Good evening, im kate bath baldwin in for erin burr net. Out front tonight, trump is a noshow. At this moment nearly all of the republican president ial candidates you are looking right now at live pictures they are gathering on stage in New Hampshire. It is the first time that were seeing so many of them on one stage together. You see them all right there. One notable exception you will see as this camera pans is the republican partys frontrunner donald trump, who chose to skip it even though he is now topping the polls in the granite state. A new poll just released is showing trump with a clear lead in New Hampshire, 24 of republican support. This is the first time any of the republican candidates has held a statistically significant lead in this important first in the nation primary state. And nationally trump solidifying his lead as well. A fox poll also just released showing trump with 26 support. His nearest rival, jeb bush at 15 a. New Monmouth University poll shows trump now holds a 2 to 1 lead over bush. These new polls will help determine which candidates make the cut for the first republican president ial debate. That of course is thursday. It is almost certain at this point that trump will be center stage that night. But which of his rivals will he then face . Athena jones is at the gop forum in manchester New Hampshire for us tonight. Athena at the lastminute, three of the candidates that are running for president , Ted Cruz Mark owe rubio and rand paul they all announced they are staying back in washington for a senate vote. They are going to be participating via satellite. Also missing, donald trump. Why . Hi kate. Well he has given several reasons. Said at one point his camp said he was angry about a critical editorial in the union leader newspaper. Thats who is sponsoring the event. They published an editorial poking fun at donald trump after he questioned the heroism of arizona senator john mccain. That was a couple of weeks ago. You know of course that john mccain was a p. O. W. In vietnam for nearly six years. The Union Leader Published a tongue in chic cheek editorial that trump knows about heroism because of his countless issues with gorgeous blonds. That isnt sit well with the trump camp. He also says he is not coming because there are too many candidates in this for forum. And he is also says he is not coming because the newspaper, the union leader will not endorse him. I should say this is about the voters. It is targeted at the early voting states not just in New Hampshire, but also in arizona and iowa. It is a chance for more candidates to be heard had. They will not appear together on stage other than in the opening and closing shots. They will be appearing one by one to answer a q and a for about five minutes. Thats what is happening. Trump is not coming. From the looks offist those recent polls its hard to tell if its going to hurt him. Nothing has hurt him so far. Athena going to be an interesting night there in New Hampshire. As athena points out trump may not be on the stage tonight but he is most certainly on the other candidates minds. Look at those polls. Sara murray is out front. Reporter for donald trump, its another day on top. Today a Monmouth University poll puts trump in the lead with 26 support among republican voters. A whopping 14 points ahead of his closest competitor jeb bush. Yesterday it was an nbc wall street journal poll putting trump in first. My poll numbers started to shoot up like a rocket ship and they continue to go up. Reporter on thursday Trump Takes Center Stage once again. This time at the first gop debate in cleveland. The bombastic former Television Star is down playing expectations. I am going to be donald trump. I think if im not dump its not going to look good. Ill do my best. Ive never done it. Before. Reporter and ms proing to play nice. I think i am a nice person. I think thats why my numbers go open. As they get to know me better. I would like to discuss the issues. I am not looking to take anybody out or be nasty. But they attack you. Ive always counterpunched. Reporter on either side his closest rivals in the polls, jeb bush, and scott walker. Filling out the right and the left, we have Ben Carson Ted CruzMike Huckabee rand paul, and marco rubio. But that leaves john casic, chris christie, and rick perry on the bubble, waiting to see how fox calculates their averages. And down playing anxiety about whether they will make the cut. In terms of being on the stage in that big dntd id like to be there. But this debate comes six months before the selection of a single delegate. Reporter that could mean one of trump us a toughest critics. Lets get a pull up bar out there. Reporter wont be on the stij. As a lot of people recognize, this is not oneshot pony here. Reporter any polls that come out before tomorrow at 5 00 p. M. Eastern, including that fox news poll that shows trump in the lead could be a factor in moving these numbers and determining who makes the debate stage. Well be keeping an eye on that as well as how these candidates plan to take on donald trump. Kate. Sara murray thank you so much. Out front tonight, Donald Trumps campaign manager, corey lewandoski. Thanks for coming in. We heard athena laid it out and the sarah talked about it as well. We heard the excuses about why donald trump is not at tonights event. Does this come down to the fact he was not happy about an editorial in the newspaper there . Thats not the case. Politicians love to talk. They want to get in front of the camera, want to talk, talk talk, dont gott want to get anything done. Mr. Trump is busy creating jobs today. He likes to talk. He is getting ready for the debate on thursday. 