trying to take dohim, down. Mark i think youre wrong. I think the target is marco rubio. Tie, kasich, they all have to stop rubio who will emerge with a strong finish from iowa. Cruz may have a light night compared to rubio. I think ted cruz is still a huge target. He has invulnerability, whereas with rubio on the rise, there is some strength there. Rolepeople in rubios think he could go into second place. Rising,falling, rubio this all might happen. All these establishment candidates, and talking to the kasich and christie people, all of them say, look, rubio will be the top establishment candidate, the trick is to not let him get out of here. The important thing to remember is that crews and rubio cruz and rubio are the best debaters. Now toll right, turning the trumpathon. As everyone in the known universe is aware, he is going to be holding his own protest tont at Drake University another tory in than five miles from the main debate. Mike huckabee, rick santorum, said they would join him at his rally, a Charity Event for a Nonprofit Organization called the Wounded Warrior project. The group has been under fire after reports that they are spending sizable chunks of donations on lavish conferences instead of helping veterans. These variables and buildup, is there a chance that this event will backfire or fall flat . Mark a debate with trump is a big attraction. Without trump, theres a whole new dynamic. It would be fascinating to see the interaction. John is is going to be a debate or is this going to be just some speeches . Mark trump doesnt do that events do bad events. But, there may be a lack of energy given the participation. People talk about a split screen, and im talking more about picture and picture, the debate is in the big box, trump is a little one. Ahn i think there is just little chance that this is maybe the most outlandish, bold thing that he has done, walking away from the debate, giving the finger to fox news, setting up an alternative event. Everyone will cover it except fox. Unless trump doesnt be special, people will say, really . Mark worst case, this is a lowenergy event. I still think trump is not going to pay the price for that. John i dont think it will necessarily hurt him. News the trump versus fox war has escalated. The battle conditions have hardened on both sides. Called foxp junior news childish in on cnn, his Campaign Manager suggested that fox news shouldve disclosed that one of its executives, phil same in, has a daughter who works for marco rubio. Intern, fox news etc. Trump was wrong about ad rates dropping after trump dropped out of the debate. Look at how exhausting this is, look at how trump handled the issue last night on the Oreilly Factor talking about driving an driving under pressure. Trump i made a commitment to doing the show last week, otherwise i wouldnt about it. Kellys question was within journalistic boundaries. You won the debate, thats what it is about. Dont walk away from it. Trump this not important. Lets talk about something more important. Assuming trump does not show up at the debate, who has the upper hand . Does it matter after tonight . But start with the question of whether or not troubleshot tonight. Upor not trump will show tonight. Theres a 5050 chance that he will show up. The bill salmon thing, all of this, the conditions are lightning. It is hard to expect them to show up, and of trump ends up the winner here, he will be bigger than the biggest force in the conservative movement, fox. Mark foxs obviously fascinated. If the ratings are low, they may have to go back with their tail between their legs. Look, oreilly, hannity, fox and friends, they are their own entities. They have relationships with guests to transcend. But, trumps relationship with the Network Overall is soured Going ForwardGoing Forward. One of the things about trump is that he is willing to forgive and forget. Under the deal. John art of the deal. Mark thats a good trait. As the nominee, he needs fox on his side. When we come back, breakfast with bernie. Campaign trail with bubba today, we will see after this. John we had a breakfast right here in this room with al hunt. Bernie sanders showed a rare flash of anger after being asked about allegations that voters will be bused in from out of state on caucus night. The voters are worried that a number of outofstate young people may try to show up to the caucus to make a major effort. Sanders that is what they are saying . Based on what did they say that . Brox, a long history of honesty and integrity . The mandatory to destroy any to help destroy anita hill . Every day, we are being flooded by this negative stuff. I dont want integrity and honesty to be impugned. Ave no idea who said this, but this is an absolute lie. This is that and neck. The race has got negative. Both sides are complaining about how this is increasingly negative. The ads are negative without name, but eithers theres a Bernie Sanders ad mentions goldman sachs. Has either side got over the line in a way that might flip them . Mark this is more intense than the republican race. There are sony, of attacks in the republican race that no one is pushing all their hostility towards the other campaign. This is intense. Clinton people have got allies in the state that we will talk about, that there is an interview that Bernie Sanders did with the Washington Post couple of days ago, where hes adjusted that the Clinton