>> midco supports c-span as a public service, along with these othetelevision providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. ♪ >> coming up on c-span's "washington journal," your callf the website "bleeding heartland" discusses the democratic plan for the upcoming iowa caucuses ahead of the gop caucuses. our discussion of the iowa caucuses continues with barbara trish, professor of political science at grinnell college. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal."

snow falling in iowa where republicans are kicking off the 2024 residence race. i'll winds will gather tomorrow for their states presidential caucuses, which will give americans some idea of who the gop voters think should be there standardbearer against president joe biden in november. former president trump is showing a strong lead in curve polling with nikki haley and -- haley and ron desantis trailing in second place. this morning, we want to hear from republicans only. we want to know, who is your choice in 2024? if you are supporting former president trump, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. if you are supporting ron desantis, your number is going to. if you are supporting nikki haley, we want you to call (202) 748-8002. if you are supporting someone else, we want to hear from you, as well. your number will be (202)

748-8003. you can also text us your opinion at (202) 748-8003. we are always reading on social media, facebook and facebook.com/c-span and on x @cspanwj. we will begin, republicans will be gathering in iowa on monday to caucus and figure out who is going to be i was choice for the republican -- iowa was choice for the republican candidate to run against joe biden. we will see a bunch of republicans delivering their closing arguments today in iowa, including former president trump. who will be speaking at 1:00 p.m. eastern in indianola, iowa. nikki haley will be in adel, iowa at seven to cut p.m. tonight and ron desantis will be in anarchy, iowa at 945 time p.m. eastern time -- 9:45 p.m.

eastern time. you can see all of this today on c-span, c-span.org and if you download the c-span now app. we want to bring to you and hear from republicans who you are going to support, especially if you are in iowa, new hampshire or south carolina. those are the first states that will be choosing this year, republican voters in those states, we especially want to hear from you. today, we are going to talk to republicans only. if you support former president trump, (202) 748-8000. ron desantis, (202) 748-8001. nikki haley, (202) 748-8002. and if your choice is someone else in the republican field, (202) 748-8003. once again, republicans are making their closing arguments. here is a portion of nikki haley's campaign pitch to

caucus-goers in iowa on saturday. [video clip] >> i think president trump was the right president at the right time. i agree with a lot of his policies. but, rightly or wrongly, can't follow him. you know i am right. can't follow him. we can't have a country in disarray and go through four more years of chaos. we will not survive it. [applause] and, we cannot afford a president kamala harris at all. that is why november matters. if you look at the general election head-to-head poles against biden, ron does not beat biden. trump is head-to-head with biden. on a good day, he might be up by two. i am in every one of those polls. i defeat biden by double digits,

by 17 points. [applause] do you know what that means for our country? that is governorship, that is house, senate all the way down to school board. u.n. double digits going into d.c., that is a mandate to stop wasteful spending and get our economy back on track. that is a mandate to get our kids reading again and go back to the basics in education. that is a mandate to secure our border with no more excuses. that is a mandate to bring law & order back to our country. that is a mandate for a strong america that we can all be proud of. [applause] we can do this. the fellas are scared. you can see our numbers going up in the polls. americans just want to see that it is possible. you are going to set the tone.

this starts with iowa. y'all know how to do this. you take this responsibly. i know, i have done over 150 town halls. y'all ask every question. i have been the last one to leave, but it is worth it because our country is worth it. now, monday is going to be cold. [applause] [laughter] really cold. but, what i am asking you is if you will take the time to not just go to the polls, take people with you. wear layers, because you might be standing in line. take your id, but think of the fact that you might be making history in this moment. host: we will begin as i said earlier, kurland polling has former president trump ahead of the iowa caucuses. i want to bring you some of the

latest polling data coming from nbc news, des moines register and mediacom iowa as we move into the caucuses tomorrow. here is the story from this morning. evangelical christians first time caucus-goers and registered republicans, former president trump holds a nearly 30 point lead in the final nbc news moyne register mediacom iowa poll before monday's gop caucuses. the poll also finds trump enjoying the backing of the most enthusiastic and committed likely caucus-goers, which could be crucial as the state grapples with subzero temperatures and even colder wind on caucus night. "i know there is a lot of controversy on him, but i feel like he is the man for the job right now" said 34-year-old poll respondent owen of des moines's who says he is caucusing for trump. i do not feel anyone else

running is as qualified as he is. her president trump is holding a nearly 30 point lead as we go into monday's deal be cox's. let's go into our phone lines. let's see who our viewers, our republican viewers, say should be there choice in 2024. let's start with nick calling from princeville -- calling from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: i just want to say one thing. now, i followed trump since he started. i agree with a lot of politics, i know both sides of it now. the problem i have with the media is, it is one-sided. it is to organizations fighting each other, but the problem is the democrats own the media. they get their point across more than the republicans. one thing about trump that led me to like this guy is, he is truthful.

