Moonves from super bowl city in San Francisco. The ratings just came in for the two events, the debate and snl, and tying for night. Well start with something you rarely see, one of the countrys leading news outlets calling b. S. Literally when a candidate deeps saying something thats false. The news outlet in this case is cnn, and the story is about ted cruz. Cruzs rivals are accusing him of dirty tricks for telling iowa caucusgoers that ben carson was dropping out of the race. This story starts at 7 41 p. M. Monday with a scoop from cnn reporter chris moody that carson wasnt going straight from iowa to New Hampshire like all the other candidates, but instead was going home to florida. He tweeted that news andnent said this he said, ben carsons campaign tells me he plans to stay in the race beyond iowa no matter what the results are tonight. Clearly, carson was not dropping out, according to moodys reporting. Hell join me in a moment from New Hampshire. Lets look at how jake tapper and dana bash analyzed his scoop on the air that day. Here it is. Ben carson is going to go back to florida, to his home, regardless of how he does tonight here in iowa. Hes going to go there for several days, and then afterwards, hes not going to go to South Carolina. Hes not going to go to New Hampshire. Hes going to come to washington, d. C. , and hes going to do that because the National Prayer breakfast is on thursday. Very unusual. Very unusual. To be announcing that youre going home to rest for a few days, not going on to the next site. Very unusual, they said. It certainly was. But they didnt say he was dropping out of the race. Now the story gets a little murky at this point. Cruz Campaign Aides spread word to their supporters in iowa that carson might be or actually was dropping out. Maybe planning a big announcement even though cnn never said that. Carson accused cruz of dirting campaigning. Cruz dirty campaigning. Cruz apologized but blamed cnn causing Brooke Baldwin to call b. S. When senator cruz tries to throw my network and journalists under the bed, let me stand up for them. Im going to call out b. S. If i hear b. S. , and thats b. S. Under pressure, cruz admit that cnn got it correct. Last night at the debate, he reverted to his previous position. He said this my Political Team saw cnns report breaking news, and they forwarded that news to our volunteers. It was being covered on live television. I regret that subsequently cnn reported on that they didnt correct the story until 9 15 that night. From 6 30 p. M. To 9 15, thats what cnn was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, bens campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our Campaign Staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it. I wish that they had. Thats why i apologized. Senator cruz, thank you. In fact, the timeline indicates that that initial tweet from cnn was followed by another within one minute that clarified that i was not dropping out. Cnn tweets, now the subject of a president ial debate. That comment from cruz spurred this response from cnn. What senator cruz said tonight in the debate is categorically false. Cnn never corrected its reporting because cnn never had anything to correct. The Cruz Campaigns actions the night of the Iowa Caucuses had nothing to too with cnns reporting. The fact that senator cruz continues to knowingly mislead the voters about this is astonishing. Joining me in New Hampshire this morning is chris moody, along with dylan buyer, for media and politics. In washington, strategist doug high, former rnc communications director, and in charlottesville, director of the uva center for politics. Larry, let me ask you, youre an independent voice, not a cnn person. What do you think happened here . Do you think cruz is to blame, or is cnn to blame . Theres no question about it. This isnt a close call. Cruz is to blame. Cruz and his staff. Now look, Everybody Knows what he was doing. He was shifting the blame to cnn for a dirty trick. What was the reason for the dirty trick . To get some of those carson voters in the Iowa Caucuses to switch to cruz. He was the second choice of many of the carson voters. Its perfectly obvious. So why did cruz revert to the explanation that he himself had admit was false last night in the debate . Because he was at a republican debate. If theres one thing we know from a whole series of republican debates over three, four cycles, its that if you want to get out of a tight spot, blame the media. The republicans watching will almost always agree with you. Dylan, do you agree thats the Cruz Campaign strategy here . And if so, is it going to be effective in New Hampshire . Yeah. No, thats absolutely the Cruz Campaign strategy here. I think whats so baffling is how much theyve sort of gone back and forth over this issue. Theyve also seen that its an issue that cnn is not sort of going to take sitting down. I mean, when the Cruz Campaign first tried to throw cnn under the bus, there was a very aggressive response from the network pointing out the facts saying, no, thats just factually not true. Of course uultimately ted cruz relent and says cnn got it right. Now hes on the debate stage and says it again. The calculation is that the majority of viewers watching abc news at home, Republican Voters, are not going to be going to cnn to see the fact check and see whether or