iowa voters if you want to give your thoughts especially leading up to monday, 202-748-8003. post on our twitter page at c-span wj, post on facebook, a ll you can participate, at facebook.com/cspan. last night's debate "the new york times" talks about the absence of donald trump it was ted cruz and marco rubio. that received a lot of attention last night. patrick healy and jonathan martin writing that mr. cruz and mr. rubio who are behind mr. trump in the iowa polls and hoping for surprise finishes here were repeatedly confronted with pointed questions about their views and senate votes, and providing citizenship and legal status to immigrants who are in the country illegally. it was mr. cruz who was hit heart -- hardest on the issue and mr. rubio portrayed him as an unauthentic opportunist. that's some of the analysis from last night. we want to get your thoughts as well. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. for independents. 202-748-8002. and iowa voters out there, especially if you participate in monday night's caucus, 202-748-8003. from that discussion last night. hear about one of the topics that game up, immigration being one. jeb bush weighing in on the issue. here's what he had to say. >> governor bush, to you agree senator rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? >> i'm confused because he was the sponsor of the gang of eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds. ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. that's fact. he asked me to support that. i supported him because i think people, when you are elected, you need to do things. he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as marko says, for 30 years. he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives. here's what i believe, i wrote a book about this called immigration wars. you can get it at $2.99 on amazon. not a bestseller. there won't be -- you can get it. it's affordable for everybody. we should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. means come out of the from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, paying tax, learning english, not committing crimes, and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people patiently waiting outside. i think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. >> it's interesting that jeb mentions the book. that is the book you changed your position on immigration. you used to support a path to citizenship. >> so did you. >> you wrote a book where you changed your position -- you wrote a book where you changed your position from a path to citizenship to a path to legalization. and the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring-bring illegal ilgrakes under control. the american people have been told they are going to enforce the border, build a wall, it never gets bill and never happens. there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape, or form until you prove to people in this country that illegal ilgrakes is under control. when i'm president we'll bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. mr. bush: i have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up n 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the united states. a bipartisan approach got close. barack obama had the poison pill to stop it then. when you led the charge with the gang of eight i supported it because you asked me. i think it's important for me in elected office to try to force consensus to solve problems. there's never going to be a perfect bill. [applause] mr. bush: when you didn't do that and asked people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. host: some of the debate and one of the topics brought up in the republican debate last night. your thoughts on it. give us a call on the phone lines. they'll be on the screen. post on twitter and facebook, too. start with marbling in des moines, iowa, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i just got done watching your hour show on the replay of the trump. i'm from des moines and i'm going to be supporting him. i have been supporting him the whole way. some of the statements he makes getting muslims out and 11 million illegal invaders out, he's the only one that agrees with that's the way i view things is that islam is a dangerous, murderous cult. had a lady on this in the debate that said that there's a lot of muslim persecution, but the problem is it will be her kid or her husband or brother that will get radicalized because they'll get in the koran and read t it's not a radical religion. it's a pure religion. isis is pure islam. host: mark, did you watch any of the debates last night? doip i watched -- caller: i watched -- yes, both debates. host: do any of the other candidates come close to where you hold positions. caller: this is my order. first is donald trump. second i'm an old -- eight years ago mike huckabee supporter, my second. and probably ted cruz after that. ted cruz is a freshman senator like barack obama. and i didn't think that was good for him. lele mike huckabee, i like the executive experience, whether in business. i was originally a king supporter. so i was disappointed in that. huckabee has a good executive experience. he's a good christian man. he was a minister at one time. so i am evangelical supporting donald trump. host: mark from des moines, iowa. dan from independence oregon, democrats line, up next. hi. caller: hello. my question is, i noticed that c-span always has an hour long show right after the republican debate. what happened after the democratic debate? host: we engage in all those kinds of forums. what about last night's debate? caller: i watched a little bit of it but not very much. i'm a democrat. host: ok. caller: i didn't find it to be entertaining at all. i expected you guys to give them equal time. host: that happens. that happens. let's hear from susan. susan goodyear, arizona, republican line. good morning, go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i watched donald trupp. i have been watching him from june 16, me and my husband. family members. on june 16, every debate, he kept asking every news channel to donate to the military. he kept talking about the military. let them have a card, health card to go to another doctor. they can't -- my son was one of them of the veterans. he got hurt. took him forever to get an appointment. two jobs, there's 256 wal-mart stores closing here in the united states. i have friends that work with wal-mart. they are losing their job. or they are going down to 20 hours a week. no insurance. we need jobs. the refugees, donald trump has een saying give them a site. keep them secure out of the united states so they could go back home after everything is done that obama has done the last three years. host: susan, you mentioned your support for donald trump. did you watch the debate last night? caller: yeah. you know what? i do like huckabee. i miss huckabee. he used to play his guitar. i used to watch his shows. he has a heart. he has a mind. he thinks smart. maybe it should be donald trump and mr. huckabee as the vice president. i'm going all wait to donald trump. all the way here in arizona. let's vote. host: debates last night featuring at least most of the republican candidates except for donald trump. getting your thoughts on that. akron, ohio, independent line. john, go ahead. ller: my favorite would be rand paul. he makes a lot of sense what's going on and everything. i think he could run the country retty wise and everything. donald trump, i don't think he wants to be president. i think he's doing all this just to get a rise out of it. he could shoot somebody, they would still vote for me. it's like he's trying to get rid of the votes. and then didn't want to show up yesterday. i really don't think he wants to be the president. he's a billionaire. so why would he want that job or care about anybody? i just think he does it -- host: john. how did you think rand paul did last night? caller: i think he did excellent. he made a lot of sense about a lot of things about the country nd everything. it help paying for the debts we need to pay. he has really good idea. host: on facebook rand paul getting support. this is kyle saying it was easily his. all the other sount the same. rand paul has been the most rational candidate thus far in the g.o.p. race. i prefer sound, fiscal, and monetary policy, more diplomatic efforts in the middle east. he goes on to say you can post on our facebook page if you want. twitter page, too. give