GEOFF BENNETT: We are less than 50 days out from the Republican Iowa caucuses, and a couple of key endorsements are aimed at shifting the momentum in the GOP primary race, if that's even possible.

To help us make sense of it all, we're joined by our Politics Monday duo of Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

It's good to see you both.

Thanksgiving is behind us.

We are back to work, and so too are the 2024 presidential candidates.

Tam, we have talked before about the ways in which Ron DeSantis has -- he's basically sinking a ton of time and resources into Iowa.

He picked up that key endorsement from Iowa's popular governor, Kim Reynolds.

He also, over the weekend got the backing of Bob Vander Plaats, who is an influential evangelical leader.

What difference do these endorsements make?

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: It's not clear that they will make a difference.

And one big question I have with the Vander Plaats endorsement is, how significant are evangelical voters as a bloc?

Are they voting as a bloc in - - or caucusing as a bloc in Iowa anymore?

Is an influential figure like Vander Plaats still as influential as he used to be if he is telling people not to vote for Donald Trump, who has significant support among evangelicals in Iowa?

There seems to be a real disconnect there.

And the reality is that while Vander Plaats has had a decent record of picking Iowa caucus winners, he hasn't had a great record of picking nominees or presidents.

So, how far this takes DeSantis, it's just not clear.

At this point, it's really DeSantis and Nikki Haley battling it out for second place, and battling it out pretty viciously, while former President Trump is seemingly above the fray and doing quite well in basically every Iowa poll we see and the average of all of them.

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Yes.

I mean, the viciously attacking is an important point, because it feels like we have just gone back in the time machine to 2016, when all the other candidates who weren't named Donald Trump were fighting amongst themselves to get to be that one candidate to take on Donald Trump.

And the theory was, once it was one-on-one race, they could beat him, which, of course, did not end up occurring.

In this case, the most recent ads, if you're sitting in Iowa right now watching television, the ads for the DeSantis super PAC are attacking Nikki Haley, the Nikki Haley super PAC is attacking DeSantis, and Donald Trump's super PAC is talking about Joe Biden.

And so not that -- and I also think it's important to note that Donald Trump isn't not taking Iowa seriously.

He's taking Iowa seriously.

He's been doing rallies there.

But it is -- it's this fascinating piece here where Donald Trump is the anti-establishment establishment candidate and that he is basically the front-runner because he's almost like the sitting incumbent and has the benefit of that, while at the same time the regular establishment, people like evangelical leaders and the governor, line up against him.

GEOFF BENNETT: But, Tam, looking beyond Iowa, Nikki Haley, in many ways has pushed past Ron DeSantis as the top Trump alternative, New Hampshire, for instance.

TAMARA KEITH: Well, and she has pushed back - - pushed past him with the establishment Republicans who are looking for a place to go that isn't Donald Trump.

Ron DeSantis came in to the race with all of this promise, and everybody thought he would be great.

And he has spent, and his super PAC especially, has just spent a ton of money, and it hasn't gotten him anywhere.

And Haley is sort of riding off of her strong debate performances and also harnessing momentum as you head into actual voting occurring.

The theory of the case from Haley's people and Haley's team is that she -- probably not going to win Iowa, but come in second in Iowa, strong showing in New Hampshire, and then make it to her home state of South Carolina, and somehow -- somehow, they all have this idea that you can pierce the inevitability of Trump, and once you do, then the air will be out, and then they can really take him on.

That is a great theory.

But until it happens, it hasn't happened.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, let's talk about President Biden, specifically his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, because he's had to navigate these complex political realities.

He's facing pressure from all sides.

And it has resulted at times in headlines like this one from The Washington Post: "Biden's resistance to cease-fire could alienate youth voters in 2024."

Come to find out that President Biden behind the scenes was helping to craft a temporary cease-fire.

AMY WALTER: Right.

So I think the challenge in talking about how young voters see what's happening in Israel and Gaza and how older voters see it is that I think, for many older voters, this is a geopolitical issue, and for younger voters, this is a human rights issue, and it long has been a human rights issue, and that what separates -- and, in fact, in polling, we're hearing from pollsters who say, we have never seen such a generational gap on an issue that technically is foreign policy as this issue.

Support for sending more military aid to Israel among voters 65 and older is 40 points more than those in the 18 to 34 category.

But if you are a younger voter who sees this, the issue of Palestine and Israel through a lens that looks very different than their parents and grandparents, namely, one in which race and privilege and access is the main focus, versus one that is really looking at this as what's the stability in the region, who's at fault, what does it mean for the rest of the world.

And that's where I think, even if he is able to have a cease-fire work for a certain amount of time, releasing some of these hostages, those are all things that he can get credit for.

But it's still the -- it's not changing the nature of the conversation about what it means to be Palestinian.

GEOFF BENNETT: Tam, how does the White House see it?

Because separate from Amy's salient point is this notion that President Biden, the White House, I'm told, feels that he doesn't always get the credit for doing the work, because he doesn't do the work in a way that's properly politically theatrical.

TAMARA KEITH: This is the story of Joe Biden as seen by the White House.

And he very much does not make a public show of things until after it's done.

And then he tries to claim credit, like with all of his economic accomplishments.

And then he can't get the credit.

And it's already baked in.

And that's just the story of Joe Biden.

I think that, with this case, that people in the Biden inner circle think it's a year out.

These numbers are not good, but it's a year out.

And a lot can change in a year.

This is unlikely to be the top headline and the top driving issue for voters a year from now.

And the reality is that most voters don't make decisions based on foreign policy.

They pick the candidate they like, and political science has shown that then they sort of meld their foreign policy views to those of the candidate that they have sort of hooked to themselves onto.

So the White House, though, does realize that they have a problem with young voters.

It ties into what's happening with Israel and Gaza, but it goes well beyond that.

They're working on it.

But -- and they know, they readily acknowledge that this is not going to be easy.

Like, running for reelection is hard.

Just ask anyone else who's around for reelection.

The sheer act of being president means that you have now committed policy that has turned off people who voted for you the first time around.

AMY WALTER: Yes.

And it goes back to the generational issue, because if you see what young voters' biggest concern about Biden has long been is his age.

And this is just a representation of that.

And he's in the 65-plus category, not in the younger category.

And so his world view as well as his ability to connect with these voters is -- that's a big challenge because of that generation.

GEOFF BENNETT: Amy Walter and Tamara Keith, last word.

TAMARA KEITH: That's the one thing they can't change, is the president's age.

GEOFF BENNETT: Absolutely.

Thank you both.

AMY WALTER: Thank you.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.