Be the president of the United States. Hillary clinton. That is a book where you changed your position on immigration. You used to support a path to citizenship. So did you. But you changed the book. So did you, marco. All but one of the republican president ial hopefuls face off in des moines, front runner donald trump a last minute no show, offering the rest of the field to make their voices heard before the allimportant monday caucuss. I have had more 2 00 a. M. Phone calls that everybody here put together, making life and death decisions. I dont think have you to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. There is the establish lane, antiestablishment lane, then, the kasich lane. If im the nominee well defeat Hillary Clinton and turn this country around after seven years of the disaster that is barack obama. The republican candidates have made more than 300 trips to the state combined, and if history is an indicator, many iowa votes are still up for grabs. Making this night perhaps the most important of all. So who impressed . The caliphate of isis has to be destroyed. Have a nofly zone in syria. I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness for which i will fight terrorism, go after isis, hunt them down and utterly destroy isis. Barack obama wants america to be like the rest of the world. We dont want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of america. And that is why Hillary Clinton can not win this election. Frank luntz and his focus group are here, and well speak with ted cruz, fresh from the debate stage and well have all star analysis. The kelly file starts right now. And hello again from des moines, different location, but still here, moments ago, seven of the Top Republican president ial contenders faced off for the final time before the iowa caucuses. The candidates addressed what is wrong with washington, addressed illegal immigration, the threats from isis, social issues and their own inconsistent statements. But perhaps one of the biggest stories of the night, not their attacks on one another, but on Democratic Front runner, Hillary Clinton. Charles krauthammer is with me now, charles, your thoughts. Hello there. I am ready for your question. I thought this was a very interesting evening because the absence, well, i dont say why. There was a very spirited debate, much more substantive than any other and there was almost none of the earlier debate. It did not having to do, i thought with the kind of personal level we heard before. Ill leave it to the viewers to figure out why. Secondly, i thought it was interestingly the best night that jeb had in all of the debates and i might say he might have had the best night of the group in this debate. He was very strong. He had one moment where he kind of flipped back to marco rubio on the question of immigration. Kind of a reversal. I had that. Yes. We have that. Yes. Lets take a listen then well get your thoughts. Yes. Interesting that jeb mentions the book. That is the book where you changed your position on immigration. You used to support the path to citizenship. So did you, marco. When you led the charge with the gang of eight you supported it because you asked me to. There is never going to be a perfect bill. But when you didnt do that, and you asked people to support, you shouldnt cut and run. Just stick with it. That is what happened. He cut and run. That is a tragedy. But, megyn. There is not going to be any consensus on this issue unless we enforce our immigration laws. Go ahead, charles. What i find ironic here, rubio turned strongly against bush. I thought this is one debate where bush did very well. I thought in his own way, christie did well. He has a way of coming in after the others and arguing and rising above it and saying this is why you need to do it, etc. , when he had that line about you need a dictionary to explain washington speak into ordinary english, setting himself aside. He didnt have a soaring moment, but i thought he did well. Cruz and rubio were the most interesting. Each of them had their moments. Cruz had a rocky start when attacking you, the moderators for trying to cause arguments debate between you. The crowd was not very appreciative of that. Rubio had his rockiest night. I think on immigration, the contradiction of what he said a few years ago and now, he had a hard time arguing out of that box. My own view on that was why, why is it, why would you not show the audience what he said in his own words . Why is it more effective for anchors so sit there and repeat it . Well make sure its in context and fair, and it is something. The video portion is something to see them on camera saying the things and then, having to explain them. There is no question that senator rubio has flipped on this issue significantly and it is a problem with him for a lot of g. O. P. Voters. You showed for cruz, he came out for legalization, which he now says was a sham, and didnt mean it. Cruz, im not sure his argument is a better one but he made a better one tonight and wiggled out of it with slightly more finesse and a sense of conviction than rubio did in explaining the way his contradictions. So it was an interesting array. I thought, i mean, i have a lot of affection for rand paul, i disagree with him more on the issues than other candidates but does show libertarianism as a critique of the main stream conservatism, i dont think he affected his standing but having him on the stage was an addition. What did you think of ted cruzs manner . Normally, he gets in there and fights for air time. Normal live. Maybe not less so . I thought so. I think this wasnt i tried to go the whole segment without saying his name. But im going to fail. I think in the absence of trump. You should feel free. Because i think there wasnt that presence hanging over him. And remember, among the field on the stage, he was a front runner. So he was sort of wanting to sit more on his lead than he would if trump were there. I thought one of the mostinteresting aspects of the debate is how Little