us a call on the lines about the debate that took place last night. here is steve in virginia. democrats line. steve, you're up next. caller: good morning. host: hi, how are you. caller: great. i watched the whole debate last night and these people scare the hell out of me. they want to build our military up to don't know what they want to do. it's already the greatest military in the world. the only one that made any sense as far as the military goes is rand paul. the military is going to break us. we can have the golden statest military without just throwing money a -- the greatest military without throwing money away. technology is the way we need to go instead of another battleship. host: when you say about military issues. specifically, what did you hear last night that cause the you concern? caller: they all said that they -- the military's declining they need to pour more money in it. they all seem to want to ground more somewhere. we can't be the world's police. we need to let other countries that live in the areas unrest to step in and do their part. we need to put political pressure to make them do their part. host: from randy in louisiana, independent line. hi, there. caller: hey. i was listening to the debate. that man, the man before the last man, he kind of nailed it on the head. i don't think trump really wants to, either. he speaks a good line and everything. but i like ted cruz and rand paul. i wish they would hook up together as far as running for president and vice president. and they were talking about the military. all over the world. well, nobody even talked about ofs rewritten war powers act the constitution. and the news media hasn't covered it. the people haven't covered t the candidates haven't covered it. this is something that gives the president carte blanche over the whole world for international martial law. nobody's talked about it. it's amazing. host: randy, about ted cruz, what do you like most about him? caller: he just seems to be a genuine person. i think he cares for the people. i just think it him and rand paul would work good together. i have nothing against trump. but like i said, that other man that spoke, he was kind of nailing it on the head there. they need to get back to the constitution. host: des moines register this morning talks about last night's debate. and the focus they make this morning in their write-up is about ted cruz last night. the headline from the des moines register story this morning, in trump's absence cruz takes fire at g.o.p. debate. during the debate ted cruz, senator cruz got to a back and forth with one of the fox news moderators, chris wallace. here's a little bit of that exchange. senator cruz: i would note the last four questions have been rand please attack ted. jeb, please attack ted. marco, please attack ted. >> it is a debate, sir. senator cruz: a debate is a policy issue. i will say this, gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question, i may have to leave the stage. the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who is best prepared to be commander in chief. who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgment, who has the clarity of vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. that is what this debate is all about. and i would suggest let's stay focused on those issues rather than just attacks directed at each other. >> i think the questions were about issues. senator rubio, what would you like to say? senator rubio: let me go first. please recognize rand after. senator paul: thank you. senator rubio: don't worry, i'm not leaving the state, no matter what you ask me. host: the "wall street journal" and nbc news has the latest poll taking a look at iowa and who is leading in the days leading to the iowa caucuses on monday. donald trump with 32%. ted cruz with 25%. rubio with 18%. it goes on from there. hear from wendy. cameron, south carolina, republican line. caller: hello. how are you. host: you're on. go ahead. caller: yes. i watched the debates last night and i think those men are all honorable. i think they mean well. i'm so sick and tired of politics. i think the rest of the country is. they are so gridlocked. so tied up with special interest groups. i think we need a change. so i decided i'm going to go with donald trump all the way. i even switched over to his channel with the vet program. i was so impressed. i wrote a song about it, would you like to hear some of it? host: i don't know if we have time. if you want to sing half a lyric or so, go ahead. caller: ♪ donald trump he's our man he's our next president he's our champion you've got us through this mess we're in he's a patriot he'll make america great again. host: before you go. tell me about donald trump. why specifically him? why do you think for everything he advocates, why do you think he'll get that done if he were elected president? caller: he's a straight shooter. he deals with people all over the world. he has the best negotiators. he's obviously a good negotiator himself. he's a very powerful individual who builds tall buildings. he doesn't back down from anything. he's a leader. we need a leader. we don't need another politician. we have had so many politicians. all they do is talk. and they are so gridlocked that they fight with each other. never get anything done. we need somebody that will push through and get the job done. host: that's wendy in south carolina engaging us in conversation and a song as well. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-800 is for republicans. independents, 202-748, 8002. if you are an iowa voter, live in iowa, plan to caucus, maybe not even plan to participate will you but let us know what you think about campaign 2016 and last night's debate, 202-748-8003. a health report for senator bernie sanders is out this morning. this doctor, write up in the "new york times" -- "washington post" this morning. it says in his letter to sanders the doctor said he examined the senator in november. at the time sanders was six feet tall, weighed 179 pounds. the examination was normal, the doctor wrote. over the years sanders has been treated for conditions such as ut, mild -- high poe thyroidism, and superficial skin tumors. sanders does not use tobacco. and drinks alcohol infrequently. also noting that his last colonoscopy was normal and he's up to date on his vaccines. camille, georgia, herbert is next. democrats line. hi. caller: how you doing, pedro. i'm a vet. i'm a vat, black man. i was raised and born in miami. i worked and retired from miami. and rubio, y cruz they have the either immigration law that comes to america. i worked with important importants and other people. they do not represent those people. another thing, too, i can say i appreciate what trump did. on martin luther king day, he was the only one on. the other republicans didn't. that represent me, hispanics, and the muslims, and other people in this country, man. we need a president who is going to sit up there who does in the think he's democrat and republican but be a president for the people. those people do not indicate -- i want everybody to know that. cuba is 3% of the hispanic population. that's why they have the wet foot, dry foot law. they have the easiest immigration law that a person could come to the united states. the other people be detained and everything. i worked with them. i'm telling you. people need to understand it. i don't see why people don't put that out that cubans do not represent hispanics. they just speak spanish. you know that, pedro. you know that. i know this. i live with them. i work with them. other republicans, you don't ar them defending -- we feel enfranchised in america. host: herbert, that said, who are you supporting for president of the united states at this point? caller: i can't do anything with the republicans. i can't do nothing because they don't represent me. i can't see nothing. i haven't seen them pass a health care law. the only health care law was passed by lyndon b. johnson. and medicaid. host: with the three democrats running, then, who is your choice? caller: i have to go with hillary, because one thing about it, bernie -- reason why because bernie -- bernie cannot get those laws passed when he talking about. people ain't going to pass those laws. he know he can't get it passed in congress because half of congress and senate are rich. they are millionaires. they are not going to pass laws that cut them. they are not going to do that. host: herbert. if you go to the lead