laws in iowa. last year, republicans in the iowa house passed a bill that would have blocked anybody from voting in the state unless they showed government issued photo i.d. that not everybody has. and that democratic leaning voting groups like minorities and poor people are statistically less likely to have. republicans in the house passed that. state democrats blocked that bill in the senate. when state republicans had the chance to institute the same rule for this republicans-only event that they're holding tomorrow, they decided not to institute that rule. what's more, if you are an iowan and not registered to vote at all, but you do want to participate tomorrow night in the republican-run caucuses, you can show up tomorrow and register right there. same-day registration will be allowed. it's another great thing that exists only in a handful of states in this country including iowa. it's another thing the iowa republican party has decided works for them in their event tomorrow. it's also anothe

laws in iowa. last year, republicans in the iowa house passed a bill that would have blocked anybody from voting in the state unless they showed government issued photo i.d. that not everybody has. and that democratic leaning voting groups like minorities and poor people are statistically much less likely to have. republicans in the house passed that. state democrats blocked that bill in the senate. when state republicans had the chance to institute the same rule for this republicans-only event that they're holding tomorrow, they decided not to institute that rule. what's more, if you are an iowan and you are not registered to vote at all, but you do want to participate tomorrow night in the republican-run caucuses, you can show up tomorrow and register right there. same-day registration will be allowed. it's another great thing that exists only in a handful of states in this country including iowa. it's another thing the iowa republican party has decided works for them in their event tomorrow. it'

laws in iowa. last year, republicans in the iowa house passed a bill that would have blocked anybody from voting in the state unless they showed government issued photo i.d. that not everybody has. and that democratic leaning voting groups like minorities and poor people are statistically less likely to have. republicans in the house passed that. state democrats blocked that bill in the senate. when state republicans had the chance to institute the same rule for this republicans-only event that they're holding tomorrow, they decided not to institute that rule. what's more, if you are an iowan and not registed to vote at all, but you do want to participate tomorrow night in the republican-run caucuses, you can show up tomorrow and register right there. same-day registration will be allowed. it's another great thing that exists only in a handful of states in this country including iowa. it's another thing the iowa republican party has decided works for them in their event tomorrow. it's also another

you were so high in iowa when you won the iowa straw poll. these latest polls you're not doing very well. if you could change one thing in your campaign strategy between august and now, what would that be? >> well, what we're looking at right now, wolf, is on tuesday night, and we think we made the exact right decision. after the last debate, where i took on ron paul over the issue of whether or not iran should have a nuclear weapon, we saw an electric light switch flip on and we saw people all across iowa come toward our campaign. we literally saw several thousands of people flip and go my way in the last couple of weeks because we did something no other candidate did. we traveled 6,900 miles across iowa. we visited all 99 cowan tis. during the course of that time we saw iowans who said no candidate has been to this part of iowa. we saw people continue to make their decision to support me for the presidency. and we think we did exactly what we need to do for tuesday night. >> rick santorum has visited all 99 counties as well. he was the firs

they pick corn in iowa. they actually pick presidents here in new hampshire. >> well, those are fighting words here in iowa. but former governor jon huntsman can afford to diss the caucuses because he is skipping them and waiting for what is left of the field to join him wednesday in new hampshire and we are back now in the house chamber with our special iowa panel. governor branstad, you have heard it before, iowa is not a representative state, too small, too rural, more socially conservative. much low are unemployment, 5.7% than the national average. should your country, should your state, rather, continue to decide or at least begin to winnow who gets to become president. >> yes, because iowaians take the responsibility seriously. jon huntsman is the guy that is the losser. he chose not to participate here. he is not even going to be considered in new hampshire. i went to salt lake city and i talked to him personally and i said you are making a huge mistake and it is going to be romney versus whoever does

and multiple times in iowa. for us to come in and over the course of the last five months and have the ground game . no one has the aint to go past iowa on into the other states with a fund raising, with national fund raising ability with the message that we have has a executive who is running a major state. we are going to go forward when other candidates that may do okay in iowa, but when it come to running a national campaign they will falter. >> chris: reporters here in iowa are buzzing over the story on the political website in which your new campaign staff hammers the group you came in with. i don't know if you have had a chance to read this. there has never been a more eneptly subparcampaign for president of the united states than this one. that's what one of your senior aids said. it sounds like they are laying the ground work to explainn your defeat? >> guest: that is inside of the beltway chatter that happenos a fairly regular basis. i am focused on campaigning in iowa. and i will let the pundits have

