Sanders was in washington today, where he met with president obama for more than an hour. It came days after the president praised Hillary Clinton and seemed to dismiss sanders appeal with an interview with politico. Bright, shiny object people havent seen before. Thats a disadvantage to clinton. Earlier today, i spoke with clinton about Bernie Sanders attacks, and the historic nature of her candidacy. Closing time and closing arguments in New Hampshire coming on quickly. Donald trump is not going to debate on fox tomorrow night. Will you debate on our debate . Will you show up . Look, chris, what i said to my campaign is that i would look forward to another debate. I am, you know, anxious. If we can get something set up to be able to be there, and so lets try to make it happen. Well, someone has to lead from the front. Will you be there no matter what . Will you show up and wait and see . Will you be there waiting for Bernie Sanders an Martin Omalley . Would you, in other words, lead the pack in showing up and committing to doing that . Look, im ready for the debate and i hope senator sanders will change his mind and join us. I think the dnc and campaign should be able to work this out. I said for, you know, for a long time that i would be happy to have more debates, and i hope we can get this done. Well, if he doesnt show up, will you . Well, lets hope we can get it worked out. I dont want to, you know, jump the gun and create more problems for everybody trying to get this worked out. So we can all come to agreement that the voters of New Hampshire and america deserve to see us, you know, debating before the New Hampshire primary. So you wont be there, just the last question, you wont be there unless bernie is there . Well, im not committing to that, either, chris. I think we should have another debate. I think people want it. They have called for it. Folks have moved forward trying to get it set up. Weve got, look, 24 hours in a political is a eternity. We have a little time to try to get everybody on board, which would certainly be my preference. You believe candidates should have the courage to face each other before the caucuses, in other words . You think you should be there, and he should be there . I do. I think that, you know, i agree, we all agree to go with the process that the dnc had set up, and you know, ive been saying for a while that if they come up with more debates, ill be there. Now weve got a real live possibility. And i personally think it would be great for the, you know, the primary. Were moving into the caucus, as you know so well on monday, and then had once we come out of there, whatever happens, we should agree to debate in New Hampshire. In other words, youre sticking to your commitment, i will be there . I will, i will debate. Now, as i say, i want the i want all the campaign, the dnc to agree. Thats my preference. Thats what weve tried to, you know, do in our side of the ledger here. And im pushing people to come to agreement, so we can all get out there and debate before the New Hampshire primary. Well, this getting very sharply worded as we get close to the caucuses. The word in the New York Times this morning, madam secretary, is senator sander ss writing an attack ad against you. We dont know whether hes going to use it, but youre in hock to wall street because of the speaking fees youve taken from Goldman Sachs. How do you respond . How will you respond to an 11th hour attack like that . Well, first, its really disappointing, chris. You know, senator sanders has started to get increasingly personal. Its a low blow. It would be an escalation, breaking of his pledge to not go negative. One of the things that is great about the democratic side is we really have focused on issues, while the republicans have been hurlg insults, and i think the people in iowa want to go to the caucuses, thinking about which one of us as president , and actually make a difference from their lives. And thats the case ive been focused on making. So you know, it would be a sharp departure by senator sanders, and you know, the other part of this is anybody who knows me knows you cant buy me. I mean honestly, ive been standing, trying to get things done that i think would improve peoples lives and im not going to stop and that includes anybody trying to, you know, mess with our financial system. When he uses phrases like you can draw your own conclusions as to whether youre in hock to Goldman Sachs or anyone, is that a low blow, you could draw your own conclusions . Well, i think hes trying to go to the line without going over it, and you know, clearly some of the journalists covering us are starting to notice and call him out on it. But i feel very, you know, very positive and energized by what im seeing happening here in iowa, and i know that i have the best plan to reign in wall street abuses to make sure it doesnt happen again. Lots of folks from barney frank to paul krugman have said thats the case, because i dont just go after the big banks. We have the authority to do that under frank, and ive said that i would use that authority if they were posing a Systemic Risk to our ee coop me. We have to go after the shadow bank sector. Lets not forget country wide, lets also remind people, chris, that clearly, the billionaires as bernie likes to say, the billionaires have chosen sides, theyre running ads against me and tried to hood wink democrats into voting against me, because they know exactly what i will do, because they see me in action. So whether its, you know, carl rowe or the Hedge Fund Guys with the super pacs, or jumping in with the ham handed effort to make it look like he was going against bernie when the real point was to, you know, stir opposition to me. I take that as preservely flattering, and as the single reputation as what senator sander ss trying to imply. Youve given us a real rogue gallery here. Shouting slogans, i know what you mean, im going to build a wall against the rio grande river, im going to make the mexicans pay for it. But sanders say free health care, government paid health care for right as a right. He talks about free