not thats true. Now this is becoming such a story in its own right that it that it it feeds into this perception, you know, the one that donald trump has tried to pin on ted cruz for a long time that hes not a likeable guy, that he doesnt tell the truth. And why he would want to feed into that perception when the facts arent on your side is a Campaign Strategy that i cant understand. Doug, do you think this hurts cruz . Yeah, i do. If the battle was truly just between ted cruz and the media, cruz would win. But its really between ted cruz and ben carson. I was in des moines interesting. On monday night. I saw chris moodys tweet. The conversation initially was what is ben carson doing . By the end of the night and the morning, the conversation was, what is ted cruz and his campaign doing . It hurts him because it knocks him off message. It knocks him with ben carson supporters, but it also says anybody whos worked on campaigns can talk about the volunteer who knocks over opponents signs. Thats not serious. This is serious. And it looks to be with so many iterations of it to be coordinated. And for ted cruz, his real challenge is hes past the point of where they can get out in front of this. Theyve got to get this behind them, and that wont be easy. Chris, let me ask you because you havent actually talked about your reporting from that night before now. This information you reported exclusively, this actually came from the carson campaign, didnt it . Yeah, brian. Let me give you a ticktock about what happened that night. I was assigned to cover carsons Victory Party in west des moines, in iowa. His campaign, two sources told me on the record instead of going straight to New Hampshire or to South Carolina as most candidates do, he was going to take a short, brief rest. They described it as a deep breath, by going home to florida, get his affairs in order, and head to washington, d. C. , for the National Prayer breakfast. Then, after that, head to New Hampshire for the debate. So i reported all of those things in order. Hes going to florida. Hes then i said, hes not dropping out. Ted cruzs campaign cher cherry picked part of that information and sent messages to precinct captain on email but called and said hes suspending campaigning, something i or no one else at cnn ever said. We also had a story on cnnpolitics. Com that had all of that information. So either ted cruzs Campaign Just stopped reading, or as others have said, it was something that was misleading intentionally. Im curious what its been like for you, chris, to see your reporting twisted in this way. It must be a strange experience to be talked about on a president ial campaign stage. Well, certainly is. But the reporting stands on its own. I dont have to necessarily comment or extrapolate on it. It is what it is, and its truth. Theres nothing more i really have to necessarily say to really defend it. Now, heres the problem that the facts were true, but as you know in politics, many times people can extrapolate from that and draw wrong conclusions. Ted cruzs campaign drew that wrong conclusion, ignored the other half of the sentence basically, and then blamed me for their wrong conclusion, saying that i had reported what they were telling everyone else. It all got lost in the speed that is an election night. Obviously, thats unfortunate for everyone involved. Again, it was never reported on cnn television, digital, o or social media that ben carson was dropping out. In fact, almost in the same breath it was reported that he was staying in the race, the exact opposite. Whats intriguing to me about the story, chris, and let me go to you on this, it does to me feel like carsons only sort of half running. You know, i grew up in maryland, im a marylander like carson is. Very fond of him over the years. It doesnt seem to me like he is campaigning as aggressively as some of the others. There was a kernel of truth to the idea that he was going to go home and take a deep breath. And as chris was saying, it was markup lated, maybe 2015ed by manipulated, maybe twisted by the campaign. Isnt there something to the idea that carson is not campaigning as aggressively as the others . Carsons never campaigned in the way that everybody else has. Its still a big mistake by a campaign thats made very few of them. Ive been impressed by the Cruz Campaign. This is something they should have tamped down on day one, maybe day two. Were now almost a week into this, and its pretty clear well be talking about this for several more days. In part because of what ted cruz said last night. Its a big mistake by a campaign thats made very view. I want to show a couple of other factcheckers. You shouldnt take cnns word, you should do your own research. Heres what the New York Times and woeshtd and president clinton fact said, the New York Times, dont blame cnn. President clinton fact, well show you the others, as well. I wonder, larry, if the bottom line about there is about Fact Checking. About whether Fact Checking is taken seriously by voters and news organizations and how you feel thats going in this president ial election cycle. Brian, i think one of the most disturbing things about a very disturbing election cycle for me has been the growth of this idea that somehow were in a postfactual era. God help us if were in a postfactual era. It is incumbent. Media organizations like cnn, all