what do you do after iowa? let's say you win in iowa. mike huckabee won in iowa four years ago, but he didn't get the nomination. how do you make sure you can parlay that into a win for the republican nomination? >> well, again, you know, mitt romney said we come from different backgrounds. i do. i come from the northeast. i come from a working-class, blue-collar town of butler, pennsylvania. i grew up in a steel town and in an ethnic neighborhood. you know, a lot of those neighborhoods look a lot like the neighborhoods in manchester, and a whole host of other towns in new hampshire. we've spent a lot of time there, unlike mike who four years ago didn't spend a lot of time in new hampshire. i have. i've been there more than anybody according to to "the washington post." than jon huntsman who's basically been living up there. we've got a great grassroots base of support. you go by our office in bedford is full. we have over 20 state representatives who are joined our team. we have a state senator. others who have stepped up. we've got str

iowa. michelle bachmann's claim has been rough. her state chairman defected to paul then she fired another top iowa deputy. she could become the first republican ever to win the straw poll and come in dead last because of the caucuses. on this sunday's new years day there is likely to be another crucial sere sris of developments across the hawkeye state. as we said about half of the caucus goers are self described christian conservatives. pastors are in pull pets all over iowa talking to parishioners. if they decide to get loud behind one candidate it could have a compound conduct on the results. >>> carl thanks for that. the candidate who was at or near the top in most recent polls congressman ron paul who comes to us from texas. congressman, happy new year and welcome back to fox news sunday. >>> thank you same to you, chris. >>> four years ago you were running for president and you gotten percent of the vote on the iowa caucuses as we say in the latest des moines register poll you are at

iowa live now. >> welcome, everyone to des moines, iowa. we're now 48 hours away from the start of the 2012, iowa caucus, i'm megyn kelly. >> bret: i'm bret baier and we're coming to you from inside the impressive state capital building in the rotunda. in the next 60 minutes we'll show you why tuesday's voting is so important to the presidential campaign. >> megyn: we'll hear from fox news correspondents and political experts about the state of the race tonight. >> bret: that and much more on this, america's election headquarters special. ♪ >> tuesday night. tens of thousands of iowa republican voters will take a blank piece of paper and write their name with their pick for the republican presidential nomination and the latest polling shows 41% of expected caucus voters who don't know what name they're going to write down. we have fox team coverage tonight and carl cameron has today's news on the campaign trail and shannon bream tells us what the caucuses are all about and how they work and bill hemmer, tells us about the different region

to come out of iowa alive. whether they know it or not we will see. not everybody gets a ticket on to the next level after tomorrow night. i do think you will see basically a 1, 2, 3 finish with mitt romney, rick santorum and ron paul not necessarily in that order. but then when they go on to new hampshire, it's going to be hard for anyone to touch mitt romney there. >> shepard: in other words, it all starts in iowa but it does not end in iowa. new hampshire is next. it holds its primary a week from tomorrow. then it's on to south carolina and then florida. huge, all before the end of this month. we have more from iowa tonight inside fox report. plus, officials in washington state have called an iraq war veteran a strong person of interest. in a shooting death of a national park ranger there. and now their search has come to an end. and it's a deadly one. the details in a live report next. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents: the cold truth. i habe a cohd. and i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [

election special from iowa live now. >> welcome, everyone to des moines, iowa. we're now 48 hours away from the start of the 2012, iowa caucus, i'm megyn kelly. >> bret: i'm bret baier and we're coming to you from inside the impressive state capital building in the rotunda. in the next 60 minutes we'll show you why tuesday's voting is so important to the presidential campaign. >> megyn: we'll hear from fox news correspondents and political experts about the state of the race tonight. >> bret: that and much more on this, america's election headquarters special. ♪ >> tuesday night. tens of thousands of iowa republican voters will take a blank piece of paper and write their name with their pick for the republican presidential nomination and the latest polling shows 41% of expected caucus voters who don't know what name they're going to write down. we have fox team coverage tonight and carl cameron has today's news on the campaign trail and shannon bream tells us what the caucuses are all about and how they work and bill hemmer, tells us about the different region

