presence in that part of the state. down here. up here in the southeast corner. we watch these areas tonight. if senator santorum, if his kole lorks he s the purple candidate. if these areas are filling in purple, it means santorum is matching the experience of 2008, winning the christian conservative voters. that would put him on a path to a stronger performance, perhaps a victory. but the republican coalition is more complicated. 2008, we looked for establishment voters and evan je vel cal voters. you ll notice some areas overlap. rep the key. the darker the key, the higher percentage of voters that say they identify with the tea party. you see pockets here. up in the northern part of the state. a lot of this overlaps with where the evangelical voters are. who will come out tonight? will we have overall intensity? they want to beat barack obama next november, they want to see
this is decision day in iowa. just four hours from now, republicans will gather in caucuses across the state and cast the first votes in the 2012 campaign. the candidates have spent months of the trial paving the way with millions in campaign cash. much of that money has gone towards a barrage of negative advertising. now, in a final flurry of appearances, the rhetoric has reached a new peak or maybe a new low. you said mitt romney, somebody who will lie to you to get to be president will lie to you when they are president. i have to ask you, are you calling mitt romney a liar? yes. you re calling mitt romney a liar? you seem shocked by it. yes. why are you saying he s a liar? this is a man who s staff created the pack. his millionaire friends fund the pack. he pretends he has nothing to do with the pack. it s balogna. it s like his pretense that he s a conservative. wow. let s go live to our chief political correspondent, candy crowley. she s in des moines. you
good. the unemployment rate is still stuck at 9.1%. dan lothian is adding up the numbers. what do they mean for the president and for the american pe people? the economy is having a difficult time finding traction even as the 2012 campaign ramps up. republicans are blaming this on the president s quote failed policies, but this is all showing a sense of urgency for the president and members of congress that they need to do something now. on a beautiful fall day in the nation s capitol, nothing but blue skies and sunshine. but a dark cloud continues to linger over the nation s economy. the reason we re not seeing the hiring we want is because we re not seeing the economic growth we need. the latest numbers bare that out. unemployment remains at 9.1%, what a white house called unacceptably high. while employers added 103,000 jobs, the report was relative weak. it is far from good enough. white house aides say this underscores the need for quick action on the president