editorial of the "washington post" this morning, they talk about bernie sanders. here's the editorial, the real problem with mr. sanders, what concerns us is not that mr. sanders' program to tackle these issues is radical, but they are not very well thought out. we are far from the only one to point out that his health care plan rests on unbelievable assumptions how much he could slash health care costs without affecting the care ordinary americans get. they also go on to say he would use higher taxes on wall street and the rich, such as free college for all, but he has no plausible plan for plugging looming deficits. a solution to the complex international crisis, the united states must manage to hand it off to others. there is no such cavalry. this might not distinguish him from the other politicians. that's part of the point. his campaign isn't based on a new vision as one of the new tactic known as overpromising. harold from ohio, good morning. caller: how you doing, sir. host: fine. caller: i appreciate c-span. you just had trump speech on without any cutting in. i tried to watch it on cnn last night. that was an absolute, positively disgrace. they ran all kinds of commercials. any time trump would introduce a speaker, they would shut the microphones off and have some old guy come over here and tell how bad trump is going to be doing. i don't want to hear that. if you're going to televise the speech, televise the speech. cnn was an absolute disgrace. john wayne, now that is his actual name. he's a green beret. you understand me? host: you talked about the trump event. did you watch any of the fox news debate? caller: can i be honest with you, sir? host: uh-huh. caller: i have cable, paid $110. i could not find fox news. what channel is it is on? host: depends on where you live and what your provider is. it varies. caller: that's what i'm saying. it's a disgrace. host: let's hear from joe. joe in pennsylvania. republican line. joe, go ahead. hi. caller: how you doing. i turned republican about eight years ago. the democratic party right now scares the heck out of me. they don't have a -- if you think hillary is going to lead this country with all the lies she's telling, it's a shame. as far as the caucus goes last night, i got to laugh. you have to hand it to trump. he bowed out. cruz took a beating. rubio took a beating. trump's still doing better in the polls. he doesn't have his money and big pharmaceutical profits. he doesn't have the money in any of the bank pockets. e's supporting his own self. he'll pick the right military advisors. we do need a stronger military in this century. barack obama has bilinged us. towards a small portion of the military. when we make deals with iran that north korea fires missiles toward our ships is ridiculous. we need america back, and we need america strong. host: silver spring, maryland, independent line. seala -- ceilia. go ahead. she's gone. ar from millicent in nashville, tennessee. democrats. caller: hi, pedro. i was calling -- i did look at the debate last night. i am a democrat. but i have voted republican before. if trump were not in -- doing anything, i would probably go with kasich because i like him. i wanted to hear more of what he said and the rest of them said. as for trump, i thought that was very tacky in the way that he went -- he did something for the veterans. he could have done that on any other day, at any other time. but he decided to try to pull his own republicans down just because he took his time somewhere else. just to say this, for those people who really love trump, i do not know, still, what he stands for and what he's going to do. i heard him talk about people but not what he's going to do. the other thing is, i think that he is playing the end game is going to be, if he's elected, he's not thinking any farther than that. because his people that are following him, his fans, so for him, this is just like a tv show. he is always talking about him being in the polls and what the polls said and how he's at the top. it's kind of like he thinks this is a neilsen rating, but it's not. these are our lives. this is our lives. this is the whole united states that is up for grabs right now. and we have somebody that is thinking, ok, if i win this is it. for those who are going to vote for trump, please, please, really listen to what he stands for and see what it is he's going to do. not just saying i'm going to take care of it. host: that's millicent in nashville, tennessee. she brought up ratings. the hill reports and others about twitter conversations that took place last night during the debate. this is kate's write-up saying it was donald trump that controlled the conversation despite not going to the debate. saying that the conversation that mentioned the candidates of all g.o.p. candidates combined, 36% of the conversation centered on donald trump. 16% of that centered on ted cruz. march could red on he rubio. -- marco rubio. alabama. caller: hi. i have been watching c spap this morning and i watch it many mornings. they discuss many aspects of what's going on in washington. in fact all over the country. but it seems to me that the problem is after all the processes that we go through, debates and elections and the news media on continuously, what happens as an end result is we end up with democrats and republicans in washington, and the supreme court, congress, and the house, and the senate, we don't end up with any americans up there. there's nobody up there that's pulling for the american people. they work for the lobbyists. they work for their central interest. nobody is working for the american people. that's why we end up in total confusion. since the days of reagan and chip o'neill -- tip o'neill in the house, we haven't had a sensible approach to anything that we are trying to accomplish. host: barea, ohio. democrats line talking about last night's debate of presidential candidates, republican presidential candidates except for donald trump. karen, go ahead. caller: hi. i have been watching c-span this morning. i'm a little amused at everyone -- fouling trump. i believe the reason he didn't go to the debate last night wasn't because he was hurt by megan kelly or in a fight with fox. it was because he's going to -- pretty soon here he's going to have to come up with real answers to questions. he's not going to be able to say i have people. i'm going to make deals. i know these things. you just wait and see. everything will be great. he's going to have to come up with some real policies and some real, you know, information about those policies instead of just blanket statements. i think last night he knew that he would have to say more than what he usually says. why risk it when he's doing so well it seems, in iowa. they are saying he's doing very well. so he thought, ok, i'll just slide past this one. host: that's karen in ohio. donald trump holding his own event last night after saying that he wasn't going to participate in the fox event. it highlighted veterans. raised money for veterans. and it was during that event where he talked about the absence from the fox news debate. here he is. mr. trump: i didn't want to be here, i have to be honest. i wanted to be about five minutes away. i have enjoyed that. i have enjoyed that. all the online polls said i have done very well with that, with the debates. i have had a kick with it. but you have to stick up for your rights. when you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights. [applause] mr. trump: you have to do it. and whether we like it or not, whether it's something we want to do or not -- that's what our country has to do. as an example, iran, the way they have been treating us with all of this horrible, this deal is one of the worst deals i have ever seen negotiated under any circumstances, and we just take it. we have to stick up for ourselves as people and we have to stick up for our country when we are being mistreated, remember that. [applause] mr. trump: i have to go a little step further and say that fox has been extremely nice and the last number of hours, actually. they have wanted me there. they said how about now? they called a few minutes ago, how about now? i said hasn't it already started? we actually thought what we would do is we'd let them start. we wanted to be about 15 minutes into that hour so that by now they are all tuned -- look at the cameras, like the academy awards. this is like the academy awards. this is the academy awards. [applause] mr. trump: we are told we have more cameras than they do by quite a bit. you know what? that's really an honor of our vets. they have been. they have been very nice and they wanted me to go and apologize and everything else. they did apologize. they could not have been -- once this started, it's for our vets, there was nothing i could do. you know what? i don't know. is it for me personally a good thing? a bad thing? will i get more votes? will i get less votes? nobody knows. who the hell knows. it's for our vets and you are ' going to like it because we raised over $5 million in one day. over $5 million. host: again, last night's debate is what you can comment on. the absence of donald trump as well. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. iowa voters, 202-748-8003. charleston, south carolina, independent line, good morning. this is steve. caller: hey, pedro, how you doing? i would like to say something about debate. also about donald trump's absence. i was a little angered that fox even brought his name up. i'm thinking, you know, he chose not to be there, don't give him any press. but in a couple minutes they got over that. frankly i flipped back and forth because i wanted to see what donald was saying. this business about donald not being able -- if he can't confront megan and deal with her how will he deal with world leaders? donald is not stupid. he'll come back with listen the next president of the united states, me, doesn't have time to deal with that silliness. i have important work to do over here for the veterans. he's a master of stuff. he's also a master of diversion. the lady that called before me said he never speaks specifically to issues. she's absolutely right. doesn't know how to. but he diverts the attention to something else. the last debate he got into a deal with ted cruz citizenship requirements. that took up time in the debate. last night, of course, he didn't have to speak to any issues at all and got to blame it on megan kelly and did good work for the veterans. at some point he has to speak to it. last night, i don't nope how you figure out who wins. they have the meters and that kind of thing. this ongoing thing with videos on immigration between cruz and marco and jeb crush. chris christie made a good point about needing a dictionary to figure out washington talk or something. i tell you this, my observation was that rand paul got more applause and loud applause than anybody. i don't know if it was a small group of people who were loud or large group of people. he's very methodical, mature, abortion, n.s.a., he goes back to immigration, listen, guys. you have to deal with facts at some point. he doesn't get into a shouting contest. the fact is, people are blindly devoted to their candidates. it doesn't matter what they do. i don't think the debates make much difference. they are like a high school pep rally. people e.r.a. -- rah-rah this and rah-rah that. trump said he could shoot somebody in new york people would follow him. if hillary clinton were indicted and jailed, people would beg to get her out. host: james, petersburg, west virginia. republican line. caller: how you doing. thank you for having me on the air. appreciate that. i have several comments to make. if trump is main leader and is nominated, will i vote for him. i dined of look for him to choose huckabee as the vice president and i think they'll make a good teefment i want to comment a little bit about what hillary clinton and the democrats do. i predicted back there when bill clinton was running for election the first time, and ross perot threw all of his votes toward clinton. and hillary clinton did the same thing, i predicted what she would do. she would become the secretary of state. sure enough that's exactly what happened. i don't think another candidate has any right to give their votes to somebody else that the american people did not vote for. i think it's very wrong. i think it's unconstitutional. but president obama said on the news today that he knows that the democrats are going to win. now, they are predicting because hillary and the rest of them are going to throw votes toward mr. sanders or whoever, and hillary will have another job in the government. god help us if this happens. i voted for john f. kennedy when he ran, and i have always been a republican. i'm 71 years old. and i have seen the presidents come and i have seen presidents go. but i think donald trump is one with the power behind his words. i think he's going to come through with what he says. i believe he is a man of his word. but i feel sorry for the rest of the snakes that are running for election. host: that's james in west virginia. he did mention president obama speaking to democrats as they meet as far as their own meeting is concerned to talk about strategy issues. one of the things he did talk about was the presidential elections. his thoughts how they would end up. here he is. president obama: everyone souring every word to find deeper meaning, trying to put my finger on the scales, let me simplify things. tonight i have an announcement to make about the presidential race. democrats will win in november and we will have a democratic president succeeding me. just in case there is any confusion about that. host: let's hear from grace in lafayette, indiana, democrats line. caller: good morning, pedro. you know, donald trump, the only words he knows i and me. he doesn't tell us what he is going to do because i don't think he knows. if he didn't have that plane and all that money, he would just be another politician that doesn't know what he was talking about. said that he wanted to give mrs. pay lynn -- mrs. palin a cabinet job of some sort if she wanted t can you imagine what would happen if donald trump and sarah palin was in that white house? oh, my god. he's a used car salesman. i'll vote for hillary, but if -- i was a republican. i believe i would go for rand paul. host: bernie up next from howard beach, new york. republican line. caller: good morning. first, i am a republican. i'm 74. i have never voted for a democrat. maybe to my displeasure. i don't particularly care for hillary clinton. but if donald trump is the candidate of the republican party, i will be happy to vote for hillary clinton. this is a man who should, in my case really scares me. he's a racist and this is reminiscent of germany. it's starting to look like germany in 1932 and adolf hitler. his rhetoric is similar. it wasn't apparent to the people in germany until it was too late. mexicans or calls hispanics rapists, it's along the same lines as hitler referred to the jews as vermin. we better start looking and thinking about what this man is saying. if we don't, it's going to be a very, very long years in front of us with him. i just can't believe that it's come to this point where he's a it's -- he's leading -- unfathomable. it really scares me. host: donald trump leading in polls in the republican party. questions about donald trump leaving off last night's debate on fox news with the debate moderator, megan kelly, talking about what she referred to as in the room. ot >> senator cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. donald trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. what message do you think that sends to the voters of iowa? senator cruz: megan, let me say at the outset to the men and women of iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. by monday you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in iowa. you will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. you will have welcomed heidi and our girls into your homes. and i'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of iowa approach this process. if i am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because i'll be back. because iowa in 2017 will not be flyover country. it will be fly to country. [applause] ow, secondly, let me say i'm a maniac. and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. and ben, you are a terrible surgeon. now that we have gotten the donald trump portion out of the way -- [applause] senator cruz: i want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of iowa the respect, to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each and of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. host: mark from california on our independent line talking about that debate that took place last night. mark, good morning. caller: good morning. thanks a lot for c-span. i'm somebody who also lives off roughly $10,000 