So, i applaud that. I love the feeling. I love the energy. I obviously respect senator sanders greatly and appreciate what he has done in this campaign. But i believe that im the better person to be the democratic nominee, and to be the president and commander in chief of the country because [ applause ] another question for you. Hs from logan, iowa, going to school, workings as a supervisor for a january tomorrow company. Says hes undecided, has a question. Great. Secretary oh, clinton, sorry. Thats okay. I can see why they gave you this question, i just wanted to know which of our previous president s has inspired you most and why. You can only pick one. One. You can pick. Sorry. Let me jump your question, one president , one. Okay. Just one. [ applause ] okay. Sorry, president obama, sorry, bill, abraham lyincolnlincoln. You know, i wow, when i think about his challenges, they paleed in comparison to anything we can face or imagine, you know, more americans died in the civil war than, you know, the wars of the 20th century put together. So here was a man who was a real politician. I mean, he was a great statsman, he understood politics and he had to work to put together, the support he needed to be able to hold the country together during the war, and while he was prosecuting that war to keep the union together, he was building america, which i found just an astonishing part of his legacy. Transcontinental rail system, land grant colleges, he was thinking about the future while in the middleton of trying to decide which general he can trust to try to finish the war. Thats what i mean, when youve got to do a lot of things at once, what could be more overwhelming than trying to wage and win a civil war . And yet, he kept his eye on the future and he also tried to keep summoning up the better angels was our nature. You know, he was willing to reconcile and forgive, and i dont know what our country might have been like had he not been murdered, but i bet that it might have been a little less rank reduce, a little more forgiving and tolerant than might possibly have brought people back together. More quickly. But instead, you know, we had reconstruction, we had the reins graduation of segregation and jim crow. We had people in the south feeling totally discouraged and defiant. So, i really do believe he could have very well put us on a different path. And, as i say, our challenges are nothing like what he faced, but lets think ourselves about not only what we have to do right now, especially to get the income rising in america, especially to make college affordable, do something about student debt, Keep Health Care growing until 100 coverage and so much else, but lets also think about how we do try to summon up those better angels. And to treat each other, even when we disagree, fundamentally disagree, treat each other with more respect. And agree to disagree more civilly and try to be inspired by, i think, the greatest of our president s. [ applause ] secretary clinton, thank you very much for taking the tunt. Great to see you. Appreciate it. You doing okay . Everythings great. Thank you. We want to want thank secretary clinton, governor omalley and senator sanders, and everyone who made this town hall possible. Thanks to our partners, the Iowa Democratic party, and drake university, of course, and thank you all, our audience for watching and participating. The caucuses just one week from tonight. Well be here, cnn will have complete coverage. Im chris cuomo in des moines, don lemon picks up our coverage right now. [ applause ] all right. Chris, thank you very much. Our breaking news tonight. You just heard from Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin Omalley. Made their closing arguments at cnns democratic town hall in des moines. This is cnn tonight, i am don lemon, thank you for joining us. Just one week away from the first vote in the nation at the iowa caucuses. And the race for the democratic nomination is up for grabs right now. So lets discuss. We heard great things from all three candidates. Joining me now is peter biener, also van jones, i will not be getting a word in edge wise with all of you. I realize that. It was very interesting. All of them showed up, Hillary Clinton showed up. She showed up. How did they do, gloria . These were candidated out on the campaign trail. I dont think they would have been as good in this kind of a venue, six months ago. Six weeks ago. Right. Hillary they all had to stand up because they had so much energy. They couldnt kind of talk sitting down. Hillary clinton came to play. Bernie sanders came to play. You had a 74yearold revolutionary there on stage, taking it right to Hillary Clinton, not in the personal way, but saying these are the areas i disagree with you on. This is why i would be a better leader because i was against the war in iraq before you were. I was against those trade deals before you were. I was for Climate Change before you were. You know and on and on, and then you saw Hillary Clinton give it right back and basically say, without again, without criticizing Bernie Sanders personally, but saying you know what, i can govern. Ive been there. Ive been under attack and i keep coming back, and i know thousand get that was the first answer to the young person, when were you born, 93 or whatever. You were chomping at the bit. What were you saying, ben . All three of them were at their very best. This was the best ive seen all three of them. Hillary clinton demonstrated that she is probably the best prepared person to be commander in chief maybe in the history of the country, but Bernie Sanders, if you are curious, how can this weird guy be surging . You saw tonight why. This guy has taken on the mantle of the progressive wing of the democratic party, and unapologetically, shes done it with humor anden warmth. Usually