Campaign didnt have as much fire and energy to it. All of the state, both sides are looking for passion, emotion. This is intense. ,easoned senator Bernie Sanders though there may not be any negative ads, there is a lot of energy in there. John the ad talks about explicitlyees, not mentioning clinton, but clearly about clinton di. This is negative, this is nasty. Have nothing like this in this race. This has been genteel. This is intense, but genteel. It is well within the bounds of what is exceptional. This is nothing that will turn islands off of this race. They have seen worse. The biggest negative is accusing the other being negative. Earlier today, i caught up with former president clinton in waverley, iowa. Look at the sweater he wore. Back of a lot of attention. The most newsworthy thing was not actually what he said. [laughter] it was one of the people traveling with president clinton, legendary operative maestro ofley, a the ground game. He is widely credited with helping both al gore and john kerrys campaigns stumble back from the brink. Mark why are you here . A volunteer . Your long way from home. Hes good to have around, isnt he . Clinton hes a gift. Hes just like her, everything he says is great. Associates say he is here to keep them up to speed, not to take over the Campaign Field operations. Be that as it may, and there are other clinton people coming, krista marshall, who worked for the quittance for a long time, john lewis, there are a lot of people coming. The fact that Michael Whouley who is such a legendary figure is here, is that a good sign for Hillary Clinton . John good and bad. We are too far on the inside on things. This is like an inside baseball topic. Souze like the kaiser sews or winston wolf of politics. You know, from pulp fiction, the guy who cleans things up. It is good news in a sense, but it is bad news that you dont call him unless you are in real trouble. Mark they all said he is not here to take over the operation, but he is a lucky star. John everything he touches turns to gold. [laughter] mark there are few people youd rather see on the ground in the state, even if all he is doing hanging out. The clintons always talk about our people. Having people fly into the state and help them, we saw the operations morning at the hotel off the street. Sanders operation is about people. The scale of the clinton operation is big and shows loyalty. These are longtime loyalists. It makes people feel good. Usually, this is only when the klinsmann bear in jeopardy, not that they are going down the tubes, but in jeopardy, then that makes it a moment. This talks about question of confidence in politics. Lucky charm is kind of joke, but it is a real thing for a candidate. Of theup, David Cottrell bush world and david tyler of the cruise camp ted cruz camp, after this. Mark two men who are impervious to pressure. And i wouldnt knows the state well. Rick tyler, spokesperson for ted cruzs campaign could i wanted to bring you guys campaign. I wanted to bring you guys together to talk about the Rubio Campaign. How are they doing . You should ask the Rubio Campaign that. We are obviously focused more on New Hampshire, where we are strong in moving up here. We keep you from people in that ted cruz will pass rubio in iowa. Possible . I think thats highly unlikely. John we were talking about patroclus debate tonight. Tell me what that debate is going to be like. Hows that going to be different from every other debate assuming he is not going to actually be on the stage. There are 20 Million People in one audience and there are 7 Million People in the other. He is now centerstage he is losing centerstage to ted cruz. John so this is a huge mistake on his part . This is all good for you . David this is a dumb move. He gets a lot of his or her information from fox news. I dont think this is a smart move at all. Im not sure i agree with rick on him showing up. My boss that 20 bucks that he will be there tonight. I dont did i would be happy to collect on it. [laughter] if donald trump gets coverage of this event from msnbc, cspan, every other cable network, maybe broadcast networks, everybody covers the event, the only people to cover the fox debate is fox, how is that not a bigger audience . David its just not. The fox audience will be the biggest audience. It will provide an opportunity for some candidates talk about real things. Things that people care about. Whether or not bushs taxcut plan will create 90 million jobs , whether we will go after isis and defeat them, i think it is time to talk about issues. These issues in New Hampshire, the voters are serious and i was about getting to the issues. Over now. On is we are only a few days away from the start of real voters having their say. A video of your boss at your event saying, if donald trump wins iowa, he may not be possible to stop. He may just gallop to the nomination. Is that possible . Is that a message that you want to share with i would voters . He would be hard to stop it does a turnout protected of the stop. The turnout is expected to be 300000 and n to be 300,000 in iowa. Donald trump. The audience to the debates. But you know what, they have watched all the way through. I think they will stay with the debates. That is a good thing. They watch the debates. Tonight, im guessing there will be over 20 million again, because people are in the process now. John the little honest here. Just