for the first 45 minutes of the program. the numbers, if you want to get involved -- we also have a special line for iowa residence. we know it is early, but we know that you are out there watching. you can contact us electronically. if you are on twitter, you can follow lesus. you can also follow the conversation on facebook. this is the right up in this morning's edition of the "des moines register." the latest poll shows a surprise a three-way matchup. mitt romney, ron paul, rick santorum. rick santorum has been largely invisible in the polls about the campaign season and he is now beating the other evangelical choices and as a clear shot at victory tuesday night. mitt romney is in position to replicate what he has done in iowa and all three early states. in four days of polling, mitt romney lead at 24%. if the final two days of polling stand alone, the order reshuffles. rick santorum elbows out paul. let's go to the phones. the first call is from a sioux falls, s.d.. caller: good morning, c-span. host: what are your thoughts before the caucuses? caller: i am a democrat, of course. i would never vote for a republican, but i am impressed with santorum for what he stands for. he seems to be what the republicans are looking for. the rest of the crew, i do not know. romney is a flip-flopper. everyone knows ron paul would never be elected president. i kind of like him, but he will never be elected president. i think the republicans know that. host: let's go into detail about what you think ron paul cannot be elected president. >> he is too erratic, eliminating all of these departments. even the hard-core republicans know that he is too far out there. >> let's move onto airline for republicans. illinois, taught is our next caller. -- todd is our next caller. host: we are talking about the final poll that just cannot and shows that mitt romney is leading. ron paul is in second. rick santorum is moving up. caller: i think rick santorum is rising at the right time. i just watched his gathering. i think he explained his position is very well. he is my candidate at this point in time after watching all the debates. i like his good conservative values. i think he is the best choice. host: wide do you think he is starting to catch fire and move up the polls? caller: i think it is the way some of the other candidates have done in the debates. rick perry has lost some momentum. newt gingrich would this past -- with this past. i think people have a problem with that. i think rick santorum has gotten his message out and people are more on board with what he has to do. host: anthony on our line for independents. caller: i think ron paul is going to be winning on tuesday. host: why is that? caller: you will realize that ron paul -- i mean, mitt romney -- [inaudible] mitt romney has 24. he has dropped one. . point. ron paul remains the same. i am an independent and i believe ron paul is going to when. host: we have this tweet. back to the phones. chicago, ill.. caller: good morning. host: what are your thoughts about the latest poll that just came out showing mitt romney in first place? caller: it does not matter. the whole lineup makes me thank god for our president. republicans need to start over in 2016. you have the right man in the white house. just work with him. these guys just want to be president because they have nothing else to do. thank god for president obama. people, work with this man. give him a second chance. republicans are not happy with their own team. they are still waiting for other people to jump in. host: we want to remind our viewers and listeners that we have a special line for iowa residents. more from the article this morning. "few saw this bombshell coming. this is another stunning turn of political fortune. " you can read more of that in this morning's "des moines register." back to the funds. -- phones. what do you think about the numbers coming out of iowa? caller: i think it is exciting. i find obama to be an impotent politician. anybody that has to grovel is absolutely ludicrous. i do not know what she is watching, but that is absolutely absurd. host: in terms of issues like the national defense and international diplomacy, who in this field impresses you the most? caller: mitt romney. after watching rick santorum last night, he is very strong in that area. i see the problem with koran put is that a lot of people are not going to fight -- would ron paul is not going to follow him on his foreign policy. it makes people nervous. mitt romney is a good solid businessmen. santorum clearly and decisively can communicate to the people what the plan is, what he is going to do. he is very approachable. that is a good thing. people want to be able to approach politicians. host: rachael in portland, oregon. we will take all look out and add that is running for the santorum campaign in iowa and new hampshire. >> who has the best chance to beat obama? rick santorum. he is rock-solid on values issues, a favorite of the tea party for fighting corruption, more foreign policy credentials than any other candidates. his jobs plan will make america an economic superpower again. a trusted conservative who gives us the best chance to take back america. host: we are talking about the final poll that came out this weekend. you will be able to see caucus coverage on c-span. go to our website for all the details. our next call comes from the ventura, iowa. caller: i have listened to read santorum on the radio four years. -- rick santorum on the radio for years. i am gone to caucus for him. my husband has been getting some calls on his stand on gun control. host: were you able to see our coverage of santorum? were you able to see some of that coverage earlier this morning? caller: i saw some of its and i did not see anything about the uncontrolled. host: he did mention that he is a card-carrying member of the in irnra. does that help you make your decision? caller: i am already decided. host: have you had a chance to meet some of the candidates? caller: i really have not. with my job schedule. i know he was in clear lake last summer. i want to go so bad, but i could not get there. i do like him. he seems common sense and feels right on all the issues i am concerned about. host: our next call comes from springfield, missouri. caller: hello? yes? i want to make a comment. i am calling from sacramento, california. the only way i can explain the surge in ron paul is that he is the only one that gets it. his message is resonating with the american people. host: it is rick santorum bad is surging -- that is surging. , " but ron paul is in second place. he is rising because -- this country is broke. we are rebuilding other countries, such as afghanistan. the taliban turns around and blows up everything we do. we are in bad need -- people need jobs. we are running around the world spending trillions of dollars in the name of security. i do not feel any more secure than i did before 9/11. it is time to stop spending money overseas. spend it here at home. i think that is why his message is resonating with the people. host: columbus, georgia, your aunt "washington journal -- you are on "washington journal." caller: i think santorum is a guy will come through this thing down the road. i know something about them. he seems to be very charismatic and particulates. -- articulate. i have this feeling he may come through down the road. host: we have you listed as a democrat. if senator santorum is the republican nominee, would you be tempted to vote for him? caller: not likely. president obama is my man, without a shadow of the doubt. i think he has done great things for this country. host: columbus, georgia. mitt romney leads, santorum surges. the third pole this tape to show him rounding out the top three. mitt romney continues to lead in iowa. ron paul is in second place with 22%. arkansas on our line for independents. caller: hopefully everyone out there had a safe and happy new year. host: what do you think about the numbers? caller: not surprising at all. i have been following the race pretty close. the thing that is amazing to me, and i follow politics really close, ron paul's popularity. everything he is doing is because of the grass-roots supporters. he is getting no help at all from the republican party. the republican party -- this goes back to john mccain. when mitt romney worked out some kind of a deal when he dropped out of the race, ron paul was still in there. the republican party desperately wants mitt romney to be there. the public is rejecting him and rick perry. santorum is somebody that the republican party -- he is a dark horse. when i can stomach listening to fox news, they are pushing santorum. ron paul is doing all this with virtually no help from the republican party at all. host: how far do you think ron paul's organization can take him in the primary and caucus season? can it take him all the way to the nomination? caller: it is possible. it comes down to a couple of things. we have a country where the populace has become so dependent on the government. for this to continue, the republicans and democrats, they are two wings of the same bird. people have become -- people rely on the government. you hear them calling all the time. ron paul wants to get this country back and build this nation like it was 100 years ago. host: bill on airline from -- on our line for democrats. caller: i do not understand. all the republicans have the same philosophy. all they think about it is dropping all the taxes for the rich. everybody else goes by the wayside. to drop thegoing debt? host: we have this tweaket -- back to the phones. from move on to harold pennsylvania. caller: happy new year. one of the best tickets would be santorum and mitt romney. host: why is that? caller: i think they would make the perfect president and vice- president. as far as ron paul, i spent 22 years in the military, serving the military for my country. i fought in vietnam. ron paul berman -- reminds me -- i have no use for this guy at all. he is the most erratic guy i have ever seen. if he ever would be, the leader of this united states, this is one guy i would not vote for. as far as the obama callers saying the republicans are bouncing back and forth. the republicans have found to they want. it is either going to be mitt romney or santorum that will be the president of the united states. caller: this is the headline in this morning's "new york post." back to the phones. caller: good morning. host: what do you think about the numbers? caller: you never can really tell what you are saying -- seeing is true. in the caucuses, you never know about the caucuses until the day of the caucus. a lot of these people did not have a chance to get out and see people. i really think santorum is rising. i do not think ron paul will get the nomination. do not worry about it, everybody. host: have you been out to see some of the candidates? have you met any of them? caller: i have not because i own a business. i watched them all the time. i read their website. my husband and died -- the other thing i wanted to tell you, my husband and i, if they call our home, they are getting two different answers. there is another reason why it may not be completely right. we have different ideals. they're calling the same house getting two different answers, depending on who answers the phone, if you understand what i am saying. et i: this is from a tweake read earlier. do you get a feel for that that some of the folks in iowa would prefer to see another christian conservative other than michele bachmann because she is a female? caller: i do not think it has nothing to do with it. for me, i do not want to insult any candidate, i want to pick a candidate that i believe can run our country and i know can beat president obama. host: do you and your husband supports the same candidate? caller: add no, but we are on the same ladder. host: will you be going to the same place for the caucus on tuesday? caller: we will caucus on tuesday. host: for those who have never been to iowa, explain how that works. caller: i have never caucused with the republicans. i switched parties about nine years ago. this is my first time caucusing with the republican party. my husband has always been a republican. he has never caucused in iowa. he just moved here from st. louis. host: it will be a new experience for both of you. move on to to seattle, washington. caller: power you doing this morning? host: what do you think about the numbers? caller: i am not too impressed with santorum. something about him is not even plastic. nobody is saying anything in his little speech area. everybody knows that it is probably going to be mitt romney. everybody else has been systematically picked off. herman cain, that was a smear campaign. host: we will leave it there. in "the new york times" this morning -- rick perry saw to stir up last- minute doubts about his rivals. host: atlanta, georgia, is where the next call comes from on the line for republicans. tom. caller: i'm not sure who will win in iowa but i know because the democrats were asleep the hrlast election we got redistricting and it will be hard to win. obama made the middle class lose about 25% and i don't think we want four more years of this. obama is done. wayne, memphis, tennessee, on the line for democrats. caller: i was wondering when we were going to stop fighting about who is doing the better job. so far i'm 52 years old and i have seen quite a few years of d presidents. the man has tried to do everything possible to help our country and never got any credit for the things he has done. i have seen bush serve two terms in office and hasn't done anything for our country, never helped louisiana, never helped the poor. i'm middle class myself. my wife is in service as we speak and is looking out for our country. when are we going to stop fighting each other and stop helping other countries and start helping ourselves? and when are we going to start lacking out for the middle class for a change? host: the next call is barbara on the independent line from cleveland. caller: i wish everybody a better new year than we had last year. but if you listen closely, they are all talking the same ideology. get rid of any tax burden for the rich and destroy the safety net for the middle class. if anybody is paying attention to politics, they know the conditions they are experiencing today are absolutely not because of president obama but because of legislation that has been put in place over decades. especially the seven years when bush had the white house and the republicans