With qualifying internet. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im Wolf Blitzer along with john berman. Its Caucus Day in iowa. Were seeing final pitches, lastminute endorsements and frigid temperatures. Were hours away of getting some answers to huge questions. Who will come out on top in the race for second place . Will the results push any candidates to simply drop out . And can they survive the cold . The weather might be the biggest story in iowa today. That could affect turnout, Peoples Willingness to get out the door and go to the caucus
Well see where people are. What i love about caucusing is people are exciting about politics, about candidates. You hear so much negativity around politics. This is not the time for that. People are into this. To see them engaged and to see americans doing what were supposed to do to further democracy is lovely, even when its negative 11 with a 30degree windchill. Iowans can handle it. So can we. We definitely can. The republicans will make it out to the caucus sites. They almost never pick the nominee, but its the first time we watch people vote. Well get actual real numbers, not polling numbers. The candidates are making their Closing Arguments to iowa
we re already moving up in the polls. everybody else is moving down. governor reynold says the plows are out and roads getting better. there are 1600 plus caucus sites across the state. in american legion posts, gyms, schools. 99 counties in iowa. 28 of them have consolidated all of their caucus sites to one super location. in those counties caucus players only have one place they have to get to. bill: the gang is all here now. karl rove, trey gowdy, byron york. like killer s row. the four bros and the ladies. trey, start at the 35,000 level to asset what s at stake. does former president trump give above 50%. in haley comes second how does
Drive far to get there. Who could that benefit . Maybe nikki haley, shes taking a big play for independent and moderate voters in these urban and suburban areas, Towns Like Ames where Iowa State is, Iowa City where the University Of Iowa is, this is a place where moderate to independence have done well, including in 2016, Marco Rubio, he finished in a close third here, Marco Rubio actually won in these areas that i circled right there, where there are probably a lot of Caucus Sites and a lot of precinct you could show off two, maybe that would benefit nikki haley. We will have to see. Joining us is doug hi, in terms of the ground operation, who has the better Ground Game . Without question, Donald Trump. One of the more interesting things, in the general but also the primary, Donald Trump has a real professional organization which he didnt have his result
Number two. Nikki haley would not say how she makes this into a two Person Race between her and trump. If Ron Desantis comes in ahead of her. Theyre trying to get every voter to head out to the caucus sites. She did defend her conservative credentials. Ron desantis earlier said he believes she Cant Beat Trump because doesnt have the support of conservatives within the republican base. She said that is not true. She was an ambassador to the united nations. She is making the case that not only can she Beat Trump in the primary but she can also beat him in the general election. That is the case that she has been making from Day One indicates she has been making increasingly in the final hours before voting tonight. Excellent report. Thank you very much. Lets get to our panel. I want to start with the former commerce and. Would you rather see Nikki Haley or Ron Desantis tonight