tuition, free, free. Is that what you mean, i had a young guy on from south carolina, who switched from you to senator sanders. I went through this list of free things, and i said where is the money come from . He says well, we put a man on the moon, we can do this. This kind of fantastic, what do you call it, appeal, and then i heard from sanders the other day that theyre going to stay left, not make any appeal to the middle. How do you beat somebody who promises to go hard left right to november and offers all this stuff to people who are 20 years old, 22 years old, they dont have to pay taxes, you say look, youre going to get free, no more tuition bills, no more bills, youre going to have no health care the rest of your life, forget having to buy insurance, its i pretty good offer. Is that what you mean by shouting slogans. I was really more referring to the republicans, as you pointed out initially. I have been pointing out the differences in the approach between myself and senator sanders. Because i know that its more important we actually make progress than fall back into good lock. Lets take health care as an example. You know, weve been trying as democrats since harry truman to get on the path of union vertical coverage. Before that, it was called hillary care, i have the scarce scars to prove it. We are now at 90 coverage. We need to improve it, get the costs down and make sure we do go after high Prescription Drug costs and some of the other drivers of health care costs, but i think its a lot smarter to try to go from 90 to 100 than to throw our country into another contentious debate about health care, where is the money going to come from, who is going to be paying it. If you have health care, you like if youre under a private plan, you have to give it up, if youre on medicare, and you work, you have to pay more taxes. All these questions would be thrown back into the public arena and we would have to start all over again from zero to 100 . I just think we want to stay on the path of making progress. Now some people, you know, say oh, my gosh, thats so pragmatic, its not soaring or whatever they say. Im out there talking to people whose Prescription Drug costs have gone up from 200 to 14,000. Im talking to people whose insulin costs have gone up three times. Thats not a new drug. That doesnt have any new research in it. Im talking to people who are thanking me for the Affordable Care act, because the lifetime limit, the cap has been lifted. A man in davenport said im so gradeful because i have a granddaughter with a genital heart condition. These people cant wait for another debate that promises the sky. We have to deliver on the ground. We have to help people deal with the problems, the issues that challenges theyre facing right now. We have to restore faith that our goth can work. That is what i intend to do as president. Im going to keep fighting for that. I respect the bowl, because senator and i share the same goal. I think my way will get us there faster. The people here in iowa are telling me they are desperately in need of. Last question, and its so important, this campaign. I know you think so. It has to do with history. Not the only issue. If you look at the american constitution, and youve studied constitutional law, it wasnt until after the civil war that africanamerican men were given the right to vote, and women didnt get it nol the first world war. There a long lag there. Obama was elected president , you might get elected president. You may well get elected president. Do you think Young American women, say young women in college, 18 to 22, 23, do they get it . How long this struggle has been and the fact that its a precarious struggle that could fall back. Do they know the rights to equality at workplace, where they do get it, all were fought for . Do they get it . I dont know that they do. Do you think they get it . Look, i think a lot of young people and i wouldnt limit it to women. I think young people of every background, every, you know, racial, ethnic religious background, are you know, trying to understand how best they can participate in our political system, and what the stakes are for them. And of course, you know, if youre if you havent been through a lot of these struggles, its ease easy to not know about them or they didnt go far enough, or everything is taken care of. So we have the two extremes of the argument. But here is what im hearing. At least from the young women who come to see me. They say, hey, okay, youre for equal pay, what are you going to do to make sure i get it. I had a young woman here in iowa say i want to go to law school. How can i be sure if i work hard and do well and get a job, im going to get equal pay. I said okay, thats the right question, because weve been fighting for this, weve made progress, but not enough. Here is what i think we need to do to get it. Or young women who say i cant balance family work. I had a young woman come to smee holding her nine month old baby. She said you know, i cant go back to work until i get my baby stabilized. I need to take family leave. What are you going to do about it. So i think what is happening is as the Campaign Goes on, a lot of young people, and lets focus on young women, are moving from the sort of general, either we havent gone far enough or those fights are over and i dont have to worry about it, to being much more specific, and that is a good development, because at the end of our efforts here in the primary, if im so fortunate enough to get the nomination, then i think we fight out an election between a party that believes weve got to continue to address the lacks in our drive for equality, our drive for justice, whether its racism, sexism, homophobe yeah, you name it, and the other doesnt want to admit they exist. I think were going to have a positive reaction in the general election between the big deniers on the republican side and lets make progress, get things done on my side. Thank you so much. One last, just to clarify what you said about the dedebate. Would you like the chairman to approve the msnbc nbc debate next week . I would like the chairman