dominated the congress. host: but what separates the top two candidates, romney and paul, then santorum is moving up. what do you suppose separates them from the next three, gingrich, perry and bachman? caller: romney's father was three times governor of michigan and a c.e.o. of general motors. he can only see the rich. he doesn't see low income middle class people. they don't exist for him. host: we have an e-mail from dw in seattle. we get a lot of e-mails from dw. he said i think senator santorum's numbers are that evangelicals that no other good choices. >> he is poison for republicans in a general election. our next call is from kingston, illinois, for republicans. you are on the "washington journal." caller: hi. i'm thinking about -- i have been a proud republican all my life. i have a young son who is interested in politics and he watches it with me and asks me questions all the time. being a republican, i try to explain what is on tv. he ask me about freedom loving and liberty and all these mean and i have to be honest with him. think it is a phrloy. you can see where people are going with the evangelical. they are all out for the evangelical vote. i have to tell my young son that it is kind of a game they tell people what they want to hear. i would like to ask mr. santorum if one of his older children came to him and said they have struggled all their lives to be happy and have found a mate that is the same sex as them if he would be more willing to accept other people. the republicans try to put religion into this whole thing and i think it is very private. they shouldn't be using any religion whatsoever to divide or try to bring people together. especially with abortion. it is very personal. they have no right to talk about that. i think it all stems from controlling the people from the 1800's. the republicans think they have sway with the people think they can control. host: if we break did you know the issues into social issues, defense issues and economic issues, what is going to be the issue or the group of issues that tkwaoepbs how you will -- defines how you will vote in november? caller: i don't think any of the republicans are honest whatsoever. mr. obama is trying to be honest with people and can relate to all people just by his honesty. host: debby, kingston, illinois. thanks for the call. in the "washington post" this morning the ads that conceal the deal for romney, it is offered the republicans some hopeful campaign advice. host: that is from a democratic strategist in the "washington post." to the phones, brooklyn, new york on the line for democrats. we have ali. go ahead. caller: i just want to say that i see the rhetoric in talking about these guys playing hardball running just to be running and none of them get their she was up when he they come to the table. the man has been working ever since. why people can't see what this man did? he said everything that he was going to to and he did it. he got bin laden. he did everything that he said he was going to do. but people in there won't let him do what he got to do. he is working hard. this man is not from those people out there running around thinking that he is no good. give that man credit for what he did. bush was in there, give him credit. give obama credit. host: ali in brooklyn, new york. we have about another 10 minutes. we want to remind listeners and viewers in iowa we have a special line to call and let us know how you feel about the numbers out of the tkphoeu"the before." poll 202-628-0184. that is for listeners and orvis in iowa. we want to let our viewers and listeners know about events that are going to be happening today in iowa that will be covered on c-span. you can get a lot of information from our website but we can tell you that 11:00 a.m. eastern time representative michelle bachman will attend a church service and making comments there. her remarks are scheduled to go up around 11:25, which is when we we will join. 3:30 this afternoon, mitt romney at the family table restaurant am in atlantic iowa then newt gingrich 5:30 p.m. l.j.'s neighborhood bar and grill in waterloo, iowa. so if you are in any of those places get out and show some support for your candidate. if you are not there, you can watch the proceedings live on c-span. fort huron -- port huron, rather, michigan, doug on the line for republicans. go ahead. caller: thank you. i'm a veteran, 67. i would just like to say one thing. i like rick santorum, but the united states of america cannot take another obama nation of regulations. this is ridiculous. too many rules. too much in the way of business. it ain't going to work. can't take another four years. we are so far indebt. host: do you think if rick santorum is elected president he will bring in more regulations? caller: i don't think he will. we have too many regulations now. you go to build something you have to get this permit, this other permit. it is ridiculous. the county, the city. but obama -- it is the congress, really. it is the whole thing. host: let's move on to tracy, iowa, trevor is on the washington journali"washington." caller: i see the republican party -- host: go ahead, trevor. caller: i see the republican party as a group of hypocrites. i don't understand how we can stand for them in there and go in front of the public and say the opposite. host: have you been to any campaign events that have come through tracy or near tracy? caller: no, i haven't. not for the republicans. no, i haven't. host: what is the overall feeling about democrats? are they united with the president or among the democrats that you talked to would they like to see another candidate maybe challenge the president? caller: i would say just speaking for myself i have no problem with the president. host: we will move on to mike in chicago, illinois on the line for democrats. caller: the republicans don't have no economic plan. any system a system is maxed out it must go to the bottom and start over. those same ones that took it to the top would be able to balance it out to different areas and income levels. host: that is mike in chicago. speaking of the president, the lead story in the "washington post" this morning obama attacking fight to congress p populism frames re-election strategy. host: it goes on to say obama's decision to exploit his bitter divisions with capitol hill republicans signals a shift from his 2008 campaign promise to soften the tone of debate in washington and bridge the partisan divide, something the president has recently conceded could take longer than two terms in office. it also moons -- means his legislative agenda could grind to a near halt in this electionier. white house aides said obama is willing to work with congress if lawmakers refrain from partisan attacks but that after the february fight to extend the payroll tax holiday through the end of the year the president will not engage in any more high stakes showdowns to advance his policies before the election. new albany, indiana, michael on the line for republicans. caller: good morning to you. host: what do you think of the numbers out of iowa this morning? caller: i'm not so much concerned about -- actually, i like romney. and santorum. but when it comes down to it i'm going to vote for anybody but became. we've got to get this socialist mindset out of the government. all all of these programs he -- they call all of the programs bailouts but they are buyouts. he is controlling your cars, money. he wants you bowing to him. it is not a thing of race, color, creed. the guy looks fun to go out with to a ballgame, but he purely doesn't know what he is doing guiding the company. host: we've got this e-mail from richard hastings who writes mr. santorum is trying to convince the voters of iowa that he should be elected because he knows how to win in swing states like pennsylvania. i guess he forgot that we voters of pennsylvania rode him out of town on a rail during his last run for the senate here. the next call is from springfield, missouri, trent on the line for republicans. caller: thank you. it is nice to see the polls shift so much. it has been an exciting campaign to watch and it is interesting to watch santorum rise. i don't think he's going to have a long run, however. i don't know how he will play south, being from the north and being catholic. i'm not sure he will have the wherewithal to stick through it. and it looks like as many times as mitt has been overcome by the flavor of the month, it looks like his 20% to 25% will carry him in the long run. host: richard in seabrigs, florida. caller: happy new year. i think it is obvious that the republicans and democrats are going to do anything and everything they can to keep ron ball from being elect -- paul from being elected. the republicans would rather see president obama re-elected or ron paul elected and the would rather see mitt romney elected than ron paul. that tells you something right this. that the only change that we are going to have from all of these candidates is from ron paul, who will actually try to audit the which should e, have been done years ago, change the tax code, get rid of about half the budget bureaucracy that is strangling our economy. host: we will leave it there. we have run out of time for this particular segment. in 45 minutes we will be talking with who radio talk show host simon conway. president ofaebreak the the iowa faith and freedom coalition will talk to us about impact of the christian conservative vote and what impact that could have on tuesday's caucuses. as we go it break we want to show you some ads currently playing in iowa from the campaigns of rick perry, rick santorum and michelle bachman. >> old fashioned american story. i married my high school sweetheart but first i had to wait as he volunteered for the air force and flew planes all over the world. when his tour ended he returned home to farm with his dad and asked me to marry him. we grew up in small towns raised with christian values. we know washington could use some of that. >> i'm rick perry and i approve this message. >> i'm rick santorum and i approve this message. >> we are excited for michelle bachman. she is social and conservative. i like her stand on immigration. she will be tough on that. >> she is christian and that is very important because that will be carried into the white house. >> she stands for what she believes in. she listens to what americans say. >> i like her financial background and experience in is not a myth. i hope she has a positive campaign from hear on out. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from des moines, iowa, is the president of the iowa faith and freedom coalition and is here to talk about the role christian conservatives will play in the iowa caucuses tuesday. welcome to the program, sir. guest: good to be here. host: first i want to get your reaction to the latest poll out of t"the des moines register" that shows rick santorum moving up behind romney and representative paul. your thoughts. guest: well, i think that the figures are what i have seen the last two or three days but i think they are still at a fluctuation that could take place. i think the last polling said around 40-some percent had not made up their minds or could change their minds on who their first choice candidate is. i'm not sure the numbers will hold. and depending on the poll of people that turn out on january 3. >> tell us a little about what is the iowa faith and freedom coalition and how many members do you have and what kind of political work have they been doing during this caucus season. guest: it is a nonprofit organization which is dedicated to informing and educating people of faith on a wide range of issues and exactly where those candidates stand on issues. for this election cycle before the caucuses we have put together a 15-minute video that can be found on our website under iowa caucus training.com and we put together an abbreviated five page caucus training manual and we have a call center making calls encouraging people to go it that website to educate themselves and in addition to that we have had several on-site caucus training sites in the state. so we have tried to do our part to educate people so they are well prepared for tuesday night. host: this being the last sunday before the tuesday caucuses, what kind of activity is going on, and are members of the favorite and freedom coalition, have they been sent out to various churches to try to drum up support or interest for various candidates? guest: like i said, basically it is just an ongoing activity in terms of the calls that are going out encouraging people to go to that website. we are just trying to enlarge the base of conservative christians who will turn up at the caucuses to make sure that can register their vote knowing that people in this state and people of faith have a far greater impact in iowa than any other state in the country. host: before we get to our callers and tweeters and us what do you see as the role of the churches in the iowa caucus process? guest: the churches, you any is gathering or hub of where people go to be spiritually fed. and the frame function of the church is not political activity but certainly people have to live in the world apnd they nee to take their civic responsibilities seriously. and if they want religious and political freedom they need to take that responsibility seriously and spend a couple of hours on tuesday night voicing their concerns not only on their choice of candidate but on different platform phraeufrpbgs they may want -- planks they want to see as we go forward. host: we are talking with steve scheffler the president of one of iowa's largest faith based organizations. we want to get you involved. 202-737-0001 for democrats. 