Got us. My guests this morning, former south bend mayer Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders. Plus President Trump acquitted. I never thought a word would sound so good, its called total acquitt acquittal. And vind dig testify. Adam schiff is a horrible person, nancy pelosi is a horrible person. As he ousts two officials at the house impeachment trials. Republicans say they hope the president learned a lesson from impeachment, but what lesson did he learn at the end . Joining me for insight and analysis, nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt, joshua johnson, Claire Mccaskill of missouri and former republican senator john sununu of New Hampshire. Welcome to sunday and a special edition of meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in manchester, New Hampshire, from the New Hampshire democratic primary, this is a special edition of meet the press with chuck todd. And a good sunday morning from manchester, New Hampshire. We are back again at our better than ever headquarters in New Hampshire where two days from now voters will either untangle the mess treated in iowa or more likely further complicate the democrats path to the white house. One thing we did learn this week, iowa may not be able to count, but it still counts. Pete buttigiegs strong showing and joe bidens fourth place iowa finish have sent their candidacies in opposite trajectories. The latest suffolk tracking poll shows Bernie Sanders with a two point lead over buttigieg who has surged this week 24, 22, with Elizabeth Warren, joe biden and Amy Klobuchar trailing. Of note, klobuchar picked up the most overnight, perhaps she is seeing a bit of a bump from the debate. Since tuesday buttigieg has gained seven points overall while biden has lost five overall in that poll. The other thing we learned is that matters could hardly be worse right now for democrats. The iowa vote count pheaa co a national embarrassment, the candidate once seen as having the best chance of beating President Trump is in a polling freefall and low on money. The Party Establishment is terrified of a sanders nomination, but at a loss for how to stop him, and through it all President Trump was acquitted of impeachment charges, his poll numbers are improving and hes feeling as confident as ever. So tuesdays primary may be among the states most consequential in quite some time as voters clarify the direction of democratic race, or not. Billionaires by the dozens are contributing to Pete Buttigieg. The two front runners now taking each other on on the trail. You dont have to take on these people. Not take money from them. We cannot risk dividing americans future further, saying that you must either be for a revolution or you must be for the status quo. And on stage. The politics that says its my way or the highway. Are you talking about senator sanders . Yes. I dont have 40 billionaires, pete, contributing to my campaign. After a fourth place finish in iowa and now polling fourth in New Hampshire and leaking support. I took a hit in iowa and ill probably take a hit here. The Biden Campaign announced a limited shakeup on friday, elevating top aide anita dunn to an expanded role. Now the fire once trained on biden. Joe biden is a friend of mine and im not here to attack him. Is turning on buttigieg instead. On friday night buttigieg faced his most direct attacks from opponents eager to challenge him as the leading alternative to sanders. We have a newcomer in the white house and look where it got us. He is a mayor of a small city. Senator warren, is that a substantial answer from mayor buttigieg . No. On saturday the Biden Campaign released a digital ad mocking buttigiegs experience and calling his record into question. Even when public pressure mounted against him former mayor pete fired the first africanamerican police chief of south bend and then he forced out the africanamerican fire chief, too. This guy is not a barack obama. Buttigieg is leaning into his lack of experience. You dont have decades of experience in the establishment, the city you are the mayor of isnt even the biggest city in the country, its more like manchester, New Hampshire, to which i say that is very much the point. Waiting in the wings, billionaire Mike Bloomberg who has already spent more than 273 million on ads dwarfing the field after iowa his Campaign Says he is doubling his spending. The president seems to view the Republican Party as a cult, that we will defend anything he does or says. I dont think anyone ought to be able to buy their way into a nomination. And tom steyer going negative on the air and raising what may be the real test for both front runners after New Hampshire. Unless you can appeal to the diverse parts of the Democratic Party, including specifically the black community, including specifically latinos, if you cant do that then we cant beat donald trump. And joining me now is the former mayor of south bend, indiana, democratic president ial candidate, Pete Buttigieg. Welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. I think you surprised a lot of people by a virtual tie in iowa given we still dont have 100 . Everybody is coming at you now, looking at your record in south bend, concerned that no matter what the history of the Democratic Party s this is a different time. Donald trump is a different candidate. And there is a lot of concern that you wont be able to beat him. How do you alleviate this concern . Well, the way to beat donald trump is certainly not to rely on the familiar playbook, and its also in my view