he was not paid off -- i am sorry, most politicians are. everyone tries to stable this country. we are going to keep doing what we do. in really lacked that trump is sticking the lead -- i am really glad that trump is taking the lead and i think he can truthfully win. it is very important. this second phase of the step of trump to complete his agenda, we all know that this country is very safe with trump. host: let's go to roy calling from poughkeepsie, new york. good morning. caller: hi, good morning. i will be supporting president trump in both my states primary and the general election, which by the way, i firmly believe he

will win in a landslide. i voted for him in both the primary and general in 2016 and 2020 and i cannot wait to vote for him for a third time here in 2024. as far as the other republican primary candidates, they do not do anything for me. i used to think very highly of governor desantis of florida, but i will never be able to get past that act of total disloyalty he displayed by running against a man who, in my opinion, got him elected to his governorship in 2018. nikki haley, i think she is more of the same, establishment republican stuff we have been dealing with for years. to reiterate, i will be voting for donald j. trump, former president again in 2024. thank you. host: let's go to thomas, who was calling from north carolina. thomas, good morning. caller: good morning.

nikki haley is not conflicted or blinded by self enrichment, or oriented like donald trump was and is with his post office hospital -- the hospital, excuse me. post office hotel in washington. one. two. trump said he would care about veterans, but veterans have to wait 29 days and the v.a. rules over everybody? no veterans out there will vote for trump is another vote for 29 days waiting period forever. number three. i know for a fact nikki haley's husband is hard of hearing. he has problems getting veterans appointments. i know nikki haley, number four, worked in the united nations.

she met all of the leaders of the world. she knows that dictators tell you what you are going to do. well, trump and putin are both dictators and they are both on the same page. trump loves putin. trump loves little guy c hina. big guy in north korea. whatever, he likes to make friends with the bad guy. he liked the guy in the philippines that murdered people left and right and he wants to be dictator for a day, plus four years. in the story. vote for trump and give up your rights. host: once again, republican candidates are crisscrossing iowa today as they prepare for the monday caucuses. florida governor ron desantis spoke to caucus-goers in west des moines on saturday. here is a portion of what he said. [video clip] [applause] >> they can throw a blizzard at

us, and we are going to fight. [applause] >> they can throw a wind chill at us, and we are going to fight. they can throw media narratives at us, and we are going to fight. they can throw fake polls at us, and we are going to fight. we are going to fight, because we are going to turn this around. [applause] donald trump is running for his issues. haley is running for the donors issues. i am running for your issues, your families issues and solely to turn this country around. no one else running, except me, has delivered on 100% of their promises. we made promises and we delivered on those promises. wouldn't you like to have that in the next president of the united states? overdeliver. [applause]

we also see where all of the problems are being generated, whether in the universities, at the border, at corporations as a bureaucracy. i am the only one running that has fought the left and beat the left on issue after issue. we do not just sit there and talk. we do not just sit there and complain. we fight battles and we win battles. we beat ouchi on covid. we beat the teachers union on universal school choice. we beat disney fighting the gender ideology and keeping that out of our schools and protecting parents rights. we beat soros on crime by removing radical prosecutors. we beat the democrats on election integrity by insuring voter id and no ballot harvesting and counting the vote on the night of the election, imagine that. [applause] we beat the left by banning china from buying land in the state of florida. no farmland or land near a

military base, none of that. we have a record of leadership that is second to none. i am sick of republicans -- you see what they are doing right now in washington, they meet with these senators doing some border agreement which is basically caving on everything to the democrats. these guys get beat by the democrats time and time again. they got a majority in the house and some of these other guys are fighting, but they are doing budget deals that cave to the democrats. i am sick of the democrats winning. i am sick of the fact that the democrats eat donald trump on the budget. -- beat donald trump on the budget. i am sick of the fact the democrats beat him on the border wall and we did not get a border wall over four years, like we were promised. you need to win the election, of course, and nobody has a better track record on that than me and what we were able to do in florida. but, winning just the election,

that gives you the ticket to the dance. you have to convert on all of these things, because if you get in there and you do not follow through on these promises, that will be slowing the decline, maybe you will manage a decline better than the democrats. that does not cut it. we need to reverse the decline. host: once again, republicans are gathering in iowa today as they prepare for monday's caucuses. the last bowl that came out about -- poll that came out about republican chances in iowa, i want to bring you that this morning, this comes from seltzer and company, nbc and the des moines register. we see that former president trump is the first choice of 48% of those people polled. the po that came out this morning. in second place, we see former south carolina governor nikki haley coming in at 20%.

i am sorry, i misspoke. that is ron desantis cong in at 20%. florida governor ron desantis coming in a20%. nikki haley, former south carolina governor, comes int 16%. vivek ramaswamy comes in at 8%. that is coming from the latest s moines register poll that shows where the republican candides stand as we move toward the monday's iowa caucuses. once again, we want you here from republicans only. who will be your choice in 2024? you either have -- we have phone lines for former president trump . ron desantis, nikki haley or if there is somebody outside of those top three you want to talk about this morning. give us a call. let's go to bruce calling from athens, tennessee. bruce, good morning. caller: hey.

i vote for trump, he is a businessman. he has made it in business and he knows how to fight. he is not in there to advance his own fortune and his fortune before he started running. biden and his fortune from politics. trump did not make a fortune from politics. he knows how to fight, but he has to fight the swamp all the way. i do not trust our legal system anymore, because anybody can put a lawsuit out, but he has not been convicted. this is absolutely wrong when we have a legal system that can do this kind of thing. if you think this is going to through -- to go through against trump, then you better believe that in the future, you are going to have it happen on both sides. so, we better have this stop now.

