money. that really is one of the keys here. for some of these candidates who are on the second and third tier, to show that they can bring some votes in to try and get some money that will allow them to continue their campaigns. nbc news political report o dominco is live in ames. give us a sense of what it s like there in ames so far. really, you know, this is kind of one of those events where, yeah, you ve got all of these tents set up. you ve got big tailgating party, really, chris. people are outside. you ve got all kinds of, you know, signs being handed out. the bachmann camp registering people to vote. the pawlenty people set up after they bused in a whole bunch of their people. ron paul people out front, also with big signs and interesting rides and all that. so really a state fair environment. about 40 minutes knot in a little bit of a smaller place. we just started the speeches, as you saw, rick santorum just finished up.