of the party and the campaigns to agree that we can debate in New Hampshire next week. That is what im hoping will happen. Okay. Thank you so much. Its been an honor to have you on. Secretary Hillary Clinton. Thank you for joining us on hardball tonight. Thanks, chris. Good to talk to you again. Coming up, donald trump is going to skip the republican debate. At war right now with fox. News anchor and its pr team. Well, trump out foxed fox. Well, his gambit pay off . Ill ask ann colter straight ahead. What will the snubbing fox have on the race out in iowa. Hes neck in neck with cruz right now. Cruz says if trump wins, hell be unstoppable. Heroin addiction on the rise across the country. Major issue in the campaign trail up in New Hampshire. Were going to talk to two senators trying to break the chain of addiction in america. Finally, let me finish tonight with a role model for donald trump. Teddy roosevelt, this is hardball, a place for politics. Guys, to celebrate super bowl 50 im rewarding fans with a special offer. Order a large pizza and get a second large pizza for 50 cents. 50 cents . thats pocket change if only we had pockets. What . Purely decorative. Get a large,1topping pizza for only 50 cents when you order any large pizza at regular menu price. Add our new brookie for just 6 more. Better ingredients. Better pizza. Better football. Papa johns. Com Bernie Sanders met with president obama at the white house. Lester holt met up with him for an exclusive interview and asked him about the tight race and what success would look like. What is your bar for success in iowa . Winning. Number one . Yeah, i mean, i think that we have worked really hard. We started off in iowa, later than secretary clinton did. In the last number of months, we have put together an incredible volunteer effort. We have 15,000 volunteers. Let me tell, be very clear about this, lester. On caucus night in iowa, you will be able to tell very early, i think, who wins and who loses. If there is a large voter turn out, were going to win. That was a beautiful Lafayette Park across from the white house. Hardball returns after this. Welcome back to hardball. Republican frontrunner stunned the political world by announcing he will not show up at the debate hosted by fox news. Fox respond by issuing a statement saying quote, we learned from a back channel that the ayatollah and putin both intend to treat donald trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president. He has his own secret plan to replace the cabinet with his twitter followers to see if he should go to the meetings. After he put out the tweet, he said he wasnt going to be toyed with. With me, theyre dealing with somebody thats a little different. They cant toy with me like they toy with everybody else. So let them have their debate. And lets see how they do with the ratings. And i told them, i said give money to the Wounded Warriors, give money to the veterans, theyre going to make a fortune with the debate. Lets see how many people watch. When they sent out the wise guy press releases, along with roger ails, i said byebye, okay. Byebye. Any way, the back and forth continued with megan kelly when she realktded to trumps decision. Trump is not used to not controlling things, as the chief executive of a large organization. But the truth is, he doesnt get to control the media. And of course, trumps main rival in iowa, ted cruz pounced on the drama between trump and fox. Apparently megan kelly is really, really scary. And you know, donald is a fragile soul. You know, if she asks him mean questions, i mean, his hair might stand on end. If he thinks megan kelly is so scary, what exactly does he think he would do with vladimir putin. I promise you, putin is a lot scarier than megan kelly and i would like him to explain to the people of iowa how is prepared to be commander of chief if hes terrified by a television host. Late today, trump announced hes holding a counter event when the debate starts at 9 eastern. Will i out fox fox. Dana mill bangs, an opinion writer with the washington post. You know, ann, this is an amazing night. I think its a battle of what kind of personality or like least. I mean, trump certainly is big time. He is bombastic, over the top. Ego. And then i see this guy cruz trying to match him. I dont think hes in the same league myself. Your thoughts about the whole thing . I want you on for the theater, because you know theater. Whats going to happen tomorrow night. Will he or wont he show up . Donald trump . I hope he doesnt. He has established himself as the really alpha dog as if he hasnt already. Look, i like a lot of things about ted cruz, but one of his achilles heels is, he does not have a sense of humor. I think the joke about donald trump being afraid of megan kelly, you know, it just doesnt work. Nobody thinks donald trump is afraid of anything. And i mean, as you just, and thank you for telling the story properly, it wasnt over megan kelly. It was over that smartalecky press release. I would ask you to imagine, what if nbc released a press release before a debate. It really is it really is kind of shocking. I think trump is shaking up the way people look at fox news, as maybe not always our network. Why do you think roger ales who had to sign off on any pr that went off, it was sarcastic, it made fun of trump. It made fun of him, the front running candidate. It made him into a little chicken. Why would this last question, because i want to ask dana, why would roger start a fight that could cost him, god, 15, 20 Million People tomorrow watching. Thats right. Thats why trump has established himself as the alpha dog. I suppose because fox news, i mean, i dont know, i dont know if he even saw it, but can get arrogant ill also say that its not only smartalecky, its insulting to voters. Trump didnt like a question going back to his days as a reality tv host, when meanwhile, and i actually liked that question by the way, i have no complaint with megan kelly. Its my one disagreement with donald trump. I like the question. The unfairness is none of the other candidates were asked tough questions. Why were y