the idea he could win and that started to puncture the balloon. this is for her, to me iowa is the game here both for sanders and for her. >> chuck todd, no better way to start it off than chuck todd, host of "meet the press." thank you so much. >> great job on the rope line, andrea. >> well, that's all because of the camera crews and the producers here who make it all happen. thank you, chuck. now a big start to the new year in the middle east. it isn't a good one. saudi arabia and iran, two power players on opposite sides of the sunni/shia divide rivals in the region have severed diplomatic ties and continuing to exchange heated rhetoric. all this, the result of saudi arabia's execution of a prominent shiite cleric despite protests from the u.s. in advance, escalating tensions between sunnis and shiites throughout the muslim world. this is a very serious deal. nbc foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin joins me from new