iowa live now. >> welcome, everyone to des moines, iowa. we're now 48 hours away from the start of the 2012, iowa caucus, i'm megyn kelly. >> bret: i'm bret baier and we're coming to you from inside the impressive state capital building in the rotunda. in the next 60 minutes we'll show you why tuesday's voting is so important to the presidential campaign. >> megyn: we'll hear from fox news correspondents and political experts about the state of the race tonight. >> bret: that and much more on this, america's election headquarters special. ♪ >> tuesday night. tens of thousands of iowa republican voters will take a blank piece of paper and write their name with their pick for the republican presidential nomination and the latest polling shows 41% of expected caucus voters who don't know what name they're going to write down. we have fox team coverage tonight and carl cameron has today's news on the campaign trail and shannon bream tells us what the caucuses are all about and how they work and bill hemmer, tells us about the different region

in iowa. at this hour the results of the iowa caucuses are too early to call but based on early entrance polling, ron paul, mitt romney, and rick santorum are competing to win in iowa tonight. chris matthews is at the convention center in des moines, iowa and joins us now. how quickly do you expect the caucuses to move from this point? at this point too early to call but those three bunched at the top? >> i'm hearing it's going to take a while tonight, rachel. i think that's a statement in itself. too early to call can be misinterpreted to meaning it's going to be a close race. i'm taking it that way because romney is not racing above this pack or out in front of this pack. the fact that he's being challenged by someone so limited in their political appeal as rick santorum who was defeated in pennsylvania by 17% for re-election shall the fact that ron paul is able to challenge him in a serious race for president, with all his baggage, tells you that the republicans are not lining up behind mit

tonight in iowa. ron, what can you tell us about what's happening tonight and what you expect? >> reporter: hey there, rachel, good evening to you. you can see they are making final preparations to get some seats down for the folks who are going to come to this middle school to caucus tonight. this is one of about 1,800 of these meetings that will take place across iowa. all those 99 counties getting involved, and for people who don't really know what the caucuses mean, it really is what tip o'neill said, all politics is local. this is the community coming together, open politics in front of everyone. and what they will do is they will start the meeting here with the pledge of allegiance, have some administrative things to take care of at the top of the meeting and then surrogates for all the candidates will be invited to come up and make one final appeal to the voters. we understand former congressman from oklahoma j.c. watts, a little star power coming to speak upon behalf of newt gingrich, trying t

what do you do after iowa? let's say you win in iowa. mike huckabee won in iowa four years ago, but he didn't get the nomination. how do you make sure you can parlay that into a win for the republican nomination? >> well, again, you know, mitt romney said we come from different backgrounds. i do. i come from the northeast. i come from a working-class, blue-collar town of butler, pennsylvania. i grew up in a steel town and in an ethnic neighborhood. you know, a lot of those neighborhoods look a lot like the neighborhoods in manchester, gnash hua and a whole host of other towns in new hampshire. we've spent a lot of time there, unlike mike who four years ago didn't spend a lot of time in new hampshire. i have. i've been there more than anybody according to to "the washington post." than jon huntsman who's basically been living up there. we've got a great grassroots base of support. our office in bedford is full. we have over 20 state representatives who are joined our team. we have a state senator. others who have stepped up. we've got str

des moines, iowa. all politics all night because fox news is america's election headquarters. since i've lost weight i have so much more energy than i used to, when i'm out with my kids, my daughter's like, "mom, wait up!" and i'm thinking, "shouldn't you have more energy than me? you're, like, eight!" [ male announcer ] for every 2 pounds you lose through diet and exercise alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. simple. effective. advantage: mom. let's fight fat with alli ♪ >> shepard: welcome back to fox news special coverage from the embassy suites hotel historic indeed in downtown des moines. we are on the party deck. that's what they call it to note that we have changed the water blue tonight. nice, right? huge night ahead of the caucuses which begin just 38 minutes from now. you know the economy will likely play a big role here and in the primary election process that follows. the candidates' plans for america's finances could make or break their campaigns frankly.

