struggling to stay in the race. huntsman is passing on iowa and doubling down in new hampshire. for gingrich tonight's caucuses come several weeks after he peaked in the polls. but he said he is still in position to win. >> there's 41% who are undeci d undecided, it's very possible to win. we've talked -- we've had 18,000 people in a telephone conversation call yesterday afternoon. we reached 89,000 eye juans and telephone conference calls and one more yet today. we have precinct leaders who believe that the caucus -- those are going to walk in, have a discussion and a substantial number of going to switch. >> 41% newt gingrich mentioned are voter s who say they could change their minds. whatever happens in iowa, romney says he's going to face president obama in november. by the way the president is running in iowa too. he'll speak to the caucusing democrats live via satellite this evening and mitt romney's only campaign event, he didn't sound like a candidate trying to court caucus goers. >> i'm going to ask the american people to sacrifice, we can't go on spending and spending our children and grandchildren's future and so some programs you like and i like, we're going to have to stop. and we're going to have to hope the private sector and charity and others are able to fill in behind us, but we're not going to keep spending money we don't have. the national endowment for the arts, pbs, they will have to stand on their own, maybe big bird will have to have advertisers. >> speaking of sesame street, three of room nmney's rivals wet rock the caucus and the stars were santorum and ron paul and michele bachmann. my colleague dana bash is there. dana, what did those kids hear today? what did they make of it all? >> reporter: first of all, i should tell you before i answer the question, i'm not checking back into high school. this has quickly transformed back into a high school gym. behind me believe it or not there were 800 students who were here to listen to three of the candidates running and asking for their votes. they heard their standard stump speeches talking about in the case of my michele bachmann and the fact that rick santorum has been here a long time and visited all 99 counties and he believes he is the most consistent conservative. when it comes to ron paul, i think the most interesting when you're looking at the youth vote. he's the oldest candidate by far, 76 years old and seems to be galvanizing young people more than any other of the candidates far younger than him. the and the reason talking to some of the people here, the young people here, they said for the most part is they are turned off by politics but they believe ron paul is the most consistent, hasn't flip-flopped like other candidates. >> i know some of romney's sons were there and you had a chance to speak to them. i guess they are getting a lesson in campaign hard ball. >> reporter: they certainly are. i was out here covering their father four years ago and saw them a lot behind the scenes but now they are very much front and center. three spoke here. i had the chance to speak with four of the five sons live on cnn. one of the things i wanted to ask was about what newt gingrich said on cbs news, flat out called their father a liar. listen to what he said to that. >> newt is a great guy. running for candidates running all their own way. we're here to focus on my dad and why we think he's the best candidate for the presidency of the united states. >> reporter: anyone else? >> i think josh said it pretty well. >> reporter: so, you know, if you're called a liar, who better to have on a campaign trail than one of your sons saying you're a man of integrity. it shouldn't be surprising that the campaign said it was fine for me to talk to all four of them on a day when newt gingrich called their father a liar. you have to have thick skin. they said that to me, when you're a family member, when you didn't choose this and your father or mother is running for president. certainly it is -- you could feel the excitement here. not only in this gym but also around the state because look, there's nothing like it. nothing like the iowa caucuses, the kickoff event of the entire season. >> we're glad you're there and rest of the best political team on television. thank you. cnn is the place that you want to be tonight for the iowa caucuses, we'll have special live coverage like no other network on television. wolf blitzer and anderson cooper lead the way tonight 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. we'll get right back to politics in just a moment. first we want to tell you about other stories making news, the arson spree in the los angeles area has ended and police believe they have the person responsible for it. 24-year-old harry burkhart has been arrested in connection with 50 fires. police believe he's a foreign national from germany and likely face numerous charges. burk hart is accused much setting parked cars and buildings on fire. it caused $3 million in damage. parts of the country are getting a first taste of winter. folks in indiana and michigan put their shovels to work trying to dig out from several inches of snow. slick roads caused a few wrecks and left drivers stranded. it was even worse in kentucky. the winter weather there caused two pileups involving more than 70 cars. it was closed for several hours, no one seriously hurt. iran is warning the u.s. not to return an aircraft carrier to the persian gulf rnch. iran says it spotted it passing through the strait of hormuz during naval exercises. the commander says his country won't repeat the warning. the fifth fleet which patrols the region had no immediate response but george little says deployment in the gulf region will continue as it has for decades. the warning from iran came amid growing tensions over the strait which is a critical shipping channel. a woman's body was discovered in a wooded area of queen elizabeth the second's country he state where the royal family traditionally spends christmas. the cause of death is not yet known. an autopsy will be conducted. police say they will be looking at cold cases as part of the investigation. he's got the lead and got the money and mitt romney has got a whole lot of confidence heading into tonight's caucuses, he now says he'll win the nomination. does he have have such a reason to make a bold prediction? first, i political junky question for you, what year did iowa move their caucuses ahead of new hampshire to become the first in the nation contest? if you know the answer, send me a tweet and i'll give a shout out to you after the break. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, man: good job. where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life. so get the insurance responsible drivers like you deserve. looks really good. call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. welcome back. i asked what year did iowa move their caucuses ahead of new hampshire and become the first in the nation contest? the answer, 1972. that's when iowa moved from the middle of the process to first. latest they've held the caucus sin then is february 20th. we want to congratulate nick who tweeted me the correct answer. what iowa is to caucus, new hampshire is to primary. and almost everybody has had a turn at the top of iowa polls, new hampshire is romney territory. the latest polling gives him a gave be lead over paul and gingrich and everybody else. jennifer, nice to have you on the program. what impact, if any, do you think will the caucuses have on your state's primary? >> well, there's no question that the caucuses that take place today in iowa have the potential to give some of those candidates a good boost coming into new hampshire. as you just referenced, the latest polling does show that the candidates here in new hampshire are -- they have been spending time here and pt numbers are starting to play very much in our favor. >> would anything other than a blowout win in new hampshire, anything other than that, would that be seen as a loss? >> absolutely not. listen, the one thing we understand here in new hampshire is that in politics 24 hours is a lifetime. governor romney has been running a strong grass roots campaign from day one. he has spoken to tens of thousands of voters and held dozens of town halls in the last couple of months. he's been running a campaign as if he's three votes behind from the beginning and continuing to do that today. >> no question as we've watched him over the past few days and last few weeks, his confidence is growing. but when you listen to him, he's essentially