not to say that we need either a revolution or you must be for the status quo. The reason my campaign was so effective, especially in places that supported barack obama and then donald trump in the caucuses is that we are reaching out to everybody, putting together a majority that is prepared not only to stand up for replacing this president , unified in what were against, but even more so unified on what were for. The need for economic empowerment, the need for higher wages, the need to support workers, the need for health care, dealing with Climate Change and gun violence. There is a powerful american majority right now ready not only to win but to govern and my campaign is about how to galvanize and not polarize that majority. Thats how were going to beat donald trump. Let me play you another clip from this digital attack ad from the Biden Campaign. Here it is. Joe biden helped lead the passage a of the Affordable Care act which gave health care to 20 Million People. And when parkgoers called on Pete Buttigieg, he inn called decorative lights under bridges giving citizens of south bend color flee illuminated rivers. There is a lot of subtext in this ad in various ways. I think the biggest simply is can your south bend record withstand the scrutiny thats going to come . You have painted a very positive picture, but when you start peeling back some of the layers here, there is some questionable things on your record, particularly in your dealings with the Africanamerican Community. Well, our story and the story of our city is that of a city facing tremendous challenges and when you are a mayor you dont just get to opine on things or vote on things or call for things to change, you have to roll your sleeves up and do them. I think the question is why is it that most the voters who know me best in the Africanamerican Community, those in south bend, are backing me. And its not not ever been. There is some a member of the city council in south bend who is not just backing you but really calling into question your leadership in the Africanamerican Community. He was one of my political rivals for mayor, i think he came in fifth, but most black elected officials who are involved in this campaign at all are supporting me. Its not because its been perfect. This is my month. We have to deal with these issues on the ground from Racial Justice in policing to economic empowerment. One of the things the vp made fun of, an infrastructure investment, was an investment in minorityowned businesses on corridors in our citys west side because on the ground you actually have to do these things and we have faced these issues, rolled up our sleeves and gotten a real measurable track record of results, cutting black unemployment, cutting black poverty. Our city was nationally recognized for race work on economic empowerment. Its not like we solved all these issues in south bend just like no one has solved all the issues for the country. I will stack up my record against anybody else running for president all of whom are implicated in the realities their country faces especially when it comes to racial and economic inequality. I guess the question comes with when did you see these inequities in the Africanamerican Community and how quickly did you address them . During your tenure ferguson happened outside of st. Louis and many mayors said we have to look the at our policing practices, we have to make sure our Police Departments look like the community that theyre policing. The evidence in south bend is questionable whether it looks like i think you make the argument that you did respond, the results dont look like that. Well, why do you think that we implemented implicit bias training, why do you think we led the region in transparency in reporting cases of the use of force, seeing what had happened in ferguson. Why do you think i appointed an africanamerican majority on the civilian board overseeing our Police Department . And do you know what, in terms of results, use of force incidents went down. Into my second term arrest rates for black residents on drug charges were lower than they were across the state and across the country. Is the record mixed . Of course it is because the reality is so tough and so complex and we had a lot of issues to deal with in my eighth year just as we did in my first year, but no one can say that we were not intentional and that we do not have results to show for it. You point to a mistake that you will admit now you wish you handled an incident differently, whether its the firing of the police chief, the fire chief. Is there any of these incidents you wish you could have handled differently. Certainly in my first few weeks when i was presented with the situation that led me to part ways with the police chief, i would have handled that differently. It was the last time i have ever fired somebody who reported to me without sitting down for a facetoface conversation. That was a lesson i learned the hard way. Youre running against some folks that have made mistakes, youve jumped on those mistakes. Should their mistakes be forgiven the way youre asking your mistakes to be forgiven. This is how it works when each of us comes forward running for president , look at what weve done, what weve learned and what were proposing for the road ahead. None of us present ourselves making the case were per fejt, we present ourselves with a vision and idea about where America Needs to go. Im working in particular to earn the support of voters of color, many of whom i think didnt think we had much of a