you see him yelling and yelling, you can see now the charm. You can see now why hes rising. I think hes done the democrats a favor. He has done what republicans have done, moving the needle to the right. He has made it safe to be a strong liberal, he is unapologetic. I want to stick with this side of the room, any standout moments for you . I thought they were both good. It was like a slam dunk contest. No opponent on the field. They were both, they were both what was striking though was the content. Bernie sanders almost no Foreign Policy. Hillary clinton, dominated by Foreign Policy. One of the reasons they could both be so strong is they were playing in their own spots and Comfort Level, hes much more comfortable dealing with question of economics and class social issues. Strong on policy. Dealing with Foreign Policy, big difference. How much energy was on the by straj. We hear about this, Energy Deficit in the democratic party. Im a Hillary Clinton supporter, and she came out tonight. And i think she snoked it completely out of the park, but i also recognize that Bernie Sanders did a hell of a job. He really did a great job in co. Lissing his supporters. He pivoted back to the billionaire class, income inequality. He is the most bond message candidate that i have ever seen in my you thought martin was going to show up . Did he . He was present. He was present. Difficulty that Martin Omalley is having hes running against Bernie Sanders, who is in his own element who has these large crowds who is feeding off this energy, whos probably going to be the 45th president of the United States, Hillary Clinton, whos literally dominated Foreign Policy, and you could see on that stage, it was, she was ready to be president today. And i think that in a world where many people are afraid in a country where many people have this fear, they spoke to them. Neutral, let me start with that, but more importantly i was proud to be a democrat tonight. Exactly. I was proud to hear from fly distinguished candidates who understand the issues, understand what keeps americans up at night, and they were able to answer those questions. I think we should remember that theres a large percentage of voters who are still uncommitted, and tonight, this town hall was, was there for voters to sort of help make up their mind, clear up any misunderstanding. So i thought it was a good forum, a great response from the candidates. And i think were going to have one, excuse melange, one hell of a week in politics thats nothing on this show. Im a catholic girl, but owe you know, it was great to hear candidates and stand up and address some questions from the voters. It was a good night for democrats and the country. You have the stage. I listened with an open mind to Bernie Sanders giving his definition of democratic socialism. And what i was trying to disearn is whether its sellable to the country at large. I doubt that it is. I listen to him and thought he was effective, i though he was on top of his game, but i still look and wonder is this the George Mcgovern of 2016 should he ever win the nomination . Hed be better served if he used the word capitalism and used the word sburp neuroship in the midst of giving his explanations, so as to say hey, i want people to make money, its cool to make money, but the disparity has grown too large. Did he get people to understand, did he distinguish himself, how are you going to pay for this . Im going to raise taxes. Play in that room. Itll play in that room. Were going to look in this moment when we come back and discuss that and many more as we continue on. Stay with us, everyone. When we come back, more from iowa and from the man who moderated tonights debate, thats chris cuomo. On the other side of this break. Lease a 2016 lincoln mkx for 399 a month only at your lincoln dealer. With Heart Failure, danger is always on the rise. Symptoms worsen because your heart isnt pumping well. water filling room about 50 percent of people die dog whimpering within 5 years of getting diagnosed. But theres something you can do. Talk to your doctor about Heart Failure treatment options. Because the more you know, the more likely you are. dog whimpering to keep it pumping. Lost shipments, lost invoices, lost prospects, lost respect. Wellcrafted solutions for todays problems in commerce. Pitney bowes, the craftsmen of commerce. Back now with the postcoverage, Anderson Cooper was in des moines in the hall tonight. He is with chris cuomo who was moderator. I really liked this format as i like the debates, but i like this better than the debates. Whatd you think, did you like them . I think it allowed the candidates to make an impassioned case for why they should be the dimmic nominee. When youre doing this chris, its hard to get a sense of how its going. How did you think it went . I felt that the questions were good. From the voters. Youre right, especially in Something Like this. I really wasnt focussed too much about myself because i wasnt really that relevant, its not like moderating a debate when you have to be the conductor of whats going on here. Here it was just not getting in the bay and trying to push back when necessary. But i think its different when a candidate is talking to you or me than when theyre talking to a voter. They dont, they cannot regard us the same way, they can blow off the premise of a question if they want and its acceptable. You cant do that with a voter. And you get to the measure a candidate, i think, the voters in a way that they dmoent others. And i think this was a smart way to do it. You got a sense that the candidates, look, iowa is retail politics, iowa is all about small meetings like this and theyve been doing the town halls, but they are clearly practiced at it. I was surprised at the energy of each of them. Considering theyve been out all day long, Bernie