including working the phones to supporters in early states trying to figure out if he can win in a place like iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. on the republican side, the poll leaders, donald trump and ben carson, threatening to boycott the next debate due to how long it may or may not be. speaking of ben carson, we'll dig into the phenomenon, that is him tonight. he's barely campaigning, but he's hauling in more cash than any other republicans. and he's soaring in the polls. chief adviser, armstrong williams, will be here live. first, it's a major change for president obama's plans to pull all but 1,000 u.s. troops out of afghanistan. the big shift brought swift reaction from the 2016 campaign trail because the president has left a big decision for his successor. let's hit the press box. chris jansing at the white house, hallie jackson in san antonio with the clinton campaign, kalani and shaq bruce ter in iowa with the fiorina campaign. the white house, where america's longest war just got longer. president obama making a significant change, of course, on the war in afghanistan, trust me, he did this very, very reluctantly. he plans on keeping more troops even longer than he wanted. instead of a near all-out withdrawal from the country. 5500, at a minimum, will remain until the end of his term that begins in 2017. and they'll be there when he hands the keys to his successor. speaking directly to the troops about the return to the region, president obama delivered this message -- >> i do not send you into harm's way lightly. it's the most solemn decision that i make. as your commander in chief, i believe this mission is vital to our national security interests in preventing terrorist attacks against our citizens and our nation. >> joining me from the white house, chris jansing. chris, the minute the president announced his initial decision to withdraw, there were calls to say he shouldn't be doing that. this is almost an 18-month campaign by the pentagon and military lead to convince him to make the decision that he ended up making today. >> reporter: add to that, chuck, people on capitol hill, some allies concerned about the void that would be created if the united states left, on the other hand, you have a president who campaigned on getting the troops out of iraq and afghanistan and afghanistan was supposed to be the easier place, right? but he laid out what the concerns of those military folks are that you just mentioned. obviously, what we've seen most people are aware of is the problems with the taliban on the ground there, even folks who weren't following it closely got to see what happens in this kind of situation when there was the bomb that was dropped on the hospital for doctors without borders. but beyond that, what military officials have been talking about is their concern about a resurgence of al qaeda, isis, something relatively new in afghanistan. and so, for this president, it is going to be troops in afghanistan until the end of his term and the war plan, chuck, gets handed off to whoever the new commander in chief will be. >> it's my understanding there was a request for even more troops to stay, the president basically tabled that request. it's going to on the next president's desk. >> reporter: yeah, more people who wanted as many as 9,800 or more that are already there, some obviously in the range of decision making who were happy to have that draw down to a thousand that would have stayed in kabul. now at four different locations with, as you pointed out, 5,500 troops. this was as you pointed out a reluctant president who had to -- felt he had to make the decision for the security internally of afghanistan but also for the national security interests of the u.s. >> i know he's been looking for months for a different way out from having to reluctantly do thinking decision. chris jansing, thank you. the campaign trail, hillary clinton, potential successor, not yet responded publicly to the president's afghanistan troop announcement. secretary clinton is in texas, doing outreach to latino voter. everything is in bigger in texas, including endorsements. the former mayor of san antonio and current housing urban development secretary, castro, pledged his support and created vp buzz. >> i think really highly of him and i am thrilled to have his endorsement today. i am going to really look hard at him for anything because that's how good he is. >> well, castro, of course, was asked to respond to the buzz about a potential -- being potential clinton running mate. he didn't say no. oh, i doubt that's going to happen. you know -- >> you say yes? >> others have talked about that. i doubt that's going to happen. what i'm saying yes to is to do a great job at hud. >> that's the way you're supposed to not run for vice president. anyway, let's go to hallie jackson, in san antonio. i ham surprised -- back to afghanistan here, we're going to get to other campaigns, many other of the presidential campaigns have put out statements about the president's announcement, many supporting it on the republican side. nothing from the clinton campaign so far? >> she hasn't spoken publicly about it, she didn't here in san antonio. i wouldn't be surprised to see something maybe on paper from the campaign in the next maybe 24, 48 hours. but right, other campaigns have weighed in, including jeb bush. it would be surprising if we didn't see that from hillary clinton at some point soon. >> and as for the event it itself, with