202-737-0002 for republicans. ends 202-628-0205. and again our special fourth line for iowa residents 202-628-0184. we will have that for you and you can send us messages on e-mail and twitter. the first call for steve is from new jersey. debra on the line for republicans. what is the name of your home time? >> manalopin, new jersey. host: what is your question or comment? caller: my comment would be i have been watching everything in the iowa caucuses, everything that you have had on c-span and i want to note i have watched every candidate. i don't believe we are going to be able to save the soul of america, promote religious freedom, economic freedom, liberty for all if we elect candidates that are more bush-like in their policies. we have to remember that mr. romney, mr. santorum, mr. perry and even michelle bachman, all of them, as far as i'm concerned, are not as pro-life as ron paul. where dr. paul is continually consistent, i watched his fortune policy speech and economic speech to a bunch of veterans and he appeared very strong in terms of very applauses at defend intervals because people don't want any more preemptive wars. if anything, that is not a pro-life approach in terms of international relations and promoting peace in the world. i have always been a conservative, and as far as i'm mr. paul is the most conservative, is the most common sense approach not only in terms of economic policy for liberty and freedom but also in terms of our foreign policy. host: steve, your thoughts, sir. guest: well, i would say most all of the candidates that you look at that are competing in iowa, all six of them, have by and large strong pro-life records. as the caller mentioned, rick santorum fought salantly for a late term abortion ban. then you have people like governor perry who implemented several pieces of pro-life legislation while he has been give of texas. so, i think by and large this field is -- you will find that they are strongly pro-life and it is my hope and desire, especially by people in iowa keeping their feet to the fire, they will pursue a pro-life agenda if and when elected. host: the next call is from hartford, wisconsin, mike on the line for independents. caller: good morning. i hope you can hear me. host: we can. caller: my question is, republicans really push the god thing. i have read my bible and i know the power of god. i have soon him open the red sea and take jonah out of the whale and knock down the walls of jericho. if god has any control you shouldn't have any problem putting santorum in office. is this a referendum on the power of god in the united states? that is my question. host: mr. scheffler? guest: well, i believe really faith does play an important part in the affairs of men and in our government. again, i think if you look at the records of most of these men and michelle bachman that are running, most of them have talked about their faith pretty openly and that they would use that as a guide post as they made decisions going forward in the next years under their presidency. host: st. louis, missouri is our next caller. caller: good morning. host: your question or comment for steve scheffler of the iowa faith and freedom coalition. caller: you hear all about these candidates and how they are for god but you hear about the hate and rhetoric but everybody that calls on the law is not from god. they hammer obama about different things and i have to wonder about these candidates. are they from god or something else? because when you get -- there is nothing wrong with being different but when everything you do is slam being president obama you hear these men talking about these people. he trying to run the country. that should tell people something. everybody said lord, lord, is not from god. host: mr. scheffler? guest: my response would be that that any of these candidates on the republican side of the ledger have been questioning president obama's fai faith. basically, what they have been talking about is the dietsche separation on philosophical they have with this president. i think most of us who have been around any number of years believe wholeheartedly that this president is indeed pursuing a socialist agenda and it is very detrimental to the security of our country and so we are not calling his faith in question. we are only questioning his lack of leadership and taking our country in the wrong direction. host: we have an e-mail from an unidentified viewer who wants to know, mr. scheffler, shouldn't written followers support a candidate who has a peace agenda? seems to me they back the candidates that promote military over reach. your thoughts, sir. guest: well, my view is -- and again i welcome the debate among these candidates. we have seen 13 to 14 debates across the country. but i personally -- and i guess i'll speaking as an individual here -- is that peace comes through strength and that our military needs to be strong to deter countries like iran from making some kind of an attack against our country or israel. so, i believe that peace does come through strength and that doesn't mean that you are involved in tangling alliances but you have military capacity to deter your enemies. host: next up is dick from peterson, iowa. you are on the "washington journal". caller: i was wonder iing, i thk maybe you would be a strong reagan supporter. and i am just wondering, we are in iowa, and looking at moral issues, does anybody realize that governor branstad actually sued president reagan? he filed a lawsuit against president reagan on behalf of a tparfarm er? i'm wonder iing with republican ideals and everything, i don't know what i'm trying to say. are you aware of this? are many people aware of this? host: steve scheffler? guest: i guess i'm not aware of that decision or what you are talking about so i apologize for that. host: we have an e-mail from chuck in spring hill, west virginia. he wants to know the republican candidates often refer to their christian values. in a religiously pluralistic country how do christian values difficult from muslim or jewish values? guest: well, again, i guess i would refer the listener to looking back at how our country was formed. it was formed by men and women, especially when you looked at the fifth and sixth paragraphs of the declaration of independence, deep faith guided their decision making. nobody is talking about particultaking away somebody's religious principle but it was found on those principles and it needs to be the gidding post as -- guiding post as we try to maintain a strong moral fine are in this -- fine are in this country. >> we are talking with steve skhef her the president of the iowa faith and freedom coalition and talking about christian conservatives and iowa caucuses. the next call is from waldorf, maryland, lee on the line for independents. caller: usually when i call i try not to get overly faithful or religious because i know it doesn't play over in this medium here.ou have but being a christian, i know that the only way to really change anything is one soul at a time telling people about jesus tkraoeus christ. but the problem is how much more homosexuality and murder of babies and how much more immora immorality can we sit back and look at and not do something about? i really think it is time for christians to get angry, to step up and to say enough is enough. and if we are going to have a battle, let's have the battle. let's get it over and done with. if we are going to lose as christians in this nation let's lose but let's not give it up a fight. thank you. host: steve scheffler. guest: i would agree with the caller that we have some serious moral problems in this country. but i guess i would like to bring it back to the fact that i believe the reason we are at the point in our culture where we're today is because christians in the past, in the last several years, 40, 50, 60 years, have neglected their civic responsibilities in terms of trying to impact the culture and trying to maintain those religious and moral values on which the country is founded. so i think there are a lot of reasons to be hopeful but it will take persistence because people who claim to be christians have neglected their civic responsibilities for far too long. host: our next call is from tim. he used to live in iowa. where do you live now? caller: st. petersburg, florida. host: have you participated in caucuses when you were living in iowa? caller: no, i was too young. host: your question or comment for steve scheffler of the iowa faith and freedom coalition, tim. caller: is he aware of the book that came out in 2007 "crazy for g god" which explains blind faith. richard nixon was converted to efficie evangelical and he said what the president does is not against the law. that is the attitude of blind favorite evangelists and they have brought this country down. frank's mother was a control person and she had dominance with women behind it. this is not christianity. thomas jefferson's take on this kind of evangelist and were around before him and he says they are the worst scourge ever shown on earth and he is right. in this state there are 84,000 homeless children in florida and it is a bible belt state and it got worse with reagan. it was totally controlled by his wife. host: your response, sir. guest: i'm not familiar with the book so i guess i kaepcan't com on the content or intent of the back. host: as we mentioned, steve scheffler is the president of the iowa faith and freedom coalition. if you want more information about their organization you can find it on their website at f ffciowa.com. your group has not endorsed a candidate but in november you wrote "i believe there is a role of our members and supporters to endorse the candidate of their choice." if there was a candidate that you felt strongly enough about, would you have made an endorsement at this point? guest: well, certainly i respect anybody or organizations that decide to endorse a candidate. but i guess i will give you an analogy that i actually have worked on three pre-caucus campaigns the last several years and i think it i was a pretty good salesman in selling my candidate to particular voters. but through all three of those different looks cycles i had even good friends that decided to support a candidate for some other reason and at the end of the day when we have a lot of candidates like in this cycle that are somewhat or very similar on a wide range of issues, i just believe it is better to stay out of it and instead make sure that people have access to these candidates and our organization has done that very well, i believe. we have had a series of house parties across the state featuring individual candidates. we have had our large event at the end of october where we had all the candidates except romney and huntsman were there. so we have given the people the opportunity to vent them. but when they are similar we believe that it can be somewhat divisive to get in endorsement battles. so we have elected not to do that. host: you said in one of your events that all of the candidates showed up except for romney and huntsman. was it because both of them are mormon or did they have scheduling conflicts? what is the story? guest: no, and just so the listeners understand here, the invitations were sent out way, way in advance. t was on the kcalendar for the better part of 4 1/2 to five months. we sent a certified letter it all the candidates. then we made contact with candidate representatives if they didn't respond. so we did everything in our power to make sure they all could come. we made them understand that going to be on equal footing with every other candidate. they had 22 minutes total stage time by themselves, 10 minutes speaking on any subject they to, another 12 minutes divided up by four three-minute an given four specific questions and those questions were made available to those candidates a couple of days in advance of the event. so, it was a venue by which candidates could and should have felt very comfortable. but mr. romney and mr. huntsman elected not to come. in the case of mr. romney, their in iowa said they didn't want to be involved in, quote unquote, cattle shows, which i found kind of odd that that was the excuse that was found because by the same token governor romney participated in two fox news debates in iowa and also an abc news debate. so, quite frankly, i'm a little baffled and maybe a little that he decided not to show up. certainly iowa is going to be one of six to 12 states that will be highly competitive and that constituency needs to be on board to get him elected if he is the nominee in 2012. host: we're talking to steve scheffler from des moines, iowa. in another two days the iowa caucuses -- and you can see all sorts of coverage of the caucuses and various events surrounding them on c-span and c-span 2. go to our web site for the details. bloomington, illinois, george on our line for republicans. you are on the "washington journal." go ahead. caller: organgood morning. i heard mr. scheffler candidate that he was baffled and frustrated by governor romney's declination to appear before his group. i have read in the press that a gentleman named mr. vanderplatz who is prominent in mr. scheffler's organization or a similar organization to the iowa faith and freedom colonel reported tolition is have said governor romney stiffed the organization so he was rather direct and blunt in his statement. mr. scheffler is a little more diplomatic in how he phrased his reaction to the governor's declination to appear. but this whole subject has to i believe, in part with the removal of three iowa supreme court judges by the voters of iowa after the judicial decree legali legalizing gay marriage in the state of iowa. and mr. gingrich, speaker gingrich, has been reported to have donated several hundreds of thousands of dollars to that. to remove those three iowa supreme court judges. and which was a remarkable achievement by the voters of iowa and i would like to ask mr. scheffler to comment upon the removal of those three judges and any involvement he speaker aware of of gingrich in the campaign it remove or pursue the removal of the three judges from the iowa supreme court bench. host: steve scheffler, go ahead. guest: speaker gingrich was involved in that effort to help remove the judges. and i think all of us in iowa are very thankful for his involvement. certainly to get your message out to the average voter anywhere in the country and here in iowa you have to let people know what the facts are. and the supreme court justices hear in iowa overstepped their boundaries in basically declaring iowa's defense of marriage act was unconstitutional. so we were grateful that the voters stepped up and understood that what they did here was wrong and quite frankly if they declared our doma act was unconstitutional what could be chair declared unconstitutional next. so we were excited people stepped up to the plate and that sent a mental not only around the country but around the world we are sick and tired of this judiciary overstepping their boundaries. host: next is j.t. on the democrat lane from cleveland -- line from cleveland. you are on the "washington journal." caller: hello, how are you? the first thing i would like to say is i want you to know, mr. scheffler, i have love for you. i'm a 52-year-old black democrat. but i'm not a democrat just because obama is a black man. i'm a