about how seriously iowans take their role, because they recognize they re not just sort of picking someone who they like. they are vetting a field for a general election. and so i m wondering if iowa caucusgoers are in part not only just sincere voters but also strategic ones who are saying, all right, i m a little to the right but actually i know that i m going to want someone who s sort of midright. what they do not do is say who s going to win in november. they do not. okay. one thing i want to remind everybody, barack obama would not be president today if it was not for iowa. let s be clear about that. that was a very different situation than when we re talking about the republican caucuses because the whole question going into iowa was can a black man get enough white votes. if he can do it in iowa, maybe he can but when you look at those iowa caw caucusgoers, 99% of republican iowa caucusers are white. but 93% of democrats are white. it s also very liberal state wh
i know there are democrats who would rather do smart entitlement reform than let the cuts go through so there s a caucus of common sense up on capitol hill. it s just it s a silent group right now. ken, where are these people? where are the common sense caucusers? well, there s a lot of talk going on behind closed doors and, you know, took it to the highest levels just this morning at the white house. but look. if there were these grand bargains to be made, they would have been made. that s the point of the sequester. to force people to come to the table to resolve the big picture issues. we re kind of increasingly coming to the conclusion they re unresolvable and what the sequester is supposed to do, take it out of congress s hands if they could not come and the white house s hands if they could not come to a big agreement. this is exactly how this was supposed to play out and now the question is whether this becomes the baseline for sort of future
what iowans are are people who take very seriously their role as this kind of first in the nation caucusers and so it s not just an exercise on the one hand nothing is at stake but iowa is at stake for a lot of them so for them showing up there s not one set of voices. new numbers in. the santorum lead down to 4 votes. this really is about as close as it could be. rick santorum now with 29,968 votes, mitt romney, 29,964 votes. even i can do that math in my head. a difference of four votes. michelle, do you want to respond. i think that s true but i also think people underestimate how strong the obama grass roots still is. there s so much talk about disenchantment and hear about it from the pundits, the people who pay a lot of attention for his failure to make recess appointments or some of these
choices as a state and part of what iowans are are people who take very seriously their role as this kind of first in the nation caucusers and so it s not just an exercise on the one hand nothing is at stake but iowa is at stake for a lot of them so for them showing up there s not one set of voices. new numbers in. the santorum lead down to 4 votes. this really is about as close as it could be. rick santorum now with 29,968 votes, mitt romney, 29,964 votes. even i can do that math in my head. a difference of four votes. michelle, do you want to respond. i think that s true but i also think people underestimate how strong the obama grass roots still is. there s so much talk about disenchantment and hear about it from the pundits, the people who pay a lot of attention for his failure to make recess appointments or some of these
good evening upon. i m ali velshi sitting in for erin burnett tonight. out in front, campaign is kicking into high gear. candidates are criss-crossing the state, trying to pick up last-minute support for the first contest in the race for the gop nomination. let s go straight to the political correspondt. jim acosta is on the ground in iowa. good to see you. lots of campaign events and everybody is back in the game. a recent poll shows 12% of voters in iowa, still undecided. you spoke with the iowa gop chair about the race. what did he have to say? reporter: ali, basically he said this is a caucus race in iowa that he has never seen before. basically, this is the most unsettled field of candidates that a lot of republican operatives have seen in the state in a long time. if you look at the polling you have three candidates at the top right now. mitt romney, newt gingrich and ron paul, and below them is a medium tier, the other three candidates campaigning in the state, rick