the other networks, newspapers, blogs, to go after the candidates hard when they misrepresent the facts. Not just to print a box with politifact fact, i love them, but you have to be repetitious, repetitious, repetitious. Bring it up, make them deal with it until they either take it back or admit they were wrong. Real quickly, do you think its possible well see news outlets be more forceful in the way that cnns statement was last night . Could we see more muscular Fact Checking in the next few months . I know a lot of viewers would like to see news outlets make clear, strong statements whether there are misstatements made by candidates. Well, thats a great question. And the sort of Fact Checking industry i would say has never been so strong. So look, the point is exactly right. It almost doesnt matter if a candidate doesnt pick up the ball and run with it. Cnn, the New York Times, politi fact can do the work, and believe me, they are doing diligent worveg work. At a certain point, the campaigns come down to a contest between candidates. What you saw last night was ted cruz go after not a candidate but a news network, much the way that donald trump has been engaged in a war with fox news of a little. And when the news network gets sort of dragged into this and the mudslinging is going toward news network, you see the robust response. Whether it comes to bigger when it comes to bigger issues, the things that candidates might be misleading viewers about, the economy, foreign policy, past records, at a person point theres only so much news organizations can do. Candidates have to step up and run with that ball and challenge their rivals on that if we want to see those things play out in the national media. Thank you all for being here. We should mention to the viewers at home, we have invited a cruz spokesperson on to cnn, and they have declined to comment. Coming up next, talking more about last nights debate and the big, weird mistake at the beginning. If you havent seen this, well play the whole thing and talk about it. Well talk about the huge ratings when we come back. Ne bu try alkaseltzer heartburn reliefchews. They work fast and dont taste chalky. Mmm. Amazing. I have heartburn. Alkaseltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Get fastacting, longlasting relief from heartburn with it neutralizes stomach acid and is the only product that forms a protective barrier that helps keep stomach acid in the stomach where it belongs. For fastacting, longlasting relief. Try gaviscon®. For fastacting, longlasting relief. At ally bank, no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like grandkids equals free tech support. Oh, look at you, so great to see you none of this works. Come on in. What hand paired with even getmore lobster . Ked, you get hungry. And you count the seconds until red lobsters lobsterfest is back with the largest variety of lobster dishes of the year. Like new dueling lobster tails with one tail stuffed with crab, and the other with langostino lobster macandcheese, its a party on a plate and you know every bite of lobster lovers dream lives up to its name. Hey, eating is believing. So stop dreaming and start eating. Welcome back. Im looking at the rating from the break after the debates. They were huge, the highest debate of the year so far. Ill have more on cnn. Com later this hour. First, we have to talk about that intro. Lets pull back the curtain on how tv usually works. Debates are among the most rehearsed events in the news business. The networks practiced this stuff for days ahead of time. Last night when abc flubbed the introw of the candidates, it was a pretty awkward moment for the network. Matt lewis, cnn commentator and contributor of the daily caller, author of too dumb to fail. Also, ana marie cox, senior Political Correspondent with mtv news, and rick wilson, republican strategist and president of intrepid media. Guys, i want to talk about the substance of the debate. We have to play the intro first. Lets put it up in boxes. Well do it like a football play and see what went wrong. It started out okay. You see Chris Christie taking the stage. He heard the cue. Matt, apparently ben carson did not hear the cue over the roar of the audience. What were you thinking when you saw this . It was bizarre. I was wondering, is there a protest . Is ben carson doing something to make a point about i dont know in other words i thought it might be about Carly Fiorina not being on the stage. Yeah. Fiorina made a big deal out of how she wasnt invited. She didnt meet the abc criteria. When carson was standing there awkwardly, i wondered theres a guy in the background telling him, go, go. That should have been the snl cold open. Well show how snl handled this in a minute. Anna, when you were watching in New Hampshire, who did you feel sorry for . What i was thinking about the intro . I mean, too me it was par for the course to me it was par for the course for the race i feel like. Metaphor . I do. As a Mission Accomplished woman of the race, its something well look back on and say, yeah, that was the race where everyone forgot to enter. Everyone was screwed occupy the entries. Four, it was carson who i maut of course, it was carson who i thought maybe hadnt woke friend his nap. Still groggy. I think we should note it was the roar of the crowd, you know, that made this happen. It was