ben carson is now doing well and i think ben carson has a lot of problems with his record and we'll see how he holds up to the scrutiny. >>> done deal. for the first time in five years, the white house and congress agree on a way to avoid the fiscal cliff. clearing the decks for the next speaker of the house. >> i think this process stinks. under new management we are not going to run the house this way. >> no, i'm in full agreement. it stinks. this is not the way to run a railroad. >>> and shocking video. a uniformed school officer body slams a high school girl, raising serious questions about what led to the confrontation and the use of force. we'll have the very latest from columbia, south carolina. >>> good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. donald trump returns to iowa today in an unfamiliar position, second place. >> i don't get it. i'm going there actually today and i have tremendous crowds and tremendous love in the room, and you know, we seem to have hit a chord but some of these polls coming out, i don't quite get it. i'm a little bit surprised. the other polls

not so much ben carson. the interesting dynamic, though, eric, even if he doesn't answer the questions the way that some on the stage or the audience might want to hear, you know, ben carson, no matter what he says, it seems to improve his position in the polls. all the supposed controversys he has been in, over the last six weeks, pomsters say it's helped him, not hurt him. >> he comes across as a really gentle sort of genuine figure and so sometimes when he makes these controversial statements, i think the public, especially evangelical voters in states like iowa, where he is doing really well have a tendency to be dismissive of it. to sort of give him some leeway because of his personality, perhaps other candidates might not get. you mention cnbc, whiching will comfortable territory for trump and fiorina, the other two outsider type candidates. >> right. >> well, carson's never really even appeald to that audience, his appeal has always been through religion. it's been two evangelicals. it's sort of not b

ben carson? >> no. not here what's i'm going to do for you, you're going to love it. >> ben carson has got a box. and he's got a movie. >> he's got an iowa box. >> he's ahead in the latest poll. does that translate to wins in new hampshire, ohio, nevada. i don't think it does but you think i'm wrong, don't you? >> i think we'll see. >> stick around because "msnbc live" is coming up next. >> right now, the clash in colorado. the countdown is on to tomorrow's gop debate in boulder. this will be the first in which donald trump no longer has the commanding lead. it shows the businessman out of the top spot for the first time in a hundred days. we'll talk with the senior adviser to jeb bush to sort out what's true and what is not from that recent onslaught in headlines pointing to a campaign in crisis. good morning to you. i'm jose diaz-balart. correspondent peter alexander is in new york. katy, let's start with you. carson now on top nationally. how is trump handling the news? >> so trump is doing what you

we start with ben carson. he's the new 2016 front-runner, at least in iowa, where the first votes will be cast in less than 100 days. carson holds a commanding 14 point lead over donald trump in a new monmouth poll among iowa republican caucus goers. another iowa poll shows carson nine points up over trump. even in a best-case scenario for trump, they are now tied in another poll trump once led by four points. at an nbc news town hall this morning, donald trump dismissed those numbers as if they mean nothing. >> iowa is a problem all of a sudden. you've fallen behind ben carson why? >> i don't believe i've fallen behind. there were small polls. i was in iowa three days ago. we had a town hall unbelievable. it was packed. thousands of people standing outside. >> one poll said the des moines register. >> that is a terrible paper as far as i'm concerned. really is. very liberal paper. >> he's not pulling punches going right after the biggest challenger's religion this weekend. >> i'm presbyterian. boy, that's dow

he's decided that it's the extreme that ben carson is appealing to when in fact ben carson is appealing to a wide swath of american voters. >> i want to show you a column that ran in gq this week with a distasteful headline on it. if we could put that up on the screen, and perhaps to amy's point, is this what happens? can we show that image? there it is. "f ben carson." is this what happens when an african-american totes a republican conservative line? >> michael, i tell you, i took a look at the column. i don't find it offensive. i found it humorous, and if you read the entire column, i think mostly people who watch fox news have been incensed about what they view as an attack on ben carson. but the bottom line is, if we are going to have a, quote, unquote, litmus test about what it is to be conservative, many african-americans fit under that umbrella. if the litmus test is believe in self-reliance, if the litmus test is opposition to abortion, if the litmus test is opposition to gay marriage, if the litmus test is self-reliance, pulling yourself up from the bootstraps, that is the vas