telling the crowds i'm the nominee. is that part of the overall strategy? will we hear that when he arrives in new hampshire as well? >> i'm not saying he is the nominee but when i hear him say we're going to win this thing, he said that in every speech he's giving, he's talking about the entire nomination. sure, we want him to be out there as enthusiastic and as confident as possible. what i see on the ground as a grass roots person, as an activist is that people across the republican spectrum here in new hampshire are starting to coalesce behind governor romney. everybody from long time party officials to brand-new tea party activists conservatives, he has spent so much time here he has been able to reach out and speak to the voters across the spectrum and being very successful in articulating that message of a free strong america of limited government. >> is there anything that you see that maybe romney did in iowa that you wouldn't like him to do now in new hampshire? >> oh, gosh, something he did in iowa that i don't want him to do? not necessarily. >> no mistakes made? >> well, you'll have to ask someone who has been traveling with him in iowa if he's made any mistakes. what i've seen from governor romney. he's been consistent and clear conservative message that he is the best man for the job. he brings 25 years of private sector executive experience, four years as a conservative governor, balancing budgets cutting spending and cutting taxes and you know, randi, we're at a time in the history of our nation where we need a president who uses phrases like balanced budget. i don't know when the last time barack obama even said that phrase. i think that's why you're seeing the numbers start to go up at this point. so many people have heard that message and are starting to come behind him. >> let's look quickly beyond new hampshire as the candidates move to south carolina and florida. will the momentum that romney is expected to get in new hampshire be enough for him in the south? >> we certainly hope it helps to push him down and help push him ahead as he goes into south carolina. governor romney in addition to his strong fiscally conservative record is a man of great personal integrity. he's a man of faith and man who you will never hear somebody make any sort of credible accusation against governor romney that he has cheated on his taxes or business or family. i think that's strong and core to the conservative message. i think he'll do well in south carolina. jennifer horn, pleasure to speak with you. i'm sure we'll speak more in the days to come. >> thank you so much. my pleasure. >> he saw his lead vanish about as fast as it appeared but newt gingrich said he is in it to win it, perhaps not tonight but looking ahead to new hampshire. up next i'll speak to gingrich's campaign director in that state about what he's doing to pull off a surprise win. that the age of negative consult aenlts and 30 second attack ads is over. >> the race for the gop presidential bid has become without a doubt a rotation of front-runners, case in point newt gingrich's recent roller coaster ride in the polls. with so many polls can get a bit confusing but the trend is clear and hard to ignore. do you see the blue line? that is newt gingrich who surged to the top but his lead pretty short lived. the big question is not only why but what the drop means for gingrich's campaign in iowa and beyond. gingrich's new hampshire state director andrew hemingway joins us from manchester today. nice to have you on the program. what is the hope in iowa? let's talk about iowa first. where does gingrich need to finish tonight to be in a good place for new hampshire? >> i don't think there's a one specific number. there's no historical relevance to saying he needs to finish second or third. john mccain is the best example of this, finishing in fourth place and doing very well here in new hampshire. i think that what we're looking for and excited about is the show of strength of an organization, for many weeks here as the state director of new hampshire, we've been asked of the strength of our organization, in the coming days we have an opportunity to show exactly what the organization is that we've been able to build in a short time. >> as the state director there, it's obviously your job to rally supporters and rally the voters there. but i want to listen to what boss told reporters yesterday. >> i don't think i'm going to win. if you look at the numbers, that volume of negativiity has done enough damage. if the des moines register was right and there's 41% -- who knows what's going to happen. >> first he said he doesn't think he's going to win then he backtracked. does this create a dilemma for you in new hampshire? >> it really doesn't. my job is, when i wake up, what do we need to do today to win new hampshire on january 10th. that's my job. that's the goal and focus that we've been staying on. and presenting the case to the voters here in new hampshire, we have a strong solid proven conservative in newt gingrich and we have a massachusetts moderate in mitt romney who runs away from his record and i'm happy to stand with newt gingrich and present to the people of new hampshire newt gingrich's balanced budget for four consecutive years and 11 new jobs under his leadership and take that against any candidates in the field right now. >> as we watch things unfollowed in iowa tonight, if newt gingrich does end up at the bottom of the pack, what will you do differently? >> we're not going to do anything differently. the strategy is to wake up tomorrow morning. we have a very aggressive schedule. we have a very strong team here. we've got 15 paid staffers, five offices, thousands of volunteers. people are coming in from all over the country right now. there's an incredible amount of buzz on the ground in new hampshire around newt gingrich and what's happening. we have over 3500 latino families that we're working with that have been brought into the program. we have a lot going on here in new hampshire. and tomorrow starts -- is the kickoff to that. we're excited about it. we have an enormous opportunity here. >> very quickly, i want to show you numbers here. we'll put them on the screen for the viewers. this is the latest cnn time orc poll showing romney is way ahead, at 44% and gingrich at 16% and there you see the other numbers. what will you need to do there to close the gap between romney and newt gingrich? >> i think we keep doing exactly what we have been doing. you look at polls and there are polls all over the place showing all sorts of different numbers here and there and everywhere. honestly, i get that there's some value in these polls but the varied number of polls there are and varied results, what we're doing is keeping our head down and going to work every single day and building a strong organization. in the last several weeks, we made over 156,000 phone calls and we have collected a lot of data. we've i.d.s a lot of voters and have a strong ground game that was evidence in us holding the largest political event of the year just last week. we're expecting again, starting wednesday morning to put together a really great trip for speaker gingrich. i think with two debates wrapped up in the middle of the week, continuing to talk about how we stand and speaker gingrich is a proven conservative against the massachusetts moderate, will say anything to get elected. i think we stand in a very good strong position. >> andrew hemingway, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> he is the latest gop candidate to surge and what a time to do it. could tomorrow's big story all be about that guy right there? rick santorum. some say the last minute boost could bump him to the top. john king takes us back to 2008 in what's looking like a little bit of deja vu. tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. i have over 200 pastors who have come out to support me and they are very influential. i think we're going to see a real surprise at the polls with a depth of support that people didn't recognize was there. >> that was michele bachmann talking about her evangelical support. does she have enough backing to take iowa in the caucuses? according to the latest poll the answer is no. rick santorum is surging in the polls thanks to his evangelical supporter and some are calling him the huckabee of 2012. is there a chance he could beat mitt romney. mitt romney has been down this road before. he thought he would win the iowa caucus in 2008 but he lost it to mike huckabee who carried the evangelical vote. what do you think