for a moment in this interview. [laughter] that thisow discombobulated your campaign a little bit. You are plainly discombobulated. How did this change are debate . You play trump in debate prep. Rick yes. John how did you change it for ted cruz . Rick you have to practice as though he wont be on the stage. It takes more time. Theres a different dynamic. Mark your voters and others have it said have said tonight is the night, now or never. This tonight and i t tonight the night where jeb bush dominates, is the one you want voters to see . Think there will be more times for serious issues, and that is where he has the time to shine. If we have that opportunity instead of the sideshow will donald trump and all these attendant craziness and all of this craziness coming in, that is the time for the bush i know. John we have all watched the establishment candidates here. None of them ever really gathered up that big chunk of establishment vote in iowa. Between now and the caucuses, is there a chance of a surprise . Bush, christie, your guys, some of the else, is there a chance that the establishment comes together around somebody and either puts them in third, second, makes a strong finish . David i think the mainstream portion of the party is a giant mosh pit that will get solved in New Hampshire or south carolina. John it just remains fragmented . I think this will play out tonight and debate. Rubio, they dont want him to come out as the consolidated establishment candidate in New Hampshire. Ive heard that ted cruz will be the target tonight, he may be, but marco rubio will also be a big target. Trump and crews have been battling pretty fiercely here. Mark might they go back to their neutral corners . Rick people will need to know the differences between candidates. Donald trump, we are learning, is prone and the state we are has been protarp, proabortion, progay marriage, all of these things. Everything he says he wasnt. Prohillary. Mark thanks so much, good luck to your candidates. Coming up, what Bernie Sanders told us over breakfast, right here after this. John we have some more from this mornings absolutely fantastic Bloomberg Politics breakfast with democratic senator Bernie Sanders led by al hunt. S senator, senator anders, was asked about his president ial meeting. Sen sanders i have known barack obama for 10 years now. Vermont to came to campaign for me. I remember it like it was yesterday. There were far more people than the chapel could accommodate. I worked hard for his reelection. We have a solid relationship. I have supported the vast majority of initiatives but forth by the president. What i say in almost all of my speeches and what i said yesterday is, look, obviously election time, people are very partisan. Question, we had a good discussion, as friends, and we talked about foreign policy, a bit. I wanted to just review with him, where he thought we were in terms of isis. We talked about some domestic issues. Yes, the issue of politics did arise. Barack obama knows a little bit about iowa. We chatted about that as well. It was a private conversation. [laughter] Bernie Sanders has a huge gift for him, to go to the white house to be with barack obama before the caucuses. The sanders people have appeared about why this happened. How to that meeting is scheduled with this particular timing . Al i think obama is clearly for Hillary Clinton. He kept it, you wont see it. He thinks she has the best chance to succeed him and therefore retain his eye when you see retain his legacy. It would be a disadvantage right now to tell that way. To tilt that way. Obama is 90 popular in iowa. He is a revered figure among those going to the caucus. Obama was wrap around a gift. President obama is one member of the establishment. How much does the democratic establishment think, oh, if sanders is the nominee, thats ok. Is this a nightmare . Al its a nightmare for some of the elected officials. Some the members of congress are more afraid. I dont get a sense out here in iowa that there is a whole lot of republicans were saying, my god, it is cruz or trump we are worried about. John we have senator sanders here talking about how he hit Washington Post was very critical of his campaign. He hit back here. Al do you want to react to the Washington Post editorial that are strongly says you lying to voters about your plans and what you can get done . Sen. Sanders we have been hearing this for months and months. It is not a new argan it. Not a new argument. What this campaign is about is saying what very few people have in fact talked about. People are telling us, whether it is the washington , it is toobody else ambitious, you cant do it. The Washington Post wants to say our ideas are too bold. But this is what working families are wanting. Theyre working long hours and all the new income and wealth is going to the 1 . We need an economy that works for the middle class, whether the Washington Post likes are not, and that is what i intend to do. John is the criticism that sanders is too bold or not specific enough . Al if they were specific about how bold he is, they would like that. In a faceoff between Washington Post and Bernie Sanders, this is a gift for it sanders. He relished it. The editorial writer was sitting there, and she was smiling. The post editorial page is certainly less liberal than the new york times. I think that senator sanders loved to be asked that