- Here with us now is Caitlyn Conant,

political director for CBS News.

Caitlyn, good to have you.

Thanks for joining us.- Hi, thank you so much

for having me.- So, you know,

President Trump hassaid he's not watching,

but he clearly is watching at least some.

What is the White House strategy here?

- So the White House is trying to first

question the motivationsof these witnesses,

and say that they are unelectedgovernment bureaucrats,

and try and muddy the waters there

on what exactly their intentions are here,

and they're also talkingabout process a lot,

and I think David said this earlier too,

and I agree, this is ultimatelygonna come down to voters

and whether they think this was just

inappropriate behavior orillegal and impeachable behavior,

and that remains to be seen.

- To 2020, the next big Democraticdebate is tomorrow night.

How will impeachment factor into

what's happening on the stage in Atlanta?

- Well, the candidateson the Democratic side

have tried to avoid talkingabout this on the campaign trail

'cause they're focused on their policies.

They're pretty much in universal agreement

that they think the Presidentshould be impeached,

but one of our NewHampshire reporters today

was telling me that eventhough they're hearing a lot

about healthcare on thetrail, in New Hampshire

there's actually a bitof healthcare fatigue,

and one voter even told her

you know, if they start talking about this

right out of the bat tomorrow,I'm gonna turn off the TV,

and given the backdrop of impeachment,

some of these Democraticvoters in New Hampshire

have told her they'd rather hear about

the Democrat candidates' planson anti-corruption efforts

and what they're gonnado to fight corruption.

So given that healthcare isthe number one issue still

in most of the polls, Ifound that very interesting.

- Yeah, very interesting.

Well, the CBS BattlegroundTracker factors everything from

races for delegates to voter confidence.

Caitlin, what do you seeas the biggest takeaway?

- Well, I thought thebiggest takeaway was actually

about Mayor Pete Buttigieg,

and he has entered the top tier in Iowa,

according to our poll out this weekend,

and has also had a bigrise in New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden hascome down a bit in Iowa,

so we'll see what thefuture holds, but for now

it looks like a bit of ashakeup in that top tier,

and a lot of Mayor Pete's support, too,

is coming from Elizabeth Warren supporters

and people who originally hadher as their first choice.

- There's only about half a minute left,

but how are we supposed to read that?

You have Joe Biden with ahuge lead in South Carolina.

Pete Buttigieg barely evenregisters in the state,

but he's leading, he'sthe frontrunner in Iowa.

What are we to make of all this?

- Well, I think the biggesttakeaway out of that Q poll

in South Carolina isthat Mayor Pete registers

at 0% with black voters, andit's gonna be really tough

for a Democrat to win the nomination

with no support from the black community.

- Right.- All right,

Caitlyn Conant with CBSNews, thank you so much.

- Thank you so--