, everyone to des moines, iowa. we're now 48 hours away from the start of the 2012, iowa caucus, i'm megyn kelly. >> bret: i'm bret baier and we're coming to you from inside the impressive state capital building in the rotunda. in the next 60 minutes we'll show you why tuesday's voting is so important to the presidential campaign. >> megyn: we'll hear from fox news correspondents and political experts about the state of the race tonight. >> bret: that and much more on this, america's election headquarters special. ♪ >> tuesday night. tens of thousands of iowa republican voters will take a blank piece of paper and write their name with their pick for the republican presidential nomination and the latest polling shows 41% of expected caucus voters who don't know what name they're going to write down. we have fox team coverage tonight and carl cameron has today's news on the campaign trail and shannon bream tells us what the caucuses are all about and how they work and bill hemmer, tells us about the different region

iowa is look a foreign country for people not in or from iowa. and dave in phoenix, writes, a bunch of people living in the 1950s like beaver cleaver get to give their opinion on electing their party's nominee first, nothing more. iowa couldn't be less representative of the general american population. if you want to read more on this, go to my blog, cnn.com/caffertyfile or our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. >> jack, thank you. good to have you back. and it's not just about the candidates' message in iowa. it's about their look. cnn's jeanne moos, she's standing by to show us when we come back. what makes the sleep number store different? you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you want a firm bed you can lie on one of those, if you want a soft bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. welcome to the sleep number year-end closeout event. not just ordinary beds on sale, but the bed that can change your life on sale. the sleep num

after iowa what happens? we go to new hampshire and then to south carolina and end up in florida, that would be the end of january. what happens in-- let's assume for a second that brit and charles are right and you have a mix-up at the top of santorum and mitt romney and ron paul? what happens in new hampshire? >> you know what? honestly, iowa the importance of iowa may be mostly as you pointed out, the money. whoever does well in iowa will probably have a good chaps of raising more money. if you disappoint in iowa maybe you're done and when they call it winnowing, i call it, hey, show me, show me-- >> show me the money. >> and the other thing is getting the money in and being able to spend it, believe it or not. >> and governor huntsman, who decided not to try to go for iowa and put all of this money and time in new hampshire, one thing i think that's a problem with that strategy, and it might work for him, but, is that for the last three weeks, they've all been gearing up to talk about iowa and no one has

the iowa caucuses. >>> good evening. i'm terry moran and we're breaking in because we can bring you tonight at long last, after an extraordinary night here in des moines, iowa, the results of the iowa caucuses. yes, there is a winner in the closest caucuses in history. and here it is. mitt romney has just been declared by the iowa republican party the winner. but look at this vote total. he defeats senator rick santorum by 8 votes out of 60,000. 60,000 between them, 120,000 all told. and coming up in third place, just behind him, ron paul in a strong showing here with a fervent, passionate support. he goes on. newt gingrich coming in fourth. texas governor rick perry, michele bachmann, and jon huntsman bringing up the rear there. but what an extraordinarily close race, just minutes ago here in des moines. the chairman of the republican party made the announcement. >> but i can report with 1770 precincts reporting, governor mitt romney received 30,015 votes. senator rick santorum received 30,007 votes. congratulations to

or tied for the lead in iowa. every single one currently in this race has been on top with the exception of one and that's rick santorum and he's the guy coming up now. this thing is wide open. that makes it a lot of fun to cover. >> kay, you covered every iowa caucus since 1997, you see mitt romney for the second time, he campaigned last time and he won the straw poll, came in second in the iowa caucus. now he's trying again for a win, is he any different now as he was a candidate four years ago? >> he is, indeed. he's much more confident candidate on the stump. there have been several incidents where he's shown that confidence. he also stuck to a campaign strategy that i don't think many people would have stuck to if they didn't run before. the other thing about this campaign, is that it reminds me a bit about 1996, irony for me, the people who are running romney campaign on the ground here were running lamar alexander's operation in iowa in 1996. so, they know what it's like to be facing surging candidates at t

