captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. i m harry smith, in for brian tonight. five days to go and eyiowans cat blink without seeing or bumping into a republican presidential candidate. the candidates are making final arguments before tuesday s caucus claiming they have the record, the values and the right stuff to win next november. chuck todd and peter alexander are in iowa tonight. we begin with peter in mason city. peter, good evening. reporter: harry, good evening to you. one sign that mitt romney s campaign is gaining confidence and looking forward to the opportunity to win here in iowa next week is today they announced they will host a party after tuesday night s caucuses and stay overnight to do tv interviews before heading to new hampshire where romney is heavily favored. before a large crowd in this iowa city that inspired the broadway play the music man . i feel like breaking into 76 trombones but i will not do that now. reporter: fro
captioning funded by cbs and good thursday morning, everyone. i m jeff glor. are you sure about that? my name or the day? i don t know. confused about both at times. well, it is a holiday week. i m debbie turner bell. a lot happening this morning. welcome, debbie, by the way. we ll begin with politics. new poll shows significant changes in the republican presidential race in iowa. it s good news for mitt romney and bad news for newt gingrich. chief political correspondent jan crawford is in cedar rapids with the new lineup and a surprise for michele bachmann, too. good morning. ron paul and then there s a name we haven t heard in the top tier, rick sanatorium. like you said, the biggest surprise of the day came from the camp of michele bachmann. this sometimes bitter battle for iowa took a slightly unexpected turn monday when state senator joined ron paul s team. sor sor sorensteen had been the campaign chairman. congressman paul came and did three separat
this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. glor: good evening, i m jeff glor, scott is off tonight. we begin with the latest good news about the economy and new signs that the job market is healing. today the labor department said in the past month unemployment claims averaged 375,000 per week, the fewest since june, 2008. for perspective, at the height of the recession in 2009, more than 600,000 american were applying for unemployment each week. today s news triggered a rally on wall street. the dow closed up 136 points. more now from national correspondent jim axelrod. reporter: the help-wanted sign is up at the ambrose group which provides personnel services for 700 small businesses. we added on about 20% year over year and we are already slated to add on another 10% next year. reporter: the economy has created an average of 143,000 jobs per month this fall double the pace set this summer. they need to speak to him. reporter: ambrose s hugh laroche says
we will take you whale-watching early this thursday morning, december 29th, 2011. captioning funded by cbs good thursday morning everyone. i m jeff glor. are you sure about that? my name or the day? i don t know. i get confused about both at times ist it is times. well, it is the holiday. good morning. i m debbye turner bell. welcome, by the way. new polls show significant changes in the republican presidential race in iowa. it s good news for mitt romney and bad news for newt gingrich. chief political correspondent jan crawford is in cedar rapids with the new lineup and a surprise for michele bachmann too. good morning, jan. reporter: good morning. the latest iowa has more movement. mitt romney at the top followed by ron paul and then a name we haven t heard lately rick santorum. the biggest surprise of the day came from the camp of michele bachmann. the sometimes bitter battle for iowa took a slightly unexpected turn monday when state senator kent sore