As iowans get set to make their choices, weve come to the center of the political universe today, monday, february 1st, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is a special edition of today, iowa votes, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from des moines, iowa. And good morning, everyone. We thought this day would never come, but its finally arrived. Welcome to a special edition of today on a monday morning. We are, yes, in des moines, iowa, joined by a lot of enthusiastic residents of this state on a very pivotal day in the president ial election. This is so exciting. Its an Early Morning for you and will be a late night for the folks if theyre planning to caucus. It happens every four years. Finally time to vote. Its caucus day. In a few hours from now, iowa officially vote for who they want in the white house next year. The candidates have been crisscrossing the state for months. 60,000 Television Ads have aired here. Countless doors have been knocked on. After it all, the republicans and the democratic races are neck and neck. Definitely up for grabs. Want to give you a sense of where we are. The west end architectural salvage here. Nice store with nice people. Everything is for sale, except the people behind us. They also serve coffee. They do early in the morning. Even the desk here, if you like it, call and make a bid. Its for sale. We can do it on steals and deals later. Busy morning ahead. Donald trump, marco rubio and sarah palin will be here. You will see what happened when matt and i spent time on the trail over the weekend. It was fun to get out and glad about. Get the lay of the land. Lets begin with the lastminute push of support for the men and women running for president. We have it covered. Lets begin with nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander and the gop. Good to see you. Welcome to iowa. This state doesnt pick the next president but they whittle down the field. Youve felt the energy. Even ted cruz can see a trump win tonight could make the billionaire unstoppable. Reporter in little more than 12 hours, well know. Will it be donald trump . You havent had a winner in iowa in sf 16 years. Were going to have a believer, you Better Believe it. Youre going to have a winner this time. Reporter or ted cruz . We need to take power out of washington and back to we the people. That is what this campaign is all about. Reporter or can marco rubio turn his late surge into tomorrows surprise story . We are going to win this state in the general election. Reporter with polls showing trump with a fivepoint lead over his rivals, a controversy over a mailer sent by a cruz campaign. Labeled, voting violation, claims to be an official record with a grade of how often residents caucused. The secretary of state blasted the cruz campaign, saying it misrepresents iowa election law. Trump teed off. I thought real estate people in new york are bad. The politicians are the worst liars. Wow. Its a fraud. Reporter cruz remains defiant. I will not aimgsz pologize for using every tool we can to encourage voters to vote. Reporter with trumps wife by his side. He will be unbelievable. The best deal maker. Reporter this weekend, the cruz into victory bus got stuck tonights results. Ted cruz would have visited all 99 countries by the end of the day. An overall turnout is going to help trump. Evangelical turnout will help cruz. I was told the size of the gap between trump and cruz, and marco, because they want the message to be that this is a twoman race. Peter, good to have you in downtown des moines. Thank you very much. As we said, the race on the democratic side is just as compelling. Heldry clin ry Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, deadlocked. Andrea mitchell is covering these final pushes until the caucus tonight. A tight race heading into tonights caucuses. Hilary Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in a statistical tie. On the democratic side, the issue is turnout, getting the reporter with hours to go, sanders were working into the night, making their closing arguments to iowa voters. This is a campaign of the people, by the people and for the people. Reporter sanders speaking to thousands of supporters in des moines. Just six miles away, it was a Clinton Family affair. Senator, secretary of state and the next president of the United States, Hillary Rodham clinton. Reporter drawing her biggest iowa crowd yet. I am a better candidate and, thanks to you, i will be a better president. Reporter clintons final pitch, experience. When you caucus tonight night, youre not only selecting commander in chief. Reporter sanders is change, rallying young people who have never caucused before. Join in the political thank you all very much. Reporter at a student rally saturday, sanders sang with the band, vampire weekend. Reporter clinton is counting on older women, in the past, her most loyalty supporters. This time, even women have clinton fatigue. Ultimately, its not just being the first woman but its being the right president at the right time. Reporter both camps are relying on armies of paid staff and volunteers to turn out the vote. And the clinton team has gone high tech, with an app to spot precincts where they can take delegates from sanders by steering voters to martin omalley. The final poll has clinton three points ahead within the margin of error. Both candidates have plenty of money. Sanders from millions of small donors. It could be a long primary battle ahead, especially if he wins an upset tonight. Thank you so much. Lets turn back to the republicans. Well be talking to a number of candidates throughout the morning. First up, donald trump is on the phone with us. Good morning. Good morning. We find out, do donald trump vote . Youre not one to be modest. Are you