people talk about how ben carson is godly. what i thought would be a problem for trump in iowa, is that they doubt that he is really sincere about his religion. mark: i was really surprised the number of people -- when asked for a short list of who can win, carson was almost on every list. john: they had reservations. they really like his personality though. will they think he is actually qualified, foreign policy, domestic policy, all of that stuff. watching these focus groups, i wonder what ben carson himself would think about the things people have said about him. we will find out when we come back when we ask ben carson. ♪ ♪ mark: we are joined by a real-life presidential candidate, and the author of the new book "a more perfect union", his ninth book. dr. carson, thanks for coming on the program. i want to ask about news of the day. speaker of the house. is your party's search for a new speaker a crisis or not? dr. carson: no, it's not a crisis at all. i think it's a very positive thing. i think it's positive that rep

ben carson has to stop and think about it. it doesn't seem very presidential. >> i don't know if i want my president to learn a lot from a book as he is governing. >> his strength is that he is so thoughtful. but again, his weakness would be that he can't make those quick hard decisions fast enough. >> i think it would be very much like having mr. rogers in the white house. >>'s message is everything i am looking for. i'm am just worried that washington will swallow him up. mark: would you think of the source of donald trump's political idealism? >> thje wwf, maybe? >> it might be of mike tyson in his heyday. >> the nationalism that he is tapping into. it excludes others. >> i'm a teacher. if anyone in my classroom would say, go back to mexico, to a has been -- to a latina or hispanic student, they would be in so much trouble. but trump can get away with it and people think he is tough. >> he is bombastic, but that is his style. it served him well to date. john: in a 3-4 words, what you think about a donald trump? >> aggressiv

ben carson: chomping at the bit with that one. first of all, the reason that i don't like the so-called affordable care act is not because it doesn't work and not because it is not affordable, but the real reason is because it flies in the face of the very principles to the establishment of this country. this country was supposed to be of, four, and by the people, and the government was there to facilitate life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. with that act, the government comes along and says, "i don't care what you people think, this is what we are doing and we are going to cram it down your throat and if you don't like it, too bad." there right there is an idea that is antithetical to the government and it flips the relationship and it puts the government in the driver's seat and it puts us at their beck and call. and it does that with the most important thing you have, your health and your health care, it is not too long before they start to do all of that with every aspect of your life and it changes every aspect of am

. >> trevor: ah, ben carson. for people who like donald trump's ideas but hate his charm and charisma. ( laughter ) ben carson's like the drug-free cocaine for people who don't want to get high but just like snorting white powder. ( laughter ) but it turns out that even the doctor's calm has become too crazy for some. you see, yesterday, ben carc ofns asked how he would respond if a gunman like the one in the oregon shooting confronted him and it didn't go well. >> rising g.o.p. star dr. ben carson is under fire after making controversial comments about gun control. >> i would not just stand there and let him shoot me. i would say, "hey, guys. everybody attack him. he may shoot me, but he can't get us all." >> take action. ( laughter ). >> trevor: i don't get it. you know what i also don't get is that ben carson really thinks that he could rally people against a mass shooter. ( laughter ) i think he's overestimating how inspiring his presence might be. ( laughter ) you're gonna shoot me? hey, guys, listen up. i n

if you're a ben carson donor and you really want ben carson to be president keep in mind right now when you're writing him a check for $100, 55 bucks is going to a consultant right now. i mean, that is a very high rate. direct mail of course is always expensive. everyone has overhead expenses. >> and everybody -- it's kind of known by people who practice politics that it's sort of openly corrupt. i mean, a lot of the consultants kind of double dip and double bill and all these kinds of things. i think the people who give money kind of know, that especially if they're rich. >> so my second favorite campaign story of the day is ben carson and donald trump threatening to boycott the next gop debate, which is on cnbc. basically, a conference call happened today. you've got to love the fact they're now throwing their weight around as front-runners saying they don't want to sit around for more than two hours, they're frustrated with the cnn debate. do you think they basically have cnbc over the barrel, betsy? >> look, it's totally plausible if donald trump and ben carson actually pull out, wh

