welcome to inside politics live from iowa. here we go. the first vote of the 2024 presidential election are tonight. after months of rallying, tens of millions in campaign ads, voters will finally have their say. and in the last few hours, candidates are scrambling to reach as many of those voters as possible. you have to get it done quickly. we have to set the stage. think of the fact that you might be making history in this moment. we are the nation s best days actually still be ahead of us. here in iowa, you have the ability to change the trajectory of american politics. tonight will come down to the one word we use each and every election day turnout. who can get the most voters out. the record-breaking cold weather here in iowa will make that even harder than ever before. take a look at the scene outside right now. subzero temperatures, dangerous conditions complicating travel to the caucus sites. 1,657 separate caucus sites across the state. it is a crucia
Its hard not to be giddy for people like us. You cant see my boots but im wearing the same boots i wore covering the bradley campaign. I think i need new treads on these snow boots. Lets set the table with a little bit of history. That is, the winning margins here in iowa over the past several cycles, starting competitive caucuses for republicans. Ted cruz won by just a little bit more than 3 . Ran santorum not even a full percentage point, 0. 1 . Mike huckabee had a pretty big win by iowa standards, over 9 . George w. Bush, even bigger, 10 . Bob dole, 3 . And then Bob Dole in 1988, even bigger. I dont think you go all the way back to Bob Dole, jeff zeleny, but you started covering it back in 2000, right . The bush campaign. I was looking back at that this morning, the same morning you were breaking out those boots. George w. Bush won in iowa, 41 of the vote
joining me now by phone, political reporter and iowa aficionado tom beaumont. nice to have you. thank you, kate. let s talk about your take on iowa first. okay? a lot of questions about trump s ground game there, whether the supporters really turn out, whether the people that say they like him will show up and caucus. how do you characterize trump s iowa operation? it is hard to tell. he has people running the campaign with experience running statewide campaigns. his iowa director chuck laudner ran santorum in 2012 and he won and we forget because mitt romney declared the winner but he won iowa in 2012. when s interesting to watch trump in iowa, the last couple of events in border cities like davenport on the mississippi river from illinois and council bluffs, iowa, just across the
facilities. he has 250,000 emails from his time as governor of florida. he has been an avid e-mailer for decades and says he will have the best digital campaign in the business. his emphasis on transparency to a lot of folks amounts to sort of a bank shot at new jersey governor chris christie. christie is waiting on the feds to wrap up the george washington bridgegate scandal investigation. in the meantime, he has been building a team and stepping up his policy briefings. he is also sending a major message himself, not to be outdone. he says he will attend the very first candidate cattle call of 2015. that is the freedom summit which will take place in des moines, iowa. iowa, of course, the home of the first presidential caucuses of 2016. that s going to happen in just a month. others attending include texas governor rick perry. it will be his second run for the white house. fire brand ted cruz, a tea party darling. ran santorum who actually won the iowa caucuses in 2012. mike hucka be
responsibility, and then come the iowa caucuses. actual election night. the iowa caucuses are run by the parties and not by the state government, and this past year on election night in the all-important first in the nation iowa caucuses to choose a republican nominee to run against president obama, the chairman of the iowa republican party made the announcement late after midnight on the night of the caucuses that mitt romney had won. wow, romney wins iowa. seriously? no, actually a couple weeks later same guy issued a statement saying that mitt romney hadn t actually won. maybe they were like a tie, and a couple days later, okay, ran santorum won maybe they think, and when it came time to pick delegates, they gave most of their delegates to ron paul, so, iowa, wow, why are they first? you tell me, but they are first, and iowa politicos have always been ready to fight to the death to defend that because it makes