won t necessarily fall into. it s a trap that won t build their base. they ll focus on their selves, and that s to be expected. one thing that governor desantis brought up when he was asked about that tonight is that he believes trump will be on trial. he was talking about that being a distraction, but governor, there is a chance that the former president could be a convicted felon by the time the people are voting. even if he is a convicted felon, if he is the republican nominee, does this mean that you will still vote for him? look, i think, right now, most of america looks like they would vote for him, because he is winning. biden is so bad, trump is beating biden in most polls. what about you governor? i will support the republican nominee, absolutely. this shouldn t shock anybody, there shouldn t be a surprise that the republican governor, and most of america, will end up going against biden, because they need to see a change in this country. i know, again, the issues
eastern for cnn s coverage of that iowa caucuses. anderson cooper and kaitlan collins are going to pick up right now with more on the debate. so you tomorrow. [applause] you are looking there at the debate stage at drake university and dumoulin, iowa. tonight s cnn republican debate, that last one before monday s iowa caucuses just now wrapping up. joining me here in just a moment, one of tonight to contend with florida governor ron desantis. anderson, he ends s, nikki haley former south carolina governor went one-on-one for the first time on the debate stage with far more focus on each other on the debate stage then they re
but slightly different, he was his own person. he was personable. he had his own message. it s interesting to wonder, what is the alternate universe where that guy shows up, starting in january, when trump s poll numbers were a little lower? republicans are still reeling from a tough, mid term, election. it s interesting to wonder about this. nikki haley, her problem tonight, is that she will be a new generation of republican. her adversaries in the party say, there is nothing new about what you are doing. what you are doing is back to the future. what you are doing is a return to the past of a republican party that does not exist. i think rather than her drive this narrative of new generation of leadership, over, and over, and over again, that is the message disciplined you need, not, here is a website, over and over, and that s where she failed. the debate had strong 2016 vibes in the hopes of donald trump would fall away, and one would be able to make that more. in a moment, we h
having to be hit with five minutes tomorrow. he s really trying to touch as many people as he can. it was a ground game, and an organization with it, and with the mechanics of this, with one desantis advisor was pretty optimistic. they expressed some disappointment in that they thought nikki haley would be back on her heels more, and would be more defensive. that was not the nikki haley we saw, we saw her with an air of confidence tonight. going into the final stretch here. both of these candidates, essentially, or at parity. more importantly, they are in each other s way. the years leading alternative for donald trump. jeff zeleny, thank you so much with that. david urban, they are looking for a winner here at. they re trying to see where that candidate would look like.
after question. he wasn t gonna depots the champion. in your conversation earlier, he said he s in. he s talking about nevada, and he s trying to get the show. but, if he comes in a distant third here, and there s number one on him to get out, to get a clear shot of trump, and that s what the anti trump people say. he s also the governor of a big state, and you don t want to get to weaken politically. especially if you might want to have a future. the question, there to his point, and an interesting point he made is that his supporters, we talk about the poll, earlier, where christie, 65% of christie supporters in new hampshire, and that haley would be their second choice. . he thinks a lot of his supporters would go back to trump. it should be interested. vice versa, he said he thought the trump supporters would come to him, but the question in my mind is to think about who s getting rid of trump so that those voters come to you.