North charleston, south carolina, the two gop candidates duking it out for victory in iowa will come face to face for the first time in 2016. For most of the Campaign Donald trump and ted cruz have been reluctant to take each other on. Trump waiting until provoked, although poking the bear a bit. Cruz hoping to curry favor with his rival supporters, a strategy hes referred to as bear hugging trump. But now with the Iowa Caucuses less than three weeks away, all that starting to change. Tonights debate is hosted by fox business. Its the first one to feature just seven candidates on the main stage with rand paul and Carly Fiorina having been bumped thanks to low poll numbers. All eyes on trump on center sta stage and the man to his left. Trump remarked on the new dynamic between cruz and himself. Teds been really nice until the last couple of days, ted cruz. Hes been really, really nice, other than the last couple of days, getting a little testy. Ive been waiting. Ive been waiting. As iowa comes down to the wire, things have started to get a bit testy between the two frontrunners and with a conservative electorate motivated largely it appears by identity politics, hes selling the same negative story about his opponent, hes just not one of us. That was the sub text of a somewhat bizarre comment trump made about cruzs religion. You got to remember in all fairness, to the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of cuba, okay, just remember that, okay, just remember. Seems to underlie trumps claim because cruz was born in canada there may be questions about his eligibility to run for president. Meanwhile, cruz has countered trumps birther attacks by tying him to liberal east coast elites, all that what sarah palin calls the real america. After a harvard law professor, who actually taught ted cruz, questioned cruz easel jiblt, this is his response. Strange to see relying on a liberal left wing activist harvard law professor, whos a huge hillary supporter. Starts to make you think, gosh, why are hillarys strongest supporters backing donald trump . Then cruzs comments. I think he may shift in his new rallies to playing new york, new york, because, you know, donald comes from new york and he embodies new york values, and, listen, donald seems to be a bit rattled. Princeton undercard, law firm, hes managed to forge a very different political identity. Yesterday cruz scored the ultimate validation of that creative identity, an endorsement from duck dynastys bill robertson. Hes the man for the job and he will go duck hunting. The reason were going to vote for you, all of us, is because youre one of us. Unfortunately for cruz, on the same day the New York Times published a report telling a different kind of story about who ted cruz is. A loan he took out from Goldman Sachs, his wifes employer, to finance his senate campaign, which he later failed to disclose in president ial filings. Donald trump now seems pretty concerned. Its a big thing, i know nothing about it, but i hear its a big thing. I hope he solves it. Hes a nice guy and i hope he gets it solved. Trump and cruz are leading the pack, between them they have more than half of all republican support. While many pundits argued the glut of establishment candidates is splitting the antitrump and cruz vote, that does not seem to be the case as of now. According to this poll, trump still finishes first and rubio comes in distant third, all of which makes it less likely a single candidate will be able to win enough primaries to lock up the nomination and more likely the Republican Party is headed towards a contested convention this summer, something which the rnc is now preparing. Joining me now from south carolina, Political Writer for buzz feed news. Lets start with this dynamic, first time cruz and trump, the gloves are cing off. Sort of took a little while, somewhat inevitable, cruz was drafting behind donald trump and is now kind of making his move. What do you expect with the two standing next to each other tonight . Well, i think that were now, i think, 18 days out from the Iowa Caucuses. If there are moves to be made, they are going to have to make them. We saw a report earlier this week that ted cruzs campaign or backers had actually been testing lines against donald trump. The new york values, i believe, one of them or Something Like that. Apparently that one tested well because cruz is using it. I will say, though, the fascinating dynamic there, and you got a bit in that intro, both trump and cruz are trying to cast each other as exotic or different or not one of us, right . Ted cruz has been doing it by pointing to, you know, Donald Trumps past liberal positions a little bit, which is apparently very exotic to the rest of the world, but also i can tell you donald trump, of course, has been raising this issue, the birther issue and saying, you know, is ted cruz even eligible to be president. And i can say its amazing how trump when he first came out with that, that was something a lot of people kind of laughed at, even in the party, even in the republican president ial field. Just a few minutes ago, right before i came on here, i was on the floor there and i interviewed Mike Huckabee briefly. I asked him what he thought of this eligibility issue and he actually said that he has evolved on this. Hes changed his mind. He said at first i thought it was ridiculous, but ive been reading some constitutional scholars now and actually im not sure. It seems like maybe it is a real issue. I mean, what i think that shows is the ability that trump has to take literally any issue, any idea as, you know, wacko or farfetched as it seems and kind of insert it into the middle of the race and make it something thats actually mainstream in the primary. And i think thats what cruz is contending