question, that heall the points wants to make on the campaign trail. We spent a lot of time this morning talking about going in a negative direction. Take a look. Sen. Sanders i have not gone negative a lot. For two reasons. First, i have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I have a lot of respect for her. I think she has done a very good job serving the market people. I dont want to attack her. It doesnt work. People are tired of hearing politicians say, im great, im perfect, im wonderful, everybody elses awful. I dont do that. Why would i run if my views were not different than hillary . She raised substantial sums of money from an investment bank, i dont know how much, but that is what she was doing. That is how she has raised money throughout her career. Millions of dollars from wall street. Powerful special interests. I dont raise money that way. 20 seconds. Posts sides are both sides are going after each other. Al my gosh, she has raised money from wall street, so what. Her campaign has been more negative than anything sanders has done. That is not very negative. What he said is totally legitimate. Mark they have accused him of having gout. [laughter] out . You ever had gi al never. John coming up, reince pr eibus, right after this. We will be right back. John jared of the r we have the chairman of the Republican National committee, reince preibus. Reince priebus thank you for having me. John why have you decided, as innow, not to try to step and broker a revolution between trump and fox . Reince priebus it is not our place to get in the middle of it. In november, the candidates did not want us in the middle of it. Mark you guys have obviously been in the middle of the debate process in a variety of ways you do not think this is ways. You do not think this is optimal. You would rather have trump on the debate stage. Reince priebus that is what we anticipated by having the calendar up months ago and having them agree to it. A million times, like something frozen in my memory,hat our job, and what we did you can compete in any debates you want. You dont have to compete in all of them. If youre in a debate not on the calendar, youre not on the debates in the calendar. Him would it be better for to be on the debate stage . Why not be helpful . Reince priebus in what way . Be a neutral arbiter neutral arbiter. Thece priebus i think that Term Campaign is going to make the decision they are going to make, just like all of these candidates. Im not going to sit here and say that is not in their interest to attend or attend. I didnt go to rand paul and say rand, rant, be in this debate. If the candidates want to be in a debate, they can. Am i tohey dont, who say . John you pick the outlets to be in the debates. One of the outlets without a practice release outlets put out a press release mocking those candidates who put in the debate. Is that appropriate . Reince priebus when National Review had written critical articles about donald trump, it was fine. I was fine moving forward with an article here or there. An entire publication says, this is our editorial opinion trumpnald let me take it away from fox. Mark is it appropriate for the sponsor of the debates to put out a press release mocking a candidate . Reince priebus im not going to get the middle of it. I know you want me to. Mark you are fine with that . Reince priebus that is up to those two entities argue about. But if one comes out and says, our mission is [indiscernible] santucci the course for young sins of the never see wisconsin. This is a hypothetical. [laughter] mark politics and media 101. Good manners for a debate sponsored to put at a press release mocking one of the candidates within days of the debate . Or would you say, you know it, probably not a good idea. Mr. Chairman . Reince priebus i would tell you to treat other people as you want to be treated. The fact that the matter is that these disputes between reporters and Media Outlets and candidates are not disputes that we are going to get in the middle of. Shots when the somebody is totally opposed. John what is the difference in principle . How you making the distinction . What makes this a one off . Reince priebus first of all, this is a war of words theyve engaged in for months. You say this is ok for for them to mock them . Reince priebus when an actual publication takes a publicationwide position, this mark they mocked him in a press release. There is no journalism. There were coming their nose at him. Reince priebus that does not mean that someone is excluded from the entire debate. Just like when article from the wall street journal doesnt mean that they cannot be a debate sponsored. Sponsor. If they say, this is our bedidate then they cannot in the debate. Anybody at fox news make you take it away from fox news . Reince priebus if they devoted all of their airtime to a particular magazine or newspaper or one person, then yeah, i would take it away. Mark who have you met in your life or seen in the public eye that reminds you of donald trump . No one inebus particular. Mark ok. That didnt work. [laughter] john Republican Debate without donald trump is like a day without sunshine. Is this worth watching . Reince priebus sure, just like the first debates were wworth watching. I think this is going to be something that will break records from the past. Thank you, chairman. John it is always a delight to have you at this