democrat because president obama is a man that is trying to do something that no one else is doing. and i'm appalled at you or anybody else who always goes back to talking about getting back to our forefathers. look at me as a human being? do you look at me as a human being? that is the thing i want you to really truly think about. what i say next goes to democrats and republicans. each party and every party has a lot of flaws in it. we really as people need to work on getting these flaws out of both parties. one thing is the people that vote democrat like the welfare stuff but then again you have to say they like it because they have been given a chance to do things without needing this assistance. the republican party stands for one thing. those of us that have will not share with those that do not have. we will keep 94% of this country in total servitude. and you common white people helped get president obama in office. host: any response to that? guest: certainly i respect the caller as an individual, there is no doubt about it. my opposition to president obama is not related to his race. it is not related to the fact that he is a democrat. and understand, as an individual, apart from the organization i work for, i have elected to identify with the republican party. a republican m first. i consider myself a believer in christ first. secondly, i love my family. thirdly, i believe in issues. the republican party at least for the present time reflects my value system, which by and large is reflected by limited government, a stance for the life of the unborn from conception to natural death. supports traditional marriage. and many times these candidates stray from some of those core principles but again i think it is a party that best reflects those values that i see making america a greater country. host: steve scheffler, we have a tweet from john steinbeck. he writes what is your organization doing to combat the continual assault on christians from liberals and the liberal biased media? guest: again, every organization has to figure out specifically what they can or cannot do and we have elected to try to make an impact and narrow our focus on a few areas. as an example we have a lobbyist at the capital in des moines that lobbyist on technique issues. -- particular issues. we educate people on a wide range of issues. every two years we put out a voter guide that reflects the differences of the candidates based on responses to surveys that we have sent to them and al if they did respond to surveys, we can document it through a voting record or public statement they have made. in addition to that, we have worked with new to go called voter track that has voters identified on a wide range of issues in the last election cycle that we will continue to do in the years ahead. do direct mail and phone calls in the competitive legislative districts informing people in those districts as to the differences they have and who away think is the best candidate for them to support. host: we have an item from the "new york post" this morning from their opinions and ideas section called "state of confusion." no matter who wins iowa candidates left republican voters here wanting. indecision remains or most formidable front-runner and pretty close is in the running as the new state motto. and ron paul are faring best and are likely to wind up in the top three but the which would card in these last three ours is how well the campaigns can get the party faithful particularly efficient jell confidentials to finally make up their minds. do you find, steve scheffler, that that is your biggest concern, your biggest job in the final 48 hours, is to get evangelicals to make up their minds? guest: well, i think it is not only evangelicals but other voters that will go to the caucuses that are a little bit undecided. i think what has precipitated this particular series of he wants this year is the candidates by and large except maybe rick santorum have not been here to a large degree as early and often as candidates have been in the past. and people here in iowa are used to vetting the candidates several times and there are very few states that could do that and if a candidate is not vetted well in the other states it won't get done in the other big media states. secondly, as i said earlier, a lot of the candidates have a wide range of similarities on many issues. so, with those two factors together, it is causing a little bit of indecision. but at the end of the day it is fast approaching and we have about two days and what to make up our mind but i have faith in the voters of iowa. host: next is wayne from phoenix, arizona. caller: organigood morning. i will be brief. i'm in my late 50's and i'm a veteran from the vietnam era. i personally had a black man wish that the president wouldn't run again just based on the things that he hasn't been able to get accomplished because either he is a democrat or he is a black man. many believe it has nothing to do with his race. but in my opinion, looking at how things are going, it can't be anything else but. the reason i wish this man would not run again but obviously he is is because if he is catching -- and he is -- a lot of flack from members of congress who are white as the head of this country, you can only imagine down here on ing the lower level with black people and not getting any respect. i personally always felt the last thing as a black man or woman we should have done is integrated into a race of people who made it obvious that they don't like us. i think that black people at this point in this country need to think about separating from these people and their hatred toward people of color. happy new year, america. host: steve scheffler, go ahead, sir. guest: well, i agree that there is too much division, i guess, with the racism in this country. again i would just ask us to look upward and forward and try to correct the ills in our society and thank is best done through limited government and giving people and giving individua empowering them with the tools to be productive in society and becoming, you know, a great creator of wealth and those things we will attack care of themselves. host: about another 10 minutes with steve scheffler president of the iowa faith and freedom coalition speaking to us from des moines, iowa. mr. scheffler, democrats and even republicans are attacking mitt romney in campaign spots for flipping on the issue of abortion and being pro-life and being decidedly contrary statements on the issue over the last 20 years. we want to show you an ad that the d.m.c. is currently running and get your response, please. >> i'm running for office. >> who is this guy? can away trust him? >> i have never supported the president's recovery act or stimulus. no time, nowhere, no how. >> i think there is need for economic stimulus. >> you are only allowed a certain number of flips. >> the big issue with mitt romney is abortion. has he flip-flopped on abortion? >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose. >> the right next step in preserving the sanctity of life is to see roe v wade over turned. >> he flip-flops. >> i was an independent during the time of reagan bush. i'm not trying to return to reagan bush. >> the principles that ronald reagan espoused or as true today as they were when he spoke them. host: steve scheffler, in des moines, iowa, do you think mitt romney is solidly pro-life? guest: well, you know, he was pro-choice prior to 2007. and then he had an experience where it caused him to rethink his position on the life issue and he said he is pro-life. and he campaigned that way here in iowa in twf2007 and 2008. unfortunately this time he has been very silent on that issue. but when he stated that he was pro live four or five, six years ago, whatever that case might have been, i would just take him at his word. i think that this ad is meant to basically preempt or to cause confusion in people's minds if he is the nominee and basically repress or keep down a proceed life vote for him if he is the nominee. but if you look at the destructive pro-abortion policies of the current administration, if mitt romney were the knowledge any i guarantee his -- were the nominee his position on pursuing a life agenda is far preferable to the destructive policies of president obama. host: jonathan is the next caller on the line from republicans from staten island. caller: mr. scheffler, i called because i want to ratify what you said about this country being built on a jew day yes christian -- judeo-christian religion. i was raised in a orthodox jewish family. i'm close to 60. and we didn't feel like we owned the country. we understood, i was taught in school and i went to a provoke ideal school -- parochial school, we were taught this country was founded by people who were christian but believed in liberty and created a framework of tolerance. and i believe that one of the cultural problems -- i mean one the sources of our cultural problems -- is that as a consequence of the forced egalitarian i egalitarianism, the forced of all ianization ethnicities and cultures i believe we have done nothing mo more, nothing worse than balkanizing the country and forcing people into, you know, i'm jewish, ok. i don't want any part of christians. so, i needed to say that because i was very moved by what you said. i also wish to say something to the man who identified himself earlier as a caller who identified himself as being black. if he reads a good history book -- and i don't mean that with any disrespect -- he will realize that the reason that slaves were less than 100% human beings because that was an effort on the part of the north to have a lesser representation of southern politicians in the congress. host: we will leave it there. steve scheffler? guest: i'm not sure i totally understand the question. again, i just want to make clear that nobody is talking about passing or asking people in this country to pass a, quote unquote, religious litmus test. and certainly our founding fathers and those that came here fr from% accusation in england came here because of religious liberty. they also believed that god almighty sets the universe in place and we had a moral foundation for many years. you go to washington, d.c. and look at the monuments and inscriptions and you understand this it country was found on religious principles and you get back to those things in order to survive as a republic. if our moral foundation is secure i believe a lot of our economic problems will take care of themselves. host: would you say or can you say that jews and muslims have the same moral foundation as christians? guest: sure. i mean i'm not disparaging them at all. in fact, in the case of the jewish state of israel, you know, i think that the overwhelming majority of evangelical christians support the existence of israel and believe that they have a right to exist and that we need to defend them at all costs. so, certainly people that want to carry that particular religious viewpoint, then i think that we have that religious liberty here in this country to pursue those things. host: our next call is from albuquerque, pneumonia. kenneth on -- new mexico. kenneth on the democratic lane. caller: good morning. thanks for the good job you are doing. one thing i find disappointing is with republicans and christians is that there has a lack of leadership. i think it was einstein who said that intellectuals solve problems but geniuses prevent them. so, when we look at some of the tough questions and issues like with abortion, there should be more effort given to prevent these types of things. i have heard the president talk about preventing unwanted pregnancies. if we can do things in society to make things fair er and it promote equity, then it would help. host: we will leave it there because we're running out of time. your response, steve scheffler. guest: the bottom line is president obama fully supports full funding for planned parenthood and that certainly is an abortion mill on steroids. the bottom lean is most of us -- line is most of us believe there are alternatives to abortion including services for unwed mothers. so i think the republicans by and large pursue that agenda and the democrats pursue the agenda of a death. host: our last call for steve schreffler is from lookout mountain, georgia. melinda on the line for independents. caller: mr. scheffler, how do you define socialism? number two, would you not agree that jesus christ represented a socialist agenda if you would like to talk about religious and politics in the same sentence? and, number three, i do support president obama. i think that he has done a great job in this country. just look at his record so far. i also wish the republicans had allowed him to have the jobs program with regard to the work we need to do on the infrastructu infrastructure. as far as the republican candidates go, nothing personal, i happen to appreciate mr. hunts man and not only for his execution from policy at this time which i think we greatly need but also for his particular personal stance on abortion. ste on abortion. host: we will leave it there. guest: if you do not: socialism, i do not know what to call it. a government that is running our country in a ditch and has even nationalized student loans and the list goes on and on and on -- people need to fully become cognizant of the fact that this is socialism. host: i am sorry to cut you off. we are running out of time. i would like to address the question of whether jesus christ was a socialist. guest: i do not know what her interpretation of the bible is by calling jesus christ the socialist. maybe she needs to read her bible more thoroughly before making that kind of a comment. scheffler has beene talking with us about the role of christians in the iowa caucuses. he has been talking to us from des moines, iowa. thank you for being on the program. guest: thank you very much. host: and a few minutes, we will be talking at a des moines register's poll. simon conway will be coming to us from des moines, iowa. we will be right back. question not take this the wrong way, but wikipedia is not interested in the trip. >> as the creator of the wikipedian.net blog -- >> it has gone through editorial layers. sometimes of loggers have been shown to be right. torall, you're more likely try something from "the washington post" then something you have seen on the blog site. you need the traditional gatekeeper of a be a source to say so. >> tonight on c-span's "q&a." >> it is absolutely essential that are spending habits take a 180 degree turn starting right now. tonight at midnight, the government will shut down if congress does not pass the resolution. >> they have threatened to shut down every single week. co's of all stripes have warned about the shutdown. >> this senate session from april 8, 2011 was the c-span video library's most watched video. watch it for yourself at the home page. click on the most watched tab to view other moments from the past year. it is what you watch when you want. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> you are looking at the state capital that des moines, iowa added continue now with simon calloway. tell us about your numbers from the des moines register, their final numbers in the polls. >> i think i have been accurate in the past, but this one is too close to call. host: how do explain the rise of former senator rick santorum? guest: he has been here longer than anybody. he has worked harder than anybody. he has engaged in retail politics in the best way. he has done what we refer to here in iowa as the full- grassley. senator santorum has done exactly the same thing. that is not a drive-through. you get out and you have hold meetings and shake hands and listen to people's problems. michele bachman just did that as well. she did it in 10 days. he has taken a year to do that. you cannot pass iowa. you have to work hard for iowa. host: you sound very positive for rick santorum. you have decided to support rep. . tell us why appeared >guest: we have to be very -- tells why. guest: we have to be very clear. i am not a registered republican. and i am sure i will not change that. but i have felt the people tune in to me every day because they want my opinion. i was holding back on them. part of the reason was that i have not made up my mind until friday morning. rick santorum is a great guy. i have been privileged to have met all of these guys. rick santorum is a nice and wonderful human being, quite frankly. he would be a great president, in my opinion as well. you only get one vote. if you have to pick one, you have to pick one. there are various reasons that i go with rick santorum -- mainly because i think he has made too many deals that make me uncomfortable. there are reasons that you can justify at the time -- his support of al inspector being a prime example. but after that -- of allen specter being a prime example. but after that -- host: i can tell by your accent that you are probably not a native of iowa. are you an american citizen and are you voting? guest: i am a citizen and i will be voting in november. this will be my second presidential election that i will be voting for. host: we are talking with simon conway. as we go over more information, we have michele bock men who is arriving at the state capitols in des moines. she will be appearing in one of the sunday shows this morning. we will have more information for you, for our listeners. she will be on abc's "this week." and also on fox as well. back to our guest, simon, with from who radio, if you would like to get involved in our conversation about the countdown to the caucuses, the numbers are on your screen. host: let's go back to lines. california. caller: i believe a lot of the republicans are sick and tired of the war. host: simon conroy, your thoughts about our caller's comments. guest: i do not think for a second that ron paul will be the nominee, no matter how well he does in iowa. there is a real issue when it comes to foreign policy with ron paul. that is something that i have been on on my radio show. i think ron paul is a dangerous man. he is on the record just a couple of days ago once again saying that the rumpled presidency would have no pre- emptive strikes. he would wait for some nation to set off a nuke before reacting. we cannot be that nation. i do not want to sit around and look at a city like l.a. in ruins and counting out the dead in millions before we react. that is what ron paul would do. host: that is rick perry also arriving in the capital at des moines. guest: and we have a beautiful capital, rob. is that not a beautiful state capital? host: absolutely. back to the phones, grand forks, north dakota, republican line. mark, you are on "washington journal" with simon conway. caller: the republicans like to profess that they are the party for limited government. i am a conservative who absolutely disagrees with that assertion. we currently have as our jobs -- the ceo of general electric who wants to fund the smart crude with the co2 tax. it is not big government versus big business. big government and big business have partnered up to rob the taxpayer just like the king of england partnered up with the british east india company and they were attempting to rob the colonies. this is what the republican party needs to focus on if they will convince me that they are a party of limited government. a senate banking subcommittee -- goldman sacks wants cap and trade and they have been bailed out a number of times and continue to get bailed out. in the said committee hearing, the chairman of the subcommittee said that the ceo of the cbo says that it cost $6 trillion. dodd-frank was voted correctly to fix the too big to fail problem. host: that is a lot to work with. guest: i agree. it is insanity. we have to stop. we have to draw a line in the sand. we have to stop paying to put shrimp on treadmills, which is actually happening with our money. that is money that is forcibly removed from us. that is in the form of taxes. they have no idea what they're doing. we do need a conservative who will get into the white house and simply say no. it is enough. we are in a ridiculous position right now where we're borrowing trillions of dollars from china. every single year, we write china and aides check. it is crazy. and people said that it is only $18 million. there should not be a cent. we should not be giving china a cent of aid while we are borrowing money from them. we have to wake up. we are destroying our republic. host: tyler is our next caller. tyler is calling for des moines, iowa. go ahead. caller: all i wanta say is that i agree with the last caller 100%. i am a college student currently. i believe in freedom. i believe that the federal government will only grow if we allowed it to grow. the fact is -- ron paul is not a racist, ok? he believes in freedom, in small government. it is something new. host: tyler? caller: yes? host: good morning. caller: small government is not bad. host: will you be out caucusing on tuesday? caller: yes, sir. i hope to spend a couple of hours. host: who will you be supporting? caller: ron paul 100%. i do not believe he is a racist. i believe that he will not sell out, sir. guest: well, hang on, tyler. i do not believe that ron paul is a racist either, by the way. i do not think that is the issue. the issue is national defense. he said he has not sold out. maybe he can explain to us why ron paul took $400 million to his district last year. he has sold out, like the rest of them. , connecticutd is next. caller: i called on the independent line partly because i am a registered republican and my husband is a registered democrat. so we have a lot of independent attitudes in our house. what about possible running mates if there is a romney win or a poll wipaul win? obama supporters who have been disillusioned decided that maybe this was not the change that they were anticipating or expecting or hoping for or whatever would possibly be more likely to go to ron paul or try to support him because of, again, the change he is promoting is so drastic that people who are desperate for are interested in that. i will take my answer off the air. guest: ok. thank you, heather. i think a lot of obama supporters are interested in ron paul. the tv ads that ron paul is right now are reminiscent of the obama ads that say that ron paul is the one. ron paul is a little bit scary for me. but in terms of running mates, if you are a republican and you do not manage to convince marco rubio to run with you, there are other candidates out there. but that would be everybody's number one choice. host: 7 conway is coming to us from des moines -- simon conway is coming to us from des moines , iowa. he is from who radio. next up, tucson, arizona. caller: hello, happy new year. i think that what people are realizing is that the republican party has an honesty problem. i was watching the q&a between president obama in 2008 and it was made clear that the money that obama's was spending -- that obama was spending when he came into office was money that was allocated by the bush presidency. i would like to say to all of those viewers who do not think that the republicans are dealing in a racist way, i am 43 years old and one of the things that i challenge everybody else like to recognize is racism. i have. i know what it is. i have been put through the same questions. i have been put through the same treatment as president obama all of my life. it has always been on a racial level. i just want people to know that, when you see people doing what they are to obama, that is racism. i do not care what anybody says. guest: you really think that criticism of the president can only be because people are racist, because of the color of his skin? that is absolute insanity. if you buy into that argument, you say that nobody can criticize the president of the united states because, if you do, it will be racist. that is crazy. we can go there. that is not who we are. that is not who we should be. that is certainly not to my audience is every afternoon here in des moines, iowa. you do not believe this president has made any mistakes whatsoever and that every criticism that is made is because of the color of skin? i do not believe for a second that you believe that. host: penny, you are on "the washington journal" with simon conway. guest: i would like to make a comment about ron paul. i have been paying very close attention. everybody criticizes ron paul because of his military around the world ideas. i am still not sure who i will vote for. but on ron paul, the one thing that makes me think is that we got in this iraq war -- i had to go back -- why are we going over there? if there is a bad situation in the world that needs attention, why not let congress declared war on it, go over there, fight the war, get it done, and come home instead of the president having them constantly here and there and everywhere. guest: good morning, first of all, and happy new year to you there in sioux city. i think that we should come home when we deal of the issues. but the problem that we have with ron paul is unquestionably iran in particular. remember that iran declared war on us in 1979. so we are in a state of war with iran anyway. but you're talking about a different nation. we are dealing with people who want to create war because their leaders, both the president and a supreme leaders, their religious leaders, are interested in bringing back somebody that they refer to as the 12th imam. in order to do that, they have to create war. if iran gets a nuclear weapon, iran will use a nuclear weapon. ron paul says no pre-emptive strikes from the united states. that is a crazy policy. we cannot get invested in that. i am just thankful that, no matter what happens here, ron paul will not be the nominee because it will be a very dangerous world if he became president. host: in "the the boston globe" this morning, they write that iowa voters may be on the verge of delivering a caucus plot twist on tuesday that seem unlikely just a few weeks ago, propelling mitt romney toward the republican presidential nomination. they talk about a performance in iowa and then later on in new hampshire. they're right that, "if romney secures a surprise victory on tuesday and captures the primary in new hampshire, he will be launched on a strong treasury toward the nominating convention in tampa." so my question to you, simon, in des moines, iowa, is there anything that can stop white " the boston globe" calls the mitt nojuggernaut >ojetta guest: it would not surprise me at all if mitt romney won the caucuses here on tuesday. there were a lot of people running around the state looking for the stop-romney candidate. but now in the last couple of days, mitt romney has become the stop paul candidate. he is giving people more undecided coming over to his camp because they would prefer to have mitt romney than they would ron paul. in terms of rick perry and rick santorum and michele bock men, i do not think we are done. i think we will see in the course of the next couple of days more changes. we really not -- we will really not know until wednesday morning. i was usually delivers a surprise. that is the only thing that i would tell people. i was usually delivers a surprise. host: we have a tweaked from -- a tweet from mike murphy. talk with us a little bit about the whole caucus season and what that means in terms of business for local merchants in iowa and money going into the pockets of iowa business people and the residence there. guest: absolutely. i was driving in this morning and there was a big truck after big truck with satellite dishes everywhere. you guys are filling up our hotel rooms. you're spending money in our restaurants. there is no question that there is an economic boom for the first of the nation's caucuses. that is probably one of the reasons that the governor wants to keep it, but that is not why the two main parties want to keep it. the light coming to iowa for a couple of reasons. first of all, we are small enough that candidates with little money can get throughout the whole state and burst onto the scene. we are seeing that right now with rick santorum. we saw that four years ago with mike huckabee. they can get through and make a big impact and kind of get a sling shot out of iowa into a campaign. it is small enough to get around, but big enough that you can get a decent sample of the population. we also have a massive diversity of opinion here in iowa. the final thing is, if you want to know the results of the general election, look at iowa. look at what happened over the last 30 years, presidential result after presidential result. i know what is an absolute mayor of the country. it is not like california where you may be 54-46 in favor of one or the other or texas in the opposite direction. i know what is an absolute mirror of the finished result in a general election. that is why these candid is like to come to iowa. so do we do well out of it? absolutely. host: an article, and op-ed in "the wall street journal" on december 27 said this -- host: your thoughts, sir? guest: he is absolutely right. we all know that i know what's role seems to be thinning the field. iowa's role seems to be thinning the field. the role is to get to know these candidates and to help filfish in the field. you are probably looking at the national results. host: the republican line. thank you for waiting. dori? we will move on to ray of ohio. go ahead, mike. caller: this idea of strikes and matt -- this idea of preemptive strikes and weapons of mass destruction, that was based on a lie, too. i want to talk about the jewish lobby. host: what does that have to do with the countdown to the iowa caucuses? caller: these clowns all clear to be christians and so forth. i understand that the jewish lobby is the main influence on most of our country. explain that. host: 7 conway. guest: -- simon conway. guest: there is the racism that previous callers have been talking about. everybody knows that iran is trying to get a nuclear weapon. they said so. we have seen the technology. i am very grateful that we or maybe the israelis seem to be conducting some kind of covert operations in iran because we are seeing buildings from satellite imagery that appeared to have been destroyed. the iranians are saying accident. i do not buy that it was an accident. i do believe we have covert things happening on the ground and we should have. if we are in a position where we know they are about to get a nuclear weapon and we have the ability to all those things out of existence, we absolutely must do that. that is a preemptive strike. how any president of the united states can be as serious when they say there will be no pre- emptive strikes from the united states against any of the country, that is simply beyond my comprehension. host: simon conway, we have an e-mail from can crow. he is writing -- from ken crow. bop he would like to know your thoughts on newt gingrich guest: i'm not sure if he was serious. sarah palin is an incredible conservative, a smart woman despite what they will try to sell you from the left wing side of the debate that she is a dummy. they tried the same with michelle bachman. he is a very sharp, intelligent lady. i'm privileged to have spent so much time with her and gotten to know her on a personal level as well as political level. newt gingrich is a smart man. he would pick up a lot of votes if he went down that road. whether sarah palin will do it is another question. host: tim is calling from des moines. caller: i would like to say is conway the jew iish sign pushing for another war with israel. guest: wow! it is out there, isn't it? the racism is out there. host: now it beaver creek, iowa. caller: i'm for my home state of iowa and i'm from there. i was born and raised there. host: where in iowa were you born and raised? caller: council bluffs, iowa. to make a comment first. if you go down with all the republicans and democrats and presidency, you get the facts and i have a few questions at the end of my conversation, but you go down in history and all the republicans that came down, the there was so much corruption with the republican party, we had here in ohio that took over taft that almost went to prison. this is racist, too. he is with a family who believes in making everybody whit e. so i think over one of them in the republican party is -- they all sound a [bleep] in a goose's butt -- host: i'm not sure of the last reference. guest: i'm not either but we have seen a couple of examples of racism from ron paul supporters. i'm saying ron paul is not a racist. i'm making that absolutely clear. all the information that i have about ron paul confirms to me he is not a racist. but here is a problem. he attracts these follow eers a he seems unable to disavow endorsements or money from them. he needs to address that. host: we want to make sure all listeners and viewers know that simon conway is a radio talk show host at who radio in des moines, iowa. des u happen to be in moines what hours are you on? guest: i'm on 4:00 every afternoon through 7:00 p.m. monday through friday. host: is that just local or are you syndicated? guest: no, we are just here on the 50,000-watt news radio 1040 on who. on a good night we can be heard in 48 of the 50 states if the weather is right. host: you can listen to the show on the website, whoradio.com? guest: you can. and on on ihot radio. there is a powerful signal and this is a famous station where president reagan started work long before he was an actor. you used to call ballgames on who. >> you also worked for the jerusalem post in orlando, wlat in lexington kentucky and werc in birmingham and wrva in richmond and woai in san antonio. how did a person born in london end up in iowa? guest: i ended up in iowa because who said if you want to come work for us and it took about a half second to say yes. by the way, working for the other stations just means i have been on the air. i don't flit from job to job. i was a national fill-in host when a host was getting off i got a call and that is how my radio career started. in terms of ending up in the united states i bought a business and employed people and created employment in florida about 11 years ago now. but that was non-media related. i had a corporate communications company in the u.k. and the thing you said at the beginning, jerusalem post and radio stations, i have to tell you the distance between those two things are about 30 years. that was a long time. i was just 16 years old when i worked for the jerusalem post. host: palm bay, florida, on the line for republicans. you are on the "washington journal." keith, go ahead. caller: this is going to be a happy new year. i would like to make a quick comment before i make my main point. in the bible it says we are our brother's keepers. that means i have a responsibility if i see somebody in need, if it won't hurt me or my family i have a help them.ity to the bible does not say caesar is our brother's keeper. when the bible talks about the government it usually says caesar. my dad said don't start a fight, finish a fight. i couldn't understand until i realized all the fights i started i lost. when i self-defended myself i always won. it is ironic that ron paul has been in politics for 20 years and he is the only one talking about the right solutions but he doesn't know how to bring it across to americans to make themselves feel good about themselves. not a ron paul wackadoodle but he is closest to the solutions i believe the country needs and i believe you have to be self-sufficient before you can help anybody else. host: i'm sure they don't wrafr to themselves-refer to themselves as whack-a-doodles. . vote everybody needs to their conscience. that is the most important thing. i'm not telling anybody who to vote for or not to vote for. i'm giving my opinion. that is what i get paid for. but everybody should vote their conscience and i think that he has a lot of that right but it is outweighed by his foreign policy. host: we have something from the hill endorsing gingrich. an influential conservative radio host in iowa has backed 's campaign.t gingrich it goes on to say -- stpha it gives an opportunity to quell suspicion that social conservatives and evangelicals in iowa are reluctant to support gingrich due to his acknowledged infidelities and multiple marriages. talk about the competition between radio talk show host there in iowa and the competition of the candidates to get the endorsements. how important is it for mr. gingrich to have mr. deace's support or governor prime ministerry to have your -- or governor perry to have your support? guest: i don't think either of them is important and i have not endorsed governor perry. i merely answered a question that i was asked numerous times by my own audience. if i only get one vote that is where it would go. i pointed out that michelle pafpman is an incredible candidate with a spine made of titanium. newt gingrich is clearly, clearly actually the smartest man in the room. and with vast levels of experience. in terms of competition nobody came calling on my door saying we want you to endorse us and this is why. i don't know if they did that with steffi -- with steve d ace.one -- d everyone he was my predecessor around sat in my chair so he is not competition to me. he appears on our radio station on who late in the evening monday through friday. and i don't believe anyone came calling on him asking him to -- but i don't know that. i'm just surmising. nobody did to me and i doubt they did with him. i think he made his mind up and that is an undoorsment. he's made it very clear he is endorsing newt gingrich and telling people i'm answering a question i was asked but there are many great candidates and i believe just about any one of them would be successful against the president next november. host: but simon conway, you say that if you had one vote that cast it for rick perry. how is that not an endorsement? guest: i think an endorsement follows up with and by the way you should follow my lead and vote for this guy because of a, b, c and d. i have not done that. i answered the question that my audience asked and i'm not going out campaigning for rick perry. i won't introduce him on a podium. i answered a very simple question and i took a long time to answer it as well. i thought long and hard. and first answer is i'm probably voting for no one. i'm not a registered republican. host: let's get back to the phones. jacksonville, florida. greg on the line for independents. you are on the "washington journal." caller: good morning. i usually like to announce that i have been watching c-span since its debut in 1979. i have seen enough of changes. but one thing just for purposes of c-span i'm tired of hearing the whole iowa caucus daily until there is some decision about the citizens of iowa the republican candidates. there is not any other information coming out that is central to the country in terms of anything that president obama is planning for the country. i have just heard criticism after criticism regarding the debates and i watch c-span and i watch c-span daily. but i do have a question for am conway. i heard one of the comments that he was making in terms of what one of the callers had said. he seems to be a denier of some realism when he said that when some callers called that they crazy when calling about a particular issue that affects them. one of those things is when we talk about the lack of cooperation that the republican party and certainly this is the senate and house has not given president obama regarding some of the ideas and legislation that he has tried to put across for the country. the republicans, it appears it me, to have taken a huge, extreme partisan bent in not cooperating with this president at all. i did hear him say that certainly if people feel as t e though again it disagree with the president is not racism, i agree with that. but there hasn't been anything that the president has opposed that the republican party hasn't agreed to cooperate. so if they still disagree with some of the things he proposed that the republicans proposed initially but turned their backs on it, one only draws the conclusion. host: we will leave it there. simon conway, who radio, go ahead, sir. guest: well, i don't think that is the full story. you could looked at the thing we went through before christmas. one of the things the republicans want to do -- and i speak for republicans. i'm not a republican. but one thing they wanted to do is include the pipeline from canada to houston. i'm waiting for the president to give an explanation of why we are not doing that and creating 20,000 jobs almost overnight with the potential for half a million jobs. they wanted to tag on the pipeline into this payroll tax extension. why wouldn't he do that? i don't understand that. noncooperation is actually coming from both sides. and you have to look at the democrat controlled congress that wouldn't move an inch on some issues when they were in control of both houses. polarized, no doubt about that. that is coming from both sides. i think that we are in a philosophical argument that hopefully we will solve soon. host: for viewers and listeners who are interested in the iowa caucuses and surrounding events we want to let you know about a couple of he wants we are covering live today on c-span. 11:00 a.m. representative michelle bachman attends a church service and her remarks again around 11:25. 