thank you. host: let's talk to benjamin, calling from san diego, california. benjamin, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i am actually an independe,consg candidate this time. if it is donald trump, we are going to lose. host: i'm going to cut you off, because we are asking for republicans only this morning. if you are a republican, we need you to call in. however, everyone else, you need to wait for our next segments. this segment is republican only. let's go to jim calling from new bedford, massachusetts. good morning. caller: i was just calling to see if vivek ramaswamy had changed his name to others. host: is that who you are supporting? caller: i am. host: and why? caller: i think he is young, vibrant, he has excellent ideas

on just about every topic. and, he is on the iowa ballot. i just thought that if you only had four slots, perhaps you could have changed the santos and haley to put in -- desantis and haley to put in established republicans. host: all right, let's go to ernest calling from south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. sure appreciate you, thank y'all for taking my call. i have got a couple of comments and maybe one suggestion. i am a donald trump supporter, 100%. nikki haley will not carry the primary in south carolina. i have got a suggestion, i would like c-span2 think about it. i would like for donald trump to pick senator joe manchin. host: before i let you go, why don't you think nikki haley, the former governor, will win the primary in south carolina? caller: no, nikki haley will not

win the primary ship in north carolina. host: why don't you think she will win the primary ship if she won the government chip -- she wanted the governor ship? caller: we will have to -- host: what does she do as governor that you would not supporter for president? caller: the part of history about our state, i will be honest with you, i did not like what she did about the flag. that had nothing to do with -- charleston, that was him. not the people of south carolina. host: ok. so you are going to support former president trump in the south carolina primary? caller: yes, 100%. yes, sure. host: if i didn't mistake you, i think i heard you say that you would support democratic senator joe manchin as his vice president? caller: yes, i would. yes, i would.

i have followed senator joe manchin over the years. he was a democrat, but very much conservative if you look at his issues and how he voted over the years. i like him and i think he would bring a lot to the board with donald trump if he was to be the candidate. host: ok. let's go to bonnie calling from lancaster, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: yes, good morning, thank you so much for taking my call. i say this to every single american in the united states. it is up to us to clean house. it is of to us to get out and vote. i can't understand why so many democrats, especially our president, hates donald trump. the reason being, he is transparent. he may not talk the talk, but he

does walk the walk. if you look at where we are today, compared to where we were when he left the white house after four years of trump workmanship, look where we are. we did not have a war going on. we were doing quite well and almost energy independent. the voters have to say, are we better off today than we were three years ago? host: does this mean you are supporting former president trump in your states primary? caller: he is a businessman, yes. i think vivek would make a good vp. they are very similar. they are both businessmen, but vivek would be a wonderful vp for him. host: you called him on the -- you called in on the ron desantis line. so, you are going to support former president trump? caller: as we -- if we have no

other choice. the democrats, they absolutely do not like him in that white house. but, my first choice beyond him would definitely be ron desantis. he has done wonders for florida. he is a good guy. he would be my first choice if, if, trump does not get in on the general election. host: all right. let's go to jeff, calling from avon, ohio. jeff, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, jeff. caller: yes. you know, regarding the election and who i support, donald trump has gone through so much and there is so much hatred against him. he did so many good things with his leadership. he did deliver some results and he showed the rest of the candidates in the republican party what needs to be done. however, i think i'm going to change my vote this year because

i did vote for trump last election. i'm going to vote for ron desantis. ron can deliver. he has delivered on results. he knows what he needs to do to turn this country around. with the divisiveness and hatred in this country if desantis is elected for the republican chooses nikki as his running mate, eventually. i think those two would make a good combination, if they can get past their personal differences. host: all right. well, one of the concerns about tomorrow's caucuses is the weather in iowa. in fact, the weather has been so severe that armor president donald trump has had to cancel some of his campaign visits in iowa because of the snowy conditions. cnn has a story about this i want to bring to you. former president trump's campaign on friday canceled

three of four in prison campaign events he was scheduled to hold, just days before the iowa caucuses because of extreme weather in the state, opting to hold until rallies instead. trump canceled both rallies he was scheduled to hold on saturday in sioux city and atlantic and is now holding a tele rally featuring attorney general rhianna byrd in the morning. as of now, trump is still scheduled to hold one in person rally sunday in indianola. his campaign schedule -- will hold a tele rally with andy kaufman. we will bring you comments that president trump made, these comments are from a fox news town hall on wednesday where former president trump took aim at his opponents on the issues of national debt in the future of entitlement programs. here is what former president trump had to say. [video clip] >> when nikki haley and ron

desantis hit you again on this eight trillion dollar figure and call you a big government republican, what you say to them? >> i say simply, we were going to pay down a lot of debt. when covid came along if i did not inject this country with money, you would have had a depression the likes of which you had never seen. you had to inject money. we gave businesses that were going bankrupt, temporarily bankrupt but they needed money. we helped businesses. if i did not do that, you would have had a depression in this country. that was a very good investment. now, what they should be doing instead of the debt they are building at record levels, they should be paying down their debt and they ought to go into the energy business instead of this grain new scam business they are in. >> what about cutting spending? $34 trillion in debt. let's look at what you would do in terms of getting that number down. what would you get rid of? >> we have a lot of cutting but a lot of income.