ben carson 21. everyone else in single digits. >> just put it up there for a second and breathe it in. look at the single digits. thguy i heard the republican establishment swoon over, scott walker, out of the race. >> i happened to run into a couple senior republicans last night who moved beyond to a certain acceptance of the possibility and just of what's going on. for a long time they couldn't believe the numbers and believe what they were seeing. they couldn't look at those numbers. it's up 55, 56, 57% of the party want someone whose never held office. just getting that into their heads and getting their minds around that has been very difficult. i think they're finally getting there and saying gee, this is a real. >> when you're on the trail and talk to the voters, boy, do they hear that forcefully. >> this is some of the right wing people who thought a cruz or rubio. now they're saying if ben carson stays at 21 or 22 -- >> between ted cruz and donald trump who is actually winning among evangel

he was reluctant to go after ben carson. if you look how he attacks anyone who starts to rise in the poll, try to find any possible weakness and exploit that weakness. he's done that with marco rubio on immigration. he did it with jeb with his dynasty with him being an establishment candidate. there is not much where he can go after ben carson. a lot of what they say is the same. a lot of their positioning is similar. he is looking for anything to grasp. in iowa he believes that's ben carson's faith. it's unlikely it would be effective. he wouldn't be where he is if faith is a problem. >> it's fascinating. trump defended his remark yesterday. >> some conservatives claim seventh day adventists are not christian. were you trying to send a dog whistle to them because he is beating you among evangelicals in iowa? >> not at all. nationwide i'm beating ben with evangelicals. i don't know about that particular religion. >> ben carson asked for an apology. >> i didn't say anything bad about it. i just don't know about it. i would ce

by the way, ben carson, you know, ben is spending a lot of money on ads. his superpac is running iowa for him. i'm asking everyone to disavow their superpacs. i don't want any money from anyone. i'm self-funding my campaign. ben is being led by his superpacs. they're doing a lot of the work for him, and that's not supposed to be happening. that's not the way it's supposed to work. >> there was a remarkable focus group run in indianapolis. among republican voters, had some good things to say about you, but also you might be divisive. >> he's going to offend everyone. he's intolerant and has a lack of empathy. calling everybody idiots they'll just get mad at them. he's a hothead. he just -- >> he doesn't listen. >> are you going to have to change your approach? >> well, i don't think so. because, you know, one by one they're dropping out, i was against 16 other candidates and, you know, i'm being divisive right now because i want to win. i know how to win. that's what i have to do. ultimately, if i do win, i'm going to be a great unifier, for the country. th

and what ben carson says about the focus groups. right after this. ♪ john: last night we showed you part one of our bloomberg politics strategy focus groups. tonight it is the real republicans of iowa and new hampshire. first we show you what they said about the two front runner republicans -- ben carson and donald trump, the outsider candidates. mark: let's talk about ben carson. what do you think his qualifications are to be president? >> common sense. >> clearly one of the most intelligent people in the race right now. >> he has everything i am looking for. i think he treats the american people and other candidates with respect. >> he is guided by a very strong faith. >> true to himself. >> deep, thoughtful. >> he seems genuine. mark: i will play one little clip. >> do you believe that islam is consistent with the constitution? dr. carson: no i do not. i would not advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation. i absolutely would not agree with that. mark: how many people agree with what ben carson said there? everybody

now it's ben carson's turn. here's what donald trump said about carson on saturday when carson pulled ahead of him in those first two polls. >> carson is super low. i don't understand. carson is lower energy than bush. i don't understand what's going on. because we're going to talk about the fact that for the first time in 100 days i had a poll that said i'm in second place in iowa. oh, don't worry. don't worry. only in iowa. the rest, we're killing. >> and while he was at it, donald trump raised ben carson's religion. seventh day adventist, a religion like most religions that donald trump doesn't know anything about. >> look, i don't have to say it, i'm presbytarian. can you believe it? i don't know can believe impress tearian. i'm presbytarian. i'm presbytarian. boy, that's down the middle of the road, folks, in all fairness. i mean, seventh day adventist i don't know about. i just don't know about. >> here is ben carson's response on sunday morning. >> it's kind of interesting because the conflict that we had

