sarah palin, to dr. ben carson and chris christie. if you look at the history of nonincumbent midterm years, go back to 2006, george allen, the former virginia governor won the straw poll. in 1998, steve forbes won. in 2010, ron paul won. none of these people became the nominees the. but if someone outperforms expectations, they'll get some good buzz, that's for sure. >> i want to show a picture we teed up before the break. it shows a cpac session on minority outreach. huge room, totally empty. is that the story behind this photo? >> reporter: i don't think so. democrats tried to make hay of this when it happened. it was during a lunch break frankly. and really the room here is really big, it hasn't been full