julian castro, idea of him speculating about a clinton running mate, what the clinton campaign wants, latino voters to be hearing. >> reporter: castro is doing what you expect him to do be sort of modest and humble and say, i doubt i think it will happen. this is a play and a nod to the importance of the latino vote in the race especially hillary clinton. as you know, she has a long history with the demographic, she beat president barack obama in 2008. castro, he's being coy, there's a ground swell of support, obviously san antonio, his hometown. but people saying, hey, this might help a clinton campaign in, let's say, nevada, some of the swing stated, where the latino vote is going to be key. >> i think it means we'll see castro take time off from his day job and campaigning in those early states, particularly nevada, hallie jackson in texas. by the way, quick note, can cabinet secretaries get politically, only state, defense, treasury, homeland security, and the department of justice. they do not participate in politics. the other cabinet second secretaries have the real light to endorse publicly. that's why you see seconds have gotten involved in the campaign. now to new hampshire where jeb bush and john kasich campaigning today but only one of them addressed the new afghanistan policy on camera. >> for me, i would have never done the second increase in troop levels. i would have used special forces to be able to go to be lethal and mobil, to take care of the job. i wouldn't have supported additional troops. now that the situation's deteriorated on the ground it's a wise decision to say we're not going running out of there and lose all of the things we invested over the years. >> you didn't mishear there, kasich one of those saying he was not in favor of that larger surge that took place. by the way, the person arguing inside the administration for that smaller special forces footprint, vice president biden. kasich unveiled new policy proposals today at a community college in new hampshire, pledging to balance the budget in eight years. campaign embed on the campaign live in nashua. give me the quick soup to nuts on what he unveiled today. lotted of talk of tax cuts. >> reporter: yeah, chuck, he's been teasing the speech all week long. yesterday he was asked if he would balance the budge net less than ten years. that person at town hall should be happy. he wants to balance the budget in eight years and kasich's big refrain, people should trust him, he was one of the ar teches in the '90s. a lot of tax information today, big policy today, you can read more about it, nbcnews.com. but kasich proposed reducing the number of tax brackets from seven to three. he wants to cut the top business rate from 35% to 25%. he wants to eliminate the death tax, increase the earned income tax credit by 10% and he wants to do some changes to the department of education, too, by dividing a lot of the programs up into four big block grants and distributing that to the stated. back to you, chuck. >> yes, a lot of it, you can tell a budget written by a governor these days because they wanted nothing but block grants back in the hands of the governor. iowa, carly fiorina took no time, waste nod time to react to the president's new policy in afghanistan. >> well, i certainly support his recognition of reality. i mean the reality is that the complete withdrawal of our troops when destabilizing the couldn't trip this administration rejected the advice of many, many military commanders and many of them, as well as foreign policy advisers. >> there you have it there. by the way, according to the latest fox news poll, fiorina dropped from third place to sixth. she's down four percentage points since september. campaign embed, one in iowa, shaq brucester live in ellsworth. the fiorina campaign looking specifically obviously she's been wanting to talk a lot about national security during her stump speech. she spends a lot of time on. do you still see the same buzz with fiorina now in the trail as you did, say, two weeks ago? >> you know, the interesting thing, chuck, is that she hasn't been on the trail a lot lately. she was in idaho yesterday for a last-minute campaign event. before that, her last time on the trail was monday of the week before. monday of last week. so she hasn't been on the trail a lot. on a three-day swing through iowa through sunday and then in texas on sunday. but earlier today when she mentioned those afghanistan remarks i pushed her on what she would do if she were to be president, since this is a decision that will move into her term if she does get elected. she said she used it as an opportunity to attack president obama and secretary clinton, saying this is just part of the slew of issues that they're leaving for the next president. chuck? >> didn't give you a specific answer on that, of course also duly noted. shaquille brewster in iowa with the fiorina campaign. turn back to the democrats. ase told you at the top of the show, teased you, vice president biden is inching closer to making a public decision about a third white house run. kristen welker has been all over the story. the twists, the turns. trust me, she and i have been e-mailing all day about this. kristin, actual new information, bring us what you got. >> reporter: we just got a little bit of new information, chuck. i can tell you, according to sources close to the vice president, he is in the final stages of making this decision and he and his top advisers have been making