a year. so i hope you give me a couple seconds. first of all, last night was just a circus. and people need to look up circuses on wikipedia and see what that means. when donald trump said he didn't remember disrespecting a disabled reporter, it's not even possibly swallowable. somebody, i think it was the caller just before the one before last, said that it was reminding him of hitler in germany. and i really hope people know their history. he's playing into just absolutely the worst side of the human psyche. i don't know who should be president. i think my dad should be president. he's nigh hero. he's a really good guy who's never done anybody wrong and paid his taxes and all those things. ut that's not going to happen. us.st -- god be with all of this is the most crazy election i have ever seen in my life. thank you, c-span, you're the greatest. host: park in california. the daily caller has a breakdown of the contributions that took place that $7 million or so raised for veterans group. $1 million came out of the real estate billionaire's only pocket. other fellow billaires contribute $1 million. a website that trump set up thursday morning brought another $500,000, according to the presidential candidate. one donor trump named during the roll call had a shady past, j.j., a developer from cleveland pleaded guilty in 2001 bribing former ohio representative traficant to help an aviation equipment company he owned. cafarr -- cafaro, later testified against traficant but was arrested in 2010, he later gave $50,000 to the cause. north carolina, democrats line. caller: hi. host: robert from north carolina. you're on. go ahead. caller: donald trump, he can't uy the campaign. [inaudible] host: robert, sorry, i have to apologize. your connection is really bad. i apologize for that. let's end this with peter in deaven port, iowa. hello -- davenport, iowa. hello. caller: something that's bothered me here about this trump guy is that one minute he's calling out john mccain for being this bad soldier. the next minute he's pandering to all these veterans sitting out there. at least john mccain went. during this whole vietnam war, this guy got three, four deferments, the last time he ended up getting off with a medical for having shin splints for some kind of garbage like that. it drives me nuts listening about it. back and forth. it's insane. host: peter, are you planning on caucusing on monday? caller: yeah. host: who you planning on -- caller: i voted straight libertarian since rand paul back in 1988. right now i was going to head out for anyway, right gary johnson. the way rand paul has been going on for the last little bit, i'll probably toward that more than anybody else. host: that's peter in iowa for our line we setaside for iowa voters during this time. our coverage here of the "washington journal" from iowa, especially with the caucuses, continues on. three guests joining us from des moines this morning talk about various aspects of the campaign. our first guest is a long time political reporter for the des moines register now at southern illinois university. that's david yepsen. talking about the iowa caucuses, what to expect. what to look for in the days leading up to t later in the program we'll hear from iowa state senator brad zaun, supporting the donald trump campaign. and he'll tell us why. first c-span traveled while we are in iowa to simpson college. a small liberal arts school just south of des moines to talk to students and faculty about their front row view of the iowa caucuses. >> book tv has 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend on c-span2. and here's some programs to watch out for this weekend. today at 1:30 p.m. eastern, watch book tv's coverage of the second annual bill of rights day book festival. the national constitution center in philadelphia. at 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards, pulitzer prize winning journalist m may fong discusses her book. about the impact of china's recently disconnected onepolicy. chasing fortune, truth, and space in the new china. >> china should grow economically and of course it's a wonderful idea that in one or two generations we have seen everybody go from a bicycle aspiration to bmw, yes. good. good for thefment it's the one child policy helped people get to that stage? i would be all for it. but then the problem was, it didn't. it really didn't have that much no do with this economic growth that china has for the last 30 years. >> on sunday at 7:15 p.m. eastern, professor young discusses her book in which she examines the impact of breast-feeding policies on american society. >> breast-feeding fits very conveniently into an american health paradigm that increasingly blames individuals themselves for poor health outcomes and for the soaring costs of american health care. >> watch book tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span2. television for serious readers. >> chair of the political science department here at simpson college. what is teaching political science here in iowa during an election year mean for you and your students? >> for the students it means just a lot of opportunities. they can get involved in campaigns. they can work for nonprofits that are doing nonpartisan voter registration. they can go out and see just about all of the candidates. we have had almost every candidate here during in the local area except kasich and kristi. the students have been able to see everyone up close. we had several students get to ask questions of the candidates personally. for the students it's just an unparalleled opportunity. we do think that this is the place for politics in central iowa. >> from the projects i have here at simpson are fact checking project and polling project. tell us about the fact checking project. >> this opens up opportunities for teachers to be able to come up with creative projects where they use the campaign as a stage for the work that they do. so as a teacher i was thinking, why don't we try to replicate what fact check.org and other organizations are doing in terms of checking campaign statements to see if they are true. a few years back i decided to start this project. we assigned the students to teams. they needed to pick a couple of campaign statements or ad. and research and see is that true? or not true? partly true, and why. they have to investigate all of what's going on behind the claim and not just take it at face value. >> what about the polling project? >> the polling project we have done every four years for the last several years. the whole point is to get students engaged in polling at the grassroots level. they are trying to imstate a pollster. we have some great pollsters here in des moines. but we wanted the students to get practice of understanding how do you interpret the numbers of that poll? so they actually go and do the poll. they analyze the results. and report the results to the campus community. >> about 50 or 60 majors in the political science department. how active are they in the individual campaigns outside of their student life rolls here in simpson? >> i have lost count of how many students are involved in the simpson political science department, maybe we have 125 or 20 who are either working or volunteers with campaigns. we had one student actually take a leave of absence to work full-time for a campaign then come back to simpson to finish her degree. so that's just the political science majors. once you get into students in other minimum wage kwlors, we have dozens of students volunteering in various ways in the campaigns. >> "washington journal" continues. host: from des moines iowa, our first guest of the morning, a long time political columnist reporter for the des moines register, now at southern illinois university, the director of the paul simon policy institute, david yepsen joining us this morning. good morning. guest: good to be with you. host: thank you so much for joining us. you have covered these events for a long time. the caucuses especially. could you give us a sense of what is different this time around? not only with the players involved but other things that you see that may be different in the days leading up to monday. guest: well, it's bigger. the crowd sizes seem to be larger for almost all candidates. the number of candidates in the field, i think, on the republican side, certainly, is a record. i think in total it's just bigger in total. there's more media. there are more bigger crowds. huge field of candidates. and i