but first comes iowa. candidates who are not can sen traiting on that clearly -- concentrating on that clearly have problems. >> bret: live from altoona. there is plenty of ground i the agricultural state with the surveys showing nearly half of the expected caucus goers have yet to make up their minds. correspondent steve brown has more on the undecided. >> do you think you will have your mind made up before walking in the caucus room? >> yes. >> do you know for sure which way you are going? >> no. >> the major is a snapshot of the caucus goer. he waded in a coffee shop for packed rick santorum event looking for reassurance. >> you have the finances and the support to carry your campaign forward. >> i'll say this. we raised more money in the last few days than the last few months. >> the mayor liked the answer but still. >> i leave 2-3% open. >> the mayor is hardly alone among likely republican caucus goers. the des moines register latest iowa poll show over half have their minds made up. settled on a cand

election special from iowa live now. >> welcome, everyone to des moines, iowa. we're now 48 hours away from the start of the 2012, iowa caucus, i'm megyn kelly. >> bret: i'm bret baier and we're coming to you from inside the impressive state capital building in the rotunda. in the next 60 minutes we'll show you why tuesday's voting is so important to the presidential campaign. >> megyn: we'll hear from fox news correspondents and political experts about the state of the race tonight. >> bret: that and much more on this, america's election headquarters special. ♪ >> tuesday night. tens of thousands of iowa republican voters will take a blank piece of paper and write their name with their pick for the republican presidential nomination and the latest polling shows 41% of expected caucus voters who don't know what name they're going to write down. we have fox team coverage tonight and carl cameron has today's news on the campaign trail and shannon bream tells us what the caucuses are all about and how they work and bill hemmer, tells us about the different region

iowa. they said that the political world shifted east -- the political world will shift east after the iowa caucuses. this is what it says about the two states in the associated press this morning. host: the first phone call comes from linda, a democrat in texas. what do you make of the contest so far? caller: i am not watching the contestants so much. as a democrat, i do not care who really wins. but i am really surprised that the christian republicans are entertaining putting a mormon in the house. it is not that i am being disrespectful, the mormon religion people can practice whenever they want. but a 100 year-old religion? come on. get with someone better. host: this is "the washington post," in iowa. "half of voters are saying they have yet to make up their mind." host: john, republican line, north carolina. go ahead. caller: i think that a lot of people are watching the iowa caucus. the interesting thing will be to see how many people pick up on the law that was signed on december 31

, everyone to des moines, iowa. we're now 48 hours away from the start of the 2012, iowa caucus, i'm megyn kelly. >> bret: i'm bret baier and we're coming to you from inside the impressive state capital building in the rotunda. in the next 60 minutes we'll show you why tuesday's voting is so important to the presidential campaign. >> megyn: we'll hear from fox news correspondents and political experts about the state of the race tonight. >> bret: that and much more on this, america's election headquarters special. ♪ >> tuesday night. tens of thousands of iowa republican voters will take a blank piece of paper and write their name with their pick for the republican presidential nomination and the latest polling shows 41% of expected caucus voters who don't know what name they're going to write down. we have fox team coverage tonight and carl cameron has today's news on the campaign trail and shannon bream tells us what the caucuses are all about and how they work and bill hemmer, tells us about the different region

if my choice is iran or iowa, i pick iowa. i want us to become so energy independent that no american president ever again bows to a saudi king. now, you and i know that biofuels aren't the total answer, but they're a piece of it, soy, diesel, ethanol, cellulosic, good steps. in addition, i'm for american oil and gas. i'm for american coal. i'm for american nuclear and american wind and solar. it's a big deal that iowa is the second producer of wind in the world. only denmark produces more. but look at obama. obama is against american oil and gas. goes to brazil, congratulates the brazilians on drilling offshore. tells them how glad he is that we can guarantee $2 billion of equipment purchases largely by a company owned by george soros and then he says the most extraordinary thing. he says to brazilians, i would like america to be your best customer. now, i thought he had it exactly backwards. he don't send american presidents overseas to be foreign purchasing agents. we send american presidents overseas to be salesmen for ame

candidates come to iowa and until they stop, iowa will be relevant. same thing with new hampshire and south carolina. i have to be perfectly honest here, i will argue my objectivity on any story on the planet but when it comes to the first in the nation states, i'm a kid from new hampshire. first in the nation primary voters and caucus voters do take it ernestly and provide a service. you can argue all kinds of faults but until such time as the candidates stop playing and these playing fields they will be where the game is played out. >> and carl makes a valid point, do you think iowa would be played out because the candidates will continually go there and they will be invited and show up and do the retail politics. because of the 13 debates this year has been kind of different. we haven't seen it as much. to be honest and fair to the people of iowa some have been offended by that because they wanted to see their candidates up close and personal. >> well, you know, people who say that iowa or new hampshire or south carolina are going go away have fore