needs to happen in order for romney to take iowa? >> let's go back in time and look at iowa four years ago among the republicans, it's not directly analogous, but we can learn a lot of lessons, this is governor romney over here. this is the dark red over here. if you see this starting to fill in like this for romney, that means he's off to a good start. the eastern part of the state, this is the greatest romney straight where you find more moderate conservatives and bigger populations. if he can do this again he's off to a good start. in the western part of the state, he did well, this is more conservative country, more a challenge. if you're seeing this fill in for romney, he's off to a good start. look at all of this in the middle. who's that? that's mike huckabee. these are small rural towns where you find evangelical and tea party voters these are the people rick santorum needs. if he is filling in the middle of the state like this, he could well win iowa as huckabee did. you mentioned michele bachmann. this is tea party strength. you're looking at iowa now, the darker the color, the higher the percentage of people who say they identify with the tea party. remember the dark areas are because they overlap. let's look at evangelical voters they are down here in the south and this is the key. the new republican party has both evangelical voters and tea party voters. if rick is to win the state, right now he has a good position and he is surging to get over the top. these people have to win the caucuses and look the bachmann people in the eye and say, your candidate can't win tonight. come to our side, we can beat mitt romney and have a conservative voice. it's a big challenge but that will be one of the fascinating things to watch. how do the evangelical voters play and do we get back to this? if one candidate is filling in, that means we're doingville with tea party and evangelical. if you get the mash, then it's harder to do. watch romney in the east and west. the big fight will be in the middle. >> john, you've been doing this a long time. what do you make of the different strategies that the candidates have played out here? santorum made a point to visit all 99 counties. >> there's the old fashioned way, hands on retail politics, visit them all, it's a great state to visit and the new way to do it. if we do this by candidate visits, this is just from september, let's break it down. michele bachmann says she will get to all 99 by the end of this. she's done it the old fashioned way. rick santorum, this is in september, he touched all 99 counties and been back to many several times. he is the true do it the old fashioned way. we'll see if this works out. in the converse, governor romney hardly noticed here in the state. he has been there the least of all of the candidates yet he could win the state tonight. candidate visits aren't as important as before unless rick santorum proves us wrong. one more thing to bring up quickly, the tv ad spending. this is just by the candidates, this light or afrpg, that's rick perry, he has bought more campaign ads in iowa than any other candidate. at the moment he's struggling in the polls. we'll see if that changes. governor romney, a decent slice. one more thing to add, not just the candidates but political action committees helping them out as well. if you bring that front and center you see a bigger slice there. the political action committee supporting romney and ron paul more than anyone else ron negative attacks that brought gingrich down as we get to count votes tonight. >> it's going to be a long but interesting night. on tonight's show, herman cain and rick perry. he's a preview. >> i think you go and share with the people of south carolina the real message of who has the consistency and is an authentic conservative. mitt romney has got a real problem with it comes to consistency. those folks in south carolina, i can promise you, they are not going to buy a pig in a poke so to speak. the massachusetts governor that put mandates in place and the model to create obama care is not going to sell in south carolina. >> you can watch that interview tonight on "john king usa "at 6:00 eastern time. will romney's fair but steady numbers be enough to pull off a win tonight or could it be a repeat of '08? i'll ask the man who ran the campaign four years ago. first, a political junkie question for you, what percentage of 2008 gop caucus-goers consider themselves to be evangelical christians. i'll have the answer after the break. ♪ you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] you won't find the toughness of a ram 1500 combined with the legendary power of a hemi v8 in any other truck. it's a beautiful thing. guts. glory. ram. before the break, i asked what percentage of 2008 republican caucus goers consider themselves to be evangelical kr christians and the answer is 60%, vaulting him to a surprise win in iowa. con grats to nick who tweeted me the right answer, nick, i don't know if you're sit tlg with your hand on the send button or what. congratulations, nicely done. thgs the part of the show where we go to the heart of the political debate where all sides are fair game. joining me is maria cardona and former rnc director, gentry collins. thanks for coming on the show. let's start with the so-called santorum surge or some are calling it santorum men tum. what is behind it? you're from iowa, how would you describe it? >> i think all of the above. i think that senator santorum and his campaign have run a very good iowa campaign as you rightly say, they've been to all 99 counties, not many have done that this time around. they've got a great message that fits the electorate. 60% of caucus goers in 2008 consider themselves evangelicals and it fits in a way other candidates don't. it makes a lot of sense that we've seen a surge from santorum in the closing days. the question for tonight, whether he's well organized enough to capture it. 41% according to the register poll a few days ago said they still had room to change their minds. they are decision wasn't firm. and so in those 1700 caucus locations around the state, one of key questions will be, who has the best of the friends and neighbors in those communities that can make the most persuasive argument for these candidates and who can pull the votes to their side. i think that's one disadvantage he may have simply because he hasn't been a prominent candidate for long enough. >> if you look at mitt romney's numbers, quite frankly they are not moving much. he's been stagnant, hanging around the 20% range there all along. that actually might be good enough to win this year. what does this say, maria, about the race? >> i think what it says about the race, randi is that the gop voters are still looking for that anybody but romney candidate. the reason why that percentage didn't work for him in 2008 is because they were able to coalesce behind that anybody but romney or the real conservative candidate in their eyes which was huckabee. this time around, they have had basically a parade of candidates that they have thought they could get behind but ultimately decided perhaps were not somebody who could get to the very end. what's so interesting about santorum and i agree with everything that's been said here. his travels through the 99 counties, had more than 300 town halls, let's not forget iowa voters put a tremendous premium on retail politics. they like to see the candidate eye to eye. it's been said santorum may have bought every gop iowa caucus-goer a cup of coffee. that may be able to take him to victory tonight if he has those passionate followers at each of these caucuses that can make the case that these religious conservative social voters will be able to vote for somebody that they really can feel good about. santorum might be able to pull it off. >> gentry, some say he waltzed into iowa and got a late start. if he had gone in earlier, do you think he would have higher numbers? >> i think gocher romney has worked the state quite well. he had a reservoir of support and identified voters that would caucus on his behalf. he's had a leaner campaign but they've handle ld iowa quite well and it may pay off here. it's quite likely his support in eastern iowa will remain high. i also think it's very likely that he will overperform his 2008 number in the des moines area. he has not been savaged on talk radio in des moines the way he was consistency four years ago. i think the big question will be western iowa, whether he can get his fair share of western iowa conservatives. to me that's one of big unknowns