santorum and what the difference between romney and santorum. but this was a major surprise, because santorum had been polling in single digits until about a week before caucus day. he searched really in the final five or six days of the caucuses, and just pulled out a surprise victory. the interesting thing, as romney had been favored to win iowa, we have seen all year before the caucus different candidates rick perry for, while newt, cambridge and risen up briefly, taking the lead in polling, only to fall back. we have seen before this, there was an appetite among republicans for a romney alternative. and you just happen to be it, seems rick santorum s turn to try on that roll right as the caucuses arrived. so he rosa, he won the caucuses, he did not do much in new hampshire, than gingrich other, moment santorum had another moment leana primaries. no one was able to win together and obviously not go but there is a candidate who is
that s part of his messaging and it s working. republican voters became more resolute in support of trump that they are defiance they consider themselves partners with himself on. what do you think of nikki haley slimming the lead for trump? we have a great debate coming up this week. what do you make of nikki haley slimming that lead? i think she has real momentum. iowa does not determine much of anything. don t tell iowa that. they don t want to hear that. it does determine evangelical support for a g.o.p. candidate. if it could determine presidents, we would talk about s santorum, huckabee and cruz. when iowa zigs, new hampshire zags. it s a better bellwether.
being taken away by these cases. that is part of his messaging. it seems to be working, there are a lot of republican voters who became more resolute in their support of trump as part of this act of defiance that they consider themselves partners with him on. what do you make of nikki haley slimming the league for trump, in places like new hampshire. we ve got a great debate coming up moderated by jake tapper and down a bash, what do you make of nikki haley slimming that lead? she s got some real momentum, iowa doesn t determine much of anything. don t tell iowa that. it does determine evangelical support for a gop candidate, but that is about it. if we re going to determine presidents we could talk about santorum, who or crews none of whom won the nomination.
2016, santorum, 25, huckabee, 40, george bush high point, almost 41%. bob doyle, if donald trump goes above 50, that will be historic. bret: it will, and you know, we are going to have that town hall tonight in des moines and we expect a lot of folks to come out and ask the former president questions. he has not done that q & a a lot, he s had a number of rallies obviously in iowa, and fascinating to see how he answers things. we are going to obviously cover the news of the day and what s happening in all of his, what s been happening in recent days, but really it s about hearing iowa voices and citizens and we have done that over the past two nights with nikki haley and governor desantis and listened in here at the town hall and did an interview with vivek ramaswamy about substance, and you know, there are smart voters in iowa.
out well for santorum in 2012, eeked out a victory or mitt romney, could he propel himself or close to trump in the caucuses? his open, he has to have a ground game, get the grassroots support. the problem, john, the cake is baked. i look at the other poll from new hampshire just last week, 57% of republican primary voters in new hampshire would vote for a former president, donald trump, even if he was in jail. so there is this toxic trans that desantis and other candidates are hard to break, we don t know as you mentioned the debate ten days away, see if former president trump even debates. he s up 27 points in iowa. new hampshire, 57% will still vote for him even if he s in