with. You know, this is going to be the first time tonight that youve got the three people in the middle who are polling at the top right now, which is rubio, trump, and cruz, right, and thats who that national poll. Again, a theoretical threeway Race National poll is doesnt mean anything per se, but that number has to be giving people heart burn. You wrote a great piece today in buzz feed about the sort of antitrump calvary that never came. The idea was were going to come after this guy and it hasnt happened yet. Its remember, and i was one of the people who had been convinced of this idea. I thought if Trumps Campaign didnt naturally organically melt down, before things got too serious, before we got anywhere close to iowa, you know, the coalition of super pacs and opposing campaigns would come in and carpet bomb the swing states or the early primary states with attack ads and trump would be exposed as a shar he tan and be chased out of the race. Not only did that dynamic not end up playing out, nobody has spent any money to attack trump. We have a ridiculous kind of unreal situation right now where literally a couple weeks out from iowa and people are spending millions of dollars to bludgeon each other, these candidates in the Single Digits while the frontrunner is facing virtually no attack ads, no money sent in. As far as i can tell, zero dollars of paid negative advertising on donald trump where if you look through his record, theres stuff you can cut negative ads. Its not hard to cut a 30second negative ad against donald trump. Theres none, theres not a single one. Right. So he and cruz are going to fight. Meanwhile, the convention has to start the Republican Party has to start thinking about if you go far with cruz and trump each maintaining a sizable base of support and some establishment candidate emerging, you know, youre looking at a very, very messy spring and summer. Well see how that all plays out tonight. I think youre right, i think youre right. Thank you. Joined by contributing writer, you had a great piece today about the meaning of the Goldman Sachs loan for ted cruz. Cruz in some ways has been so successful at so minutely crafting to match perfectly the basis positions and persona. I think its been hard for opponents to find ways to outflank him. This strikes me as actually possibly a problem for him politically. Yeah, this certainly could be it. There are just waves of hypocrisy here. First of all, cruz said in sort of his biographical information that he risked his net worth, he put all his chips in to become a senator and, in fact, what he did was he risked didnt even risk, Goldman Sachs money, he got a loan to actually, you know, put that money into his race. You know, hes been banging crony capitalism and banging that drum on the campaign trail and then taking money from large banks, not just Goldman Sachs, but citi, as well. Yeah, theres a lot there, but i think this is more of an inequality issue, the issue of the kind of candidates we get to run for office. They are usually the kind that can afford to, your hon know, g Million Dollar loan, have the collateral to back that up, rather than the ordinary person that has no means of getting that kind of support. And, in fact, this is one of the things i found fascinating about some of the stories about marco rubio. Marco rubio has not been someone who has a ton of money. Ted cruz and his wife, ted cruz worked at a well compensated law firm, they had a lot of money. Rubio did not have money like the other people standing up there on that stage and you see these stories about him trying to sort of put together the money, cashing out his ira and things like that and people dont realize how much personal money goes in as essentially seed dough for candidates when they are trying to run for office. Right. Its all perfectly legal. You can self fund to the tune of unlimited amounts if you want to run for office. You can take out loans, you can take out a second mortgage. You can get a loan backed by a brokerage account, which is what ted cruz did, and im sure the fact that he was a multimillionaire in his law practice and his wife worked for Goldman Sachs, they didnt blink an eye when they underwrote that. The only way thered be any risk of him not paying it back is if hed won because hed learn less of a salary in the senate than what he was earning at the law firm. David, thank you very much. Still to come, Donald Trumps power of not so subtle suggestions showing signs of chipping away at another candidate. Plus, the nra had to think about it for a week, but now they are totally, completely ready to debate president obama. Later, the big endorsement democrats are waiting for. Why its taking so long, why it might never come. Those stories ahead. Ive been on my feel all day. Im bushed yea me too. Excuse me. Coming through ride the gel wave of comfort with dr. Scholls massaging gel insoles. Theyre proven to give you comfort. Which helps you feel more energized. All day long. I want what he has. As republican candidates prepare to face off with the seemingly unsinkable donald trump tonight in south carolina, last night mr. Trump battled a different kind of opponent at a rally in pensacola, florida. 505 billion, and by the way, i dont like this mike. Whoever brought this mike system son of a [ bleep ] who brought this in. Mike is terrible. Stupid mike keeps popping. Hear that, george . Dont pay them. Dont pay them. You know, i believe in paying, but when somebody does a bad job like this stupid mike, you shouldnt pay them. Terrible. Terrible. Its true. Got to be tough with your people. They dont care, theyll pay. So were not going to pay. I guarantee im not paying for this mike. Possibility of a flare was almost always on my mind. Thinking about what to avoid, where to go. And how to deal with my uc. To me, that was normal. Until i talked to my doctor. She told me that humira helps people like me get uc under control and keep it under control when certain medications havent worked well enough. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Raise your expectations. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible. Ted cruz has a problem, because the question is, is he a natural born citizen . Look, doesnt matter what he does. You cant have a nominee whos going to be subject to be thrown out as a nominee. Just cant do it. I think without question he is qualified and would make the cut, you know, to be Prime Minister of canada, absolutely, without question hes qualified and he meets qualification. I think the democrats will challenge it at the very least and i think it will have to be decided by the Supreme Court. Donald trumps birther attacks on ted cruz are not just becoming fodder with other republican candidates, they very well may be taking a toll, an undecided caucusgoer in iowa, im quoting here, i was kind on the fence before coming down, but now im pretty much 100 for trump, he said after the rally on tuesday. I liked ted cruz, as well, but now theres questions about his citizenship. I dont want to wait to see what happens with that. Kicking up dust seems to be working. Since cruzs peak in iowa, his lead over trump has decreased, now trump is a slight lead in the polling average. That lead is statistically insignificant, the fact remains cruz has dropped. There is broad legal consensus that cruz would, in fact, be deemed a natural born citizen could be challenged. Its also true the Supreme Court has never actually ruled on the issue. This law professor wrote an oped in the Washington Post cruz is not eligible for president , so there are some consenting voices. The only question remaining, who would file such a legal challenge . This man says he would, Allen Grayson of florida, all right, congressman. Youre going to sue about ted cruzs qualifications to be president of the United States . Sure, if hes the nominee, i will do that. Why . Because the constitution means what it says and says what it means. I dont agree theres consensus about this at all. Larry trite seems to be on my side of the argument. Lets just be clear here. This naturalized at birth is something thats been implemented by statute, constitution says natural born citizen, most people interpret the naturalized by birth now in this modern era means a natural born citizen, and thats a sort of important principle, right, if youre outside of the country and your kid is born, you want them to be an american citizen, right . Look, theres a legal argument which you just addressed and a factual argument. Lets start with the legal argument. You seem to think that natural born citizen means somebody born to an american parent, right. There is not much Legal Authority to support that and the Supreme Court has, in fact, never addressed that. A better argument can be made it means youre simply born in the United States. One of the words connote natural born citizen. Certainly, no reason to think it for sure means anything other than that. With regard to the facts, another problem that he has, which is that his mother was a registered voter, he relies upon his mother for his american citizenship, his mother was a registered voter in canada. That came out this week. If she was a registered voter in canada, safe to say she was a citizen of canada, like his father was. How can he claim american citizenship . What standing would you have to sue . What would the suit look like . What injury have you, Allen Grayson, sustained by him being nominee to be president of the United States . I heard the argument. Its a fake issue. Say the Republican Party nominated an elephant for president and the democrats nominated a donkey, do you think wed have to choose between the elephant and donkey . Of course we wouldnt. Someone is going to have to grant look, we went through this. We wenthrough with the president Obama Birther stuff, right, the idea there was that he was about where his place of birth was, that he was actually born in kenya, which is not true, but because he was born there, illegitimate, right . There were all sorts of wackos suing all over the place that couldnt get into a courtroom for standing. That case is not this case, okay, that case is about someone who was born in the United States. This is about someone who was born in canada. Im not going to get into legal strategies here. And by the way, the whole standing document comes from our friend justice scalia, who i worked with for a year, so i know a thing or two about standing. You actually bring this suit and you actually think if he is the nominee that i mean, i guess its america, right, so at some level what trump is saying is true, which is anything like this is going to be litigated by someone, i imagine. Yes. Thats exactly what makes america so great. Anybody can sue anybody for anything. Says the man who was once a lawyer doing his own. Prosecuted more prosecutors for success. Possible legally. I think youre a little bit persuading me in the moment, although maybe im just youre evolving. I think youre a good lawyer. Im sure as soon as the interview is over ill come back to my senses. Damn good congressman, hopefully a good senator next year. Heres the question, is it possible i guess is it possible to resolve trump has been talking about declaratory judgment. You wouldnt want it resolved after the guys elected. Lets just say that. Look, if the republicans are foolish enough to nominate somebody whos ineligible for the job, thats really not my problem. Im a democrat. Remember what they did bush v. Gore, that was a very bad piece of litigation there and knocked out president gore. All rig