26 is double the polling numbers of any other candidate. And today wmur said there is a clear runner thats drumpl he is in first place for a reason because people are tired of politician who is want to get on stage who want to talk and make promises that arent fulfilled. Its time for someone who has a proven record of getting things done. Corey, he is leading in the national polls, leading in New Hampshire. Seems every time you are coming on, you are showing me another poll, and you are right. He is leading them. You say he is preparing for the debate. Up until this point he has made it clear that he is not really preparing other than reading up on the news. If he is not preparing in public how is he preparing in private . He said he has never debated before. A number of these politicians stand up and talk and have rhetoric and say things they dont mean. Why not take the opportunity tonight to practice. The format tonight is not conducive to getting your ideas across. You get 16 people on the stage, five minutes to make an opening statement. Sit down and wait for 14 other people to talk. The debate is on thursday thats when mr. Trump will participate. I spoke with the mod rater earlier today. Heres what he said today. Listen. I dont think donald trump is going to be a big part of the forum tonight. I think if candidates id be surprised if many bring buy him up at all. I intend to kind of have a trumpless forum talking about issues that voters here in iowa and South Carolina think are important and they want to hear answers to their questions. A trumpless forum. Thats what he was hoping for, because he wasnt going to show up. But, remember and this is important, this is being broadcast to South Carolina voters iowa voters New Hampshire voters. Trump needs those voters. Lets talk about the polls in South Carolina. One came out today that says donald trump is at 30. 4 in the poll. Next closest rival is at 10 . We take nothing for granted. Mr. Trump has been to South Carolina and iowa many times. He doesnt think this is important . Thats not the case at all. Mr. Trump was very clear that this is not proper format to have a president ial level discussion with all the candidates on stage getting five minutes, there is no interaction, you cant comment, it is a five minute discussion. When we go to New Hampshire, build trump talks to hundreds of thousands in the audience. Thats what he plans to do once hes back there. Whats the one thing i should be looking for come thursday president ial debate. You will see him come with ideas how to make america get. Acting president ial define that. Exactly what i said, he will be acting president ial. He seems to be redefining the race so far. Well see if he redefines the actions of being president ial. Joining me bill you heard corey saying it, this forum is not consuesive for a president ial level debate. What do you think . He is doing fine following his instincts. He probably thinks its more likely for him to make a mistake. He is act like a frontrunner shunning the smaller debates. Showing up at key occasions. I think he is going to be plateau out soon. At the end of the day, the primary voters are happy to polka finger at the establishment and saying we like trump. But he is not going to be the republican nominee. Every time somebody set a growth ceiling for him he blows through it. Look at the polls out tonight. He is at 26 . Look and i spent long time earlier on i think i was ahead of the curve saying take trump seriously, the issues he is raising seriously, including illegal immigration, which all the establishment candidates are shying away from. On the other hand think of this in the end of july early august 2003 howard dean was leading the Democrat Field n. 2007 Richard Giuliani was leading and Hillary Clinton was leading the democratic. In 2011 rick perry was leading. In the last three cycles except for incumbent president s on the competitive side of things, the frontrunner at this time was not the person who won the nomination. Trump has been expressive. I dont mean to take anything away from him. He has great talents but i think we are seeing the high water mark. Maybe this debate thursday night will be the high water mark. We will see. The big question will be in the next couple of days who do the candidates do about donald trump is this . Anything him or take him on. Out front next, draft joe biden. The movement is growing tonight. Is the Vice President going to be jumping into the race . Plus the search for mh370. It is growing, as investigators prepare to examine their best lead yet. Are we any closer to finding out what happened to that missing plane. Also breaking news. An arrest just made in the Fatal Shooting of a Memphis Police officer as we hear for the very first time what happened on the scene. Listen up. Im reworking the menu. 