of the campaign. i think he's in very good shape. you've got to say that a first or second place finish for governor romney given the performance that his campaign has had in the state over the course of the year is a good place for him to be. >> quick question about newt gingrich. he's blamed his drop in the polls on the negative ad campaign and blames romney for much of that. these ads have only aired in iowa, not nationally. is that a fair argument? >> i do think it's a fair argument. anybody who has been in politics as long as newt gingrich knows that negative ads work. frankly he broke one of the key mantras of politics, a commandment, shall not have any attack go unanswered and he did that hoping by saying that everybody should stay positive that that would be enough. and sure, he didn't have enough money, money like romney or perry to go on tv to answer those attack ads but we live in a digital world these days where he could have answered it easily and cheaply. he could have done web videos or done conference calls or webinars pointing out every place he's being attacked unfairly. when voters see a candidate who let's an attack go unanswered, they think if this candidate won't stabbed up for himself, how will he stand up for us. that went a long way towards having his numbers really fall in iowa. and i think it's spreading nationally too. >> thank you very much. both of you, that is fair game today. cnn is the place that you want to be tonight for the iowa caucuses, we'll have special live coverage like no other network on television can. wolf blitzer and anderson cooper lead the way tonight at 7:00 eastern time. the spotlight may be on republicans tonight, don't forget there's someone else on that ballot in iowa, this guy right here. fresh off a ten-day vacation, president obama is about to do a little campaigning of his own. we'll tell you how he's playing into iowa tonight coming up next. yeah, that guy. we were a little early on that one. there he is, that guy right there. believe it or not the democrats are caucusing in iowa as well. there's not as much at stake but the democratic national committee aren't sitting idly by. joining me now is brad woodhouse, how is the president reaching out to democrats in iowa tonight? >> the president is going to speak to several of the caucuses tonight. we've been here you know, really going back to when the president first ran. we've never left iowa and during this campaign we've held 4,000 one on one meetings and 1200 house parties and made 350,000 phone calls. we're real excited about the enthusiasm that democrats have for the president in iowa. and we think the caucuses will be a real good time tonight. we're not trying to turn out a lot of people but it's a great organizing opportunity and we're excited the president will participate. >> jay carney had this to say about the president and his focus on the caucus tonight. >> like many of us, he will i'm sure, be interested to see what the results are in the other parties caucuses. i'm sure he is as no more or less interested than the rest of us. >> so what is the message then that the administration would like to get out to supporters in iowa tonight? >> well, i'll tell you, on our side, what we would like to make sure the people know is that the president made a series much promises when he won the iowa caucus in 2008. he said he would fight for middle class and he's provided middle class tax cuts and said he would make health care more affordable and passed health care reform. make college education more affordable and passed student loan reform. the republicans would say the president hasn't kept his promises but the record is far different. that's a great message to our supporters and then i think we want to talk about the differences between the president fighting for the middle class and republicans like mitt romney who want to go back to wall street doing the same type things it was doing that led to the financial collapse. >> how would you say the president is handling the bashing coming his way? >> as you've seen the president has been busy with his day job. he was in the fight with republicans in congress who didn't want to extend the payroll tax cut for middle class. he's going to continue to try to work with congress and when he can't, he's going to do what he can to try to help the middle class and make sure that they realize the security that they need and he'll focus on the campaign when there's -- when there's a candidate on the other side. right now we're trying to do that to the extent we can. >> very quickly, we know that obviously iowa was critical for the president in 2008. how critical do you think it is this time around? >> i think it's extremely critical. it's an important swing state and that's one of the reasons that we have -- it would be easy for us -- we'll come back and organize iowa later. i'll tell you, randi, tomorrow when the caucuses are over, the president will have the most ork organized campaign, not the winner of the caucus. >> pleasure to speak with you, thank you very much. by this time tomorrow we'll know who came out on top in iowa. what key indicators can we watch for tonight that might give us a sneak peek at who the winner will be? we asked for the five things to watch for tonight. another political junkie for you, how many states hold caucuses instead of primaries? if you know the answer, send me a tweet and i'll give a shout-out after the break. so, this is delicious okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one. because for every two pounds you lose through diet and exercise, alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. let's fight fat with alli. ♪ before the break i asked you how many states hold caucus instead of primaries? and the answer was 13 states and the virgin islands. the iowa caucus are an important litmus test for the gop candidates. the results will be telling and may very well steer the direction of this republican race. here are five key things to keep your eye on. turnout. every election depends on it. it can determine who will win the republican nomination. looking at the bigger picture, the sheer number of people who gather at the caucus can give us a glimpse. it was conservative ferver that put the ball back in the hands of the republicans. what will president obama be up against? the evangelical vote will be key tonight. especially for rick santorum. according to the new york times, 60% of the people who attended republican caucuses four years ago identified themselves as eve haven't gel cals. that could help santorum as it did with mike huckabee in 2008. and then there is issue number three, who stands to lose? newt gingrich, rick perry, and michele bachmann have all dropped in the polls but are battling to stay in this race behind the top three. placing fourth may be their best hope. if they place any lower, some say dropping out of the race may be their only viable option. and number two, rick santorum and ron paul could benefit who loses. santorum has been surging lately. a poll on saturday showed him rounding out the top three. santorum says he didn't come to lose. the people of iowa have kicked his tires and lit his fires. that is a direct quote. and the same poll has ron paul in second. paul's campaign told cnn it has signed up more than 1400 volunteers, which is another reason is he expected to end up in the top three. and finally, number one, all eyes will be on mitt romney who many see as the potential leader. romney hasn't spent much time campaigning in iowa but told a crowd, we are going to win this thing with all of our passion and strength. recent polls show romney with a support of 24% of caucus-goers. the impact on his campaign could be dramatic. you've heard what our analysts are saying. but what about you at home? your opinions coming up next. >> i like what rick santorum and michele bachmann stand for, more conservative principles. i think romney and gingrich, there's too much volatility with both of them. welcome back. we are about six hours away from the start of the iowa caucus. apparently only 7% are undecided. that's according to a des moines register poll. what do iowans this of the process? we asked them what they think and here's what they have to say. >> it's different than a primary. it deals with the grass roots. it deals with people in small rooms like this, able to talk to candidates, question candidates so you're getting a broader view point of the electorate versus a primary system. so that is a more accurate rendition of what's happening. >> but i think if we don't choose