, we're out here for the iowa caucuses. norah, i must say i knew that cbs was coming up with a new morning show. i didn't realize it was us! >> we are just a temporary fill-in here in des moines. >> is there a cooking segment? >> i don't think there is a cooking segment today. maybe some porkchops on a stick or something like that. but i think it's all politics today, bob. you and me and politics. >> great to have you. >> and we will be here this week and the new cbs "this morning" starts in the nex week. we will talk about the iowa caucus and all of that. we start this morning by hearing from mitt romney, the former massachusetts governor sat down with chief political correspondent jan crawford last& night. in davenport.s this morning out- good morning, jan. >> well, good morning, bob. you know, romney spent the day greeting big crowds of enthusiastic supporters. we sat down with him after another packed event in council bluffs and asked about the polls that have him out in front and also hi spextatioexpectations i >> i've

he's embedded in iowa. the other thing with rick santorum, the evangelical wing of the party, they have -- they're accustomed to having great influence over who the nominee is, particularly in iowa. rick is their kind of candidate. they haven't had a say because the business wing of the party that likes romney or the sort of talk radio wing that's liked various candidates from herman cain to gingrich have had a bigger say. this is their chance. >> if you look at mike huckabee as the prototypical what should a conservative look like to win iowa, he's as close as it gets this time to mike huckabee. >> the question is staying power. these ads presumably have to go compete in new hampshire which is not going to be necessarily favorable to a conservative as south carolina is. and then florida, john, we've been -- we have not mentioned the angry teddy bear. newt gingrich. i know you have a piece on this on new york magazine and in politic. gingrich seems to be revealing his strategy for the weeks ahead. i wonder

society of iowa. michael, i want to pick up on something that judy and gwen reminded us of. there's a democratic caucus tonight. there's an incumbent president, a democrat. what is the incumbent normally what happens with the incumbent? they normally stay out of the action or fight for relevancy? >> well, probably the best example of a president actually gaining relevance was richard nixon running for re-election in 1972. that was the first time there was a serious iowa caucus in which george mcgovern did very well and of course new hampshire. but this stuff was almost wiped off the air waves by richard nixon making the first visit of an american president to china. so in the evening you think that people would be noticing iowa and new hampshire, mcgovern doing very well. instead there was an hour special each evening on most of the networks for a week, you know, richard nixon at the great wall, the great hall of the people. people were not thinking very much about domestic politics, thought a lot abo

martha: a big day in iowa, folks. a short time ago mitt romney finishing up a rally that he held in des moines, iowa. he's calling for change. >> the president says he wants to fundamentally transform america. i don't want to transform america i want to restore the principles that made america. this is the america we love. i am going to make sure we take those principles to the white house and get america working again. thanks you guys, great to you with you, thank you. martha: they are all out there today, all the candidates. we've been talking to a couple of them. that was mitt romney a little while ago. less than ten hours to go. we have nine hours and 29 minutes about before they start caucusing. let's take a look now at point of grace church in wake, iowa isn't that pretty? caucuses will be held there tonight. shannon bream is live there telling us a little bit of how all of this works for folks who are not from iowa. good morning, shannon. >> reporter: hi, martha. check out this church. isn't it beautiful? it se

in iowa. and moves on to new hampshire and iowa may not be the usual quirky republican flash in the pan. this time it could be a preview to coming attractions because this time iowa is not the odd political duck which it is known. but now in lock step with every state of the country fretting over the same economic issues that are now very well-known and usual hi in this socially conservative state what do you think are the top concerns? the economy. that is why owe reporter from the washington times says what happens in iowa may not stay in iowa. this normal attitude we get from iowa that it doesn't carry over for whoever wins this, it could change, right? >>reporter: well, that is exactly possible. what is going on, you have a lost voters asking the questions that the rest of the country is wondering. normally iowa has concerns, including ethanol and agriculture issues are big. this time, the agricultural economy doing well out here, and the voters have focused on manufacturing, and the natio

