as opponents vow to fight. and a murder. the real-life whodonit who has so many viewers hooked, amateur detectives split, and tonight outrage calls for action. "nightly news" begins right now. good evening. call it the sprint to the starting line. after all of the months of rising and falling fortunes, we're now just 28 days from the first nominating contest of the 2016 race for president. and there is new urgency for those still in it. 28 separate campaign events today alone. heading into the stretch toward the february 1st iowa caucus, the latest poll there shows ted cruz ahead of the republican pack. for the democrats, hillary clinton with a nearly 10-point lead over bernie sanders. while in new hampshire, it is donald trump out front and for the demes, sanders with a 2 point lead. and with crunch-time here, checkbooks are being opened, strategies refined. and in the case of man she calls husband and her not so secret weapon has been launched on to the campaign trail. we have it all covered. andrea mitchell begins our coverage. andrea, good evening. evening, lester. this is bill clintons first solo trip in this campaign, trying clinton over the finish line in new hampshire. bill clinton at a popular restaurant in manchester. living up to a famous snl parody. taking nothing for granted this time. >> can hillary win this one? >> win here? sure. but it is going to be hard. >> reporter: back in his element. despite donald trump's attack of the former president's past womanizing, to counter charge that trump is >> how could she do that when she has one of the great women abusers of all time sitting at her house. >> reporter: today bill clintonon following a campaign decision not to take as much as he wanted to. about the kind of campaign donald trump >> the republicans will have to decide nominate. how i feel is only [ inaudible ]. in iowa refusing to engage trump. >> i've adopted a new years resolution. i'm going to let him alternative reality and i'm not going to respond. >> reporter: hillary calls bill her not so secret weapon. but he occasionally misfired, in 2008 for ridiculing barack obama. this time vermont senator bernie sanders is giving hillary clinton a run for her money in new hampshire. ahead there and raising $33 million in the last three months. only $4 million less than clinton's 37 all of this, as both clintons try to stick this their game plan, ignoring donald trump. andrea mitchell, nbc news. exeter, new hampshire. i'm katy tur on the campaign trail with donald trump. where today he continued to swing at hillary clinton by targeting her husband bill. >> reporter: following up online first in a massive crowd in biloxi. >> he was paid for speeches paid by people in the state department. >> reporter: and again this morning. >> i don't care about monica lewinsky other than i think hillary was an enabler. >> and now the billionaire is putting his money where his mouth is. spending $2 million in iowa and new hampshire on his first tv ad. it is a 30-second summary of trump's campaign hits. fighting radical cutting isis off at the head and stopping illegal immigrants and building a wall. if that doesn't look like the u.s.-mexico border, you're right. it was morocco. the campaign explains, no, but this is what our country will look like if we don't build a wall. by playing to fear, trump is hoping for a boost. especially in iowa, where poll have him losing to cruz. >> if he come in second by two points, they will say this is a terrible defeat. >> reporter: he is tamping down on expectations should it slip through his fingers. >> he said he would win. and if he doesn't win, he fails. he becomes the most treaded word in the trump lexicon, which is loser. >> reporter: and once again, trump is not in an early state. instead rallying thousands here in massachusetts. it's only january, lester, but he is acting as if it is august and the only ones left standing are him and hillary clinton. >> katy tur, thank you. continues to dominate the natural conversation, he could face a stinging defeat in iowa. and senator ted cruz is leading in the polls there. now stepping on the gas, hoping to barnstorm the state to victory. and hallie jackson is the only correspondent inside of the cruz campaign blitz. >> reporter: below freezing on the road in iowa. ted cruz plays a hot hand, in the lead, but not a lock. today kicking off trips to 28 counties in six days. on his campaign bus. >> two weeks ago, just about every republican candidate was attacking donald trump. today just about every republican candidate is attacking me. >> why? >> that is an indication something has changed in the race. >> reporter: cruz in the cross-hairs, facing fire even from donald trump. >> not too many evangelicals come out of cuba. just remember that. >> politicians behave a certain way when they are panicking. and they engage in attacks. they engage in personal attacks. i understand that. i'm not going to get drawn into that. >> so he is panicking. >> i'm going to keep the focus on the issues that matter. >> reporter: but that is where rivals see weakness, accusing him of shifting his stance on immigration and being too soft on national defense and too calculating in his political position. >> are you too political opportunistic. >> washington establishment engaged in this freudian objection where they accuse conservatives of doing day. >> and blanketing early states too. today democrats and republicans racking up 15 campaign stops in iowa. 12 in new hampshire. in all, more than 100 events this week. far from home and >> the hardest thing is it has been hard on my girls. >> cruz, staying in touch with his >> here is carolyn. i love you and i love >> her emoji game is on point. >> reporter: planning long past iowa but down-playing he needs this state to stick around. cruz tells me iowa is not a must-win for him. but if he doesn't, it is tough for political observers to see how he gets the nomination. it is why cruz is hoping his social conservative stance appeals to evangelicals and his strong fundraising appeals to pragmatists looking for candidates with resources to compete later on. the big question for cruz, four weeks out until the caucuses. has he hit a hot streak too early. >> hallie, thank you. we turn to the scene playing out in oregon. a tense scene. a look inside of the siege where armed anti-government protesters have taken over a federal building. the fbi is stepping in but there is no sign of law enforcement at the scene. nbc's joe fryer has the latest. >> reporter: for the third straight day, the wildlife refuge is under the control of armed anti-government protesters. >> i'll stay here as long as it takes. >> reporter: concerned about safety, schools 30 miles away are closed for the entire week. town. and i don't want the kids to feel scared in their own town. >> reporter: for a brief period, the media was allowed inside the refuge, where things were largely quiet. government cars are still parked and covered in snow. no employees here. no visitors. the fbi wants a peaceful resolution but won't detail how they plan to respond to the occupation. >> is there anything that would