3:30 eastern mitt romney will make a stop at the family table restaurant in atlantic, iowa. at 5:30 this afternoon eastern time newt gingrich visits l.g.'s neighborhood bar and grill in waterloo. if you want more details on what we are covering regarding the iowa caucuses go to c-span.org. guest: isn't that fantastic. that they are going around these little restaurants and making speeches in churches. it is real grassroots retail politics. i think the only one that has made a mistake in any of those was senator santorum who turned up in the middle of a bowl game involving iowa state and turned up in a restaurant with numerous camera crews following him while a game was going on. i'm sure he lost 30 votes while he walked into that bar. apart from that we welcome the candidates in our bars and restaurants in iowa. host: the next call for simon conway is from ron in tuscon, arizona, on the line for democrats. caller: hello. why is iowa even a matter when we talk about this? it seems like they are having all of these caucuses and all of these republican candidates when they don't equal any way to obama. when you look at romney, he flips on everything and we all know this. when we think of gingrich. he was a crook. he should have went to jail. people have gone to jail for things he has done. you pull up ron paul, he wants to legalize heroin? they are insane and i don't see how they are even being touted as presidents and i don't see how anybody could even think about voting for them. host: simon conway, go ahead, please. guest: thank you, ron. we will find out next november if any one of them stands up elector electorally speaking to president obama. the candidates are who the candidates are and i think there are some very good ones in the field and i genuinely believe they have a shot of taking down the president next november. i equally think, by the way, that the most likely result is president obama will probably be re-elected. that is not because of the field.ng that is because the president is an outstanding candidate. i think he is a very bad opinion. that is am -- very bad president. he will have a billion dollars. that is difficult to overcome for anybody. host: we have been talking with simon conway of who radio in des moines, iowa. to listen to his program, if you are not in des moines, or you want to know more about the program you can go to w whoradio.com. on twitter you can follow him at simon radio 1776. sir, thank you for being on the "washington journal" this morning. guest: my pleasure, rob. happy new year to you. host: in the "washington post" in their outlook section five myths about the iowa caucuses and past seven months the republican presidential contain there have been more than a dozen debates and countless polls. nearly i have candidate has enjoyed the spotlight but it kicks off tuesday as iowans gather in schools, churches and neighbors' homes to vote. having covered the campaign since 1976 for "the des moines register" i would like to clear up some misconceptions about the iowa voters and the state's role in the race for the white house. if you want to read more about the fight -- five myths get kip of the "washington post" or go their website. coming up after the break we will be talking more about the poll that came out yesterday in the tkphoeu "the des moines register" the final poll before the caucuses tuesday. we will talk with the pollster after this break. you are watching the "washington journal." this is sunday january 1. we will be right back. >> it is absolutely essential that our spending habits take 180 degree turn starting right now. tonight at midnight the will shut down if congress do not pass the continuing resolution. >> forecast eers at goldman sac have warned a shut down could shave off the g.d.p. all over the country warned about the impact on confidence in the u.s. economic recovery. >> with the possible government shutdown this session from april 8, 2011, was the c-span video library's most watched video of the year. watch it for yourself at our home page, c-span.org/video and click on the most watched tab. it is what you want when you want. >> wikipedia is not interested in the truth. it is interested in what can be verified and reliable sources. >> as creator of the wikiped wikipedia.net blog he explains the ins and outs of wikipedia. >> it is not like newspaper has not gone through editorial layers. a phrase that bloggers will laugh at when they have been shown to be right anden covered stories for newspapers that have done a bad job. on the overall you are more likely to trust something from the "washington post" or "new york times" than on a blog spot. in order for a blogger to be proved right you usually need the traditional gate concepter a media source to say so. >> his role as editor, khpbt commentator bt stat -- for wikipedia on "q&a." host: our viewers are looking at a picture of the iowa state capitol in des moines. that is where we will be talking to our next guest, she is the director of the tkphoeudes moin register's iowa poll that came out the last edition was outer last night. it has governor romney and ron paul in a virtual dead heat and rick santorum moving into third place. welcome to the program. guest: great to be here. host: tell us about the numbers that came out and why is it such a -- surprise that rick santorum is moving up like he is? guest: we were in the field four disinterviewing and one thing that was so striking was that the first two days was sort of one race and the second two days looked like a completely different race. you had a huge surge by rick santorum. he basically doubled his support the second two days of interviewing. so we really see something that is rising for him. you see numbers falling for ron paul. mi mitt romney holding steady. for political junkies this is sort of a dream scenario because almost everything could happen. host: you mentioned that santorum has practically moved into and become a raesident of iowa and governor romney hasn't been there that much yet goc romney's numbers are almost double what santorum's are. why has it taken so long for the fire um campaign to catch and start moving up the ladder? guest: well, rick santorum spent a lot of time in this state, held a lot of events, visited all 99 counties. he was not drawing very big crowds. he didn't have that much money to put a big organization in the state and be locking people in to support. but he had seen a lot of people in small groups. so, one level is how many people did he touch versus romney's rallies which are hundreds of people. that is one level of it. i think the other is that iowans, you know, it is part of our d.n.a. to shop around and look at a number of candidates. romney was a known entity so less scrutiny needed there. get a feel for the lay of the land and take the measure of the candidates and get a feel for who it is they think would be the strongest person going forward. romney paid very little attention to the state so the support he has here a lot of it is residual from four years ago. then he sort of has a little bit of stealth organization to make a big pop it week. we don't see it yet in his numbers. host: you talk about the republican voters in iowa shopping around and looking at candidates. the three candidates at the bottom of the poll -- former speaker gingrich, governor perry and representative bachman -- at one time all of them were at the t top, now they are in the lower tier. what has this shopping shown you as a pollster that the folks in iowa are thinking about and why they have changed minds and reversed the order of things? guest: well, the analogy i'm making up but there is sort of a difference between the retail shopping of meeting the person in person and maybe the online shopping where you don't know got until it arrives. so much of the candidate's time was spent focused on debates, on advertising, rather than meeting people in their becoack yards o the summer, going to the pizza ranches, which is apparently the political preference for the candidates. and i think that what happens is that you hear something in a debate by a candidate, you her a 30-second answer and even a 60-second answer, maybe you hear a two-men exchange and hear something that resonates. that is what the debates are designed to do. so, you think that is my person. that is the one that i think will do best. then you learn more about the candidate. now, often in the old days that learning more would happen more in somebody's living room, more at a coffee shop. you can really kind of get an up close and perform feel for the person -- personal feel. we have had less of that this time and i think that is partly itvolatility.more volunteatil host: aware talking with anne seltzer. if you want to get involved in the conversation you can give us a call 202-737-0001 for democrats, 202 -- 737-0002 for republicans, independents 202-628-0205 and special line for iowa residents 202-628-0184. our first call for anne is from from pennsylvania. regina on the line for republicans. happy new year. i want to say that rick santorum was our senator in pennsylvania and he is a traitor. he has given us permanent most favored nation for china which right hand paul fought. smith from new hampshire fought. this is forced abortion in chin, control over our federal -- that is something ron paul fights. you can get on his 322888 and listen to whether the national defense authorization act did to your rights on the united states of america and realize this is the old man that is going to protect your rights. and where i'm worried about the other countries we lost the fourth amendment under the patriot act that was not available and santorum had no problem because george bush was his buddy and he is about himself. host: before we let you go, given all the things that you have said about former senator santorum how do you explain his surge in the numbers in iowa? caller: i think they are desensitized and don't know his record. he supported goals 2000 under clinton that brought in the federal government on your family and then he supported no child left behind which also he liked his little money for his cyber schools in pennsylvania. host: we will leave it there. the voters in iowa, are they desensitized? guest: well, i think that one of the things that the caller begins it continued of make a point about is that for every candidate who has had time at the top of the leaderboard there's been a response from the other candidates, from their pac's in terms of putting them in their sights and be sure that the full message is out there. some might say the full negative message is out there. and santorum, because he was just in single digits he was not perceived as any kind of threat that anybody needed to campaign against. so, we say in iowa organize, organize, organize, get hot at the end. part of the brilliance of getting hot at the end is not only did you create a sense of momentum, a sense of possibility, a sense that here a winner, but you are also leaving very little time for those who want to challenge the record and put things craacross. newt gingrich's peak was almost divine in that it give very little time just before christmas. there was not a lot of tolerance of negative campaigning before the holidays. but those ads have been very effective in taking him down from what looked like a very potential, very strongly potential win in iowa. he is now back into the low teens for that. so that negative campaign iing are seeing for every candidate can have a big impact. santorum has peaked. perhaps we will see the next two days too late for that to be part of the picture. host: next call is from houston, stocks -- texas on the "washington journal." caller: first let me congratulate you on a successful show because it took me 30 to 40 minutes just to get in. secondly, i would like to speak for a moment on the electoral college. i believe that the general public is tired of the republican party assuming that they do not have the intelligence to make the decision for president on their own. host: i need for you to try to stick to the topic, which is e "the des moines register" poll that came out last night talking about governor romney, representative paul and senator santorum. caller: yes, i'm getting to that. if i were voting for a republican i believe it would be for ron paul. i believe that he does represent the common mani do not believe l vote in a general election for mitt romney because of changing his viewpoint on most of the different topics, depending on the group he is speaking to. guest: ron paul is generally respected and well-liked and is most committed to doing things to reduce government, to curtail the amount of spending on war and in foreign aid. he also ties with michele bock and on being able to relate to ordinary iowans -- with mitchell bachman on being able to relate owans.inary i onc host: our next caller is stephen. caller: i would like to talk about ron paul. we have no chance if we have ron paul. there's no chance for this country. a lot of abuse that a lot of people do not like, a lot of them, we cannot get through. but he can bring the troops home and that is the big thing. we need to quit all this warmongering. i was living in oklahoma for a little bit and all of the men and women coming home say that there is nothing that they are protecting. they do not even know about 9/11. they do not even know about tv, you know? host: we will leave it there. guest: i think that ron paul has done well at reflecting the outrage of the kinds of things that are happening and how the nation got to the perceived mass in terms of debt, certainly in terms of spending, certainly in terms of the issues on whether these wars were worth the investment in blood and treasure that was there. some of his dances are a little bit outside of the mainstream and he says that is what it may take to bring the country back. you need someone that forceful, that strong, that committed in order to make this happen. there are many reasons for ron paul's success because of those stands. in the current poll, we see that that popularity appears to be fading. host: we want our viewers to know that rick perry is in the building at the capitol in des moines, iowa. he will be a guest on the fox news sunday program. aafter you're done watching our program, you can watch texas gov. rick perry on fox news sunday. i want to talk about internal numbers. three days tracking gave senator santorum 15%, in the final two days, he was as high as 21%. talk with us about those internal numbers and what it means going into tuesday's caucuses. guest: to be honest with you, we had a decision to make yesterday when we got the poll numbers. as i said, his first two days, his average support was about 10%. that by itself was a little bit of an improvement because he had been living in single digits for so long. but then in the second two days, he crossed into the 20% range and the trajectory has made it look as though he could, in the and, potentially catch mitt romney. -- in the end, potentially catch mitt romney. 