we have more liquid gold under our feet, energy, oil and gas more than any other country in the world. when i came in, we were number four. when i left, you know, not that long period of time, four years, we were number one by a lot. we were soon going to double up saudi arabia and russia combined. we were going to make a lot of money. we have a lot of potential income. desantis wants to cut social security and medicare. nikki haley wants to cut social security -- nikki haley wanted to raise the age from 65 to 74, 75. >> only for young people in their 20's. that is going to run out of money. at some point, someone has to address it, right? >> that is what they say when it starts. it is only for young people, then it does not work for young people and they end up getting up to people who are the age where it matters. no good. host: we will begin this hour,

we are talking to republicans only and we want to know who your choice will be for the republican nomination for president in 2024. we are opening up special lines once again, if you support former president trump, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. if you support florida governor ron desantis, your number is (202) 748-8001. if you support former south carolina governor nikki haley, the number is (202) 748-8002. if there is someone else outside of those top three in the polling that you support, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8003. keep in mind, you can always text us your answer at (202) 748-8003. we are always reading on social media, twitter, x @cspanwj and facebook.com/c-span. let's go back to our phone lines and talk to sandy, calling from

youngstown, ohio. sandy, good morning. caller: hi, good morning. i support trump, because he is not owned■s by all the lobbyists and politicians. so, therefore, he does not have to destroy this country because that is what the elitists want to happen and that is what they are doing now. why do you think they are overrunning the country with illegals constantly? who was it that said about future voters -- exactly. desantis said that trump did not build a wall. he was fought the whole time. he tried and was fought a lot. he almost had it done when he lost the election. so -- nikki haley did say that she wanted to raise the, 65 was too low. i agree with trump, they will not just stop at the young people.

also, desantis as good -- is for florida as a governor, but also, where is he getting his money? lobbyists. he has done some -- i think sold some land to chinese in florida. so, wait a minute. yeah. well, anyway. it does not matter what republican gets in the office. republicans are always attacked by democrats. we are so close to being a socialist country now that they are not going to let any republican when on any circumstances. that one guy who said trump is a dictator, they are arresting people without due process. they are putting in prison for protest, being on the lawn of the capital. they are not even letting -- they are not even giving them a trial or anything. they are holding them for years.

yet, how many times have the democrats, the lefties, how many times have they already been at the capital protesting and interrupting things? like, five times? did anybody get arrested? they do not arrest their own people. host: let's go to girl, calling from elton, maine -- earl, calling from elton, maine. caller: that is elton, maryland. host: i apologize. i have actually been to elton, maryland. i live in maryland, myself. i had a brain lock for a second. caller: that is ok. it is a tiny town anyway. i am 100% behind donald trump and pretty much for obvious reasons. he did a hell of a good job when he was in office and i think he would have done better if they had stopped attacking him. i do not believe they will stop attacking him if he is elected again. i think we will see a repeat, the same situation.

the democrats will not get off of him. they will continue this until such times they drive him into the ground. i will vote for him, but to be honest with you, vote for desantis first because he, i think, would make it in the white house. i think he would do a good job. i think he would follow the same lines as trump follows. host: earl, if the choice came down to trump versus desantis, who would you choose? caller: trump. 100%. he is a good man. host: but, desantis only if trump is available. caller: there you go. that is exactly right. host: all right, ok. let's go to newark, new jersey. les, good morning. caller: good morning, good morning. host: go ahead. caller: my question is, i like

the sentence because what he stands for. he has not backed off anybody, and this man is on target. he is on the ball with everything. he will stop biden from opening up orders and all of that. he will stop china by allowing biden to do a blast to china -- we do not want that. [indiscernible] i think desantis, he is a man down for a fight. no matter what they say about him, no matter what they say about anybody, if trump does not make it, desantis beat him. haley is all right, but [indiscernible]

she would cut social security. i think that is a lie. i do not think she will do that because she cares about the people. i think desantis would be my second choice. i think we are going to have a good, good, good election monday. i hope desantis wins. haley, too. the santos is my second choice. i have been to florida many times. i know that florida is a great state. thank you. thank you. i hope, i hope desantis comes out of it. if trump does not make it, desantis is your man. thank you. host: this caller brings us

something that we saw in the most recent iowa poll that came up this morning. ron desantis apparently is the top second choice for many people in the polls. once again, former president trump is the first choice of 48% of the people being polled. however, when people asked for their second choice, their second choice ron desantis sits at 20%. if you choose someone else, the second choice, donald trump is only 12%. nikki haley is the second choice of 14% of the people polling. it seems like many voters in iowa are seriously considering who their second choice would be if their first choice does not come through. candidates are crisscrossing as possible before monday's caucus vote. in a recent stop in clive, iowa,

ron desantis spoke on the issue of electability, of whether someone can actually be elected as president. here is a portion of what ron desantis had to say. [video clip] >> i am the only one running, if you look at the problems we have as americans and the source of those problems on the political left, i am the only one running that has beaten these people time and time and time again in florida. [applause] we beat the teachers union by doing universal school choice. we beat fauci on covid. we beat soros on crime. we beat the democrats on election integrity by banning ballot harvesting and having universal voter id. we beat the left by banning china from purchasing land in the state of florida. on and on it goes. we stood up, we fought the people that are causing the problems and we have beaten the people that are causing the problems. what is the result of that?