you were so high in iowa when you won the iowa straw poll. these latest polls you're not doing very well. if you could change one thing in your campaign strategy between august and now, what would that be? >> well, what we're looking at right now, wolf, is on tuesday night, and we think we made the exact right decision. after the last debate, where i took on ron paul over the issue of whether or not iran should have a nuclear weapon, we saw an electric light switch flip on and we saw people all across iowa come toward our campaign. we literally saw several thousands of people flip and go my way in the last couple of weeks because we did something no other candidate did. we traveled 6,900 mimles across iowa. we visited all 99 cowan tis. during the course of that time we saw iowans who said no candidate has been to this part of iowa. we saw people continue to make their decision to support me for the presidency. and we think we did exactly what we need to do for tuesday night. >> rick santorum has visited all 99 counties as well. he was the fir

we're out here for the iowa caucuses. norah, i must say i knew that cbs was coming up with a new morning show. i didn't realize it was us! >> we are just a temporary fill-in here in des moines. >> is there a cooking segment? >> i don't think there is a cooking segment today. maybe some porkchops on a stick or something like that. but i think it's all politics today, bob. you and me and politics. >> great to have you. >> and we will be here this week and the new cbs "this morning" starts in the nex week. we will talk about the iowa caucus and all of that. we start this morning by hearing from mitt romney the former massachusetts governor sat down with chief political correspondent jan crawford last & night. she is with us this morning out - in davenport. good morning jan. >> well, good morning, bob. you know, romney spent the day greeting big crowds of enthusiastic supporters. we sat down with him after another packed event in council bluffs and asked about the polls that have him out in front and also hi spextationsexpect

>> and live in johnson iowa, thank you. for those of you who do not live in iowa and perhaps for many of you who do, the caucuses can seem a bit complicated. compared to a primary election in which you just show up anytime you want during the day. and vote. correspondent shannon bream is about 15 miles west of here, and to give us a primer on the caucuses, it good evening, shannon. >> hi, bret. this is one of 8 had,spots scattered across the state and caucus in about two hours time and people here tell us it is a political process like no other. >> it's more of a, a hard core event, if you will, than just a normal election. >> this is where it gets complicated. >> participating in the iowa caucus process takes commitment. >> there's something to be said for supporters who have so much determination, and have researched all of the candidates so much that they would turn out on a cold, january night, to support their candidate. >> and roughly 800 locations, schools, libraries, churches and gyms across the state, voters will g

they pick corn in iowa. they actually pick presidents here in new hampshire. >> well, those are fighting words here in iowa. but former governor jon huntsman can afford to diss the caucuses because he is skipping them and waiting for what is left of the field to join him wednesday in new hampshire and we are back now in the house chamber with our special iowa panel. governor branstad, you have heard it before, iowa is not a representative state, too small, too rural, more socially conservative. much low are unemployment, 5.7% than the national average. should your country, should your state, rather, continue to decide or at least begin to winnow who gets to become president. >> yes, because iowaians take the responsibility seriously. jon huntsman is the guy that is the losser. he chose not to participate here. he is not even going to be considered in new hampshire. i went to salt lake city and i talked to him personally and i said you are making a huge mistake and it is going to be romney versus whoever does

here at java joe's in des moines, iowa. republican party tonight may have its true front-runner in the race for president. iowa caucuses, one the proudest traditions begins tonight at 7:00 central time and the 2012 presidential election will be on the way. all the polls show a grouping of mitt romney, ron paul and rick santorum at the top and most experts saying that the caucuses are romney's to lose after keeping iowa at arm's length for months, the former massachusetts governor sounding more confident than ever. >> you guys, i need you tomorrow night. i need every single vote in this room. i need you to get a couple of other votes from your neighborhood and get the caucus. i need a great showing in cedar rapids. we're going to win this thing with all of our passion and strength and do everything we can to get this campaign on the right track to go across the nation and to pick up other states and to get the ballots i need, votes i need to become our nominee. >> he is downplaying the remarks saying the former massachusetts