a very enthusiastic crowd. I mean, we can make fun of it, and it certainly looked awkward. But to be fair, it had to do with how enthusiastic the crowd was and not any actual mixup on anyones part. Right. Right. And i felt somewhat bad for the moderator because there was only so much they could do to get the candidates attention. I think it was about the floor manager, stage director, who could have walked to ben carson, give him a gentle push to get him on the stage. A tap or something. Lets play how snl handled this. They turned around quickly and three hours later made fun of the whole thing. The republicans held a president ial debate in New Hampshire, and things got off to a real rocky start. Heres actual footage of ben carsons entrance where the one thing he forgot to do was enter. Jersey governor choiftd chri christie. [ applause ] ben carson [ wild cheering ] [ laughter ] oh, man. Of all people youd never expect ben carson to fall asleep at the wheel. That was how the intro was handled. Lets talk about the substance of the debate and start with the presence of donald trump because, rick, we all know trump skipped the fox news debate a week earlier. The ratings were lower for that debate. Higher for this debate. It indicates to me that trump did have an impact on the debate last night. I know that youre not a trump man. In fact, youre probably his biggest critic ive ever seen. Dont you think he had a good night on that stage . Well, donald trump had other people doing his work. What donald trump needs is for the mainstream conservative vote to be divided by three or four, five serious candidates. And so hes able to sit there and basically stick with his stock answers which, of course, are nonsense on things like trade and everything else. And singlepayer health care and everything else. He was able to stay out of the line of fire for the most part. He had one or two little testy exchanges with jeb bush. But you know the crowd chemistry for donald last night in the room i think is what actually exists out there in the rest of the republican field outside of the trump supporter demo which, you know, he was roundly booed a number of times last night for a good reason. The guy comes across, you know, in these things as somebody who is both unable to talk about substance of policy matters beyond his stock sort of trumpisms and who, you know celebrity candidacy of donald trump is worn down, and folks are starting to look at do you need a serious person who can go out and post up in the field and know things and be able to articulate the conservative vision . Lease lehes leading in the by the way im sorry, let me go to matt thats fair. Let me go to matt. I sent an antitrump bias in the coverage after iowa, his strong secondplace finish. Did you think some were so excited to call him a loser there was bias in the coverage . I dont think so. I think the bias is based not on an antitrump bias but a bias toward expectations. Political commentators and pundits, fair or not, dont judge who won or lost as much as who exceeded or failed to meet expectations. And the truth is, donald trump was expected to win iowa. He comes in second place. Therefore, that becomes a loss. Compare that to marco rubio who finished third place but was declared a winner. Speaking of the expectation game, anna, do you think theres an expectation as a narrative being set up by the press, rubio was built up for a few days. Now hes being torn down for a performance. Dont we have to have a reality check about how the narrative is constructed by the media and be sensitive to the reality of whats happening on the ground where you are in New Hampshire . I think that what happened on the stage is definitely something that the media was ready for some of what what happened with rubio. Hes already been portrayed by a lot of us as a fairly robotic candidate. I am not sure how thats going to play out here. I think the people who like rubio arent phased by what his by his stiffness. I think they see it as disciplined, and it certainly is in a way disciplined. I think what the real weakness is is not the fact that he kept repeating himself or played into that narrative, its that what he kept repeating, this line about obama and how it revealed his campaign to be a campaign against obama. And that in his last ditcheffort is what he keeps defaulting to. And it shows the weakness of his general appeal. Anna rick, go ahead. I dont know if youve seen Barack Obamas numbers with republicans lately. The message marco rubio was given the chance to deliver four times is something that republicanbased voters absolutely believe in. They believe the guy is not they believe this guy is not incompetent but malicious. Marco rubio was hitting a home run on that every time with Republican Voters. Thats why his donations flooded in three times more than any other debate. Thats why this morning his crowds are standing room only. Crowds rally out the door at 8 30. This guy delivered a message four time. The acela media may love Chris Christie, but just patting him on the head for being the sweaty bully against marco last night doesnt change the fact that the message marco was delivering was dead on for Republican Voters. Rick, im more of [ all talking at once ] i hurt. Im out of time, unfortunately. I appreciate you being here. Next, as we talk about expectations, we have to