Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Sreenivasan a blizzard is bearing down tonight on washington d. C. , and states to the north and south. The snow moved in this afternoon, shutting down schools, government and transportation, and canceling thousands of flights. Forecasters warning that by this time tomorrow, theyll be measuring in feet instead of inches. With store shelves nearly empty, and road crews gearing up, millions across the eastern u. S. Waited for the worst. Forecasters are predicting one of the biggest storms ever in the midatlantic, especially with up to three inches of snow an hour. As the wall of weather closed in, blizzard warnings or watches went up from arkansas and tennessee, through washington and as far north as new york. About six inches of snow fell overnight in the little rock, arkansas area, breaking a record set more than 20 years ago. It shut down schools and State Government offices. And in North Carolina, the snow started falling before sunrise, triggering a number of fatal wrecks. Where im seeing the accidents is where it looks like its a safe road, and people are speeding because they assume its safe, because they dont see snow on the roads. Thats our greatest concern right now. Sreenivasan North Carolina declared a state of emergency, along with tennessee, virginia, maryland, and pennsylvania. So did the Nations Capital sitting squarely in the blizzards bullseye, with estimates that more than two feet of snow will fall. I want to be very clear with everybody. We see this as a major storm. It has life and death implications, and all the residents of the District Of Columbia should treat it that way. We have a forecast that i dont think we had in 90 years. Sreenivasan in a bid to beat the storm, the federal government closed all its washington offices at noon. And, for the first time, the citys entire subway system planned to close for the weekend. But antiabortion forces were meanwhile, all the Major Airlines issued waivers for the weekend, allowing passengers to rebook and avoid the storms. The snow and high winds are expected to continue into sunday, amid warnings of more than a billion dollars in damage. So far, at least five people have died in stormrelated accidents. In the days other news, bad weather off the greek islands caused one of the worst migrant tragedies yet. At least 46 people including 17 children drowned when two wooden boats capsized as they tried to cross from turkey. So far, dangerous Winter Weather conditions have not stopped the surge of people trying to reach europe by boat. But the rising fatalities make this the deadliest january on record. The Prime Minister of iraq now says criminal gangs may have abducted three americans in baghdad for ransom. But he also says it is not yet clear they were kidnapped at all. The three disappeared in baghdad last saturday. Iraqi Prime MinisterHaider Alabadi spoke in davos, switzerland today, where hes attending the World Economic forum. I have to rely on the information. A, we dont know if theyre still missing. Were still looking for them. I dont believe there is any political thing out of this because what gain would anybody get from that. Sreenivasan other iraqi sreenivasan other iraqi officials and some western security sources have said two shiite militias are the top suspects in the abductions. North korea announced today it has detained an American College student. He is identified as 21yearold Otto Frederick warmbier, from the university of virginia. He had been in the country on a fiveday tour. North korean state tv made the announcement. It said warmbier is accused of committing unspecified hostile acts and allegedly plotting to destroy the countrys unity. The u. S. State Department Said it is looking into the report. In somalia, at least 20 people died overnight when islamist gunmen attacked a popular beachside restaurant. It happened in mogadishu, and the Islamist Group alshabab claimed responsibility. The attackers set off bombs and then opened fire on diners, triggering an hourslong gun battle with security forces. It was not clear how many gunmen were among the dead. Tunisias government imposed a nationwide curfew today in a bid to halt violent demonstrations over youth unemployment. Tensions flared this week after a young job seeker was electrocuted when he climbed a transmission tower in protest. Unemployment in the north african nation has worsened since the 2011 revolution that launched the arab spring. And back in this country, wall street rallied as oil pushed back above 32 dollars a barrel. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 210 points to close above 16,90. The nasdaq rose nearly 120 points, and the s p 500 added 38. Overall, the market scored its first weekly gains of the year. Still to come on the newshour, brooks and marcus as the race for the white house intensifies; looking to the skies for a possible new planet; a big push so no child is left offline; how to control a spike in feral cats across america, and much more. Sreenivasan turning to the race for the white house its crunch time for the candidates on the campaign trail, with only ten days remain until caucus goers gather to make their choices in iowa. The front runners are using tried and true tactics to turn votes in their favor. Political director Lisa Desjardins reports. Reporter voting day gets closer, and what do you know the race suddenly gets sharper. In each party, the two frontrunners, previously friendly, are going on the attack. For republicans, the Ted Cruz Donald trump detente has