People went after trump. The only one who did, and i thought it was a nicelydelivered hit was by jeb. He came out against the demonization of the other, particularly muslims in response to the immedia to the video that had been shown on you tube. And i thought he made a forceful defense of his position on how to act in, with isis in the middle east. Particularly since the question had kind of a hook on it. Mentioning the failures of his brothers policy in the middle east. He side stepped it and i thought he handled it very well. Charles, great to see you. My pleasure. Well, at the end of the night, the candidates wanted to do well. And that is essentially, this is a Job Interview for them, right . Voting beginses on monday, they want to have George Washingtons job. What we care about is what the voters think. Pollster frank luntz put together a focus group in iowa, zeroing in on issues that matter most. Joining me now, frank luntz and his focus group, hi, frank. Megyn, you asked probably the toughest questions of the debates, gave the candidates no room to wiggle. You pressed them. And he responded. I want to begin with the mostimportant and impactful most of the debate. Your challenge of marco rubio, and watch how well he did on immigration. Take a look. It was. Were not going to round up and deport 12 Million People but were not going around handing out citizenship cards, either, it will not be unconstitutional executive orders like the ones barack obama forced on us. What is your reaction . I want to show the audience at home how many of you walked in here supporting marco rubio . Raise your hands . Three of you. How many of you are going home most likely to vote for rubio. Raise your hands . That is the impact of a single debate. Describe rubio. Organized. President ial. Powerful. Prepared. Eloquent. Game changer. Electable. Attractive opportunist. Explain what you saw tonight. You dialled two hours worth. What did you see . He was honest and believable. And didnt berate the other candidates on stage. He was positive and put hillary in her spot as far as computers and benghazi. What was it . Tell me . He is articulate but tells it like it is. Hes very believable. He doesnt start attacking other people, other than hes staying on the game plan. Hes in the worried about negatives. Youre the youngest person in this room. Were you able to vote in the last election . Yes. I was. This will be your second time. Is it because rubio is younger . What attracts you to him . No. Not because hes younger, its because hes aspirational. You know when hes going to do something, its going to be what he says. He is honest and seems like he has a vision for this country. I have to tell you very few people feel that way about politics. They see it as negative. They dont think anyone is honest. But, megyn, this is the highest test of the night. This is the highest test. When marco rubio showed a little bit of humor and respect for american heros, the dials just went through the roof. I think Bernie Sanders is a good candidate for president. Of sweden. We dont want to be sweden. We want to be the United States of america. And Hillary Clinton is disqualified for being the commander in chief of the United States. That is why hes going to come across as a guy hard for the democrats to attack and most electable. Is he the most electable . Yes. I think he does appeal to a lot of folks. There was unsurety with back and forth with the immigration thing, he continued to put the focus on hillary, which i like. When they got back and forth between each other, i didnt care for that. When they started to differentiate themselves with opposition, i thought he made marks. How many of you think marco rubio can defeat Hillary Clinton . Raise your hands. How many of you think he will be the nominee . Weve got a way to go. Here is the question everybody wants the answer to, was donald trump impactful in his not being on air . Youre going to get a surprising reaction. Whether he made a mistake and how it impacted other candidates who did participate. All right. Thank you very much. Well be back to you in a bit. Also ahead, one of the candidates you just saw on stage is here, on his way to share thoughts after leaving the stage. Right after the break, texas senator, ted cruz. Chris, i would note the last four questions have been rand, please attack ted, marco, please attack ted, chris, please attack ted, jeb, please attack ted. Let me just say this. It is a debate, sir. No. No. A debate is a policy issue. I will say this. Gosh, if you say that one more mean question, i may have to leave the stage. I tried depend last weekend. It really made the difference between a morning around the house and getting a little exercise. Only depend underwear has new confidence Core Technology for fast absorption and the smooth, comfortable fit of fitflex™ protection. Get a coupon at depend. Com you know, you claim it is tough talk to discuss carpet bombing. It is not tough talk. It is a Different Military strategy than what weve seen from barack obama. Barack obama right now has degraded our military. You know, just two weeks ago was the 25th anniversary of the first persian gulf war. When that war began, we had 8,000 planes. Today we have about 4,000. When that war began, we had 529 ships, today, 272. You want to know what carpet bombing is . What we did in the first persian gulf war, 1100 air attacks per day. Saturation bombing that utterly destroyed the enemy. That was a big moment for senator ted cruz talking about rebuilding the u. S. Military, joining me now, texas senator and candidate ted cruz. Good to see you. Great to be back. I think that was one of your greatest moment. Many people made an issue about the carpet bombing issue. How do you think it went . I feel very good about it. I think voters got a clear contrast. You know, here in iowa, 93 hours out. It is this is the time people are making their decisions. I think you saw a real contrast between Campaign Conservatives and a candidate who has been a consistent, proven