talk about polls. Are we relying far too much on polling, and how much can we trust the data . The woman called the Gold Standard of pollsters who didnt get it right in iowa this week will join me next. I like to this more of a control. Enthusiast. Mmm, a perfect 177degrees. And thats why this road warrior rents from national. I can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. And i dont have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. And i dont. And national lets me choose any car in the aisle. Control. Its so, whats the word . Sexy. Go national. Go like a pro. One. Is all it takes. To turn the tables. Crest 3d white toothpaste. Removes 5 times more stains. Than the red box. For a smile like that, crest 3d white. Is the way to whiten. Polls, polls, polls, polls, polls, polls. Sometimes it feels like all we talk about is poll. The media is addicted to the horse race. Were probably going to talk about new poll numbers in a few minutes. First, we have to look to last week when we were all so sure about these numbers. According to the highly respected des moines registe register bloomberg poll, voters didnt care. The numbers show trump leading senator ted cruz with 28 support among long islaikely caucusgoers. Time for selfassessment. Clearly the numbers i shared were the actual results in iowa. I want to talk about how we cover polls and how polls are conducted with the legendary anne selzer. I hear you laughing when i say legendary. I know you sometimes dont like the type for your work. Thats exactly right. I keep trying to say we need to pierce the veil of infallibility. And i you want me to take the word legendary out of my script, ann . Ill fix it. Being called the Gold Standard im happy at silver standard. Silver standard. I wanted to play the clip from last week. I want to ask you, how should i have introduced those numbers . What caveat should i have included, and then, of course, by extension, when other channels, other shows cover the numbers, how should we cover them . Well, the caucus in iowa is the hardest polling job that there is. In fact, i went back to look up the etymology of the word caucus which i think comes from the algonquin meaning impossible to poll. The way at that caucus is designed, it is it introduces and encourage changes made at the very last moment including in the caucus room, on caucus night. We finished our polling in the field on friday. Things happened over the weekend. Things happen on monday. Things happen in the room on monday night. So im always talking about, you know, we released the numbers and then start trying to figure out, well, what if. What could happen that would change these numbers. Were all too aware that things happen that change what things looked like friday night. So the numbers you were showing last weekend were from that moment. And they changed by monday. Lets take a quick look at the latest cnn wmur poll in New Hampshire looking ahead to tuesdays primary. 33 of likely Republican Voters would choose donald trump as their choice for nominee. A wide lead between trump and marco rubio, 16 . When were covering the numbers, what should we be mentioning other than the margin of air on, what context should we be bringing around the numbers . Well, it would look like similar to our poll which is this is Donald Trumps to lose. And the decision thats his campaign made about how they were going to work iowa were not the way iowa likes to be worked. They dont just want to fly in with an event. They want personal contact. They wanted repeated contact. They want people calling on the phone to see if theyre going to show up at caucus. All of those things that the Cruz Campaign did, making tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of contacts, up to and including working the room on caucus night. Ive heard of caucuses where no representative was there from the Trump Campaign to make a pitch, which is normal caucus procedure. So it was his to lose and lose it he did. Ill just mention one other thing. I dont know how much more detail there is to the poll youre citing. We said as we looked at the poll numbers that if you didnt know the horse race, you would swear ted cruz was leading. There was so much strength in every other way that we measure candidates strength below the horse race numbers. If you have opportunity to take a look at that, that sometimes can give you a little bit of an indication. Bottom line, the screens that our political polls reliable, is it getting harder and harder to get a reliable result from voters because of cell phones and things . For many reasons. I used to say from cycle to cycle its getting harder and harter. I started saying from year to year it gets harder and harder. Now i would say day to day, it gets harder. And in iowa in particular, New Hampshire probably, too, its an overpolled population. There are dozens and dozens of polling operations that have decided they they want to be part of the game. And so that means the small group of people in iowa you know, enough is enough sometimes. And theyre done talking. So you think for the viewers at home, we should take all the polls of maybe more grains of salt. Yes. Yes. Polls are not made of gold. Thats good to hear because well hear a lot of them in the next ten months. Thank you for being here. Good to see you. My pleasure. Next on reliable sources, you are