with less than six weeks until the iowa caucus, the four republican hopefuls, -- trying to set themselves apart from him, and each other. good evening from new york. and anderson, hello from the room here at the university of alabama tuscaloosa, site of the fourth primary debate of the election season 2024. it is just wrapping up. chris christie, ron desantis, nikki haley, and vivek ramaswamy once again the former president did not take part. nikki haley who has of course been rising lately as a contender in some polls, and in the eyes of some campaign watchers, and certainly in the eyes of some big donors, she came in -- she had a lot of criticism heading towards or tonight from desantis, and ramaswamy. >> no doubt about, that know you will be speaking -- looking for to that. cnn's panel is checking the facts on what they said. cnn's gary tuchman is back with a group of voters who watched an hour tonight, also our political panel, here and from the debate, stage a clash of chris christie and vivek ramaswamy with nikki haley in the middle. >> do this every debate, you -- okay, you say, this you do this, you do this every debate. you go out on the stump, you say something, all of us see it on video, we confront you under debate stage, you say it did not say, it then you back away. i want to say -- i'm not done yet. this is -- >> hold on. >> you are spewing nonsense. >> this is the fourth debate, the fourth the bag that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blow hard in america. we are now 25 minutes into this debate. he has not -- he has insulted nikki haley's basic intelligence. not her positions, her basic intelligence. she does not know regions, should not be able to find something on a map, that is three old could find. look, if you want to disagree on issues, that is fine. nikki and i disagree on some issues. but i will tell you this, i have known her for 12 years, which is longer than he has even started to vote in the republican primary -- and while we disagree about some issues, and we disagree about who should be president of the united states, what we don't disagree on, is this is a smart accomplished woman. you should stop insulting. >> first of all, i think we just learned something -- >> hold on, hold on. >> we learned three things are, their first for chris christie also doesn't know what provinces in eastern ukraine -- -- foreign policy experience was closing a bridge from new jersey to new york. so do everybody a favor, walk yourself off that stage and enjoy nice meal, and get out of this place. >> one of several sharp clashes tonight. here to talk about it, cnn news anchor abby philips, -- anchor of the source cnn's kaitlan collins, also cnn political commentator -- and scott jennings. more people than were actually in the debate. >> more people that watched the debate. >> -- >> i think with nikki haley, we saw the perils of emerging successful in the last several debates, every single candidate on that stage within the first several minutes was going for nikki haley pretty much the entire time. there were moments where she was a bit removed from the conversation. i think governor desantis actually had a stronger debate than we saw him do in several of the last debates. a lot of it was just arguing onstage between all of them. vivek ramaswamy yelling at points. then i think the most notable point was chris christie at the end saying picture election lacing donald trump will not be someone who's voting that they because he's going to be a convicted felon. >> i thought it was wonder woman fighting off a whole mob of super villains. nikki haley had to defend herself every second of that debate performance. she did well. she actually held up well. she was able to pull it off. even when vivek was saying she did not know the provinces, she knew the provinces. so nikki haley did a great job. i was very proud of chris christie. he was a -- >> yeah i think nikki haley took a different strategy then we have seen from her. she actually took a step back a little bit, which really underscored the fact that she is the front runner in the race right now. she had a lot coming at her. she did not try to be in every moment. she had chris christie he probably did a better job defending her on the stage than doing anything necessarily for his own campaign. and in some ways i see why they pursued that strategy this time around, because you don't need to respond to every single thing, and it just the fact and the eagerness of the desantis and ramaswamy is to attack her, only proved to the voters and the audience, she is the one that they think they have to beat and that is i think the message they were trying to send tonight. >> nikki haley -- again tonight she is a political heavyweight, she is arguably won all of the debates, or performed exceptionally well. the moment that stood out to me, i don't want to read the tea leaves too much here, when chris christie was a gentleman and jump in to defend her. he made a point to say we disagree on some things, but that, emmy somebody who has run his whole campaign on stopping donald trump, and have been to lag in the polls, i could see what in which he ends up endorsing a nikki haley. he did draw that contrast, but the way he described, her the relationship, her credibility, it spoke of somebody who could end up backing her. >> governor christie was -- i mean he kept pointing out time and time again, i'm the only one up here who didn't put my hand here and say i would support donald trump if he was nominee. he kept drawing distinctions, making the candidates answer questions better than a moderators did. he was really forcing the issue. i think he did a great job tonight. unfortunately has numbers have not moved since they won, and when you sit back, scott and i were talking about this, earlier watching the debate, from the first debate performance, to today, the numbers really haven't moved. trump has been in the high 50s, low 60s, desantis has been, 13 14, nikki haley has come up a bunch, and vivek ramaswamy has dropped. christiane stay the same. so it is reshuffling that their chairs on the titanic here a little bit on the side of the aisle, but nikki haley had a solid course tonight and chris christie did very well. >> for the sake of this commentary will assume any of these people have a chance to beat donald trump. so i think what we saw tonight, i saw alliances forming tonight. for the first time we really saw alliances. the pre-trump gop, christi and haley, versus the post trump gop desantis and ramaswamy who are teaming up to attack healy as he pointed out, and came to heal