their messaging out. >> thank you very much. nine days and counting to the republican iowa caucuses although polls continue to show former president trump well ahead of his competitors. iowa has been known to deliver a political surprise or two. so no one is leaving it up to chance. those arrows you see there, that shows you where the candidates are rallying today hoping to lock down some of those votes in the hawk eye state. cnn reporters are positioned across the state to bring us the latest. let's go to steve next. he's following the ron desantis campaign. steve, ron desantis has spent an enormous amount of time and money in iowa. he is very much banking on that, trying to see every corner of iowa approach that has worked for republican candidates in the past. what's he trying to do to close the deal and catch up to trump? >> well, you're right, jim. he has spent a lot of time here and that's been a big part of his closing pitch to these iowa voters. reminding him he's the candidate