not seeing double. Bernie sanders appearing with his comedic doppleganger, larry david on, saturday night live. Will it have any impact on his campaign . Well discuss that after a quick break. We rise above our differences. The right amount of garlic reigns supreme, and what separates us is mostly whether were chopping or frying. Food is a language we all speak. When we cook together, we find harmony in the kitchen. We make more than a meal. Enjoy fresh ingredients and healthy recipes, delivered to your door each week. Subscribe today, at hellofresh. Com igoing to clean betteran electthan a manual. Was he said sure. But dont get just any one. Get one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. Go pro with oralb. Oralbs rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque and rotates to sweep it away. And oralb delivers a clinically proven superior clean versus sonicare diamondclean. My mouth feels super clean oralb. Know youre getting a superior clean. Im never going back to a manual brush. [bassist] two late nights in blew an amp. But good nights. Sure,musics why we do this,but its still our business. We spend days booking gigs, then weve gotta put in the miles to get there. But its not without its perks. Like seeing our album sales go through the roof enough to finally start paying megs little brother i mean,our new tour managerwith real,actual money. We run on quickbooks. Thats how we own it. Who could have imagined this on saturday night live . Last night Bernie Sanders met his twin, larry david. Hold on, hold on, wait a second. [ applause ] i am so sick of the 1 getting this preferential treatment. [ laughter ] enough is enough. We need to unite and Work Together if were all going to get through this. Sounds like socialism to me. Democratic socialism. Ah, whats the difference . Yuge difference. Will bernies big media moment matter, and hows his rival, Hillary Clinton, being treated by the press . Joining me to talk about that, rebecca trastor, writer for new York Magazine and author of all the single ladies. And harry jaffe, a washingtonian editor at large, author of why Bernie Sanders matters. I have both your books here. I appreciate that for later in the day today. I want to start with the Bernie Sanders snl moment. Harry, like i said in the intro, who could have imagined that a year ago . Sander has received a National Stage that for decades he never had the opportunity to be on. I think hes shocked. I think he was shocked when he was elected mayor of burlington, vermont, in 1980. Hes thinking what a great moment, and he gets to create his movement which is what Bernie Sanders is all about. Does appearing on snl matter . I think to his audience it does. I think every time that he is getting any attention at all it makes the entire Media Establishment think, wow, hes still here, you know. And of course we see the original appearance by larry david here from the fall. Such brilliant casting. We saw Hillary Clinton on snl a few months ago. This has become a required part of the show, going on latenight shows. It shows your sense of humor, that youre relatable. Important for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders given their reputations. Im curious to hear from you how feel the press is treating these candidates. Both of you are experts on this topic, and rebecca, what noticed in the coverage of clinton on monday night and Tuesday Morning when she won the iowa caucus, just barely but she won, was that it didnt seem to be treated with historical significance. This was a woman winning the Iowa Caucuses for the first time. Never gets covered that way with Hillary Clinton. Yeah. This was deeply unsurprising to me, in part because in 2008 a much bigger story which is when she won New Hampshire. In the surprise sort of upset of obama in january of 2008. It was actually the first time in history shirley chisle honorable had won a nonbinding primary in new jersey, thats a nonasterisk. Hillary clinton in 2008 was the first time in American History that a woman had won a contested president ial primary. And in the day after coverage, the like clinton upsets obama coverage that detailed her reporting crying and everything, in the New York Times and cnn, lots of the major coverage did not mention the fact that it was the first time an n American History this a woman had won the primary. Youre saying if the press is slanted against hillary, its been a long time. Yeah. Its symptomatic of a larger media social, cultural difficulty we have with throwing our arms around womens progress with any sort of enthusiasm. Its something that the countrys had a problem with for a long time. So it didnt surprise me. There was a horse race story in iowa, right . It was an incredibly close photo finish. Yeah, i wished that there had been more attention paid, shes the first woman to win iowa. But it compared to what happened in 2008, it was a lesser infraction. I think one of the other interesting i dont know if i would call it bias or not, but one of the elements on the democratic side is that sanders was, i think its fair to say, undercovered for a while in the summer and the fall. Not sure if thats true, but there was not a lot of press attention for his campaign. Thats something youve written about, harry. It doesnt fit the narrative of the coronation the narrative supposed to be Hillary Clinton being