think the indications are that we are going to have a good turnout in this state on caucus night. the record is 120-some thousand on the republican side. and 240,000 on the democratic side. i think the republicans should blow through that lid in their caucus. the democrats aren't as certain that they'll top 240,000. it's going to be a good turnout. host: is the turnout directly related to donald trump or bernie sanders being involved? are there other factors? guest: i think that's -- you have hit on it. it is in large part those two candidates. americans -- the thing that strikes me being back here is americans and these iowa activist of both parties are pretty upset. they are angry at the direction the country's going. progressives are not happy with a lot of things that were not accomplished in the obama administration. and so they are demanding their candidates prove up. and on the republican side, the flip side, the conservatives are not happy at all with this presidency. looking for a different direction. it's also true both parties are looking for a definition what they are going to be for in the post-obama era. you have fights inside the republican party on immigration, on trade. just on the role of security versus liberty. that you see. that a big debate that goes on inside the g.o.p. i think there are similar things going on in the democratic party. how far to the left do we want to go? with hillary clinton arguing we have to be -- do what's doable and be in the center. bernie sanders taking a more left position. i think both parties are really struggling with not just the candidates, they are certainly struggling, but also issues. host: for the average person there in iowa who will participate, tell me when they make their decision, when do they finally decide this is the person they are going for? well in advance or other factors? guest: that's a very good question. i think too much emphasis has been placed on these polls going into these caucuses. my experience with this has been there are a lot of late deciders. a lot of people make up their mind at the end. even among candidates, people who have expressed a preference for a candidate. for example, many of donald trump supporters say they could be persuaded to change their mind. the thing that's different about a caucus from a primary election, is it's a neighborhood meeting. you're going out with your neighbors, a lot of your friends. relatives. and you go out and what do you do there? well, you talk politics. and the power of that conversation, i think, is overlooked here in these final days of the campaign. you can go into a caucus feeling strongly for a candidate, but you talk to someone whose judgment you trust, you hear the arguments, and you may be persuaded to change your mind. your candidate, you may have a misunderstanding of the issues. another candidate would be stronger in the general election. so that dynamic of what occurs at the caucus site i think has a big effect on what people do. lots of people walk in with a preference, lots of people say they could be persuaded. host: david yepsen, could you see some surprises happening come monday night as far as who emerges on top on both sides? guest: if they were total surprise -- if i knew those, they wouldn't be surprises anymore. invariably you do have surprises. i think there's certainly the potential there for that in both parties. host: david yepsen joining us from des moines, iowa, at southern illinois university. formerly of the des moines register. take questions about the iowa caucuses. three days leading up to those. your questions for him about the process, the people involved, and the politics. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748, 8001 for republicans. 202-748, 8002 for independents. iowa voters, if you want to give your thoughts this morning, too, 202-748-8003. david yepsen, donald trump missing the fox news event last night, holding his own event. in the long-term, what do you think it does for him? guest: i don't think it helps him. i think it might hurt him a little bit. there is a tradition in this state you show up, you be seen, and it looked a little -- don't know too cute by half. a loft republican caucus goers will be turned off by that. i think the second -- i understand why he did it. he's not happy with fox news. but i also understand that he sees himself as the frontrunner. a few days before the debate, there is a risk. you are going to be a target out there. you will be on the de-- defensive. even though he's done well in the past debates, can i see where they make the calculation this isn't worth taking that risk. i do think you pay a price for it with undecided republicans. and i also think, the other thing it did, it did enable the rest of the field to shine, to bloom, if you will. they had a good discussion. they had a good debate. it was much more traditional kind of debate that you see in a republican caucus campaign. i thought it was very -- i think all those candidates did themselves some good. they didn't have this trump phenomenon taking all the oxygen out of the room. and they all got a chance to get some things said and get air time. i thought it was good for the other candidates, too. host: one of the parallels we heard leading up to about debates and missing them was ronald reagan back in 1980. tell the folks what happened. are there lessons learned from that event that could apply to what we saw last night? guest: well, reagan had taken the state for granted in 1980. e was not showing up enough. he thought he had been broadcaster here in this state that he kind of had it in the bag. and he did not attend. that hurt. he took some hits from other candidates for not being there. i think it did contribute to his poor showing and to george herbert walker bush's good showing on caucus night. reagan recognized that later. he fired his campaign macker -- manager, and they moved on in new hampshire and turned their campaign around. host: not showing -- not showing up for debates isn't the way it's dofpblet caucus goers expect to see you. this is the retail thing. they want to see how well you do. this is an audition. this is a vetting. and activists take that seriously. again, despite all these polls that show certain preferences here and there, many caucus goers are undecide the. many say they could be persuaded. remember, too, i think every republican caucus goer has considered donald trump. and he's getting 25% to 30% in these polls, if you believe these polls, and that means that 70% of the caucus goers are saying -- they have visited him, found him wanting, and have moved on to another candidate. . >> i appreciate what you doing. fox debate last night. i purposely did not turn it over to other channels to see what was trump was doing. want there to be any direction.that i felt like i misunderstood or something. i thought trump said he was going to do was going to be a anybody wanted to come and debate. santorum huckabee and will be going for a debate with trump. otherwise, it seem like all it one of his episodes of apprentice like he does with the fundraising. minuteot disagree one with what the veterans were saying about filling insulted on the fact that the money being raised for them which is in need.ate it's a shame that people wave more sollar bills and over a charity and an issue that. an important as i don't understand about the peopleike the number of don't. i think it's all of that trump of everybodycause of their frustrations being so fueling so much anger with people and acting and he'ss so wonderful going to be the lifesaver of the unites. to let our guest respond to one of the things you there, mr. yepsen. host: i think donald trump anger as much as he fuels it. i think bernie sanders on the democratic side is another example how upset and how angry voters are. second thing on the polls. pollsters today face a real challenge with smartphone lines, fewerd land land lines. they have trouble finding people. lots ofy get through, people don't take calls from numbers they don't recognize. problemsust a lot of with polling today. have always thought it's difficult to find likely caucusgoers. got 3.1 million iowans here, you got republicans and democrats. out of that, you got registered who will show up at caucuses as i mentioned. 