predicting a win tonight . No, i cant do that. I mean, weve had the biggest crowds, bigger than anybody. Bigger than bernie, who is second, i will say. But the crowds have been incredible. I dont know. I think so. The enthusiasm, savannah, is incredible, and it looks like were going to miss the snowstorm, which is good news. But its going to come later. But i will tell you, its been an amazing journey. Theres a lot of love in those rooms. Show up to vote. I hope so. Mr. Trump, theres been a lot of headlines over the last several months in iowa about you and ted cruz. Yet, in the last couple of days, youre starting to hear more and more about marco rubio. His campaign is saying he has marcomento is he a threat . I think everyone in the race is a threat. You dont know whats going to happen. Its politics. Hes a capable guy, and hes in there running and pitching. Well have to see what happens. He came in third in the poll, the latest poll, the last poll, and well have to see what happens after tonight. Probably by 10 00 tonight, well know the results. Right here, right now, cruz seems to be your toughest competition. You have really laid the hammer down on him. He has dropped in the polls, but hes still in there. Youre still neck and neck. To shake . Well, i think that, you know, hes a professional politician. Hes a talented guy. People. I said he was born in canada, which is true. A lot of people have a question as to whether or not hes actually able to even serve as president. Its come out loud and strong. I tell you, some constitutional have concluded with results hes not allowed to be president. Thats a big cloud over his head. I said he should remove the cloud by asking for declaratory judgment from the courts. You have numerous lawyers, including one from harvard, who said it is untested law. Numerous lawyers have come out saying hes not allowed to run. Hes not allowed to serve as president. Thats a tough thing. I think thats affected him quite a bit by a lot of people, frankly. Donald, you based a large part of your campaign on being a winner. A successful guy who knows how to close the deal. If you dont win tonight in iowa, how much does it damage your political brand . Well, id like to win. Im doing incredibly well with the evangelicals. As you know, you probably saw the numbers. They have shot up through the sky. Nationwide, leading with jerry falwell, jr. Came in yesterday and the day before and endorsed me. We had an amazing two days together. Sarah palin, who will be on your show later, shes a terrific person, terrific woman, and shes going to be she endorsed me, as you know. Sheriff joe endorsed me. Willie robertson endorsed me. Im getting endorsements from everybody. So many people are going to be announcing endorsements over the next short period of time because they see whats happening. Its a movement. People want to take our country back. They want to look, my theme is make America Great again, and thats what they want to do, matt. They want to make America Great again and its what were going to do. Were not going to make deals like the iran deal. Its a foolish deal and could have been better, if it was made at all. So many other deals. And trade with china, china is eating our lunch. Japan is eating our lunch. I mean, all of them. We want to bring it back. We want to take our country back. Well, donald trump, this is well be watching it with you, of course. Thank you for your time this morning, sir. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Lets bring in Nicolle Wallace. Good morning to you. The question about a loss tonight for donald trump and how it damages his political brand, what do you think . Listen, i think that he said what i was going to say, which is that this is a series of knownunknowns. I thought it was actually a sober interview from donald trump this morning with you guys. No one knows if his movement, as he described it Bernie Sanders describes it as a revolution on the democratic side is going f people are going to show up. Is their model going to bear out the right number of evangelicals, or is Donald Trumps movement going to upend the republicans . A little uncertainty even from donald trump himself, who right. The fact hes doing so well with evangelical voters, is that one of the more confounding things . They can be dispositive of what ultimately happens. Hes winning them, donald trump. I sat down with my two evangelical whisperers, friends who know the block the best, and said, whats going on with trump . They said, its a misnomer. Evangelicals, obviously, we have a set of values but we want to win, too. Their attraction to donald trump isnt dissimilar from the attraction from the rest of trumps support. They want someone who can win do that. Were going to switch to the democrats in a second and talk to secretary clinton. Let me stick with the republicans for a second. Weve been hearing so much and you have since youve been here, that there is a surge going on with marco rubio. You had a chance to get out there over the last day or so. Is it real . I think its real but it has more to do with what were going New Hampshire. Him up to be in a strong position for the establishment. Him as their representative, to hampshire. What about ted cruz . He has staked it all on iowa. He has money. He has organization. Frankly, its the envy of a lot of the other campaigns here in iowa. If he doesnt pull out a win tonight, then what . I agree. Iowa is mustwin for ted cruz. But they are so calm and confident. I think theyre seeing something on the ground, not just in their turnout model, but in their direct line of communication with voters that gives them a lot of confidence about their chances tonight. Nicolle wallace, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Lets get a check of the early weather from