a candidate as a viable candidate and goes on to win the nomination, i think we will lose some of our importance. i think we really need to take our roles seriously and consider who we want to be our nominee, not just who's popular at the moment. >> in iowa you have not maybe the most diverse set of people but there's a good cross-section between young, old, different ages, different income levels, different educational levels. and people are active. they want to meet their candidates and see them eye to eye. they don't just want to see what is on the news. >> we're unnone dated with all of the political candidates. we do feel it's an honor to have them come and it is prestigious to be the first in the nation to be selecting this candidate. exciting, yes. it's a lot to have them here. if you're not going to the caucus, it's not because you don't care or frustrated, i think he is it's just a lot to take in. >> i've lchl decided to vote for who i hear the least from. >> i don't put much stock in it. i'll go out and vote in november but not caucus. >> it's not so much issue-based but character based. if you have a man or woman of integrity in office, then most of the right decisions i think are going to be made because of that. >> iowans are getting tired but they are still heading to the poll. who will they vote for? >> rick santorum is someone i've considered but i never thought i'd say this but ron paul is who i would consider at this point. >> i'm scared of his foreign policy and i don't want him to get the nomination. i decided to go with governor romney. >> i was a total obama supporter. cried at the election night results, sitting next to my dad, so excited. i feel like obama's just been a little bit of disappointing. i think he could have stepped up a little bit more. i think mitt romney is looking good to me. >> thank you for watching. you can find me @randikaye. brooke baldwin is next. >> hi, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. let's get you caught up on everything making news. we begin with rapid fire and have to talk iowa. we are one day away from iowa's republican caucuses. as you know, these are the first results from the presidential campaign. mitt romney still trailing in first place. but you know polls, they can change on a dime. we are committing the first two hours of politics. let's get you caught up on the day's news. much of the midwest digging out from the first major winter storm of the year. heavy snowfall, ice causing multiple car pileups in four different states and this is in minneapolis. this is what it looked like here yesterday. 18 cars involved in this one. to kentucky we go. i-75 closed for four hours. that was in grant county. there were injuries. none of them were serious. a cold front is causing temperatures to plunge in the southeast today. i am sure you are feeling it. it looks like the arson spree terrorizing the area is over. deputy shervin was the arresting officer and lalezary, did you know, paid $1 a year. >> thank you to the men and women of the west hollywood station for coming into work every day doing this full time, putting their lives on the line every day full time. i really appreciate everything you guys do. i look forward to coming back to my next shift with you guys. >> arson suspect harry burkhart is a german citizen. he carried a grudge against america because of a deportation conflict involving his mother. and new york police have released this sketch. take a long look. this is the man that they believe is behind multiple attacks in queens. a home used as an hindu temple and convenient store. a fourth bombing of a home may also be relelated to this case. all in all, no one was hurt. community leaders denouncing the act which the hate crime division is actively investigating. three explosions rocked kandahar killing more than a dozen people there. one of the blasts, an ied went off, but did not jury anybody. and when people gathered around it, a suicide bomber, though, on a motorcycle blew himself up near this crowd. four children and a police officer were killed in another suicide bombing. police in britain are investigating a murder in the most unlikely setting. a woman's body was found on sunday on queen elizabeth's property. we don't know how the woman died or how long her body had been there. police are looking at cold cases as part of this investigation. we are a month away from the 2012 super bowl and already the commercials have sold out at record prices. advertisers paid an average $3.5 million for a whopping 30-second spot. nbc not yet releasing the advertisers at least yet. and cnn "newsroom" will be right back. [ female announcer ] in the grip of arthritis, back, or back joint pain? aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. this is it. check the clock with me. fewer than six hours to go before the start of the 2012 election with, as you now know, the iowa caucus has not a second to waste. final stretch, closing arguments, if you will. let's play some sounds. this is mitt romney at a rally in des moines. >> as i believe, this is a campaign, an election which will decide the future of america. on one hand, you have the traditional values that have made america the hope of the earth when the founders crafted this country and they wrote the declaration of independence, they chose these words with great cares, as you know, and among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. that last phrase, the pursuit of happiness, that means that we would be free to choose our circumstance in life, government telling us what we can do would not be a barrier. even the failure to attain educational careers, my dad, after all, never graduated from college but believed in america and this opportunity society and new by virtue of his hard work and risk taking and working he could achieve great things. a remarkable story in america time and time repeated. we are an opportunity nation. >> mitt romney there in des moines. let's stay in des moines and go to jessica yellin doing double duty for us. hardly your first trip to iowa, jessica yellin. for mitt romney, could tonight be the night when the front-runner breaks through? >> reporter: well, brooke, i can't imagine anything short of romney absolutely crushing the rest of the field being a true break through for him. but winning here would give him real momentum. sources i've talked to are sort of asking reporters say why can't romney break 25% and if we were to get place number one here, i think that would give him the push he needs to start breaking 25% in some of the future contests. so that alone would be a major accomplishment for the romney team, brooke. >> okay. so breaking the 25% is breaking an accomplishment for them. what are you looking for tonight as you watch all of this? >> well, you know the old saying in iowa is that there are only three tickets out of town here. so everybody will be looking at who places among the first three finishers. and then going to what we were just talking about, what percentage of support they do get. and then it will also be interesting to listen to their victory speeches. you know, if romney does well, will the other candidates start going after him in a more aggressive way in i sort of expect them to at some point take sharp aim at him in a way that hasn't happened. and then you look at the bottom tier candidates. if romney isn't at the top of the pact, it will be a fascinating night. no one knows. so we'll all be watching. >> i was watching ron paul and he said that they are gunning for an with. that they are 50/50 for it. a strong showing on behalf of ron paul, they could perhaps taint the caucuses and diminish the relevance down the road. >> among established republicans, the answer simply is yes and that's because recall four year ago mike huckabee won here but he didn't have legs to go further in the nomination. many establishment republicans say ron paul cannot capture the republican nomination. and so among this group there is a concern that if ron paul is to win here and can't capture the nomination, then that makes iowa caucuses less meaningful, less relevant, or they fear it will be. as a selector of the american candidate. look how much attention we're giving it now if it's not a determiner of the nominee. you can imagine what they are worried about. >> and you point out, there are oes only three ways out of town. how many candidates do you think are likely to be standing after tonight? >> you know, it sort of depends on how poorly the bottom tier candidates do. unless somebody does absolutely abismally. i would