chance to begin with, to make sure im communicating who i am as well as what it is i propose to do. Let me put it this niece terms, these first four primaries are designed ive always believed in different ways to test you have all the pieces of this puzzle for the democratic coalition. If you cant finish in the top two in nevada and South Carolina, doesnt that send a message that you cannot be the candidate that brings this Party Together . I will let pundits set the goal post but its certainly the case that we need to do well in different parts of the country in different states. Every state is different. New hampshire is very independent minded, thinks differently than iowa, nevada and South Carolina have a different demographic makeup and thats part of what this process will make out. The president is implying that you are attacking the Obama Presidency. Let me ask the question this way, in the second term of the Obama Presidency what do you think they did what do you think they could have done differently that might have prevented the rise of donald trump . Look, i had the obama white houses back time and time again because they were doing the right thing and that wasnt always easy as a mayor in indiana. In fact, my First Campaign statewide was on a platform of defending the obama administrations decision to rescue the Auto Industry because i knew what that meant to my state, but those achievements were important because they met the moment. This is 2020. Why did we get donald trump in your view and could this have been prevented by the Obama Biden Administration in your view . No, i dont think you can pin this on any one administration but its certainly the case that people are frustrated by a reality that they feel has left them out for 40 years and we felt it in my community, an Industrial Community in the heart of the socalled rust belt that didnt feel Like Washington was hearing what we had to say. And i am seeing so much communities, rural, industrial, even parts of some of our biggest cities where people of different backgrounds are questioning whether the economic and political realities are responding to what we need in our lives. Now, in a very cynical and divisive way donald trump took advantage of that. Now is our chance to put together the majority that will win big enough against donald trump the trumpism itself goes into the history books. I want to play frankly what was an uncomfortable moment to watch. Then they found out you were married to a man they backed off. Are you saying that he has a samesex partner . Pete . Yes. Yes. Are you kidding . Hes married to him, yes. Well, then i dont want anybody like that in the white house. So can i have my time back. It may not be fair, but theres going to be voters like that. Theres going to be some democrats democratic operatives who are sitting there nervous going, do you lose the white house because theres some voter who walks into the booth and just doesnt pull the lever simply because they have an issue with your private life . What do you say to those concerns . Well, the first is what i have to say to that voter which is im saddened that she sees things that way, but im running to be her president , too. No matter who she votes for as president im going to get up in the morning and try to do a good job for her and for every american. The other thing i was very struck by in that exchange was how well our volunteer handled the situation, reflecting the values of this campaign. Look, the reality is prejudice is still out there and youve got to deal with it, but i would not have been able to get reelected the way i did in mike pences indiana if people were not able to look past that. Every time somebody seeks to break a barrier pundits try to make it about electability. I was going to say instead of being a pundit here, have you taken a moment to appreciate the history youve made . Theres not a lot of time for reflection in the campaign. I understand. Yeah, there was a moment before we went out and just reminded me what this means for some kid peeking around the closet door wondering if this country has a place for them. You know, why i set out to be the gay president , but certainly seeing what this means is really meaningful and really powerful. If you come out of here with a shot at momentum, first or second place you may have a shot at momentum youre staring at Michael Bloombergs 273 million, i saw your eyes widen when you saw it in our spot there, you and him are vying for the same voter. Thats a big impediment in front of you. Its about our vision. I have a vision for this country that is about moving us forward, its about ensuring that we draw together the energies of democrats and independents and even some republicans who want to cross over. One thing we have learned is that money alone cant buy elections or ross perot would be the president of the United States right now. Yes, of course, fundraising matters and being on the airwaves matters, but part of whats so important about this process in the early states is i dont think you can skip having voters look you in the eye, ask you what youre going to do for them, val length you, question you, and as the Campaign Goes on in terms of voters and reporters, seriously asking tough questions of all of the candidates, it has a leveling effect where money alone cant be the decisive factor. Ej, im going to have to leave it there. Thanks for coming on, sharing your views. Be safe on the trail. Good to be with you. When we come back, the New Hampshire primary front runner, senator