mr. Roker. We talked about a snowstorm moves into iowa. Timing, al . Will it have an affect on the caucuses . It might. Especially for folks a little nervous about a blizzard coming in. Theyve pretreated the streets. Take a look at flag staff, arizona. Boom. Thunder snow. Thats right. This storm is making its way to the east. Its already dumped a bunch of snow throughout california, arizona, and it is headed this way. Heres what were looking at for already, snow making its way through the rockies. Now, this system will push to the east. As it does, we look for some fairly good snow falling through the rockies today. Heavy snow for southerncentral rockies. Moves to the plains later this evening. Tomorrow, we have a blizzard likely for iowa. Snow falling at rates of 2 inches an hour. Heavy snow in the upper midwest. Out west, flag staff, denver, 8 to 24 inches of snow. The timing for iowa looks like this. Were going to start this afternoon with clouds. Then by around 8 00, moves into the western part of the state. Hours. By the time we get into tuesday, its a fullblown blizzard. Snowfall amounts, the way were to 8 inches of snow. Were expecting to see upwards of 18 inches of snow. Hastings, nebraska, 12 to 18. Well get to your local afternoon. A mild start. Temperatures starting the day off in the 40s. Cold front to the west of us starts with moisture and clouds in the air. Maybe an isolated shower or two late day and early this evening down through far southeastern mass. Overall mainly dry day and a mild day with temperatures this mid50s to even a few lower 60ed out there. Cooling overnight tonight. Not real cold for the time of year, but back into the upper 20s and lower 30s. 7 on 7 forecast, keeping it dry tomorrow, but rain and w guys, how cool is this . The table my monitor is resting on is the hood of a studebaker 1963 daytona. Wow. You had that car when it was new. This is my car. Al, thank you very much. Lets get back to politics here. What does caucus day have in store for Hillary Clinton . The former secretary of state is with us now. Secretary clinton, good morning to you. Good morning. You have been campaigning for about 300 days now, and today is the day that iowans get to tell you how theyre feeling. Did you wake up this morning excited, nervous, anxious, what . I woke up very excited. Been having just an amazing couple of weeks leading up to the caucus tonight. Weve got such a Great Campaign organization. Volunteers. We knocked on 125,000 doors this past weekend. Theres just so much excitement, and its infectious. Were going to keep working as hard as we can until the evening. We hope that, even though its a tight race, a lot of the people who are committed to caucusing for me will be there. Standing up for me. I will do the same for them in presidency. It is a tight race here. Some of your democratic allies, democratic leaders, have said pointblank that Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist as he describes himself, cannot win a general election, that republicans cannot wait to have an ad that has the hammer and the sickle. You have kind of tiptoed around it. But this is crunch time. If you believe it, why not come right out and say it . Him, iowa voters, but he cannot win a general election. Well, i know, savannah, that is exactly what a lot of democrats are saying. A lot of elected democrats, people who want to take back the senate in the 2016 election. Want to add to the numbers of democrats in the house. Maybe make some progress in governors and are you saying state legislatures. I think its fair to say he has to run his campaign and present his views. We have differences, and ive been pointing out those differences. I think that its important for me to tell voters what i want to achieve and how i will go about doing that. Because i want them to hold me accountable. Then its going to be up to caucus goers tonight, primary voters next in New Hampshire, to decide who they think offers the best path forward to keep the progress that weve made going. You talk about differences, secretary clinton. Differences, youre embracing president obamas legacy. I was at an event for Bernie Sanders last night, and he said, im a supporter of president obama, but i find the last eight years to have been disappointing. Why is he wrong . Well, look, ive had a lot of experience in looking and learning about what it takes to get things done in washington. As a first lady, as a senator for eight years, as a secretary of state. And i think that what president obama inherited, an economy that was in the ditch, he doesnt get the credit for pulling it out. He doesnt get the credit he deserves for the Affordable Care act, something weve been trying to do that i tried to do to get us on the path of universal coverage. I think its a difference between making progress im a progressive who likes to get things done. Not just talk about it but deliver results for people. Thats how i judge myself. Million kids health insurance, like i did when i was first lady. Or National GuardMembers Health care. Thats what youre supposed to do as a leader. I think i have the record, the experience, the knowhow to get it done. I think president obama has made a great effort that has resulted in lots of positive changes for our country. Secretary clinton, i know its a busy day for you and your team, so we thank you for thank you. Great to talk to you. Hope everybody comes out to caucus tonight. All right. Thank you very much. Coming up, were behind the scenes on the campaign trail with Bernie Sanders. I just mentioned that. What he says needs to happen for him to pull out a win tonight. And then sarah palin joins us for an exclusive live interview. This is her first since throwing her support behind donald trump. 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