120,000 on the republican side on theoter thousand democratic side. there's a small universal people for.pollsters are looking be careful about using the polls here.dictors there's just a history of those finals changing at the analysis. host: she has a point about the anger. donald trump is tapping into something here. democratsd, virginia, jose.here's caller: hello. host: hello. go ahead. caller: do you know who won the last night? host: who do you think won? trump. donald night.the debate last aher people call like he's friend. meet himportunity to many years ago. i know he's a good man. cares for the little guy. cares for the little guy. was showing up everywhere. cares ford man and he the little guy. don't know him. talk a lot of bull about donald trump. host: thank you. guest: it's interesting point you make. talking to republicans here. they're really impressed how and howable he is decent he has been with them. process. retail voters one on one. he has big rallies but he stays shake hands. there's been some anecdotal stories. he's a celebrity. wealthy. he has done pretty well on the campaign.e of this host: there's a piece. in the u.s.a. today this morning who wrote the book "why iowa." iowa was of piece" done." anday see donald trump bernie sanders holding large get perhapses. maybe that shows a shift in what as far as looking for that part of the process. austi host: well, it is true that the caucuses increased. when i started this stuff as a young reporter in 1975 and in the campaigns were leading up, they're very small. you would go into somebody's room and you and another candidate and an aid talkou sit around and politics. it has exploded in size. it takes on the trapping of a the tv ads, all of the mail, all the commotion you usually see in a bigger based election. that said in the final analysis, come down to what happens if at that neighborhood needed. me the beautyto of this process. theelp iowa build and help two party system. new hampshire as well. it sounds corny, i think there's on caucuspowerful night when you see real grassroot americans for the time standing up and expressing a preference who ought to be president of the united states. see innot something you some countries. i think it's a healthy exercise democracy. host: you're saying, the make candidates that meet people that will not be replaced by the bigger rallies we've seen because we've work?his model guest: right. i think the rallies are fine and important. is very much a retail process. all of this pac money that has floated around, it's here. television here, just wallpapered with political ads. one guy the other day said, i will be glad when this over. i miss the foreign chemical ads. a will remain but what is effective is door to door campaigning down. campaigns are putting efforts into finding people, and getting them to commit. it's going back to the future. to neighborhood retail poll at thi at this time- politicking trying to dig out vote. that's good. fashion friends and neighbors talking. spent 34 years years.e des moines david yepsen of southern ims university, formally at the des moines register. right from south carolina lane.ican myler: thank you for taking call. fox and c-span. i'm a democrat voted for obama last two elections. this time around, i think it's time to that we need to flip the page. give somebody like trump a chance because he represents so the opinions of the american voter in general versus elite that are in washington show.s been running the here's a glimmer of hope for something try different other than politics as usual. the paco are accepting money and represent pretty much special interests. to determine whether iowa would be an indicator as to the would be outcome of election. it with grain of salt. with my experience, i've seen commentatorsical will say one thing and in the their storychange because they'll get it wrong. being sotion cycle different having trump pretty much on the independent side republicans.the creates a quandary for the inner who have been with the inner circle especially their chanceho had and their opportunity beginning obama first round of the administration to actually get something done. didn't.y you wonder what position they really take. americanepresent the represent special interest. guest: you make a couple of good points. voted for obama in the past and now looking for change. bigica does not have a tradition of granting a political party three the whitee terms in house. in areas now and big challenge for democrats, can they have a campaign and a candidate that will enable them to hold on to the white house after president obama. typically, a president's job if it's low in, or below it's very difficult for her party to win a third term. aboutly, you talk political commentators. i fit in that category. it really misread this trump phenomenon in the early stage. he's clearly tapped into something that i certainly didn't see. about that.uestion one other point, remember that iowa is the beginning of the process. it's not the end of the process. historically iowa has played two roles in the nominating contest. it will elevate candidates out obscurity. 1976, george herbert walker, bush. it elevates some candidates out obscurity. it's that process i think does serve a role. out a lot of weak candidates, protest candidates, who really aren't viable and the race moves on. i said there was three tickets out of iowa, first class, coach and stand by. for most of the this, all the caucuses except one, the eventually nominee will come out of the top three finishers. in 2008, changed a tiey winning at finished for fourth place. byay first class coach stand and baggage. the field will be trimmed down this.erably after host: here's rick on the independent line. amazing thing about conversation deals with the media. is today.t the media arketing has created $500 billion a year industry. creates $200 billion revenues per year. monopolies that control all information in this country. monopolies are located in five states. texas, georgia, florida, new connecticut. texas existrgia and oil, $20,ipulation of $240 a barrel. creation of war, the last five wars have been started by texans. georgia, which is clear channel comes out of texas -- host: rick only because we're talking about the caucus, what question would you like to direct? caller: why was this guy who was so called journalist refuse the monopolies from texas, georgia, florida and connecticut. banking war,treet oil immigration host: we'll go to thomas. line.a, republican caller: in regards trump not debate.up for the i don't blame him the first byate the questions come out megan, employers told her to. who did you make fun of. nothing politically concerned. for that.ame him another thing, the clintons have proved they are above the law. a made.s communism it's socialism. nationald them was the socialist party. wants to get -- that's opinion. host: mr. yepsen, any take away from that? guest: no. host: let's go to beverly, columbia, missouri. go ahead.line, caller: don't you have to have delegates in order to become president? gett: yes, you have to delegations to win the nomination. caller: tell me how bernie win.rs can he has no delegates what so ever yet. guest: this is the beginning of the process. to win delegates starting with the iowa caucus. good shape inin new hampshire. this is the beginning of the process. is about winning delegates at the national convention. votesk about polls and and all that. it's how many delegates a start to pail up. host: kimberly, washington, pennsylvania, republican line, morning. caller: good morning. this is in reference to donald last night.up i think if he did the country a up, he by not showing did more good by helping the veterans that we have and do need it. caucus goes, honestly, it doesn't matter because if he's not on the writing him in anyhow. can that yepsen said, happen in iowa? can happen.it cast aare free to write-in vote. host: we talked about donald trump today. let's talk about hillary clinton and bernie sanders. where do they stand as of today when it comes to potential voters. does this reflect, especially for hillary clinton, who years in 2008, of what you saw then happening with her campaign? guest: well, i thought in 2008, she had a good campaign. was hit by this phenomenon called barack obama. has somewhat of the same problem. there's a sense of deja vu with a lot of clint people who see this bernie sanders phenomenon they had not expected. they have treated bernie sanders thiskid gloves throughout whole campaign. the clinton campaign has thought we got to be nice to him because going to be the nominee and we're going to need those people to come campaign for us. there's