ben carson. he has a huge pastor network across the state. they are the three men to keep an eye on in the republican iowa caucus. >> carson compared abortion to slavery. listen to this. >> slavery, i know it's a word you are not supposed to say, but i'm saying it. during slavery, the slave owners thought they had the right to do whatever they wanted to that slave. anything that they chose to do. what if the abolitionist had said, you know, i don't believe in slavery. i think it's wrong. but you guys do whatever you want to do. >> paul, is that a successful line in iowa, at least? >> i think among iowa republican caucus attendees, yes. it's interesting. his manner, bedside, you can see why he was such a successful doc. he's got a lovely bedside manner, but he's saying the most remarkable things. he used slavery to compare health care. obamacare is like that. he says remarkable things, but in such a calm way. it's fascinating to me. >> we are going to see the next phase here of trump versus everyb

swinging. >> i think ben carson is a very low-energy person, actually i think ben carson is lower energy than jeb. >> lori: in just a few hours, valeant will held a conference call, hammered by short sellers, a preview of that. slightly lower, important the note. you are watching fbn:am, your first look at morning markets and breaks news. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> nicole: breaks news this morning, at least five people are dead after a whale-watching boat sinks off the coast of british colombia. we will have the latest on that situation. good morning, i'm nicole petallides. >> lori: good morning, everyone, i'm lori rothman. federal reserve meeting on interest rate policy and earnings from the apple, twitter and others. stock posting fourth con se con >> nicole: donald trump blames polls. >> lori: we will have the details on that. >> nicole: and in sports, carolina panthers remain undefeated and new york giants score a big victory handing dallas cowboys fourth straight loss. welcome to fbn:am, first look in today's markets, latest breaking news and what to expect ahead. >> lori: a whale-watching

ben carson. [applause] dr. ben carson: thank you. thank you very much. candy and i are delighted to be here. i will get right into it. why did i write this book? and, america is such a great place and i am so glad that i was born here. i have traveled to 57 different countries. gotten to know a lot of people and a lot of ways of life. this remains the place that is the land of dreams. i know a lot of people like to criticize our nation and demonize it and say it is responsible for a lot of horrible things. and yet, i see a lot of people trying to get in here and not a lot of people trying to get out. so i am not sure that is all that legitimate to be honest with you. growing up in poverty, with a lot of disadvantages, the thing that was really great was that i was still able to focus on my dreams. my dream of becoming a doctor. it was the only thing i ever wanted to do. i skipped right by policeman and fireman and went straight to doctor. [laughter] i loved anything that had to do with medicine. i even enjoyed going to the doctor's. i even endured shots

ben carson, i have to ask you heading into this wednesday debate we're about to have, ben carson at the previous republican debates has been a flat line. he hasn't said anything that has resonated beyond that evening at all. i think the most memorable thing that has happened for him at the debates was when bad lip reading made it seem like he was creating a puzzle at his podium. he hasn't registered. he hasn't hurt himself but hasn't done badly. is that not a weakness for a candidate who is liked in the way he is liked by the voter who's say they want him? >> it's not a weakness in a field that spills over the stage where you can't fit all the candidates up on the stage. you can be in the lead with 30% by a lot whereas in another race years gone by, there would be three or four candidates. so far 30% wouldn't be enough. but it would in a place like iowa to some extent it works in new hampshire in terms of the personal connection but it wasn't work when you get to the big media states. super tuesday, it doesn't work, as well. this is why he's doing well in iowa. not sure that's going

as you said, ben carson started it. ben carson has talked about religion in a way that people are not used to. he would not support a muslim if they were president. and talking about the holocaust. has he opened the door to this kind of direct attack? >> yeah. ben carson is talking about religion the most. the comment of muslims should not be president or he would not support them as president. he doesn't believe they would not compromise their views while serving as president. i think this happens when you have these two candidates. donald trump and ben carson leading in the polls, both non politicians. this is their first time on the political stage as candidates. i think they are both breaking the rules of politics. you are seeing the unconventional conversations going on. >> let's talk about the democrats here. you saw hillary clinton and bernie sanders this weekend. specifically on the idea of shouting of gun control. hillary clinton is playing to win here. >> yeah. absolutely. i think sanders fired a shot this wee