Sanders referenced that about being more tired if you were keeping up with him all day long. Each may impassioned pleas and played very well to certainly this young audience. You know, where the senator and i grew up, they called it the hunga, the hunga right now. Theyre on, candidates do that when theyre getting close. What i think, what welcome the plus minus on this one. The plus is you got good exposure for the voters, direct questions . Whats the minus . Well you didnt go at them the way you usually do in a debate. That was not as much of an accountability ses, but i think thats by design. Certainly we have no problems asking hard questions to candidates, but this was their chance to make their last pitch, you know, which is obviously going to be largely positive because its coming for them in response to voters questions. Take for what it is, they did a good job. Bernie sanders clearly tried to paint the difference between him and senator clinton in a way that was respectful, didnt seem like an attack, but make those differences clear. As did Hillary Clinton. Absolutely as did secretary clinton. I mean, shes not consistently talking about experience being up for the whole job by coincidence. Shes saying that to frame Bernie Sanders is a one trick pon pony. Plays different lip on television than in the room. But certainly in this room, the audience was wrapped, the applause very strong, particularly in Martin Omalley, strong response from a lot of people in this room. Itll be interesting to see how voters watching on television, how they viewed it compared to the people in this room, don. After i question for you i have a question for you, i was interested in the questions from young people, especially because they asked all the candidates, you know, i dont see the enthusiasm for you and Bernie Sanders. Was the room filled with a lot of young people . There were. A lot of young people here. Clearly a lot of students i dont know how it was determined who got to be in the room. Clearly a lot of students from the university here. Definitely when you look around, probably one of the few gray haired people around. Its definitely a very, very young audience, don. I have dmoon brazil to make up on this end for gray hairs. We got great hairs. You can have mine. All right guys, thank you very much. Nice job for both of you in iowa. Up next, more from the iowa town hall, you heard the candidates make their final arguments. Dp you change your mind about any of them . About anything . Well discuss when you come back. So im going to take this opportunity to go off script. So if i wanna go to jersey and check out shotsy tuccerellis portfolio, whats it to you . Or im a scottish mason whose assets are made of stone like me heart. Papa youre no son of mine or perhaps its time to seize the day. Dont just see opportunity, seize it applause seize it does the smell of a freshly fill you with optimism . Do you love your wireless keyboard more than certain family members . Is your success due to a filing system only you understand . Does printing from your tablet to your wireless printer give you a jolt of confidence . If so, you may be gearcentric. Someone who knows that the right office gear helps you do great things. And theres one place that has it all. Office depot officemax. Gear up for great. And clean and real and nowhere to be,o, and warmth and looking good, and sandwich and soup and inside jokes, and dan is back good, clean food pairs well with anything. The clean pairings menu. 500 calories or less. At panera. Food as it should be. The simpler the ingredients, healththe better. Lieves which is why healthy choice simply cafe steamers uses 100 natural chicken and absolutely nothing artificial. Democratic candidates taking their battle down to the wire with the iowa caucuses. And just one week away, back with me now is my panel. And the people with no hair, we have everything from it. And thats a compliment, don, thats no shade as someone said on social media. Michael mentioned this just a short time ago, talking about the candidates perceived strengths and weaknesses are. You mentioned earlier about Bernie Sanders defending himself as a socialist. Some of your detractors have called you a associatist on occasions, and you dont seem too troubled by that, and sometimes embrace it. I wondered if you could elaborate on that, and just to show us what the Comfort Level you have, your definition of so that it doesnt concern the rest of us citizens. Democratic socialism means, to me, is that economic rights, the right to the Economic Security should exist in the United States of america. It means to me that theres something wrong when we have millions of Senior Citizens today trying to get by on 11, 12,000 a year social security. It means theres something wrong when the rich get richer and almost everybody else gets poorer. It means there is something wrong, and government should play a role in making sure that all of our kids, regardless of their income, are able to get a higher education. Which is why im calling for free tuition of public colleges and universities and why we have to deal with this horrendous level in student debt that people are having. Now whats going on in countries around the world, in scandinavia and germany, the ideas that i am talk abouting are not lradical ideas, what it means to me in its essence is that we cannot continue to have a government dominated by the billionaire class, and a congress that continues to work for the interest of the people on top while ignoring working families. All right. This was your, you brought this up. Did he help himself there . Did he explain himself . Socialist, people are afraid of that word. I think he helped himself with regard to the Democratic Base, probably helped himself in as far as hes trying to attract those voters in iowa. I