we re less than 50 minutes away from cnn s live town hall with president obama here on the campus of george mason university in virginia. we ll have much more on our special coverage in a moment. first, a lot is happening on the campaign trail tonight. we re going to show you live pictures of a donald trump campaign rally in burlington, vermont. we re watching to see if he will go there. once again, go after ted cruz over his canadian birth. it s an issue that now has democrats and fellow republicans, even, raising doubts that cruz is eligible to be president. jeff zeleny it outfront. reporter: donald trump is not letting go, fanning the flames about ted cruz s citizenship. he s got this cloud over his head. i don t think it s going to be possible for him to do very well. today, trump sent a message to his rivals saying, ted, free legal advice on how to pre-empt the dems. never mind democrats, it s
the talk is nonsense. the son of a u.s. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. reporter: he told cnn s dana bash he s done addressing it. i m not going to engage in this and the reason is simple. there are far too many serious issues facing this country. reporter: one more sign the fault line in the republican primary are becoming clear. it s not only trump versus cruz but chris christie versus marco rubio. christie said rubio is too weak to be the nominee. is that the person that we want to put on the stage? reporter: rubio fired back comparing his record to barack obama. all of the damage barack obama has done to america. reporter: and donald trump is moments away from taking the stage here in burlington, vermont. you can see the crowd gathered behind me. you may wonder why here.
that s where the president s good political numbers turn into real quick sand. so john, how is this going to likely play out in campaigns and elections, especially congressional races down battle? that s where we have two americas, kate. let s look at a map. this is the presidential election of 2012 where president obama won with 332 ee lectoral votes. this is how hillary clinton and bernie sanders are fine with the president. even in a place like virginia, florida, even in a place like colorado, places where you think those are gun right states, democrats think we are in a new world. they can win in the suburbs and among nonwhite voters. but it s a very, very different scenario when you get to c congressional races. most members of the house don t care about national poll numbers. they want to know what are the numbers in my district and this is america and it s important to remember. you have a republican house
this off to change gun regulation or how they interpret the law. we ll have much more on all of this tonight as president obama prepares to take questions from the audience. we should note, the nra was invited to be part of tonight s town hall and questioned the president. but the organization declined the invitation. however, there will be nra members and many proponents for gun rights in the audience. let s begin with coverage from our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta. an historic night here and a whole lot at stake for the president, huh? reporter: absolutely kate. the white house insists president obama will hear from all sides here on guns in america and will hear from critics who argue his executives actions take away their constitutional rights to own guns. america s superheated debate over guns and how to respond to the rash of shootings will take center stage in cnn s town hall
majority and a big one. look at all of this red. those are all the house districts in america. they think what the people back home say and most republicans, maybe five or six, might get to ten districts where they are iffy on this. most republicans, kate, are on perfectly solid ground when they say, sorry, mr. president, no. and now you see the reason why. just look at those two very different maps. john, great to see you. thank you. thank you. the response from the other side, as john was alluding to, president obama s executive action was quick and harsh. outfront now, republican congresswoman mia love. he pointed out a slim majority of republicans. why do you disagree with that? well, here s what we need to find out. first of all, i m a mother. i have three kids. there is not a moment that they walk out the door that i am not