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Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30tablet trial. Sfx phone alert look at us. A nation of checkers. Missing this moment. To check all of the other moments. Really, mom . Just one look. Theyll never notice. Checkers, you can keep failing at trying to sneak a peek. Or, you can change the way you check your phone. Its 30 in the first. Howd you do that . Magic. Acutally, its the Samsung Galaxy s6 edge with discreet edge notifications. Will he or wont he . Source tell cnn Vice President joe biden has not ruled out another run for president. Its something that he is son, beau who passed away in may, reportedly wanted him very much to do. So what does that mean for Hillary Clinton, though . Senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny is out front. Joe biden, im looking for a job. Reporter looking for a job. But the question for joe biden is which one . He has long eyed the presidency. And hes still considering joining the 2016 race. Summertime speculation has suddenly hit full boil over whether he will challenge Hillary Clinton for the democrat nomination. One factor weighing heavy, his son, beau biden, urged his father to run before dying of brain cancer in may. And now, one of beau bidens close advisors is joining a Grassroots Movement called draft biden. And the Vice President is Holding Political meetings of his own with his old network of supporters to see if there is interest in backing a new campaign. Questions about clintons candidate see hangover the biden boomlet. A recent poll showed only 37 viewed clinton as honest and trustworthy fo while 57 did not. For biden, 58 found him honest and trust worthily 37 did not. Hillary does have a problem with trust in this country right now. And i do believe that when and if he decides to run, joe will add a new dimension to this race. Reporter biden has run for president twice before. He has never ruled out a third time. If he did, the gap gafs of four decades in politics would follow him into the race. Like this expletive right before president obama signed the health care law. [ bleep ]. Would you run if she runs . Absolutely. Thats not the reason not to run or two run. The question is am i convinced i am best positioned of anyone else to lead the country . Reporter but clinton has a big headstart. She is airing her first tv commercials tomorrow. I believe that when families are Strong America is strong. Its your time. Reporter kate, the bottom line is this several indians zprends advisors to the Vice President tell me that he is thinking about running. But anyone who believes he has already made up his mind is just wrong about that. They say he is going to think about it over the next month or so. He is spending this time with his family in wilmington, delaware and then he is going to make a decision. As for the Clinton Campaign how they are reacting to all of this. They say they never expected an easy path to the nomination. And now, kate it looks like it might not be quite so easy whether or not the Vice President gets into the race. Excellent point jeff. Thanks. Out front now, Michael Thornton a long time biden supporter and van jones a cnn political commentator. Great to see you. Jeff you heard jeff lying out everything in his report. From your pore suspective why does this race need joe biden . Because he is best qualified. For one thing, his last seven years of service as Vice President has been one of great distinction. Whether there was a crisis abroad in china or ukraine or iran know biden was the person that was inevitably sent out there to sort it out and did a very good job on that. Domestically he has been one of the few people in washington able to work on bipartisan basis. He has ga respect in the Congress Among Republicans as well as the democrats. And finally, you look at his personal characteristics. He has great courage. He in these days when you worry about authenticity there is no one that questions joe bidens then fifth. He certainly says what he believe and what he stands for. Finally, he is not a polarizing person. He is the time of person that can bring this country together i think to a degree. I think he would just make a great president. Van, with all of that being said you think that joe biden would be wasting his time if he did. Thats a pretty strong statement for a sitting Vice President. Why do you think that . Well, just because he is a beloved figure. He is a respected figure. Nobody would argue that he is not. But there is simply no great hunger in the Democrat Party outside of a very small circle of people for joe biden in particular to do anything. He is loved. He is respected. He is liked. But nobody is sitting around saying god, i just wish joe biden would get in this race. People are concerned about Hillary Clinton. But in Hillary Clinton implodes john kerry could jump in. Biden could jump in. Al gore to jump in. Corey booker. Anybody could jump in and have just as much support in this party. I just think it is a waste of his time for him to imagine he is too close to and too much like Hillary Clinton. The rising part of our party is economic populist. Therefore bernie sappeders or elizabeth warren. He is not them. I dont see the space for him in our party. He is a beloved figure but i think he hurts himself by trying to run. Michael i want your take. But also i want to ask you about all of the reporting is suggesting that beau biden is the one who really sparked this push to get joe biden to consider or talk about another run. I dont thinkbyr beau is likely the driving factor . Also most importantly do you think its enough to get his father to run . I think its unquestionably a factor. But its certainly not the only factor. Joe biden has been intere