make you say, okay, we could end this and go home now? >> i wouldn't say words would do it. would. >> reporter: the group wants local control of this federal land. by the case of two oregon ranchers, dwight and steven hammond, who were fires on federal land near their ranch. late today, the hammonds reported to prison in southern california. >> this is obviously an issue that goes well beyond the fate of two ranchers. this is about the fate of 300 million acres controlled by the struggle between the ranchers and the federal government intensified in 2014, where bundy had an armed standoff with agents trying to confiscate his cattle after he refused to pay grazing fees. now, in oregon, his son is leading the group and taken over this remote wildlife refuge. tonight the sheriff aimed a message directly at occupiers, saying it is time for them to leave this community. meanwhile, the hammond family has made it clear they are not a part of what is happening here at the refuge. lester. >> joe fryer, thank you. president obama is starting off the final year of his presidency by picking a major fight with republicans. about to go around congress and take executive action on guns. our senior white house correspondent chris jansing has just learned details about the president's action. chris, what does the plan do? >> reporter: president obama's biggest been not getting any new gun laws on the books after the newtown so this afternoon he made it clear, this is a priority for his final year in office. his attorney general and fbi director among those in the oval office who gave their recommendations for the executive action that do not require congressional approval. most important will loophole, forcing more gun buyers to get background checks. and the fbi will add new employees to process them. now critics say the new measures would not have prevented recent mass shootings. his response -- >> it is not going to prevent every mass shooting. it is not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal. it will potentially save lives in this country. >> reporter: beyond executive actions, president obama potentially set up another fight. he wants to hire 200 new atf agents and add $500 million to the budget for mental health care. those will need congress's okay. and late this afternoon, democrats came here to the white house for a strategy session. the president has also lined up gun-related events all week long, including a meeting with newtown families. lester. >> chris, thanks. a rough start to the new year on wall street. part of a global selloff over concerns about a slowdown in china. and major new tensions in the oil-rich middle east. at one point the dow was down over 450 points before it gained back some ground near the close to finish down 276, and in the middle east, things have gone from bad to much worse between the region's two big rival powers. predominantly sunni saudi arabia, and shiite-dominated iran. the saudi execution of a shiite cleric this uproar in iran, leading saudis to cut diplomatic ties with iran. widening the biggest fault line in an already dangerous neighborhood. bill neely reports. >> reporter: fury in rival saudi arabia. america targeted too. as a saudi ally. u.s. flags burned. since the saudi embassy was burned by protesters, relations have plummeted. iranian diplomats expelled and the saudis condemned, from india to iraq today, where police protected saudi diplomats. the saudis executed prominent shiite cleric al nimr, despite numerous warnings from the u.s. >> there has been direct concerns raised by u.s. officials to saudi officials. >> reporter: one consequence is a boiling crisis between iran and saudi arabia. deadly already in syria and yemen, where they back opposing sides in war. now worsened in iraq, lebanon and bahrain where the two struggle for dominance. >> we will not allow iran to destabilize our region. >> reporter: devine retribution. but the u.s. plans for peace talks in syria this month that could suffer most. >> the americans hope to really find a way out of this syrian conflict. forget about it. this is not good news for the united states. >> reporter: the real winners could be isis. they want sectarian conflict and the syrian war to wage. and this is already a crisis that has brought more chaos where it is least needed. bill neely, nbc news. still ahead tonight, the fascination and controversy over the netflix documentary series "making a murderer." how it has sparked a new call for action, for many who think that an innocent man is behind bars. and also songs and sign language. how an unconventional revival gave this actress her big break on broadway. unconventional actually, philly was the first capital. oh, honey... no wait, did you just have that on your phone? 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we'll be with her all day to see how it goes. after the deliveries, i was ok. now the ciabatta is done and the pain is starting again. more pills? seriously? seriously. all these stops to take more pills can be a pain. can i get my aleve back? for my pain, i want my aleve. get all day minor arthritis pain relief finally tonight, a broadway dream come true. a much-loved musical playing to an audience that most shows ignore. and it is cast with actors so often locked out of the great white way. including one young woman who got the break of a lifetime. rehema ellis has her story. >> reporter: this is the opening scene of the broadway musical "spring awakening." but when the audience hears this -- [ singing ] -- lead actress sandra may frank hears this. sandra is deaf. she shared her role with hearing actor katie. as katie sings, sandra through an interpreter. >> i see the faces in the audience and the eyes looking at us. they are going, you are the one who is singing. oh, okay. you are the one who is signing. >> sandra is one of nine deaf actors in the cast. each is paired with a hearing actor. >> what we're trying to create is that people will watch her and hear me. >> i watch this play, and i didn't think of two actresses. i thought of one. >> sandra lost her ability to hear at age 3. but held fast to a dream. >> i wanted to learn how to sing. and my mother was like, oh, okay. but you are deaf. you would have to work hard. but here i am singing, but in a different way. >> she looked up to people like oscar winners, who are now a co-star. >> i can't be the only one. i want to be able to see more deaf actors get recognized for >> reporter: the show is wowing crowds. >> i could see they are moved by the acting. they are not looking at us like disabled characters on the stage, they are looking at us to tell the story. >> reporter: an opportunity for actors and audiences alike. rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. >> and that will do it for us on monday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us on nbc denver police say a driver who hit a 10-year-old boy and drove off this morning has been arrested. he may have gotten away if it weren't for the help of a tow truck driver. >> reporter: this tow truck driver -- >> if i hadn't done what i did, away, and that's not right.