who is this guy . When i started writing the book, all of my friends in the media said, why are you wasting your time, its got a twoweek shelf life. You better get it done and published. And it i think that a lot of the media and a lot of the political pun dmits washington just kind of want to pundits in washington just kind of want to get on with Hillary Clinton against whomever. I would also argue that the coronation and inevitable story lines are a set up to make for a good story when she falls. Theres no way in the united states, there is no coronation. No coronation. Theres not inevitability if youre saying the press likes a roller coaster ride. Of course they do. Of course they do, they need stories to tell. Even the recent coverage in the New York Times, Bernie Sanders was an upstart candidate. I mean, is is trump not an upstart candidate . Ted cruz isnt an upstate candidate . Where did they come from . I find it interesting that sanders, by being on the stages, being on snl, the debates, hes giving voice to a population that didnt feel the message was being necessarily reported in the media. What bernie would call the corporate media. By doing so, you see more of his surrogates on tv, more supporters writing columns, youre seeing more attention for issues because hes doing so well. Lets talk about the ratings for a moment. Even though theres a really interesting race on the democratic side, the ratings for msnbcs debate were really underwhelming. There was a debate earlier this week, and you see only 4. 5 Million Viewers tuned in for the most recent debate. Now, clearly this was a late addition to the schedule. More than did not have a lot of time to promote this. That cant be the only thing going on here. I do wonder if theres for some reason less. That on the democratic side less enthusiam on the democratic side. Donald trump is a draw. You dont know what hes going to say. And when you have the democrats, theyre actually talking about policy. Thats not all that will exciting all the time. How dare you say that its not as something as the horserace. Well, i loved all the democratic debates. Theyve been so substantive. Theyve been between such serious politicians. And the thing about the ratings being bad last week, it is really confusing because the very legitimate critique of Debbie Wasserman schulz in the d dnc is they hid the debates during holiday season. And heres one that the race is at one of the tightest points, the tightest so far, on a weeknight. I dont know what happened with the ratings. Some some people will wonder if msnbc tilted away from liberal news at precisely the wrong time. Such an interesting moment for progressive politics. And its been downplaying that except in primetime. Great to see you today. Thank you for being here. Thanks. Breaking news this morning about debate. Cnn announcing a brandnew debate between clinton and sander, march 6th in flint, michigan on, cnn. And theres one before that. Actually later this week, a pbs debate simulcast on cnn on thursday night. Coming up, quite a week for cbs chairman les moonves. Tonight his network airs the super bowl. I went out to San Francisco to interview him and will show you what he told me after this. Kind of like social media equals antisocial. Hey guys, i want you to meet my fiancee, denise. Hey. Good to meet you dennis. One. Is all it takes. To turn the tables. Crest 3d white toothpaste. Removes 5 times more stains. Than the red box. For a smile like that, crest 3d white. Is the way to whiten. In Media Business news, a crowning moment this week for one of the most respected executives in the business. Ceo les moonves taking over for 92yearold sumner redstone. It is an achievement for moonves personally. The timing is really swell, just as cbs gears up for its biggest p. Also known as the beyonce bowl. The network that brought you Janet Jacksons wardrobe malfunction is ready for the super bowl this time. I sat down with him for this weeks headliners. Let me ask you about what i think is an eyepopping number. 5ds million for a super bowl ad. Is that really the right number . Certain spots were getting 5 million or more. Its worth it. Wow the biggest advertisers. Theres no bigger event in the america or in the world than the super bowl. Not only do the ads get seen by well over 100 Million People on the air at cbs, but theyre on the air for weeks and months at a time. And people look at them. And theres a certain prestige to being a super bowl advertiser. We have the best of them with us this year. Were very excited about it. This year for the first time youre streaming ads online at the same time youre showing them on tv. Were in the middle of a revolution. Lot more people watching television, being it sports, football, entertainment, news, online. I would argue that the super bowl is probably, you know, the number one digital event as well as the number one over the air event. So, getting the ads on digital, online at the same time makes perfect sense. And its sort of where the business is going. I think some people look at the game and they wonder, why havent the controversies about concussions affected ratings or attendance in a way at all . I was going to say in a significant way but there really hasnt been an impact at all. Do you have any idea why the concern about the Players Health havent affected the ratings . I think