be surprised that they would bou out tonight. but what you are more likely to see, i think, is somebody saying in the next few days that they've decided to endorse someone else or take a break. and what tends to happen is they can't fund raise anymore and they don't have the money to go on because they are not seeing the support. it tends to happen in the days after iowa. but, hey, surprises happen and that's what this night is all about. so you never know. >> that's what makes this fun. you'll never know. jessica yellin, thank you, ma'am. in des moines, iowa. newt gingrich is taking questions right now at the drake restaurant in burlington, iowa. here he is. let's just dip in. >> we're going to go into both states. very soon. yes. new hampshire, florida, and iowa. all three. they are one continuous. >> you raise more money. you need saturday's wall street journal saying i have the strongest economic plan and romney was afraid to debate obama and afraid to debate the successful and his plan was so weak on the economy that resembled obama. you can go to almost every successful person and say, you want this nominee? and you can raise money. we're just getting started. i said this to you last night. figuring out what the core contrast for the next 30 days is is the most important thing we're doing right now. i am less concerned about the first wave of ads than i am about getting the strategy right and i'm fairly convinced that we have a strategy that romney will find very, and where is the line? >> what are you talking about? >> painting them as a moderate, a liberal even and -- >> hang on. time out. i just asked you a simple question. does romney care include tax-paid abortions? >> does he what? >> the bill would have changed the definition of he maintained a full life position. >> right. and my question is, does romneycare pay for tax-paid apportions? as long as it is factually accurate, it can't be seen as a campaign to describe somebody's record. >> all right. former speaker of the house in burlington, iowa. he actually acknowledged today he's been hammered by the attack ads and he also called mitt romney a massachusetts moderate and he's ready to take him on commas mass primary and making their final newt gingrich camp today. coming up next, we'll go inside that campaign. stay right here. 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[ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. we are certainly getting into the final hours here before the iowa caucuses. the candidates busy making their last-minute stops. let's listen to newt gingrich again today in burlington. >> this election is not just a referendum on obama. this election is an effort to find somebody and to find a program that can get america back on the right track. now that is a dramatically bigger question than politics as usual. and one of the reasons i've talked so much about the negative campaigning, is it totally clutters the ability of the american people to have an adult conversation about solutions. you know, we are in real trouble. if this was just a game, if this was like a senior class president, that would be one thing. but this isn't a game. this is the presidency of the most important country in the world at a time when the whole planet is shaking. >> speaking of the negative campaigning, really over the course of the last 24 hours, the fornler speaker of the house has been lowering expectations, admits he's been hit by the negative ads and acknowledges that they have had an impact on him. >> i don't think i'm going to inwii win. i think if you look at the numbers the volatility has done enough damage. >> but then also the former speaker feeling optimistic. >> there's 41% who are undecided. it's very possible to win. >> okay. so why the 180? cnn's joe johns is live in des moines. joe, he doesn't think he's going to win and then he might win, acknowledging that 41%, you know, people haven't made up their minds. what does that mean? what's he thinking? >> well, when you have people running all over iowa trying to dru drum up support for you, it's kind of disheartening for the fearless leader, as it were, to go out and win. and they said, look, don't say this. please, it's not helping. and gingrich pretty much said, all right, i'll change my tune a bit, and he did. he got upbraided for that kind of pessimism leading up to the caucuses, brooke. >> when you listen to newt gingrich over the course of the last week or two, he's been sort of on the defense. do you think he will continue to play defense or will he change that up? >> well, you know, it's not far from the caucuses now so i don't think he has too much time to change his message dramatically. however, it's pretty clear that once he gets to new hampshire, south carolina where he likely makes his last stand, that's going to be a whole different story because he's told me, he's told others na he's changing the message because of the negative attacks from the mitt romney super pac. those ads have been very harsh and they have done a lot of damage to newt gingrich. so he's sure to change his approach once he gets out of iowa. it's pretty clear that there's not enough time to do it here. he even acknowledges that he should have reacted quicker than he did. >> i think gloria borger was on yesterday saying the same thing. joe johns, thank you very much. and just a quick reminder to all of you, wolf blitzer, erin burnett, ali velshi and many, many more, bringing in the iowa caucuses tonight at 7:00 p.m. it will be like nothing that you have ever seen before. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. 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 ♪ for the first time in five days the people of hollywood are waking up with no charred cars or fires. the 24-year-old german citizen was finally arrested. his name is harry burkhart and the man who caught burkhart is a man who makes $1 a year working for l.a. county. reading about this deputy, this guy a lawyer and moon lights as a deputy, right? >> you know, that's the interesting part of the story, brooke. law enforcement officials are calling the arrest of a lifetime. 30-year-old shervin lalezary, was born in tehran, makes just $1 a year in hollywood. he's a full-time beverly hills real estate attorney. he was on patrol monday morning when he saw a suspect driving the vehicle that matched the description of a van caught on surveillance video. he pulled the van over and with dlk baz frup from the police arrested the suspect. >> i don't want to get into any details of the traffic stop or anything happening that surrounded the events. i want to wait for the legal process to continue and when it's all said and done, we can continue the conversation. >> tell me about your day job. >> sthth is a lot more exciting about my day job. >> you're a lawyer? >> i'm a lawyer. i work with real estate investments. >> lalezary has two brothers. one a doctor and the other a law student and is also a reserve deputy. brooke? >> deputy, lawyer, obviously the guy is pretty astute. i do want to ask about this suspect. now we have a name, harry burkhart. what are investigators sharing with regard to a motive? >> brooke, of course right now, in terms of the motive, that is premature. we know that he's 24 old. the man accused of terrorizing residences holding his city under siege. 