exploded into shots fired. Cruz is going down. Hes having a hard time. He looks like a nervous wreck. Donald has been an active supporter he gave 100,000 to the clinton foundation. Reporter and in the last day, the candidates have each launched new ads, each arguing the other is not a real conservative. Trumps play immigration. His ad raises cruz past support of some legal status for the undocumented. I want Immigration Reform to pass, and that allows those who come here illegally to come in out of the shadows. Reporter cruz ad plays a different card, pointing to trumps defense of Eminent Domain the taking of private land for development or roads. It made him rich. Like when trump colluded with Atlantic City insiders to bulldoze the home of an elderly widow. Reporter their fight for the nomination is now, suddenly a fight for the soul of the republican party. This week, bob dole, former Senate Republican leader and president ial nominee blasted ted cruz, saying he would mean cataclysmic and wholesale losses for the party. Cruz has said thats a sign that washington is scared of him. Other conservatives see trump as more alarming. National review magazine a conservative icon etched its cover with the words against trump. Inside sharper words still. Editors wrote that trump is a political opportunist; that he knows approximately as much about National Security as he does about the nuclear triad. Which is to say almost nothing; and that trump has shown no interest in conservative issues limiting government, reforming entitlements or the constitution. Trump was equally stinging, tweeting back that the National Review is a failing publication that has lost its way. Meantime, with the democratic race suddenly tighter, Hillary Clinton is pushing her National Security credentials in a new ad and shes going after Bernie Sanders for wanting government run healthcare, not obamacare. I dont want to rip up this accomplishment and begin this contentious debate all over again. Thats where i disagree with my esteemed opponent, senator sanders. Reporter sanders is getting attention for this, more thematic, ad. Portraying a movement of regular, working americans. The images have been criticized it for a lack of diversity, in a race where sanders trails with africanamericans. On the trail, the vermont senator is stepping up his criticism, this morning pointing to social security. Hed like to raise taxes on the wealthy to expand it. It is Closing Argument time. Ten days until iowa. Tight races on both sides. That also means time for closing punches. For the pbs newshour, im Lisa Desjardins. Sreenivasan and now to the analysis of brooks and marcus. Judy spoke with them earlier today. Woodruff and that is New York Times columnist david brooks and the Washington Post columnist ruth marcus. Mark shields is away. Welcome to you both. As we just heard, a new front opened up in this battle of the republican party. David, up this iconic magazine of the conservative movement going after donald trump saying hes a menace to conservatism, hes coming back. Where is this headed . The split is interesting. Its between people who are more iideal logically minded and roge minded. The ideological is going with trump. The rogue minded are suspicious of trump because hes all over the place. Its breaking down on that line. The talk show folks are more trump than the print folks. Thats the breakdown. I happen to think that in voters minds the last four years have made republicans less conservative. The economic stress and crisis made them any i want somebody on my side and are a little more willing to tolerate government than they were, say, ten years ago, and theyre willing to tolerate a little more chaos than ten years ago. So ideology versus chaos, i think chaos wins. Woodruff good for donald trump. How do you see this . I think breakdown would be the operative word and there is a division between various piece toffs republican establishment, the conservative republican establishment as exemplified by National Review is freaking out, i think is the technical term, about the trump menace, and thats the word National Review used, menace. The washington establishment and the Party Establishment is freaking out about cruz because they see, strangely, trump some of them do, we heard from bob dole this week, trump is more electable than cruz. They do not want to have no shot at a third term in the they dont want to have a third democratic term in the white house. Woodruff well, so, but where does it go . David, youre saying that republicans are less tolerant or less warm to the idea of conservatism. Theyre willing to tolerate some chaos. But does that mean does that automatically mean that trump prevails over these other establishment candidates . Not automatically. Im still hoping the establishment will get off their rear ends and actually do something and act like an establishment and rally behind one candidate. So you have to say right now, given all the things that have happened this weekend, remember a lot can still happen between now and the caucuses. The final week is, like, 70 of the campaign. You can see massive swings. So youre looking for magic. Who has magic right now . And given all the things that have happened, i dont think bob dole gives trump a lot of magic, but sarah palin gives him a little. And to me reporter you do think so . The vibe feels, if there is any magic, trump has a little imagining and cruz even in the polls is falling slightly. Woodruff how do you see the sarah palin endorsement . So, as a general matter, endorsements