injuries. but what happened to one lance corporal made my jaw drop. how does anyone survive having a rocket-propelled grenade being shot into their body? here s correspondent barbara starr. reporter: marine corporal perez know the rocket-propelled grenade was coming right at him. all of a sudden, just, i just saw the rpg coming towards me, and it hit me, and you know, i was hit and my boys, they knew exactly what to do and they came down, no hesitation, no nothing, and they picked me up, got me to safety. reporter: winder perez had a live, foot-long, rocket-propelled grenade embedded in his left side, but even so, he kept his cool. i tried to call in my own medivac, but u couldn t because my radio, the rpg had struck the battery in my radio. reporter: plain words from this baseball-loving 23-year-old native of the dominican republic. perez and his fellow marines knew the rpg could explode at any minute, but they also knew he needed medical help as soon as possible.
rhetoric certainly is getting sharper. and there are seven major candidates now but after seven more days, will some of those candidates start falling by the wayside on the campaign trail? that s coming up in our strategy session this hour. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. we re here in dubuque. a bit chilly but no snow. it s getting ready, a week from today, the iowa caucuses. you re looking at live pictures from dubuque. this will be the first state to have an impact on the 2012 presidential campaign, and it s all happening here in iowa. the republican caucuses candidate are out on the campaign trail today. they re scrambling to cover as much ground as they possibly can. newt gingrich slipping a bit, but still among the leaders. he s ready to roll across the state by bus. he ll join me live here in dubuque later this hour for an in-depth interview, but let s begin with cnn s jim acosta, he s in des moines, the state capital. iowa certainly very much up fo