east offense. that is one thing that stuck out to me. as i was watching them, and i do agree the narrative here will be that really was attacked, therefore that means she must have momentum. desantis turns out solid republican conservative content on virtually every question. he did not bobble a single question tonight. ramaswamy once again hurt himself just as he has in every single debate. the one thing that really dawned on me is, there is not room enough in iowa for both haley and desantis, there's not room enough in new hampshire for both haley and kristie if any of them hope to get close to donald trump. will this field ever consolidate? it does not feel like it is going to. once again, fragmentation is donald trump's friend and as you pointed out since we started on august 23rd, he's gone from 55 to 61 international polling, it is hard to argue his strategy of sitting there that has been anything but genius. >> i would agree sitting out was wise, i don't think the field consolidates. listen, desantis is not going, anywhere but it is quickly becoming a race for number two between rhonda status and nikki haley. there are a lot of important endorsements sitting on the sidelines. now endorsements do not mean what they're used, but i'm watching to see where governor sununu comes out new hampshire. he is consistently outperformed donald trump and his home state. if he backs nikki haley that gives her momentum she needs. michigan rally more support in iowa, that gives our momentum she is head to head to head with ron desantis. chris christie is still pulls in new hampshire, that is support you can pull off there. so i think we are at a place where it is had the, head and there's still a chance to take him on. >> i think today it felt to me about a fight for momentum and i think we do have to give desantis some credit. he had a very strong debate just in the last couple of days some of his people after that the debate he had with gavin newsom they were really excited because he was demonstrating a growth that they wanted to see from him and i think it showed up tonight in a way that might help him. it has helped nikki haley to be on this debate stage to perform aggressively, it will be really important for desantis if he can take that momentum and push it forward because this is the moment. there is no more time left before iowa. this is the moment that he has to show there is going to be a search going into iowa, otherwise it is hard to see what the path is. >> i just don't think it did. >> it is too little too late. >> the thing about it is, there's something about him that is hard to like. he comes out, there he lands all the, points he lands all the talking, points but his, effect i hate to, say it this is petty and shallow, but he looks uncomfortable, it does not like anybody, there he does make it hard for people to connect so i think people reason that he is like a model of soda that is losing the fares. he did not put the face back tonight. >> i will say i was talking to trump advisers, trump allies, they still think it is a good move by not coming to any of these debates. which chris christie knocked him, for but politically, speaking they still think he has come a fine. and as scott was entertaining, this idea that anyone but trump has a chance, nikki haley obviously what they were alluding to when it comes to trump's potential criminal issues, maybe holding out hope that is something that could ensnare him, something that could ship him up. you don't actually know the likelihood of that happening, there is anyone's guess. but they still seem to think it was a wise choice that he didn't, come though i will say, not only nikki haley desantis, also hitting trump tonight on the deficit. >> let's play between governor christie and governor desantis about what the trump for office -- >> father time is undefeated, the idea we are going to put someone up there that is almost pd, and no effect from, that we honor that is not true. and so we have an opportunity to do the next generation of leaders, and really be able to move this country forward. we also need a president that can serve two terms. i don't think donald trump, i think he -- get elected, the democrats want him to be the nominee, we see that. they are going to turn the screws the minute he got a nominee. you think he is actually fit to be president? i think we need to have somebody younger. >> the question was a very direct. is he fit to be president, or isn't he? the rest of the speech is interesting, much completely nonresponsive. if we were in a courtroom, they would strike the answer and say, governor desantis. >> mother would say -- no they would. >> no they would. and >> not a word. >> no they wouldn't -- >> you have your thing. >> you have your thing. >> no i don't have my thing. he is the thing. -- listen you are talking about 80 years old and ron, ron, ron -- ron is it an opportunity -- >> gas notating over each other. no talking over each other. stop. stop. i will come to you. finish. >> look, father time is undefeated, i don't know how he would score on a test, but i know this, we have an opportunity to nominate someone for two terms who's going to be spitting nails on day one, and for eight years -- >> so you do think he is fit? >> we should not nominate somebody who is almost 80 years old. >> he is afraid to answer. >> no i'm not. >> either you are afraid, or you are not listening. >> no it is not. >> hold on, governor, desantis -- >> and dana bash standing by with governor christie. dana? >> thanks, anderson, governor, thanks so much for being here. as we were just watching that moment, i was saying to, it is almost as if you are the fourth moderator in that debate. >> well it is not a role i want to play, but i'm tired of being at these debates and watching the other three on the stage not willing to answer the questions. the voters who are watching deserve to hear an answer. especially on something like that, ron is trying to play both sides, so is nikki. they don't want to say he's unfit, because they don't want to offend anyone. well you have no business being the president of the united states if you don't have the principles to stand up for what you believe in, even if it might offend some people. and i got tonight, and i don't care. >> you have gotten a law every time you mention trump's name. >> that is fine, you know what they are offended, by they are offended by the truth. because they are in denial. he is going to be convicted felon come the spring, and when i say in my closing statement is absolutely true, you will be a candidate if he owes the