15% -- is the truer story more about the momentum that is happening there? that is one thing that was pulled in the field in the last couple of days. a poll taken on a single day or two days will miss that. we structure are bolstering the final time in order to catch any changes -- we structure our polls in the final time in order to catch any of these changes. now candidates could see santorum as a threat when they may not have seen him there before. it is certainly a different terrain than what we thought we saw going into this week when we receding at christmas last week. host: tell us about the numbers in terms of turnout and what they mean. if the weather is bad or whatever reason that the numbers are lower for the turnout or if the numbers are higher for the turnout, if you have a heat wave and to the temperatures are in the 60's and you have a higher number of turnout -- who benefits if the numbers are low and who benefits if the numbers are high? guest: the first thing i want to clarify and is that, for years ago, it was bitterly cold. there was snow and ice and people came out in record numbers. to think that iowans put their noses outside and i think it is too cold for me, this is iowa. this is how things work here. some days are cold. we do not expected to be bitterly cold. we have had some nice days here. what we worry about more is late organization, either by a campaign or with things happening with the evangelicals. there may be things that are happening that begin to turn things. we took a look because the composition we were seeing in likely caucus-goers looked a bit like it did four years ago. if evangelicals show up in numbers proportionate to what they did last time, that would be awfully good for rick santorum. he does well. he wins with evangelicals. with seniors, we seek a lower percentage of a likely turn out. this time, we played a little scenario testing statistically to say what if they look like what they look like last time? then they would look good for romney. what we do know is that rick santorum's supporters are more likely to consider themselves definite rather than probable contenders. those are the two answers you need to get to get into our survey. we only include you in the poll if you say definite or probably. about three-quarters of his supporters are definite a tenders -- attenders. you have the sense that his people are likely to show up under more circumstances. a smaller turnout might be good for rick santorum. host: we have a tweet. guest: there is a lot of talk of our polls showing how undecided iowans are. our undecided number is about 7%. that is the percentage of likely republican caucus-goers who do not have a first for his candid it. among those -- who do not have a first choice candidate. among those, could you be persuaded to vote on someone else on caucus night? this is the first test. there are a lot of things happening today, tomorrow, and tuesday. the candidates are spending as much money as they can and as much time as they can to change these numbers trying to influence iowans to make a different decision. so there is a definite "why not keep my mind open?" i might have a conversation over the weekend. people talk about politics all the time. in our previous poll, we followed up with those people who had a first choice candidate but said that they were open to change. they had three reasons potential for why that might be. 25% said they were fearful there would be a revelation about their candidate and that would cause them to want to back off. 16% said they already knew something about their candidate that was cause for concern and it would become an issue in the campaign. 92% said "i just always keep my mind open until the end." so what seems like chaos, this is really normal. in past caucuses, these numbers are very consistent with that. orida, youicello, fla are all . caller: -- you are on the line. caller: i remember my dad working for wpa during the depression. we have to put people back to work. construction, you cannot outsourced that work. it would stimulate the economy. guest: certainly, in our current poll, there's nothing that is speaking to that issue. when we get to the general election, i am confident will be pulling on that. and other polling that i differ other news organizations, that is really where the tension is. can you cut your way to prosperity? if you cut spending, if you cut taxes, will that in fact be stability? or do you need government spending in order to stimulate the economy? i think they're certainly two different divided ideologies about it. as we move toward the general election, we will be hearing about that. host: we would like to let our viewers and listeners know that and seltzer is the director of the "des moines register" poll. john, you are on "the washington journal." john? caller: hello? host: go ahead, john. caller: i feel that john paul will win the caucus because the -- host: let's move on to vicky in wichita, kan.. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was wondering about condemning from paul's policy -- he has always stated that we have many missiles. [unintelligible] host: the number of calls and the enthusiasm for the ron paul candidacy, do you think this is a reflection of genuine support for the candidate or an organizational thing? are they better organized at getting their people not only to the caucuses, but to the phones? guest: it is a truism here in iowa that the ron paul organization, after the caucuses four years ago, kept their organization in place. they have a very savvy organization in terms of identifying who their supporters are in communicating with them frequently, being sure that they turn out to be events. it is one of the more sophisticated organizations in the state. i think one of the reasons that he has appealed especially to younger people is the sense that there has been so much spending and that the younger people are on the hook for social security, for medicare, for all of the spending that is happening for programs that they may never see the benefit of. they look at where that money is going and they are sort of feeling that their anti-war. there are so many ways that things come back around that make ron paul an interesting choice for them. i think we always see at ron paul vance that there appeared to be far more -- ron paul e. events that there appeared to be far more intensity. what i hear from the college is that same intensity every time there is an event here -- what i hear from the callers is that same intensity every time there is an event here. caller: i would like to make my point in terms of ron paul and mitt romney being more than two. i really see this opportunity -- if ron paul was not against the war, do you think that he would be the no. 1 republican right off the bat? just listening to republicans, you would think that ron paul is the person they would want with the exception of the war. basically, he is telling the truth. that tells me, if you are a die- hard true blue republican, you have to before war. host: and seltzer, go-ahead. guest: one thing i can tell you for sure is that ron paul is picked by a large percentage of iowa caucus-goers that he would be the one to reduce spending on war and foreign aid. that is clearly a piece of who he is. it is a piece of why he has appealed. i just want to make sure that your callers are understanding the change that we saw during the field time. i do not know if you have any of the charts that accompany the story beyond the top line numbers, but the ron paul numbers, the four days that we were in the field, he started with the lead at 29% could he ended at 16%. so we see that this is a do-or- die weekend and monday or tuesday for ron paul to keep the organization that he has built, to keep the people he has attracted. we know he has brought some first-time caucus-goers into the fold. he has that ahead of him to stay in the top three. host: what we are showing is the polling that was done on four different occasions -- june 11, october 11, november 11, and december 11. it has the candid it's pretty much all over the place, except perhaps for -- it has the candidates party much all of the for jonxcept for happerhaps huntsman. i think we have the other chart we can show you. you can sit, but it does involve the other days we were talking about, which has ron paul starting out at 25% on tuesday- wednesday. then on wednesday-thursday, down to 21%. then on thursday-friday, down to 15%. guest: those are the rolling two-day averages. that represents about 300 people for each of those data points so that you get a little bit of consistency. it takes each candidate day-by- day. so you have four data points for each of those candidates and you see a more precipitous decline for ron paul. he started head-to-head tying romney for the lead. he ends up in third place. host: we have that up on the screen right now. as we continue to look at that, let's take another call. this one comes from michigan on the independence line. go ahead. caller: i would like to be addressed as mr. bowman. i have a real issue with ron paul and bachman. i think they are really gung-ho with the united states. they think that we need to stop letting people into the united states instead -- into the united states. they want to do something about the border instead of keeping people from saudi arabia coming over here. host: allen in michigan. the unemployment rate in i know what is about 6%. -- in iowa is about 6%. is the jobs issue and immigration as a big issue in iowa as for the rest of the nation? guest: because we are and economically diverse state, more than people think -- they think we are just corn -- we whether some of these recessions a little bit better. -- we weather some of these recessions a little bit better. but things like the recession the fax i would just like it does the rest of the nation. caller: i have been for rick perry ever since he came out to run for president, the same day of our straw poll. i had to write his name in. there were 600 of us who did that. i think he should be our president because he knows how to run a business of government, by running the texas government, and he has increased to them by a million jobs when our whole country lost two million. he has been doing the border control as good as he can do on his own without federal aid, with the national guard and the texas rangers. he wants to get those borders under control in a year and become president. he wants to get spending down and get the jobs coming back in the united states. he knows he could do it because he did it in texas. guest: when rick perry announced, he stepped all over michelle bachman's straw poll win. but his entry into the field really overshadowed that. i think there was a lot of anticipation about rick perry. we did not happen to be doing any polling at the time when he was reaching really strong popularity numbers in national polls and in some other iowa polls. what we have seen since is his number is not moving much. so he hovers in the low-teens. it does not seem that there is much in line to move those numbers. of course, he is one of three evangelical candidates, as we consider the field, with michele bock men and -- with michelle bachman and rick santorum. there may be more people deciding he is the one to best represent that evangelical vote. i do not think that accounts for all of it. his rise happens as a potential loss for rick perry and mitchell bachman. host: we have a tweet. john huntsman ever stand a chance in doing well in iowa or did he abandon the state a little bit too early? guest: i do not think huntsman ever wanted to do well in iowa. when he first entered the field, he said he would not campaign in iowa. he was opposed to ethanol subsidies and he did not think he would do well in iowa because of that particular stand. but we decided to find out whether likely republican caucus goers are opposed to ethanol subsidies like he is or if that would be a problem. we discover that that would not have been a problem for him. he may have had other reasons for wishing not to campaign in iowa. but that's certainly is his choice -- but that certainly is his choice. for many years, i have been pulling in the last five or six caucuses. one thing i have learned is that you skip iowa at your peril you become a better candidate by your exposure here. the media is less expensive to buy. you can really work the state and get to know people and get better as a candidate and get better at answering questions. we will see how he does in new hampshire. host: alan all from oregon. caller: i looked at the isle of voting registration divided into three groups -- -- i looked at the iowa voting registration divided into three groups. in the social conservative group, i think that group will mess things up because of their votes are divided by four different candidates, perry, santorum, bachman, and even gingrich. since this group cannot unite, romney and ron paul will slip through this and win it. guest: one of the things that was obvious to me when candidates first started announcing their run was that they took a look at what happened four years ago with mike huckabee winning. he was the lone social conservative candidate in the field. evangelicals in the entrance polls done on caucus night apparently made up 60% of the people going to caucus. mike huckabee did not capture 60% of the vote. so social conservatives have never all lined up against one particular candidate every single time. but i think some candidates took a look and said i can win iowa. i can be the next mike huckabee. i see what he did. he did not need a lot of resources to do appeared he had a strong message. he had a strong record as a governor. he was not unknown in the state. and if i do not win in the caucus, i get a nice life. mike huckabee now has a nice life. i think it drew michele bock when and -- michelle bachman and i think it drew rick perry to certain extent. he can keep the drug he had four years ago and still stay at the top of the leader board. host: are there any consequences from the negative ad campaigns to explain ron paul's drop in the polls? what affect, if any, do the negative ads have in the iowa caucus? guest: there is certainly a lot of spending happening in negative ads. a lot of that comes out of the rather than the candidate's campaign war chests. i remember that there were 1300 owans can beat i onc exposed to that could affect them. i cannot tell you what the proportion is of-against ron paul. certainly, he kept climbing in the polls and he is the only candidate, from the first poll that we did in june, stepped up to our next poll in october and stepped up in our next poll in november. he is seeing a bit of erosion from then. it is not surprising. you do not have to have necessarily all of the negative advertising in order for there to be critical comments or questionable comments over whether ron paul would be the choice to lead. host: power last call comes from maryann from roanoke, ryland. caller: i am eric santorum supporter. i wanted to address two points. 15 minutes ago, you had a ron paul supporter who claimed to be from pennsylvania who actually lied about rick santorum, attributing him to be responsible for voting trading with china. it was a decision made by bill clinton. host: we are running at a time. i need you to make your point quickly. caller: my take on the ron paul supporters, occupiers have been told to support ron paul to disrupt the republican primaries. host: have you seen any evidence of that? guest: we have tried to pay attention and to be alert and to do what ever we can to understand the support for every one of our candidates. at the end of the night, people in this democracy show up on caucuses and they write a name on a piece of paper. they're willing to change their registration if need be. it is a party meeting of people have a chance to talk about it. and what happens happens host:. anne seltzer, thank you for being here this morning. guest: my pleasure. host: we want to tell you a little bit about what is coming up on tomorrow's edition of "the washington journal." we will again be talking with folks from des moines, iowa. robert haus is our first guest. then we have let up