24 years old, a foreign national from germany in this country legally. burkhart lived with his mom in hollywood. he started dozens of fires by dropping small charcoal fires on cars. he was using the burning cars to start the building fires. he they believe he may have been upset over his mother's immigration status. she was set to be deported from this country. >> and she has a hearing this afternoon, is that right? >> yes, she does. she has a hearing later this afternoon in federal court. apparently the hearing is set because it's following an arrest warrant that was issued by germany. we don't have details on what that is related to, though, at this point. >> okay. thelma, thank you. have you heard about these comments made by rick santorum made by entitlement programs? i want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money. after this quick break, we'll show you the clip. see it for yourself next. you'll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year. and now get even more with splenda® essentials, the only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. just another reason why you get more... when you sweeten with splenda®. ♪ what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. he's tweeting, he's tweeting through the commercial breaks. hello, roland martin. >> we've got to keep our viewers informed. >> and we are keeping them informed. >> and you are fired up over something rick santorum said just this past sunday. let me set this up: he was asked about foreign entitlement system. here he was. >> we've got so much foreign influence in this country now, i'm looking at a coke can that has a polar bear on it. where do we go from here? >> one of the things that i've talked about is we have to start focusing on the economy in this country and making things in america. you look at the economy of whether it's sioux city or most small towns, not just in the midwest but around the country. they were built around manufacturing and processing. this is a big manufacturing area of the country and a big town for manufacturing. and, of course, you've lost a lot of that over the years. look, when i was a congressman for two of those years i was in congress, but for two of those years i represented the steel valley of pittsburgh which i should say, the former steel valley of pittsburgh and i actually, you know, represented an area that went from literally hundreds of thousands of steel workers to less than 20,000 steel workers. and i come from that and i come from a small town. i look at reality of what is going on in small town america. noncollege educated have unemployment rate of two times those that are not educated. what president obama wants to do, his economic plan is to make more people dependent upon the government, to make sure we have more food stamps and more ssi and more medicaid. four in ten children are on government-provided health care. i was talking to someone who works for the welfare here and said that the state of iowa is going to get fined if they don't sign up for people under the medicaid program. they are fighting to get more and more of you to get your vote. that's what the bottom line is. i don't want to make people' lives better by giving them somebody else's money. i want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families. and the best way to do that is to get the manufacturing sector of the economy rolling again. >> so it's the last little bit of that that got under your skin? >> yes. he talks about african-americans. he actually talks about blacks. >> i wasn't there. >> then, of course, you look at the state of iowa, 84% of the state who get assistance, they are not white. they are african-americans. you reinforce this view, oh, food stamps, i think if you look at unemployment benefits, there are white folks getting unploemt benefits. >> trying to explain the context of why he said that he said that he had seen waiting for superman. >> which i saw as well. >> i'm just saying this is what he told kelly. let me quote him. he said, let me say, no matter what, i want to make every lives better. i don't want anybody, and if you look at what i've been saying, i've been pretty clear about my concern for dependency whatever their race is. >> somehow it, then, that you can only mention african-americans in a room that was virtually all white? that's cute to say, i watched the film. i watched the film as well. i saw them talk about the future of our education system. where we will be in the next generation. and so, please, this is also the same guy who said that we should not celebrate averse tea because we should be one america and that will somehow tear us apart. we're backing a more diverse nation. i guarantee you if he goes to a polish community, trying to get votes, he's going to sit here and celebrate. >> sounds like a good question for rick santorum. let me move on here. the other people doing really well in the des moines register, you know who is at the top. i know who is at the top. mitt romney, what's your biggest bone that you have to pick about him? >> not really my issue. it's really a question of list. he has to deal with with all of the tea party folks. coming out of iowa, he's going to have to deal with the anti-mitt romney fashion. i don't think we've seen in a long time the people who don't like the perceived front-runner for the gop nomination. it's unbelievable the kind of problems that he has. i think that's somehow, no a matter what happens, that's going to be a huge thing to deal with, trying to make people that he's actually a conservative. >> ron paul? >> ron paul has issues when it comes to civil rights acts. i think he's absolutely cluele, saying it destroyed privacy. i'm sorry, ron, people like me couldn't vote, couldn't sit at hotels, couldn't go to lunch counters. you as a white guy, you could have. if you don't like it, suck it up. change america for the good. his problem is that he is so far to the right when it comes to libertarian issues, he turns into somebody on the left. and so he has a large core following. the question is, can he grow tp beyond that 20, 22%. >> we talked about rick santorum. finally i want to ask you about newt gingrich. he's going to have to bring it come new hampshire. what do you think? >> it would be nice if newt could figure out how to somehow stay focused. he is all over the map. it seems that he's desperate to be the smartest guy and so he wants to talk about all of these off topics. the economy is the number one issue. why don't you stick with that. when you hear about is he going to have a bus tour, signing books, he's running one of the weirdest races. i'm sure rudy giuliani can identify with the weird race that he is running. >> i'm curious, and final question, you brought your ipad. you have a lot of visitors on twitter. did they want to hear about economy? >> yeah, actually what i lot of people want to hear about is the specific issues as opposed to oh, obama is good, i'm bad. when it comes to the economy, how will you actually fix it as different than simply saying, cut taxes and end regulation? that's where folks want to hear, no, i'm out there without a job or my children don't have one. give me an example other than the same kind of stuff. they haven't heard it. >> okay. tweeting a lot about twitter last night. >> it was a big night. >> i get iowa caucus but i think people were more concerned about the bowl games. >> roland martin, thank you very much. look for him tonight. in the meantime, newt gingrich is blaming a lot of the negative ads for his dips in the polls recently. coming up next, we'll dig into the power of the negative ads. we'll be right back. why did we build a 556 horsepower luxury car with a manual transmission? because there are those who still believe in the power of a firm handshake. the cadillac cts-v. manual or automatic, that's entirely up to you. we don't just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs. the republican candidates now making their final push in caucus before the caucus opens tonight. michele bachmann is speaking at a rock the caucus event today. >> the united states is the most expensive place to do business if you're a tax lawyer. i want to abolish the tax code and do away with it and put in its place a pro-growth code so you can wildly succeed with your future and with your plans. i want a future for you. i want a hope for you. and we can do that if we open up the opportunities in the tax code, change our climate for doing business and grow the economy. >> you know, the super political economy is already having an effect on the white house. brian todd reports that they are just getting started. >> reporter: warp speed slide from the top of the poll has been the story in iowa and newt gingrich's fall is coincided with negative ads like this one. >> restore our future, a so-called super pac, a political action committee that supports mitt romney. it's spent more than $3 million on ads in iowa, many of them with unlimited amounts of money on behalf of a candidate and all of the candidates are benefiting. >> decades ago, gingrich goes to washington. >> reporter: even though campaign rules say that super pacs have to be separate from the campaign. >> how close are the relationships between these super pacs and restore our future and campaigns like romney's. >> typically they are not authorized by the campaigns however in reality they are much an extension of the campaigns. >> reporter: gingrich calls it a phony super pac. >> that's your organization, your millionaires paying for it. >> reporter: we asked the romney campaign for a response but an official for restore our future would not comment on gingrich's criticism or discuss strategy. at least two people on that board are former campaign romney advisers. disclosures show that at least $500,000 was given to restore our future. hedge fund and possibly because of the holiday. the tactics used are legal and analysts say they work. >> the television ad attack on gingrich has had a huge effect on this race. there's no question that it enormously eroded his support here in iowa after it surged nationally. >> reporter: and analysts say because of the results in iowa, this is only going to intensify. restore our future is already using negative ads which holds its primary on the 21st. brian todd, washington. a roller coaster ride is a simple way to describe the white house. wolf blitzer, as he mentioned the highlights of his day. i would like to point out i just went to your blog. you haven't blogged today. >> not yet. but i will as soon as i'm done with you. >> i see a blog from yesterday. >> north korea. could be a factor in the coming weeks. okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? 