[Keilar:] The presidential candidates are back on the campaign trail and, in Donald Trump's case, slinging mud. If his latest tweets and interviews are any indication, Trump's upcoming rally tonight will include sexism taunts aimed at Hillary and now Bill Clinton. I want to bring in CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash with this story. They are getting into it.
[Dana Bash, Cnn Chief Political Correspondent:] They sure are. And we learned today, Brianna, that one week from today will be Bill Clinton's 2016 debut on the campaign trail for his wife. That is, of course, the state that made him the comeback kid back in 1992. But Donald Trump isn't waiting until next week to pull the former president and all of his baggage into Hillary Clinton's campaign.
[Donald Trump , Presidential Candidate:] She's playing the woman's card, and it's like give me a break.
[Bash:] The way Donald Trump sees it, to be a winner you have to act like one. So he's ending 2015 as if he's already won the 2016 GOP nomination, attacking Hillary Clinton.
[Trump:] I've had so many women come up to me, say, "You've got to keep her out. She is just terrible."
[Bash:] Trump's anti-Hillary rants have been nonstop since before Christmas when she returned fire.
[Hillary Clinton , Presidential Candidate:] It's not the first time he's demonstrated a, you know, penchant for sexism.
[Bash:] Now Trump is bringing Bill Clinton into it, the latest on Iowa radio this morning.
[Trump:] With all of her past and her past dealings and frankly, she's been involved in it with her husband as much as anybody for her to be discussing that, I think is out of bounds. And I've let them know that.
[Bash:] Trump is doing well with Republican women. In the last CNNORC poll, a whopping 69 percent of female GOP voters said they have a favorable view of Trump. But it's almost the opposite when all female voters are included: 61 percent view Trump unfavorably. The only Republican woman running for president is trying to capitalize on the Trump-Clinton war of words.
[Carly Fiorina , Presidential Candidate:] Look, how about an honest woman? How about a competent woman? How about a qualified woman? But I'm never going to ask for people's support because I'm a woman. I'm going to ask for their support because I'm the most qualified candidate to beat Hillary Clinton.
[Bash:] As for Trump, his campaign insists he'll win by bringing new voters into the GOP fold, which is why he's lashing out at Virginia Republicans for a new requirement. To participate in its GOP primary voters must sign a party loyalty pledge. One of Trump's many tweets said, "Straighten out the Republican Party of Virginia before it's too late. Stupid. RNC." Meanwhile, in New Hampshire the conservative "Union-Leader," which endorsed Chris Christie, unloaded on Trump today for, quote, "bathroom humor and verbal bullying."
[Thomas F. Wilson, Actor:] You got my homework finished?
[Bash:] Comparing Trump to the bully Biff in the movie "Back to the Future."
[Wilson:] Hello? Hello, anybody home?
[Bash:] The editorial saying, "We trust New Hampshire Republicans will send Biff Trump back to somewhere, anywhere but on the road to the most important elective office in the United States." Despite having his harsh critics, Donald Trump has admirers, too. In fact, Gallup came out today with its most admired men of the year list. Trump tied with the pope as the second most admired man in America. Both were behind President Obama. And what about the most admired women woman, by the way? That is Hillary Clinton. In fact, this is the 14th straight year she's topped Gallup's list, 20th overall. And, Brianna, Gallup says that is more than any other man or woman since Gallup has been doing this since 1948.
[Keilar:] Wow. That's pretty amazing. And Pope Francis and Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, that's fascinating. All right, Dana, you're going to stay with us as I bring in CNN senior political reporter Manu Raju; and "Washington Post" assistant editor, David Swerdlick. You hear Donald Trump saying, David, that Bill Clinton is fair game. He's different than the average candidate spouse, for sure. I mean, what do you think of that?
[David Swerdlick, Assistant Post, "washington Post":] Yes, I think Bill Clinton is fair game. And I think that when Secretary Clinton went and made her comments, she actually kind of made a messaging mistake by making this broad statement that Donald Trump has a penchant for sexism. Donald Trump is a sexist, but if she had instead sort of attacked him specifically for what he said, saying that she had gotten schlonged in 2008 or saying that, you know, Carly Fiorina, saying things about her face, she would have gotten more traction. Instead the way she said it kind of opened her up to Trump's rebuttal, and now they're in this back and forth.
[Keilar:] So you see it as this mistake. And it sort of begs the question, if Hillary Clinton is going to engage on this, I'm hearing from a lot of people, you know, maybe she's not going to. Maybe that's not smart. But if you know, we're going to see Bill Clinton, Manu, here out on the trail. We've seen him be a liability. We've seen him be an asset. So what is it going to be this presidential cycle?