conservative over and over again. That is what people are looking for across the country. Its a different dynamic tonight because we were missing the front runner. How did that change the experience for you . We were joking it was like voldemort, he who shall not be named. We wanted to discuss the issues at got into agreement that you didnt have any gratuitous insults. I think that is what the voters deserve, an exchange where you can compare views and vision. The attacks seems focused on Hillary Clinton and less on each other. You heard frank luntzs focus group liked. We have got to win in 2016. I think the stakes have never been higher. There is an urgency about this election. If we go under this eight more years down this road, we risk losing the country. Do you think that is getting lost . Some debates fizzle and these sort of, you know, big moments but you and senator rubio i dont think its being lost. Were doing a bus tour across iowa. On monday, well go out 99 counties and senator Chuck Bradley does that every year. Everywhere we go, were seeing this incredible excitement. We were in a town of 600 people. 150 came out to our event. 25 of the town. I think people are really, theyre scared about what their kids are inheriting and that urgency is really driving the excitement. That is it. Its incredible to think the voting begins. Lets talk about the exchange you and i had. Lets play a clip. Is that an act . It was convincing. The amendment is 38 words. Anyone can go online and ted cruz. Org and read what it says, anyone here illegally is permanently unable for citizenship. I introduced a series of amendments, the fact that each amendment didnt fix every problem didnt mean i supported the rest of the bill. So, what i was trying to get at there is the bill offers legalization and citizenship, you tried to take away citizenship. I was checking your record to see does ted cruz want legalization or didnt he . I think the report supports you did not want it. But i was trying to get to you is it just seems weird for the average person to see the acting when youre trying to sell it saying i want the bill to pass. I said i want Immigration Reform to pass. You also said the bill. I didnt say the bill. I played it. That was the first one. When i said is that i want Immigration Reform to pass. I laid out on my website an 11 page plan that i would like to have pass. Weve got to secure the borders and stop illegal immigration. We need to youre talking about people coming out of the shadows. It seems like acting. Well, look. What i often do when debating democrats, ways debating Chuck Schumer there. The language of the democrats to show their hypocrisy. It wasnt about that. It wasnt about that. Youre trying to put the lie to that . To read your testimonials on this, that is how i read it. That is exactly right. They said it was all about bringing people out of the shadows. I said great, you should be happy to take citizenship off the table. And Chuck Schumer responded there is no reform, well chill the whole thing. The joke is now the new term for Illegal Immigrants is undocumented democrats. When the hypocrisy was shown to the American People that, is one of the reasons were able to kill it. That is why Jeff Sessions said if ted wasnt there, it would have passed. I thought is he lying about this . The records support you. Its just, you know, the youre running on being outside of the cartel. It seemed a little cartely. Youre playing a cartely game. I dont think it is at all. I said i was opposed to amnesty. And when i got to the senate i was opposed to amnesty. Do you know what is interesting . In the republican field im the only republican running who opposes amnesty and a pathway to citizenship. Marco rubio and Hillary Clinton and donald trump all three of them support a pathway to citizenship. Donald trump says we should send people home but let them back in and become citizens. That is called touch back. Its a form of amnesty, the trump touch back. They fly home, touch the ground and come home as citizens. I am the only republican running who opposed amnesty every day and will do so as well. You do have a consistent record on that. Ill give you that and we did look back on that. Congratulationss. Thank you very much, nice job. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Still a lot more to come with bret baier, considerate stirewalt, look at them, there they are. Youre not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. I have had more 2 00 a. M. Phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions. I wanted to know who i am and where i came from. I did my ancestrydna and i couldnt wait to get my pie chart. The most shocking result was that im 26 native american. I had no idea. Just to know this is what im made of, this is where my ancestors came from. And i absolutely want to know more about my native american heritage. Its opened up a whole new world for me. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com go to ziprecruiter. Com and post your job to over one hundred of the webs leading job boards with a single click. Then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. And now you can use zip recruiter for free. Go to ziprecruiter. Com. Chris, boy note the last four questions have been rand, please attack ted, marco, please attack ted, jeb, please attack ted. Let me just say this. It is a debate, sir. We killed his line at the end. He said no matter how mean you are to me im not going to leave. Joining me now, bret baier, and the man you just saw, chris wallace, anchor of fox news sunday. We havent spoken yet. I had to run. Did you make the elevator . I did. Yes. I thought it was good and substantive. I was worried they were somehow sedated, like something was going wrong. And i expected them to come out full guns about trump. But they, i think, collectively, each, individually, made the case that you know, were not going to talk about it. Why give him the air time, they appeared to feel. I asked ted cruz if they had an agreement, he said no, it h