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[ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today. if only people could hear what we talk about on the commercial break. >> i know. >> and we match. wolf blitzer, ladies and gentlemen. we've been talking about mrs. blitzer who walks you each and every caucus night. >> she does watch. >> obviously huge coverage. the a-team is here. starting at 7:00 eastern. lift the veil for us. what happens behind the scenes? >> you've got to do a lot of studying. this is homework. you've got to go through and learn a lot of stuff and this is just one state. before we know it, next week, new hampshire, and then south carolina and then florida. we're learning a lot about all of these states and stuff that's are really -- i love this kind of stuff. >> i heard we have what they call caucus cams? >> yes. cameras being short for camera. we have a lot of -- we'll see democracy unfold in iowa tonight. i think we have more caucus cams than anyone else. >> cedar caucus -- this one will have 6,000 people. and so we're going to try to give our viewers a flavor of what's going on. >> and also we'll be showing the poll numbers. this is the final time that we'll be able to hear the voice of the voter. >> it's almost like the final poll but even more accurate that the des moines register poll or the cnn time orc poll or n nbc marist because this will be a poll of the people who are actually attending. this is a poll of caucus-goers and starting to tonight we'll share with our viewers, what they say as they go into the caucus. now, the big caveat is, they don't just vote, they listen to a last-minute appeal. >> so candidates, wifs, children, they can show up and people can change their mind. so one person might say i'm going to vote for newt gingrich and then in the course of 10, 15, 20 minutes of hearing appeals, they may change their mind and vote for mitt romney, whatever. it's a poll, an accurate poll, but it's not definitive by any means. we're going to let folks hear what is going on as they go into these caucuses. >> they go on the air at 7:00 p.m. eastern and the doors close for the caucuses at 8:00 p.m. eastern and then they do their thing. now, just to give you some context, mike huckabee four years ago -- >> two hours in, right? >> the doors closed at 8:00. we projected -- when i say we, i meant me. >> wolf blitzer. >> yeah, but i didn't just do it on my own. we had a whole team of experts who went through the numbers at 8:35 p.m. he won by a significant margin over mitt romney. so, you know, that's what happened. if it's closer, it may be 9:00, 9:30, bho knows when we can project a winner. >> i know this is all very official. i see john king over there. let's show the squigly line. candidates in iowa since june, this is up and down. explain what this is. >> squigly lines. >> it shows a volatile race. >> and who is really consistent -- >> mitt romney. >> and then one day it's michele bachmann, rick santorum, it's still a significant group of republicans looking for someone other than mitt romney and all the suigley lines show -- >> i'm on the air from 4:00. >> a little break back up through 7 until -- >> we'll go through midnight and then piers morgan will have a special live edition at midnight. so no rest for the weary. >> is there anything last minute before you go on the air for so many hours? check the beard -- >> you like the tie? >> i like the tie. do we like the tie, i like the tie. >> the hair, makeup. >> the beard? >> yeah. i did trim it. >> mrs. blitzer would approve, of course. wolf blitzer, see you next hour. elections, serious? not necessarily. we'll explain next. tired eye relief with hydroblend™, only from visine®. just one drop instantly soothes and revives tired, overworked eyes. and comforts them for up to ten hours. visine® tired eye relief. try now and save $3. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. on my journey across america, i've learned that when you ask someone in texas if they want "big" savings on car insurance, it's a bit like asking if they want a big hat... ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i habe a cohd. and i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] sorry, buddy. truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. really? [ male announcer ] you need a more complete cold formula, like alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. it's specially formulated to fight your worst cold symptoms, plus relieve your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ are you overwhelmed? ron paul talking to kelly clarkson. she's a fan of his. >> does anybody here know the name kelly clarkson? because recently she endorsed me a couple weeks ago and i have to admit i didn't know a lot about her. but i do know that our subpoena pofrters were so enthusiastic about it that they bumped up her sales by 600%. so it is a great pleasure to be here to talk to young people because our campaign has been known to being a great appeal to the young people and a lot of times people ask me that. i don't know the exact reason for it. but for one thing i do talk to young people and ask why you are so enthusiastic about the campaign and one of the most common answers that i get is that i defend the constitution constantly in washington and that's very appealing to young people. also, young people like individuals who will stick to principles and in washington, sometimes the two parties mesh together and there's not too many times that i am -- and it's not too infrequent that i am -- i feel obligated to vote by myself which means that i'm sticking to that principle and when they see that they say that he won't go back and forth but he'll always stick to principle. but there are some other issues that are very important to young people that i find they recite to me when i talk to them. one thing is, it seems inhasht in young people that we have a government and a president that is very cautious about going to war. there's no reason in the world that we cannot be strict constitutionalists, strong national defense and say that we should not send young people off to war unless it's absolutely necessary for our national security and a declaration of war is made, fight the war and win it and get it over and come home. how about candidates riding on babies, signing coffee cups. here's jeanne moos with an nish iowa campaign moments. >> reporter: if you're unenthusiastic about the iowa caucus, people signing babies and cups that other candidates have already signed. the last minute tizzy, newt gingrich suggested tizzy go to his web page, pets with nuts where owners like flint pledge their support. >> but there's one pet you don't see with newt. that would be newt, the aquatic amphibian and newt the candidate isn't just lowering expectations, he's submerging them. >> whatever i do tomorrow night will be a victory because i'm still standing. >> reporter: lately michele bachmann has been standing in someone else's shoes. >> in the shoes and in the legacy of ronald reagan or you might say of margaret thatcher -- we are in need of an iron lady. >> the consistent conservative fighter. >> reporter: america's iron lady. not to be confused with america's ironing lady coming soon to a primary state near you. michele bachmann plays maggie thatcher played by meryl streep. she was an outsider who fought her way in. >> my favorite gun is an ar-15 because you can be so accurate with it. >> gentlemen, shall we join the ladies? >> reporter: and look how far mitt romney has come from iowa four years ago. >> i'm standing here, she's standing there, and suddenly her half of the stage collapsed. >> flashback. >> thank you, sweetie. >> how are you?