a lot of push back against bernie sanders. result, he's gotten a little bit of a free ride from the clinton people. now they're worried. i think the clinton people see these crowd sizes and they see energy and they see the polls tightening up. concerned. in both parties, it really comes down to whether a lot of these people showing up at these rallies will be persuaded to go caucus night. my feeling is, if you'll stand the cold iowa weather to get into a donald trump rally or to get into a bernie sanders rally, there's a good chance that you'll stand in line to get your caucus as well. host: as far as the people who will come out, what about young people? that being an influence in the obama campaign. do you see that kind of turn time around? guest: i think you could. this is where social media into this. you can register or vote at the caucus. years old and will of 2016, byember election day, you can caucus.ate in a i think young people, they decide these things late. paying attention. i think there could be a real phenomenon of people tweeting and texting and saying, let's go to the caucus and cast a preference. lot of them will be late deciders and participate. point, who has the good ground game on both sides? the best as far as you're seeing on both republican and democrat when it comes to ground game? guest: well, i think most republicans will say they think groundz has the best game. peoplerd to measure if on the ground and phone calls getting made and knocking on doors. clinton has a pretty disciplined one. thebernie sanders has got energy. there's no question about it. sanderslem with campaign, i noticed, they don't capturinggood job of the names and information about the people who come into the event. was one thing barack obama well.gn really mastered host: ray is up next for our guest david yepsen. ray is from massachusetts independent line. caller: hi, how are you? said, david. in the midterm election, wasn't or 27% of the6 people voting when the republicans took over? now this next election, isn't everybody going to be coming out to vote? right? guest: midterm elections have much lower turn out than elections.l everybody won't come out to vote. there are a lot of american who aren'tgible who registered, it's too bad that's the way elections work. there will be a much larger turnout. democrats are hopeful. they'llarger turnout, do better in the presidential year they did in the midterm election. host: augusta, georgia tommy next, democrat line. myler: thank you for taking call. guest: hi tom. caller: i say the republican of the worses one groups of presidential mydidates i ever seen in life. starting with donald trump. you. host: david yepsen, as far as the turnout is concerned, we saw back and forth especially on the republican side about issues like ethanol. does that issue turn an average just ther or is it farmer involved? how does that play out as far as caucuss for whom on night? guest: i think it is a factor caucusgoers take into consideration. i think it's a relatively minor one. important industry in iowa. there's no question about it. voters, do you think ethanol support for renewable important,rd is you'll find 60% of republicans of it's important and 70% democrats. if you start to ask them to rank and important, republican side the issue is national security. on the democratic side issue be economics and income equality. thato think -- i know caucusgoers are much more concerned about issues like a candidate's character, whether they see them as president of the united states. with adon't go around checklist on ethanol in iowa. not.an issue but it's just i don't think it's a driving most caucusgoers in either party. issues you maye be referring to is the matter of faith, religious candidates, voters as we hear them describe. we hear a lot of support for donald trump amongst that front. for people like ted cruz or mike huckabee? on you give your explanation that factor especially this time around? guest: it is true that socialicals and conservatives are a big part of party.ublican there is a real competition for the evangelical community here on the republican side. that's one of the -- you see debate.the you have to prove up on your faith if you're a candidate. what drives know you and your relationship with jesus. with that's important part of the in theent that voters republican party make. that's not true just near iowa. everywhere.'s true host: tucson, arizona, ben good morning, thanks for holding on republican line. caller: last time was the first time i watched c-span. i was impressed with the coverage you gave trump. used to be a democrat and now conservative. i'm little shocked that i hear these reporters and these republicans saying they're trump has gone where he went. american people built.e wall i was surprised that all of republicans said that jumps up. move on their part. guest: there's no question that donald trump has tapped into something. i think you're absolutely right. americans in both parties are concerned about border security. addresses are having to that in their campaign. into atrump has tapped lot with that issue and a lot of other issues as well. and bordermigration security. host: from glenn in lancaster, california, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. s. need better candidate the "washington journal" and news doesn't vet them anymore. of them up here with parents that were born in countries. rubio didn't become a citizen. parents didn't become citizens until three years after he was born. both of them were from cuba. his parents -- he was born into. the political process, they shouldn't be up on the stage with mr. trump. god bless our troops. the election. thank you. only reaction to that, i'm one of those people who think both ted cruz and marco rubio did. think that question has been settled. i understand the politics of raising questions about ted cruz's citizenship. but john mccain was born in the panama canal, he's an american citizen. law is pretty clear on this. pennsylvania, democrats line. caller: hello. good morning. off, i would like to remind everyone in pennsylvania, that it is not petition time. get out and support your candidate. get a petition for whichever party and get out and get your ballot.he on tvlike the gentleman there in the red sweater to iowain the rules of the caucuses i get upset when they won the iowa caucus. rand paul won iowa last year, we got 20 delegations at the the nominee got eight. rules you to explain the and whoever they say wins on monday, may not be the true of the iowa caucuses. thank you very much. guest: that's a good point caller. this is the beginning of the delegate selection process. we talk about vetting candidates. what caucusgoers in both parties do. they get a chance to see these and personally and put them through some scrutiny. when they go to a caucus, meeting.ood it's not voting in a primary. you get together and you express a preference. republicans both parties elect delegates at their caucuses to county conventions, those in turn go to state and district conventions. conventionational delegates. lot can change in a race from caucus night until june when the state convention is held. out.dates drop candidate jones may have a lot caucuses but the enough she not have may drop out the race by the selected.elegates are rons true in this case with people wereme, his very committed, very firmly wanted to stay with him. they felt they were elected and didn't want those votes reflect in the national convention. there's always a few delegates got hereis is how i and i will stay with a candidates. delegates, they tend to join up with the front runner. hear statements from donald trump, like the one he made recently if he wins iowa the table. what do you think of the statement? what does history tell us as far and their in iowa success of getting to the white house? most of them don't run the table. there are some. didy carter for example who run the table. even george w. bush won iowa. he was a republican front runner. tends to process that elevate some candidates. whittle out others. there's a lot of concern in other places about all the that iowa has. iowa i thought was the beginning of the process. of the process. state -- while iowa does not reflect the country as a whole, the activist, the people do tend to reflect their party. you look at the people who go to caucus, they look look like the people who show up the floor in the democratic convention. same is true in the republican party. it'she