table. Mark happy birthday to your son. John we will be right back. Mark you know the food here and the great institution, zombie zombie burger and drink lab. Tom i am the executive chef of zombie burger. Bern burhe feel the ger for Bernie Sanders. It is a little jewish and a little spicy. Today, we have the monte chris tie, served with ranch. This is the ben carson burger, which is actually tacos. Politicalith no extremes can become president , we can make tacos and call them burgers. My next guest is a huge fan of some burger. This is jeff klink, who advised the Barack Obama Campaign and ran the 1996 campaign of tom harkin. In this erratic race, jeff plans to caucus for Hillary Clinton. Youre a clear eyed assessor of what is going on. Why did you choose Hillary Clinton . Jeff i think she would make the best nominee. Mark most electable . Most electable. She has the expense to get real results. She has relationships on both sides of the aisle. She has the experience to get things done. Athink while sanders has great message and is great in theory, i dont think it will ever become a reality with Bernie Sanders. That the hat off for a minute. On two fronts, Bernie Sanderss ground game in the state, is it strong or weak . Do you think he is fading a little bit here at the end . Jeff his ground game is good. His social media game is excellent. I think theyre doing great things online. With snapchat, instagram, Everything Else that they are doing, i think that they are doing an actual ground game, the traditional doortodoor effort, probably which needs to be aproved because they got late start. But they are smart people doing great things. What troubles me about the sanders operation is they have made a big effort, now that they are going to rent all of these bands, and they are going to take kids from College Campuses and send them back to their homes. I think thats another one of these things that sounds like a great fear he, but when you actually execute on that, i mean, mark is there xbox in the vans . When the caucus is over, the question is, how do you get those kids home . Plus, they will celebrate with their parents instead of the other kids in the campaign. If Hillary Clinton called right now to ask what you could do to win, what we said that would you say what would you say . Jeff go into rural iowa and be yourself. Mark with martin omalley, when you think things are going to be like . Jeff we will not get to the in 2008. E had is there a number where you think senator sanders will win . Jeff if it gets about 200,000. John she closing strong Hillary Clinton, she closing strong or fading . Week, there was a lot of wind in those sales. Mark i got the same impression. John the she have wind in her sales . Sails . Jeff shes had some good events. I like the clothes she is wearing in these spots. Real progress, that is the best formulation theyve had so far. Mark what if you use simon and garfunkel in any of your ads . [laughter] mark why are they resistant to negative ads . Jeff this has been a different race. We have a small field which democrats are not accustomed to. Usually, it is a freeforall like the republicans have. Because of the freeforall on the other side, it really has engendered a lot of negativity. I think theres resistance to go down that path. Mark when you come back, bring a zombie burger. Did you have in 2008 . Jeff i dont think it existed than. Then. Mark we will be right back. Mark who won the day . Change the could whole thing this saturday night, right here, student life on bloomberg. The website will have the results of the filed of my register. Bloomberg politics, the i owa poll. Rest in peace to the former providence mayor, convicted felon and radio host. He was a phenomenal tv guest. He was 74 years old and we have a feeling that he will be outlived. Mark thats for watching. We are on twice a day, always, you can watch us here on Bloomberg Politics and at bloomberg. Com. Youre watching from washington dc. You can listen to us now on bloomberg 99. 1. Theres a big debate tonight. The trouble event. We will have it all tomorrow. John tonight is going to be awesome, right . Sunday burgers later. Mark we will see you tomorrow. Ra. Il then, sayano the only way to get better is to challenge yourself, and thats what were doing at xfinity. We are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. And this includes our commitment to being on time. Every time. Thats why if were ever late for an appointment, well credit your account 20. Its our promise to you. Were doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. Because we should fit into your life. Not the other way around. Rishaad its friday, the 29th of january. This is trendrending business. Rishaad here is what were watching for you today. With a recovery stuck in neutral. The 2 inflation target remains elusive. Embed maker toccata surging in tokyo. The ceo said he is ready to quit. Linkth death potentially to faulty products. Top producers may reconsider closes. Tell us what you think of our top stories. Just to get on twitter. Cash hashat tag. Toccata justf getting started. Not that much trend going on in the markets right now. A mixed bag. Reversing the losses we saw the start of the session up 7 10 of 1 so they are close to some of those pies we have seen so far. We are not getting much direction today ahead of the bank in japan. That decision coming up in an hours time or so