thanks, rob. appreciate it. a taste, my own taste, of the republican race here yesterday in des moines when i headed to a ron paul rally held in my hotel. i saw him talk to a diverse crowd. introduced by his son, rand paul. young people, old people, conservative people. people who said they were moderate, people who said they were independents. you got a sense it was more about a philosophy than necessarily asking people to vote for him. i want to take a listen to what he said yesterday. liberty is the most important issue, the most important responsibility of government is to protect liberty. and not to be the policemen of the world and not to have a runaway welfare state. that was just one example where everybody in the crowd, a big crowd, broke into applause. the meg seem message seems to g on. behind in the polls, just behind mitt romney at 22%. the question, can he pull of a a
romney leading by a nose. ron paul trying to mike it a photo finish. it s rick santorum surging from the rear and newt gingrich hedging his bets, admitting he may not be winning in iowa. michele bachmann says, put your money on the long shot and, perry, well, he is chasing santorum at this point. take a listen. in this thing with all of our passion and the strength and do everything we can to get this campaign on the right track to go across the nation, and to pick up other states and to get the ballots i need, the votes i need to become our nominee. who knows what s going to happen tomorrow night. i think i ll probably come in somewhere between first and fourth, but i have i honestly have no idea where we ll be on that list. but it s, to me, very exciting, a very exciting time. it liberty is the most important issue, the most important responsibility of government is to protect liberty. and not to be the policemen of the world and not to have a runaway welfare state. i think
caucuses it starts counting. republicans will start choosing candidates in a campaign after everyone you see here and a few you don t, have been the front-runner or the front-runner or may soon become the front-runner. some of these boxes may soon be empty. politico s roger simon said iowa caucuses don t pick winners, they eliminate losers. a lot of people could continue on from here even if they don t place well. a loser here may take new hampshire. someone else could win south carolina and yet another may win florida. it s just been that kind of a campaign. the polls here reflect it. take a look. the latest from the des moines register, mitt romney and ron paul in a statistical tie. rick santorum close behind. newt gingrich fourth and fading. rick perry fifth and climbing slowly. michele bachmann in single digits. that poll came out over the weekend. arg showed romney in front. paul, santorum and gingrich essentially tied for second. it won t be dull and every move matt
kids to tell us why in a starting point exclusive. plus, get real. we have not found any skeletons in rick santorum s closets. a lot of sweater vests. like a lot. facebook twit irpicked up on his wardrobe. if you don t believe me, we re going to show you the music video of the sweater vest. not kidding. a very busy two hours. besides michele bachmann and family, newt gingrich and his two daughters joining us. senator rand paul pitching for his father, and members of occupy iowa will be occupying the diner right here. so starting point begins right now. captions by vitac www.vitac.com a lot of heavy rockmusic this morning. good morning, everybody. you re looking at the waveland cafe. inside is where we are in iowa. the caucuses finally here, first ever the nation s caucuses. this is a horse race it s mitt romney leading by a nose. ron paul trying to mike it a photo finish. it s rick santorum surging from the rear and newt gingrich hedging his bets, admitting he may
where a few of them that you see here and a few you don t may soon become the front-runner. after tomorrow night that could change. some of these boxes may soon be empty. politico s roger simon said the best, iowa caucuses don t pick winners, they pick losers. they could continue on from here even if they don t place well. a loser here could take new hampshire, someone could win south carolina or another win florida. it s been that kind of campaign. the polls here reflect it. take a look. the des moines register. mitt romney and ron paul in a statistical tie. rick santorum close behind. michele bachmann in single digits tonight. this one showing romney out in front. paul, santorum and gingrich essentially tied for second place. it won t be dull and every move matters. at this stage in the race there s no room for error. a wide open race. people have been watching the debates, and they re looking for the perfect candidate. mitt romney leading in the national polls all but