>> according to ben carson. >> well, yes. and that's smart of ben carson to say. i think probably from ben carson's perspective, the times he's compared what's going on here with nazi germany and you can learn what obama's up to by reading mind comp. i imagine from his perspective, that's not so crazy to the rest of us, it's a little bit whacky. >> i have to bring in the "back to the future 2" character because this is the biggest thing that happens in the last 24 hours. the character bob gale, the writer of "back to the future 2" said this week, it was, of course, biff. did that surprise you? >> no, actually not. the only thing that's weird to me is that i don't think jeb bush, who's sort of, i think, in donald trump's mind his marty mcfly, is just -- marty mcfly is the guy biff picked on, i don't think jeb bush is quite as, i guess, as sympathetic as marty mcfly. yeah, jeb bush has gone into the straits. i feel like 25% of why he's done it is just to bully jeb bush. he's been quite effective at it. sometimes it can get sort of uncomfortable. >> i can't remember

ben carson right behind him at 19%. now, with the four-point margin of error in that poll, that means they might actually be tied there now. marco rubio is at 9% in that south carolina poll. ted cruz at 8, jeb bush at 7. in iowa tonight, donald trump begged, i mean begged his audience to get his poll numbers up. the rudest candidate in the campaign actually said please. >> a little shake-up in iowa. i don't know what's going on. we fell a little behind in iowa, and some people are saying how can it be? iowa, will you get your numbers up, please? [ applause ] will you get these numbers up? by the way, before i forget, will you get the numbers up, iowa, please? this is ridiculous. i mean, what is my competition? in all fairness, what is my competition? do you think these guys -- i'm not going to say carson. i'm not going to say rubio, who really is way down. i mean, i am second, it's not, like, terrible. but i don't like being second. second is terrible to me. >> iowa, what the hell are you people doing to me? you know? i

ben carson. ben carson, i thought we had trump bringing it up at the podium. but we have dr. carson responding to trump here. >> i really refuse to really get into the mud pit. you know hillary was right when she said the republicans are there trying to destroy each other. i think that was a mistake in the last cycle and i am not going to get into that. >> jamie, does he have a point? republicans are tearing each other apart. >> he has a point. but the largest point of donald trump bringing it up. he was talking about political issues and he brings up ben carson's religion. the idea of him not raising as a point of attack, that is Ñi interesting. ben carson might not be in the best position to fire back to donald trump considering what ben carson said that faith matters in evaluating presidential candidates, especially a muslim president. i don't know how ben carson said his faith is out of bounds. he believes that you should evaluate their faith. >> trump suggested that carson could be a vice-presidential running mate. is that off of the table be? >> we'll see trump and car

>> i think the person who has the most to prove is ben carson. once your name gets to the top of any poll, people start looking closer and the question is, can you be the person who got to the top and stay at the top or does that change things for you, the focus of attacks and more scrutiny? the expectations are a lot higher. there's a lot of pressure on him. >> for sure. austin, donald trump is now fighting against ben carson. he wants to remain the front-runner. the focus is the economy. that's what donald trump sells himself as the master of the economy, the art of the deal. that's how he introduces himself. >> yes, self-described. >> i will be the greatest jobs president that god ever created, i tell you that. there's not a country that we negotiated with that doesn't make a better deal. everybody, we lose money with everything. everybody is ripping us off. every single country. we're not going to let it happen anymore. >> we need somebody that can go to china and say, folks, it's time. it's time. you can't keep taking our money. you can't ke

ben carson is a big target because ben carson has a big number. but he's also -- he is an outrage to a lot of people who are not traditional christian conservatives. ben carson is a deeply devout man of faith. he's also extremely skilled as a pediatric brain surgeon and he sees people who can't measure up to his standards. he says controversial stuff all the time. he's a controversial character like donald trump. i'm not surprised a reporter would use an inflammatory title to draw cliques. >> the writer doesn't always, and usually doesn't have anything to do with the headline. somebody else writes the headline. >> i read the piece, though. there is a lot of profanity in the piece. he's very good at his genre and he's a great sportswriter. i just wouldn't allow -- you do have a veto over your headline, so he could have vetoed that if he wanted to. >> thank you, sir. appreciate it. >> always a pleasure. thank you, don. >>> when we come right back, what ben carson said about the holocaust. >>> plus, president obama heading to oregon to meet with the