nominee, he won't be able to vote for himself. why would anybody else vote for him? >> you mentioned nikki haley, i want to play part of you coming to her defense pretty restive lee in this debate. >> he has insulted nikki haley's basic intelligence, not her positions, her mythic intelligence and nikki and i disagree on some issues but i will tell you this, i have known her for 12 years which is longer than she has started to vote in the republican primary. while we disagree about some issues and disagree about who should be president of the united states, what we don't disagree on that this might accomplish woman. we are did that come from? >> i'm a truth teller, damage. nikki and i disagree. i don't think should be president of the united states. but she's a smart woman, and she's an accomplished woman, and she has worked incredibly hard, both in south carolina and in the u.n., and i think vivek does have a woman problem. i do think he insults women's basic intelligence. he has done it over and over and over again. i had had enough. enough of listening to his garbage. as i said, his mark as harvard mouth, because that's what it is, when he's dictating to me and nikki haley who have committed ourselves to public service while he's been stealing from seniors to steal his to make his fortune? >> you call yourself a truth teller, but you're also very savvy politician. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> the wind up there is about new hampshire. and it was very interesting to watch you and nikki haley, certainly, as you said, you disagree about a lot of things, but it seemed as though you are forming a bit of, an alliance with her. >> no. i'm a truth teller. and i'm going to tell the truth and if someone is insulting nikki haley in a way that's personal, it's nothing about issues. he was saying she's not smart enough to know where things are in the map, but somehow with three-year-old son is smarter than a woman who served as a two term and a u.n. ambassador. he's a jack of. if that happens, it's not me, forming an alliance with nikki haley. wait till you see what's gonna happen on the next second seven weeks. >> what's gonna happen? >> regular competing against each other hard to winds new hampshire, i suspect. i have said tonight, she is unwilling to take on donald trump. she didn't do it again tonight. she's not willing to say he's unfit. she's not willing to lower that hand that she raised an august to say that even if he was a convicted felon she would support him. we should have a higher standard, and she fails on that front. but you know, at the end of the day, if someone is being unfair to somebody else, who i have had a 12 year relationship with, i'm not gonna let him beat her up like that. the moderators didn't step in and ask for any decorum. so let me tell you something, whether it was vivek or ron tonight, if you want to fight somebody, fight with somebody from jersey. you know what that's. like >> i do know what that's like, but i want to ask more about donald trump. the fact that you said multiple times, as you have said, really, since the beginning of your candidacy here, that they are not going after the big person in the race, the person who is very far and away the front runner. let's listen to part of that. >> so do i think he was kidding? when he said it was a dictator? all you have to do is look at the history. and that is why failing to speak out against him, making excuses for him, pretending that somehow he is a victim, empowers him. you want to know why those poll numbers are the way they are? because folks like these three guys on the stage make it seems like his conduct is acceptable. let me make it clear. his conduct is unacceptable. he's unfit. >> that is kind of your mantra on this, one of the mantra is on this campaign. and obviously you had an opportunity to do it to your three remaining opponents on the stage there. do you really think they are going to all of a sudden start to go after donald trump? >> if they want to win, they had better. because look at the strategy they have been pursuing. it is confined to failure. how do i know? because i did the same thing eight years ago. i ignored them. so the jeb bush. so did john kasich. and and marco rubio. you know what happened? we are lost. we are lost because we wouldn't call him out on the fact that he was never going to get mexico to pay for a while. the fact that he wasn't gonna advantage to balance the budget for years. on his muslim ban garbage. we figured he was just going to go away. well hope is not a strategy. that's why ron desantis has gone from the mid 30s to single digits. that's why nikki haley is 30 points behind in her own state. i'm telling you this, people are going to wake up. they're going to wake up to this message. when they do, there's only gonna be one person on the stage was telling the truth, and it was me. >> you obviously knew what you wanted to accomplish tonight. did anything on that stage, any comment from any of your opponents surprise? you >> know. it's the same stuff over and over again. ron desantis is memorized answers, nikki haley trying to have both ways. and vivek, the drunk driver of the debate stage. you never know where he's going when he's gonna hit. so no, nothing surprised me. >> anything we didn't get to? >> yeah. i didn't get to talk about the border. the moderators didn't give me a chance to talk about the border, which i really would have liked to do. there were two questions right at the end, i think in the second segment, where they went to the other three and ever came to me. so we've got time. i get a sense is gonna be more debates after the first of the year, hopefully it bioengineering i'm sure. and i also think there's gonna be plenty of time for me is i'm campaigning to make sure i continue to emphasize those points. but those are the things they don't get to because they didn't give me a chance. as you saw tonight, if they would have asked, i would've answered. >> oh definitely no. that governor, thank you so much. >> dana, thank you for the time. thanks for being here in tuscaloosa. world. tied kalanchoes, that for you. >> drunk driver on the debate stage. >> this is great. best line of the night. >> kristie, for the first time in this whole debate season, it seemed like he was comfortable, maybe the smaller stage benefited him for. the audience the strain to appeal to a new hampshire, his attitude tonight, that straight talk kind of thing, went after the sanders a little bit on the trump stuff, defended haley was, funny there he helped himself tonight, he's not gonna help himself in th