florida, ranked number one for economy. florida, ranked number one for education. florida, ranked number one for gdp growth amongst large states. on and on it goes. you see the results. we need to win again as republicans. yes, it does mean winning the election. i can tell you this, if you look at -- steve mentioned this, donald trump, if he is the nominee, the whole election is going to be about legal issues, criminal trials, maybe criminal convictions by then, january 6, all of that. that plays into the democrats hands. that plays into the media's hands. the whole election is going to be about those issues, and not your issues. biden will be able to hang on in the basement and they may not run baden -- biden. i am assuming it may not be

biden. i do not think they would put biden on a debate stage against me. i think they would try to find something else to do with that. [applause] that is just the reality. so, you can appreciate what donald trump did. you cannot like the people who are doing this to him, the doj and these prosecutors in new york. 100%. it is unfair. that does not mean it is the right thing for the country to nominate him to be in 2024. host: the republicans are crisscrossing iowa as we prepare for monday's caucus vote. i want to bring to you once again the most recent poll that came out from the des moines register, nbc news mediacom with former president trump holding a commanding lead at 48%. former south carolina governor nikki haley is sitting in second

place right now at 20%. florida governor ron desantis is sitting at 18%, close to nikki haley. vivek ramaswamy is coming at 8% in the des moines register poll that leads up to the caucuses on monday night. once again, we are talking to republicans only. we want to know who your choice is in 2024. let's talk to brian, calling from rockland, massachusetts. brian, good morning. caller: hello, hi. actually, a true independent. i voted for john mccain. i did not vote for obama, i did not vote for trump. i am an independent. this time in massachusetts, i will be voting in the republican primary. it is just up in the air. i think -- i like nikki haley one, ron desantis second. trump third.

th is, the whole democratic party canceling democracy is making me upset. i know this is a replican line, but mine would be nikki, then desantis, then trump third. but, they are all good candidates. i am just worried about trump's age. host: let's go to glenn, calling from worchester, mass. good morning. caller: good morning. host: who would you support of the republican nominations in 2024? caller: i have got a weird way of looking at it. i support this mantis -- i support desantis as vice president. donald trump, 100% as president. host: what makes you put them in that order? caller: well, desantis has proven his governorship, the things that he did in florida. he pushed back against the

establishment, i want to say, during covid. he has never walked the line -- let's say, his rebellion. i do not know if there is a different word to use. he does not really knock trump, but i think he is young enough that if trump got in there for the next four years, he would put the world back in line. then, desantis could follow in. host: ok. all right. let's go to andy, calling from arizona. andy, good morning. caller: good morning, good morning. thank you. my order of president i would like would be trump first, ramaswamy second, desantis third. i do not think i can get behind nikki haley. the reason i would vote for trump again, the third time is

just -- you know, i get it. the candidates got to go after each other in the gop primary here. nikki haley talked about chaos follows trump. that is all manufactured from mainstream media from day one. even washington post, let the impeachment begin on day one. so. trump had many accomplishments, despite all of the obstruction. opportunity, energy independence, no new wars, on and on. i could list about 20 compliments. i know they want to call trump hitler, but they also called george bush hitler. just a bunch of hyperbole. so, yeah. i live in a border state. i have got to tell you, my area -- it is not a rich area, a poor area, it is a ok area. i go into a walmart, it looks

like a third world country. panhandlers, saying refugee needs money. i do not know. trump has world leaders respecting him. so, yeah, trump. i think we will be just fine with trump. he is not going to be a dictator. he is not going to execute people. that is hyperbole and fear mongering. thank you. host: let's call to sam calling from delaware. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: just fine. go ahead, sam. caller: i will be voting for trump and i would like to see nadler, schumer, all of them be arrested for all of the stuff they did illegally and all of the things they said were not true. if everybody got behind trump, can you just imagine what would happen to the u.s.? he is not the best person in the world. nobody is.

everybody has false. this man tried to give us the benefit and the establishment tried to crush him. he might have a speeding ticket somewhere, but that is not what we are after. the man in the presidency right now, you can't find the truth in what he says. i will never vote for another democrat in my lifetime, to be honest with you, not after i have watched the last four years. i think he deserves it. i think he has earned it. host: all right. let's go to earl calling from saint europe -- st. joseph, missouri. good morning. caller: i am being held in a nursing home appear against my will -- up here, against my will [indiscernible] that is what is going on. they locked up the boats so we cannot vote. anyway, i am voting for donald trump because i feel he has done

a lot of achievements. i was in the democratic party. the last 13 years, i have been a republican in missouri. i went to the republican party because they were getting things done better and donald trump has stuck his neck out. he has lost a lot of things, along with his business rights in new york city and that was totally wrong. he had a right to operate the casino or whatever he wanted to do. i am not a casino person. i am a reformed gambler. i am a minister now. that is right. driver. ok. i earned my. that is what i have done in my country and i'm voting for donald trump and that is the bottom line. host: let's talk to brian, calling from virginia. brian, good morning. caller: good morning. good morning. i am voting for the deck --

vivek. i think trump was a phenomenal president, despite some of the problems that occurred. that was mostly based upon obstruction. but, too many people have -- are to violently against trump and i think vivek has all of the positives of trump, and does not carry a lot of baggage that trump does. so. vivek also is, would take us back to a lot of the values of our country. that is the only positives about it. host: once again, i want to remind our viewers that today, the presidential -- republican presidential candidates are