phone calls, reaching out to officials and organizers in the early voting states. what they want to know is, does vice president biden have a path to victory or has he waited too late? the vice president knows it's a decision he has to make soon. he watched the first democratic debate, as we all did, saw secretary clinton solidified her spot as democratic front-runner. i caught up with the vice president at his home here at the naval observatory. he was waiting to greet the president of south korea, and of course, i asked him if he was planning to run. he had a little bit of fun with our questions. take a look at the exchange. >> are you running for president? >> i'll answer in korean. >> have you made your decision yet? >> i can't hear you. >> so still not ready to answer our questions, chuck. but i am told a decision is coming soon. i'm also told democrats are coming -- becoming increasingly impatient. one top strategist saying this moments ago, quote, some people are starting to feel like they're getting played. so a lot of people want an answer soon. >> you got it, kristen welker. ol l politifact, i can't hear you, that would be false. heard you the first time. nice work. coming up -- >> reporter: the doctor is in. kasie hunt takes a look at what's behind the ben carson boomlet. big news on the next republican debate, in a letter that has been obtained by nbc news, ben karsen and donald trump jointly wrote to the cnbc organizers they could boycott the upcoming debate if changes aren't made to the format. after last month's marathon debate on cnn they added an extra hour, candidates are calling for the debate to be no longer than 120 minutes, that includes commercial breaks and include opening and closing statement for all of the candidates. but not all of the outsider candidates are threatening to skip the debate. carly fiorina's deputy campaign manager mocked karsen and trump for lack of endurance. demands including more from his business manager and chief adviser. alright team, we've got an f150, needs a systems check and tires. doc, i need you on point for this one. already got the latest updates direct from ford engineering. 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our own kasie hunt breaks it down for us. >> reporter: suddenly threatening donald trump's front-runner status in polls. >> i'm not a politician by any stretch of the imagination. lie continue to raise the eyebrows of the political pundits. >> reporter: don't look for ben carson on the campaign trail much this month. he's mostly raising money. and selling books. you haven't been seen very much on the campaign trail. >> well, i've been seen a lot on the campaign trail, not a lot on television. i'm a firm believer in doing what works. and not changing it when you are having success. >> reporter: that success has come despite his barely there presence in high-profile debates. >> thank you, megan, i wasn't sure i was going to get to talk again. >> reporter: carson is soft-spoken he has talked in ways to threaten the career, fought off the oregon shoot, claiming gun control enabled the holocaust and saying this on "meet the press." >> i would not advocate we put a muslim in charge of this nation. i absolutely would in the agree with that. >> reporter: carson first entered public eye as a famed neurosurgeon, played by actor cuba gooding jr. >> i believe we're capable of performing miracles up here. >> reporter: but a conservative hero after he criticized president obama to his face at 2013 national prayer breakfast. >> from one of the organizers the white house is very upset and you need to call the president and you need to apologize. >> reporter: carson's strength rooted with conservative evangelicals and tapping into key religious networks in places like iowa. >> home school five children. dr. ben carson is a hero. we appreciate that he loves the lord. >> reporter: hamany of carson's competitors assume he would fade but so far he hasn't. still don't get it. >> nobody's able to do the kind of things i've been able to do. ben, that's not his thing, but he certainly seems be resonating and the two of us, 50% something like that everyone's amazed because we haven't been politicians. >> reporter: some establishment candidates are clinging to the idea that both trump and carson are just flings. >> when people have a health problem they go into alternative medicine, when it gets serious they go to a regular doctor. i think it's a moment in time. >> kasie hunt joins me now. the thing that strikes me is when i talked to a lot of the candidates and john kasich gave voice to it to me, but many have done it on background or off the record, they can't figure it out. they sit there and say i don't understand why carson is resonating. >> that's absolutely right. it's also true of many of the operatives in campaign types trying to figure out how to maybe pick up some of these people that carson seem to be resonating with. many ways we put trump and carson in one box, they are so stylistically different, it's hard to say, okay, these are exactly the same people. but you know, one thing i will say is, unlike trump, uncharacteristic candidate, one way carson is conventional spent $2.72 million on direct mail which helps explain a little bit of why his fund-raising totals are so high. and that is, as you know, one of the oldest tricks in the political play book. >> it is, a very expensive way to raise money. kasie hunt. ben carson's business manager, somebody who has been a