people are genuinely concerned and the sish on the table and people are paying a lot more attention to it. I think the nfl is trying to do new things to make the game safer and better. Its still the greatest show in town. Its still the greatest show in town and the fact that there are these controversies have not affected the ratings. Do you find its ever difficult for your News Division to cover the nfl given these conversations of concussions and other things . We have a separation of church and state literally. The difficulties with ray rice a year ago and the concussion thing, our News Division has been first rate. Theyve covered it. Theyve done very forthright stories including a 60 minutes piece this year that included Roger Goodell and dealt with the discussion of concussion. Has he ever tried to call you up and weaken that story . Not once. Not ever. If he did, what would you say . I dont know because it would never happen. I trust the integrity of roger. Its nothing that would ever happen. Do you think football, given all the questions about health and concussions, will be around in 50 years . I can almost guarantee it. Yeah . As i said, as our world is changing rapidly, the numbers for football continue to go up. The number of packages continue to go up. I think 50 years from now, theres going to be somebody else sitting in these two chairs talking about the 100th super bowl. You may still be here. I almost i wont be. You know, it is the greatest game in town. And it is americas sport. Why colbert . Why Stephen Colbert as the post game show . Its the fers time a latenight cmic has been in the postgame show. Late night is something we invest in, that we think is going to last for two decades. We thought the idea of promoting Stephen Colbert and james corden will work out well. Theres been worries about Stephen Colberts ratings. Theres been inaccuracy by the other networks about his rating. They would never do that. Some of those guys should take a lie detector test. Were pleased with his ratings and cordens ratings. Socalled peak tv. Too many shows to watch burdened by this problem. Thats like saying theres too many good restaurants. I would never say that. No . No. Theres a lot of great tv. I would say today theres more Great Television shows in the history of television. Theres obviously a lot more great shows. Theres a lot more garbage, too. But having this variety, from all these different networks, is terrific. Someone thats been in the industry for decades what excites you most and what scares you most about tv . Its both the same zblaens is it . Every day theres something new going on. Its scary but its also the most exciting thing that our business is changing rapidly. And i think that we are going to be a major part that have change. Les, thanks so much. Brian, pleasure. Great talking with you. Thank you. You can see more of my interview on cnnmoney. Com. Well be back after this. My mom loves giving me advice. She even gives me advice. About my toothpaste and mouthwash. But shes a dentist so. I kind of have to listen. She said jen, go pro with crest prohealth advanced. Advance to healthier gums. And stronger teeth from day one. Using crest toothpaste and mouthwash makes my. Whole mouth feel awesome. And my teeth are stronger too. Crestpro health advanced. Is superior to colgate total. In these 5 areas dentists check. This check up . So good. Go pro with crest prohealth advanced. Moms right. Again light piano today i saw a giant. It had no arms, but it welcomed me. crow cawing it had no heart, but it was alive. train wheels on tracks it had no mouth, but it spoke to me. It said, rocky mountaineer all aboard amazing. Thats why i switched from uverse to xfinity. Now i can download my dvr recordings and take them anywhere. Ready or not, here i come whispers now hideandseek time can also be catchuponmyshows time. Here i come cant find you anywhere dont settle for uverse. X1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. When i was in San Francisco this week ahead of the super bowl, the city was crawling with reporters. I sought out one of my favorites, espn nfl insider. 114. 4 Million Viewers last year. Could it possibly become bigger this year . I think it will set a ratings record every single year. It seems to get bigger and bigger every year. I dont think this matchup is more compelling than the patriots and seahawks or seahawks and broncos. Its another year. Its more exposure. It becomes more and more part of the National Consciousness to the point where its what everybody in our country does on that sunday. Everything shuts down. Its true. And well have an update on the ratings this time tomorrow on cnnmoney. Com media. Make sure you sign up for our reliable sources newsletter. Stay tuned for a special state of the union with jake tapper. This sunday, theres only one place to be. Right here, commercialfree for the whole hour, and live in New Hampshire with five of the top candidates, all vying for victory in the first in the nation primary. Number one in New Hampshire. Will you please keep me there . This is ridiculous. Donald trump. Can he still dominate the field, or will his firstplace status in the polls disappear here like it did in iowa . He joins us fresh off the latest debate. Plus, the governors have to go big or go home. Ohios john kasich says New Hampshire is make or break for