crisscrossing iowa as they make their closing arguments for monday's presidential caucus. at 1:00 p.m. today, former president trump will be speaking in indianola. at seven a clock p.m. today the these are in eastern time -- nikki haley will be speakg at adele, iowa. at 9:45 p.m. this evening, ron desantis will be speaking in anarchy, iowa. you can see these appearances on c-span. you can follow us on c-span.org. if you download the c-span now app, you can watch it on there, as well. yes, on thursday in anarchy, iowa, nikki haley came out to talk about federal spending and what she would do with federal spending if she is the republican presidential candidate. here is what nikki haley had to say. [video clip] >> i am about solutions. i am about results. what does that mean? that means the first thing we are going to do is call back the

covid dollars out there. we are going to go after the hundreds of billions of dollars of covid fraud. one out of every seven dollars was spent fraudulently. if 8% of our budget is interest, quit borrowing. cut out the credit cards. you have to balance the budget every day. why is congress the only group that abuses the balance of budget? we will stop the spending, stop the borrowing, eliminate the pet projects and earmarks and i will veto any spending bill that is not take us back to pre-covid levels. that will save us trillions. [applause] we are going to take as many federal programs as we can and send them to the states. that reduces the size of the federal government and empowers people on the ground. think education, think welfare,

think health care. then, i think we should also look at the fact that we have to allow the middle class to breathe. let's eliminate the federal gas and diesel tax in this country. that will go a long way to making sure that we start that breathing process and let's cut taxes on the middle class and simplify the brackets. we are watching the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. we need to open it up. then, let's make sure that we focus on what we need to do to pay them -- pay down our debt. how are we going to get cash flow moving again so you have more money in your pocket? the best way to do that is to make the small business tax cuts permanent. they made them temporary. small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy. we need to start making small as this tax cuts permanent. when you do those things, that will start to get our economy back on track, including getting all of our agencies cleaned out. host: let's see what some of our

social media followers are saying about their choice for president on the republican side in 2024. here's a poll from x that says trump, no substitute for the real thing, magor lose the country tohina after civil war. re's a facebook post that says my choice is ron desantis, because he has been a great governor in florida and we need a w generation to lead this country. another post fm x that says, my first choice after my first choice is n. i have my hands on the phone, but my first choice after my first choice. another post from facebook that says, trump only. the government has stolen enough from the people, no more torance. another facebook post that says, i wish ron and don would get along. ron would be a great vp and would carry on when don's term ende another post from x that says,

trump all the way. i love the colors that say they will not vote for trump because the left will be violent. i do not think trump can get the independents on board to vote for him, so i will have to go with desantis. we want to hear from republican voters on who they think should be their standardbearer against president trump. the des moines register poll has president trump at 48%. nikki haley at 20%. ron desantis at 16%. at ramaswamy at 8% -- vivek ramaswamy at 8%. we want to know who you would support. richard calling from nashville, tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. i am voting 100% for trump. yeah, i like ron desantis but he did not give trump credit for bailing him out when he was about to lose the governorship of florida. nikki haley made her ambassador,

everybody wants to address her as miss ambassador but the truth of the matter is -- let's look at boeing when they left to south carolina. those were union jobs. i like vivek because he is young and has fresh legs and is doing what has to be done. at the end of the day, what has been seen and done in the last 10 years of this country by the democratic party, you need somebody that has got the money, that has got the goods, has got it all in order to stand up and fight. the recent donald trump being put through what he is being put through -- remember, all of them are guilty of doing business with him, democrat and republican alike. all of the people in new york city, when you deal with skyscrapers, you have to deal with everybody. politicians, construction, on and on. i have been watching him since he was on the johnny carson show. i have been watching him and i am voting for him, no matter

what. he would have to die tomorrow for anybody else to get my vote. let's get on board, country, because you need man to fight. it is china, it is all of it. have a great day. host: let's talk to stephanie, calling from new brownsville, texas. good morning. stephanie, are you there? stephanie, are you there? all right, let's go to alan, calling from rockaway park, new york. good morning. caller: hi, thank you -- excuse me, thank you for taking my call. i want to say, i am not a political person. i have no affiliation. as far as donald trump is concerned, all i can say is, never underestimate the stupidity of the u.s. electorate. i could create a college course

of all of the things he has said and done, even in his first impeachment. i can't believe people can't see the light. he has had such a pernicious effect on politics in this country. to answer your question, guns in my hand, i would have to take nikki haley. i also attest the guy from florida, desantis, the things with disney world and he is trying to ban books. this guy is anti-american. thank you. host: let's talk to gary, calling from young wood, pennsylvania. before we go to gary, once again, we are talking to republicans only. if you are supporting former president trump, it is (202) 748-8000. if you are supporting florida governor ron desantis, it is (202) 748-8001. if you are supporting former

south carolina governor nikki haley, (202) 748-8002. or anyone else in the republican field, your number is going to be (202) 748-8003. now, let's go to gary, calling from young wood, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. yeah, i live in -- territory, which pretty much makes you a caucasian democrat. a lot of these democrats have eastern european surnames. the pope tells them to vote for the --the only diversity is [indiscernible] catholics. the city voted about 70% democrat, 70% caucasian. i almost voted for hugo chavez back in the day, but it was an

affiliation with the muslim brotherhood. the dnc turned me off of him. these old, european surname women say they can't afford their grocery, i tell them, well, you are a woman so that makes you a democrat. i guess you get what you vote for. host: gary, who are you supporting in the republican primary? caller: well, when i voted for trump, the local republicans were trying to push me to the delegates that were going to send me to ted cruz. i want this democrat. give me this orange medicine. so, yeah, i went for trump. probably was a bad call. i feel like his policies --, yeah, he is decisive. i like ramaswamy for what he has to say about the media. can't disagree with that.