dont matter very much, but this one, from that low baseline, matters a little more than most. First of all, once again, donald trump managed to take attention away from everybody else, including ted cruz, who needs the attention more, put it on him, on trump, for several days, and also sarah palin. Also to the extent that endorsements matter, they matter because theyre validators of something that voters may still have a question about. With donald trump, and this is the argument ted cruz has been making, the question is he a real conservative, can you really trust him to be a conservative, not the guy with new york values. With sarah palin, who may not be convincing to republicans inside the beltway, she can speak pretty convincingly to voters in iowa who, remember, you know, were for Rick Santorum four years ago. Woodruff but also, david, there are some voters who say they absolutely dont trust her and dont care what she thinks. This is why we shouldnt can trump the nomination. There is a real ceiling there, especially as we get into the more diverse states. So i think, once you get an establishment candidate, a moderate candidate, what we now call moderate, trump is still extremely vulnerable as we get there. If you tray to break down the party into lanes, which may not be valid anymore, but there is still 40, 50 who are either moderate, have some mixture of conservative and liberal positions, who are Party Regulars and not particularly ideological. Thats why the conservatives havent disappeared. The party is radicalized, clearly, but trump and cruz are still vulnerable if theres a single alternative. David said once you get and i think thats the operative term because how in this time with super pacs and so many candidates still running for that moderate establishment, maybe not moderate but certainly establishment mantel, how does that sort itself out . There is a degree that cant be denied of antitrump animus. I was at a ted cruz event earlier this week in New Hampshire and i was surprised the number of them not shopping between cruz and trump. Trump was totally off their list. One other thing is the ads. I think the trump ads, i find them extremely noxious. Theyre extremely antiimmigrant. They attack cruz on two grounds, that hes sufficiently antiimmigrant and hes squirrely and there is images of him talking to fox news looking squirrely. Woodruff meaning . He flipflops. He took a week when immigration was passing to try find the right position with himself. Thats the inauthenticity and opportunism when hes week. Cruz is charging trump with being an effective businessman. But people like that in trump. Trump as a little advantage in the ad wars. We havent talked much about ads in this campaign. In the last hours before people vote, will these make any difference . There have not been really breakout ads that have galvanized attention in this campaign more than in previous ones, but there was an interesting one that was just released last night from the Bernie Sanders campaign, with which had this very morning in america, if you dont mind my using that phrase woodruff from ronald reagan. Had a Bernie Sanders tone to it, had zero message, from the guy who has a very crisp and explicit message, it was a simon and garfunkel american song with pictures of Bernie Sanders and rapturous voters. Woodruff could Something Like that work . Because were seeing a much tougher race now between clinton and sanders. I watched it a few times. I have to say, it made me smile and it made me also kind of have flashbacks to barack obama 2008, and i think Hillary Clinton may be having some flashbacks now as well, because as with barack obama, sanders has turned his campaign into quite a movement. You see it with the voters in New Hampshire and you see it with the polls in New Hampshire, and its not that he has he can afford to run that ad because its not as if he lacks the message. Voters know clearly what his message is. Woodruff but he also went after her, david, in that debate on sunday night on several things including the speaking fees she collected from wall street from the big financial firms. Is that something that Gains Traction for him . Among his voters who think wall street is the epicenter of evil, it is. They also had an interesting debate about healthcare reform, and that was her making an incremental argument, weve got to make our changes gradually, and him making a radical argument. So that was a substantive argument on how to change any system. Again, im going to go back to the magic or a better word is charisma. Some campaigns have charisma at certain moments and some are flat in certain moments. Like that arizona, sanders has a little more charisma in his campaign and clinton a little lacking and thats important because people gravitate in final days. Woodruff essentially the argument is whether you just wipe away to what weve done and go to a single payer Healthcare System which most americans say they dont want, right . Well, it really is this argument about practicality, and one of the things thats interesting is there is actually a parallel argument going on in the republican and democratic campaigns so Hillary Clinton says im the pragmatist, im a progressive but a pragmatic one, i know how to get results. What hes saying, maybe its a great idea in theory but hell never be able to put it in practice. Oddly enough, donald trump is making that same argument against ted cruz. He is saying ted cruz, it cant well, first of all, hes a little squirrely and maybe not a real conservative and look at this s