long term about ben carson. but those comments about seventh-day adventist. he may be right that he didn't criticize him, but he's raising it for a reason. >> yes, well, there's no doubt he's raising it for a reason. two reasons to say, i don't know. donald trump on the air this morning with you said, i don't know about that. another way to hear that was i don't know about that. i just don't know he's on very strong footing, especially here in iowa, trying to get into a religious battle with ben carson. lot of iowa voters who have some questions about the authenticity of donald trump's religious commitments. >> jon karl, we'll see if he continues to rise after that. >> he won't get his apology. as for trump, this was a big milestone. trump is no longer the front-runner in at least two polls. but trump is still leading in roughly 49 other states. >> ana navarro, you're a big supporter of jeb bush, you raised money for jeb bush, we saw this week he had to cut his payroll. >> i was very happy to see that, i was ver

ben carson. he was on his book tour. we began by asking dr. carson what it feels like to be the brand-new front runner in the latest bloomberg politics des moines register i will pull. >> it is much better, and a different position. but i do realize that this is a marathon, not a sprint. there will be ups and downs. mark: we talked about some of the other candidates were not doing as well. you said something about what your attitude would be if you were down 2%. >> relief. to me, this is really about the people. the will of the people, not a position i ascribe to. mark: your attitude would be why go forward? >> if other people are polling at much higher, and that was the enthusiasm for them, i would say ok, it has been nice, i will go do something worthwhile. mark: would you give them advice to people who were at 2%? >> no, it is my own connection. john: donald trump has not attacked you particularly aggressively, like many other candidates. you expect now that your ahead of him you will go after you? >> and depends on if he is a gentleman or

ben carson. our interview with senator ted cruz after this word from our sponsors. ♪ john: earlier today we huddled here in the coffeehouse with ted cruz. i asked him about the biggest policy differences he has with ben carson. senator cruz: the biggest difference between the end of the candidates on the republican side is that i have a consistent record of standing and fighting for conservative principles and being a fiscal conservative, a social conservative on national security, and actually walking the walk. for example, i said a lot of times i think donald trump is running and has been very beneficial for our campaign because it does help frame the central issue in the primary as who will stand up to washington. that is the central issue, and the natural next question is who has stood up to washington to i cannot think of a better question to decide this race because my record is remarkably different understanding of not just the democrats a leader in our party. you go back to 2013, when m

"ben and candy carson terrific. what about a real black president who can properly address the racial divide and much else?" a real black president. you know, not like the person we have in office now. murdoch came under a hail of criticism for that tweet and this morning he said he was sorry. "apologies. no offense meant. personally find both men charming." ben carson the subject of that first tweet sat down for an interview today with cnn. he was asked about murdoch's comment. >> you believe the president is a real black president, though, right? >> i wouldn't even get into such a conversation. >> it's a simple question. is president obama a real black president? >> well, he's the president, and he's black. >> so he's a real black president. >> if -- again, we're dealing with semantics. as you know, i'm the last person who wants to play around with semantics and political correctness. >> carson later refused to definitively say he believes president obama's a christian. and that is just the type of the iceberg. co

so, the attack isn't on ben carson because he's a republican, it's on african americans like ben carson who sometimes seem to give the impression, because i don't know exactly know what he's thinking but when you give the impression that belief in civil rights is mutually exclusive with being conservative, that's an enormous problem. condoleezza rice does not have that problem. amy, amy, let me just finish. >> go ahead. >> you and i both know we're very different in all of the ways that we exercise the franchise but people have a problem when someone who is an absolute genius can attack barack obama the way he did with the president sitting only a few feet behind him when the only people who were going to applaud that is blue collared highly uneducated whites who feel that that country is being taken away from them. >> whoa, whoa, whoa. when he gave that speech at prayer breakfast, a lot of people were applauding him. racially, educationally and in terms of their income and i absolutely disagree with her characterization over those applauding ben carson at the prayer breakfast. why is t