you do the washington post and new york times every morning on "washington journal," and most of the country thinks -- the deplorable's think cnn or the communist news network are proctors or something. consider myself more of a libertarian. do not care how many babies you kill or who you sleep with. none of my business. my life was better five or six years ago than it is now. host: let's go to demi calling from maryland. caller: good morning. i am voting for trump, 100%. i think with him not being in office not getting voted in, i think he has got a plan where he can really drain the swamp now. i hope people can see what is going on and will stand behind trump 100%, because that man

knows what he is doing and he knows how to fix the swamp. i think he is going to be 100% better than ever. so, i just wish people would get behind him and go for it. thank you. that is all. host: let's talk to jesse, calling from albuquerque, new mexico. jesse, good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. so, i just have a few rhetorical questions inking about this. i will tell you, i reregistered as a republican after the 2020 election. i had a really weird thing happened to me when i went to the voting booth, or when i went to the voting place. they told me i had already voted, which i had not. i forced i way to get a vote in anyways. that was interesting, but anyways. two rhetorical questions about what is going on now. who do you think mike pence would support right now?

what do you think he feels about donald trump being the president again? first rhetorical question. second one, there is a reason why we are looking at having a 77-year-old versus a 81-year-old running as president. it is because we have an aging population. they are trying to pray on the medical issues of that population. i think we need a younger president like nikki haley. that is just my feelings. have a great day. host: we would like to thank our callers who participated in our first segment this morning. after the break, we are going to take you to snow we des moines, iowa where we will be joined by two guests to talk about the politics in histories as and histories of the iowa caucuses. laura belin, publisher and writer for the website "bleeding heartland" and were first, a snapshot from isla from

the basement of the historical museum, here is in at the expensive collection that has influenced wars since 1972. >> looking for materials that represent candidates coming to our -- isla and the role our state has played. our museum -- you have senator edmund muskie, george mcgovern of south dakota. there is bob dole and george h w bush democratic debate. we have over 3000 items connected to the isla caucus, a lot of material from the 1970's. bumper stickers and buttons. those persist through how supporters are representing

their ideas. i was surprised that we had a 1972 sign. when you think about paper lasting through the 1980's and 1990's campaign, today it is corrugated plastic. we have things from the mccain office in iowa and obama office, but one of my colleagues was able to get a signed obama for america poster from an obama supporter in 2008. we look for things connected in general, but we also hope to acquire things that really represent the candidate being in iowa as well. the 2008, obama sign is one if you ask about some of my favorite political materials, the obama sign is one of them. sometimes they come to us from donors who are active in a campaign and we usually like

materials that have a picture story, not just, i am a political collector and here are some things. some of the meteor hills -- materials came from those who are politically engaged but also liked to collect material. david the, a longtime reporter for the register had his materials from when he started paying attention in 1964, up until the early 2010. we sometimes look to donors, but we also go out and do our own collecting. candidates have been trying to get their names out in different ways. i know a lot of people have been receiving mailers.

put a bag on your door handle, drop those mailers into the paper bag or plastic bag and save them for the historic state of isla. iowa. host: we are joined this morning by laura, publisher and primary author of bleeding heartland, joining us to just the democratic plan for the upcoming caucuses in the state of the primary field and of the gop caucus. good morning. guest: good morning. host: hopefully you are somewhere more because we have heard about how the weather is being -- in iowa. remind us of your website.

what do you focus on, on bleeding heartland? guest: state government come the state legislature, campaigns and elections for federal office is, state or even local government. we cover social issues, environmental issues -- i am the primary author, but i published more than 100 people every year. a wide range of authors. host: let's talk about what we are seeing in isla right now. what does campaigning look like in iowa this season? what does it look like, especially with the weather that we have been hearing about? guest: i'm very sad about the weather because it will keep some many home tomorrow. i was hoping to see a strong

turnout and this is one of the unfortunate things about a caucus is that you have to be present in person. the democrats i changing things a little bit, but the heightened picture in des moines is supposed to be minus nine fahrenheit. the high temperature tomorrow will be about minus four or minus five. that is not even taking the windchill into effect. it is pretty scary out there. a lot of people canceled events because of the weather. i do not think we will have anymore storms, but the cold is very extreme. i know the former president is going to have a rally later today and indianola, but i went to his last rally and we waited in line outside for about an hour and half.

it is not safe for people to wait in line outside the that. host: do you see where someone might have an advantage where they would not have in normal weather? guest: i think it will depress turnout for everybody. there will be a lot of people supporting candidates who will stay home. but i think it helps donald trump because we see this in poll after poll. we see, again and again that trump supporters are the most enthusiastic, most excited about participating in a caucus. if anybody will drag themselves to the saying it will be trump supporters. i think that the weather gives a slight advantage to nikki haley over ron desantis for the race for second place because nikki

haley seems to be coming on strong in suburban areas. well-funded city governments -- you might have to drive quite a ways. i think that could be an issue. it will affect all of the candidates, but probably best in the urban centers. there are still quite a bit of republicans who live there. host: has the weather affected candidates coming in to do door-to-door politicking that we know that they love to do in iowa? guest: certainly. we have had a pretty mild winter until now. we have not had many cancellations. there have been a lot of events that have been canceled.