[Manu Raju, Cnn Senior Political Correspondent:] We've always seen bad Bill come with good Bill. And that's one thing the Clintons are concerned about. Remember in 2008 he certainly said things that took the Clinton campaign off message. He criticized the Obama campaign for this fairy tale campaign.
[Keilar:] People thought that interjected race into the debate.
[Raju:] Absolutely. And that's the concern whenever Bill Clinton is speaking. But at the same time, look, there's nobody that can galvanize Democratic voters the way Bill Clinton can. He can really rally the base in a way Hillary Clinton cannot. So he does fill that gap. And despite all the baggage that comes with Bill Clinton, he did leave office with very high approval ratings. At a similar time in his presidency he had 57 percent approval rating. Barack Obama right now at 47 percent. It shows that he can still do a lot of good for the Hillary Clinton campaign.
[Bash:] But for all of the decades now that we have been kind of witness to some Clinton drama we're talking about Bill Clinton now it's mostly been with traditional politicians as his political foes. Donald Trump has no filter. We know that. He will say things.
[Keilar:] It's like guerilla politics.
[Bash:] Exactly. He will say things about Bill Clinton, if pushed, that nobody else has been able to say, which will take this into a very, very different dimension that we dealt with in the '90s or even in 2008. And that clearly is, I think, what Donald Trump has been warning about on Twitter and in these radio ads.
[Raju:] I don't think the Clinton people want to have to respond to him...
[Keilar:] What does that look like, though? If he sort of says over look, you look at Jeb Bush; you look at what Donald Trump did with Jeb Bush. He just hammers over and over on a certain narrative. It's not a bad thing for him with the folks he's trying to appeal with. Then you see it sort of playing out like that.
[Bash:] It could. It just depends if he wants to go there. I mean, look, they do have a history. A good history. I mean, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, remember, like way back in the day, like, I don't know, six months ago when they were really good friends.
[Raju:] When Trump used to be a Democrat.
[Bash:] Remember that? That was, like, so maybe seven months ago. But you know, it just sort of depends. But he has the he, Trump, has the capacity to be incredibly unfiltered, politically incorrect, as his supporters like to say. And who knows where that's going to take us when it comes to Bill Clinton and his past?
[Keilar:] Let's talk money now. Because there are reports that Donald Trump's campaign is going to put some money out there, that they're preparing to launch an ad blitz. And we haven't seen him do this yet. Why would he do this now, do you think?
[Rau:] Well, at a minimum I think he would do that, because now we're not just talking at polls. In a few weeks we're talking about actual voters, and so it's not just enough for Trump to get out on the campaign stump and say, "Hey, I'm leading in the polls, so that means I'm great." He has to actually come out, get voters out, get caucus- goers out in Iowa and get primary voters out in New Hampshire. And so someone like him, who now is sort of in this thing, it's not a fluke anymore. He's got to sort of backstop himself because he wants to back up the talk that he's going to run the table.
[Keilar:] And it does seem that he's I mean, obviously, he's getting a lot of enthusiasm at these rallies. He is getting names, information about people so that they can be contacted. But it also seems like maybe the folks that he's attracting don't tend to be the people who are really fluent in the caucus program, which takes a lot of investment of time and, you know, being well-versed on issues and on your candidate, right?
[Swerdlick:] Yes. I mean, again, I think Trump has to sort of demonstrate now that he's serious and not just appealing to the cameras. Whether or not he wins Iowa I don't think is a make or break for his campaign. But he certainly can't come in second or third in Iowa, second or third in New Hampshire, second or third in South Carolina and expect people to take him as seriously as we're taking him now. And I think that's a hitch.
[Bash:] And one thing just to add on the money front, I was talking to a Trump source today who said that they had $25 million set aside for ads that they never had to run. They didn't spend one penny of it, because he's gotten all of this free media, what they call earned media in the biz. And he's been able to get his message out in how much is Twitter, 140 characters?
[Raju:] Yes, yes.
[Bash:] It's kind of amazing. Without spending a dime when you have all of these other, you know, candidates who have had to spend.
[Raju:] It will be interesting to see how much money he spends on the air attacking his foes in addition to his own positive messaging. Will he go after his best friend Ted Cruz? Or Ted Cruz wants him to be his best friend.
[Keilar:] Will the bromance be over? We'll see. Manu, David, thanks so much for being with us. Dana, thank you. And we are following some breaking news. Coming up, officials will explain why a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who shot and killed a 12-year-old boy outside of a Cleveland recreation center. We're also keeping an eye on some dangerous storms that are forming after a deadly weekend of tornadoes, flooding and blizzard conditions.