what does ben carson equal? why are people waiting in line for four hours to get this man to sign his book and why will they wait in caucuses on cold snowy nights? >> he's a good honest and faithful man and in the purest sense, the big issue here though, i think, ultimately, will be what's going to be the surprise? ben carson leading in iowa shouldn't be a surprise. you predicted a while ago, many others did. there's going to be a evangelical out there. it may not be ben carson wins the iowa caucus. the thing that surprised me about the numbers i saw was rubio doing as well as he is. let's flash forward to the election. whose going to have the second and third ticket out of iowa? >> chuck eluded to this a minute ago. >> this is referring to the business. explanation quote the young intern who accidentally did a retweet apologizes. trump reacted to the pole directly on the hue hewitt show. >> i was surprised to see it. i think we're doing well in iowa. i have a feeling we're doing much better in iowa than the pol

ben carson. two new polls from iowa have carson leading trump in the hawkeye state and the donald is not too happen about it. here is the latest on all the action. >> jeb bush campaign has donings extremely well leading all republicans inside to organization and fundraising but that costs money and they have not been translating into success at the polls. on friday the campaign announced they are taking a more lean and mean approach going forward cutting payroll by 40 percent, downsizing the headquarters by 50 percent, and reducing travel costs by 20 percent. this morning, he told supporters in south carolina that it is no reason to worry. >> these are not cutting in the sense we are asking people to move into the field where it matters. and dr. ben carson takes the stop spot from donald trump in two separate polls leading way among gone caucus goers with 28 percent heed of trump at 19 percent and yesterday, dr. ben carson was asked? he is expecting to be a bigger target of 9 donald. >> it diffic

i would say ben carson. >> let's talk about republican candidates. >> i would say ben carson is probably looking at it and by the way -- >> kevin, that's what i want to talk about now. let's talk about ben carson because he's making waves and shocking controversial statements and some people say it's gaffes, right? kevin, do you think he's presidential material with some of the things he said when you consider, you know, people are looking at this issue seriously and looking at him as a consecoco conservative as a man of color in the race? >> i do. i'm not going to say a guy that's a foremost thinker and neuro surge and done the things ben carson has done should not be looked at seriously. i wouldn't say he's necessarily my candidate give or take but the idea they would call him a clown on the left i find kind of interesting. >> okay. we'll talk about this because "gq" has an article up and it's basically "f ben carson." more on this after the break. >> that's out of line. cure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at

"the new york times" poll shows he's now second place to ben carson who is at 26% and still rising. trump this morning took to the phones and started calling into morning shows to beat up on ben carson. said he didn't understand the polls nationally or in iowa because in his view he's still the he took shots at ben car saying he flip-flopped on issues and there's questions to be answered. he said that carson's position on abortion has evolved. in fact, trump's position on abortion has also evolved. the key to carson's success seems to be with born again christians in eye warks social convft avs and religious conservatives and tea partiers. ben carson has a hefty lead in some cases more than 2-1 over donald trump when it comes to those key core proimary voters in the republican race. that's the up ballot part of this. the down ballot part of it -- and it will all be fought out on the debate stage tomorrow -- how trump and carson will deal with each other. carson does not fight back, trump continues to attack. the battle will be between rubio and bush. rubio has been showing momentum

ben carson. has he opened the door a little bit? >> kind of. >> donald trump has proved so far you can do the most whatever political, you know, conventional wisdom would tell you not to do like on women, you know, whatever. and here he is, though. i think he's decided to live or die by this on his own terms. he's doing it his way. >> part of it, too, john, trump had the campaign how he points to first place leading in all the polls iowa and northbouew hampshire. what happens when he starts to splip in what is his talking point then? how does he deal with that? can he handle that? >> nobody is going to do to him what he is doing to them. >> yeah. >> what does ben carson do about this now he's winning somewhere? >> that's a fascinating question. ben carson hasn't been campaigning very often. we haven't seen him on the trail. he's on a book tour. a lot of his support is grassroots people who have followed him throughout the career. there's a lot of focus on him in the debate next week. he'll get more time and questions on policy which