it has affected their ability to go out and knock on doors. i have done that work. it was pretty cold. it was very cold. i remember going out and trying to knock on doors. it is brutal. it is just not safe to send people around. the high today will be minus nine. host: we are going to open up our regular lines, which means democrats can call in (202) 748-8000. republicans can call in at (202) 748-8001. independents can call in at (202) 748-8002.

you can always text us at (202) 748-8003, and we are always meeting on social media and facebook. i want to go to a more recent one. they were a little bit messy. remind us what happened and what caused it. guest: there were a lot of things going on in 2020. there was a different way of reporting results. about 1700 different precincts and they were supposed to call in the results. there were long delays. it just happened to be a close race. in a year when 70 was a clear

victor, it would not have made as much of the difference, but it was several weeks before the democratic party was able to finalize result. that is perceived as the decision to leave iowa out of the running. there has been a running sentiment that we are not representative of the country as a whole. the fact that it is difficult to participate in a caucus -- i think they would have lost their first in the nation status anyways. but it did not help. host: on one side, former president donald trump has been known to say some elections are vague and some people are voting one way and then being reported

the other. how confident is iowa that the caucus that will happen tomorrow will be reported correctly guest: he finished second to ted cruz and human on a rant about how it was rigged against him. there was a fairly clear margin. rick santorum and mitt romney ended up finishing very close. they had difficulty getting results and firm certain precincts. it really depends on how close it is. the way things are looking in isla, trump is so far ahead of the rest of the field that i do not think there will be any question about who won the caucus. it is extremely close, but is it

possible others would complain about it? yes. actually worse than people who thought that megan's were undercounted. there were some doubts as far back as that. host: has iowa done anything to make sure people have confidence in the system? guest: caucuses are run by the state parties. they are not like an election run by election officials and the secretary of state. this is a purely party run process.

the republican party -- when it comes to the election, they will be counted in front of everybody . they want people to have confidence at every precinct level. there are going to be paper ballots. host: remind our viewers that they can take part in the conversation. we actually opening up. we will hear from residents in isla. tell us what you are hearing.

we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8003. you can always text us at that number as well. the democrats are actually doing something. guest: it is not -- you may remember if you covered past caucuses that there used to be a lot of complicated math. but everything is different now. to comply with the calendar, there will be no presidential

preference, no presidential selection at the caucus where -- that will happen by mail. they can request a card by february 19. the state party is not going to announce the results until march 5, which is super tuesday. what will happen is purely party business. there will be a presentation. people who gather will be electing party officials. it handles a lot of planning and organizing. electing delegates to county conventions. they will be gathering in late march and dislike people who go

on to the district level. anybody who is a registered democrat or not, they can change their registration if they want to bring a proposed resolution. they will be discussing those as well. it will be a lot different. there will be no go to your corner if you support joe biden or somebody else. host: if you are a democrat and really interested in the presidential process, is there a reason for you to show up? guest: i think so, if you want to get involved in your party, your local party infrastructure. i know someone who will go to her precinct tomorrow and try to get elected as a delegate.

if you ever wanted to get involved, it has never been easier than this year. getting elected is very easy. some people enjoy working on the party platform. they want to advocate. they may be there to offer a resolution. i think we had about 33 people. many people who are interested in connect thing with their neighborhood and seeing what is going on with the county party. host: what are you hearing from voters about president joe biden? are they concerned about his age?

are they concerned about the impeachment efforts going on in congress? is it clear that they are going to support him for another term? guest: i do not think anybody is really concerned about each meant. it is a little bit of a clown show their. all they have shown is that they traded on the family name to get some business opportunities. there are some who are concerned about the president's age. but others feel like he is not getting credit for what he is doing. the u.s. economy, our recovery has been better than other western countries.

if you look at opinion polls naturally, a lot of people get low ratings. we are in the eighth year of a republican trifecta at the state level. i think the cats have been discouraged about what is going on. i hear more people concerned with that. host: let's let some of our viewers join in on the conversation. frank, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was north latitude. what does it mean? white supremacy and fascism. remember january 6? what did that symbolize? the first insurrection in u.s. history.

we should be ashamed of the voters in isla. 91 indictments, felony indictment. come on, people. 140 plus. are you kidding me? donald trump should be in prison and rotting with the rest of those malfeasance people. i am a former veteran, navy veteran. he taught me right from wrong. come on, hypocrisy. these churches are nine -- our nonprofits and endorse politicians at the pulpit. it is wrong. god help this country. thank you for taking my call. host: go ahead and respond. guest: i want to say something

about isla being a republican state. in recent elections, we are almost voting more republican than the south. it is remarkable to me but iowa is not traditionally a solidly republican state. the popular vote in isla was really close to the national the. it really started in the 2014 midterms, but especially noticeable when trump carried iowa. i think that one of the reasons -- this is the question i get asked most often. we always used to be a swing state and what is going on now? it reflects a national trend and

the preponderance on the electorate is those without a college degree. the electorate is even less diverse there. it is something that is more noticeable in isla because of the demographics, but it is amazing to me. host: even with the weather, do you think that former president donald trump will not come in first in the caucus tomorrow? guest: no chance. i think the weather makes it more likely that he will win by a larger margin. i was really curious as to what the turnout would be for all the different candidate. the commanding lead that he has and the fact that we have never seen any evidence that the

preponderance of voters are looking for an alternative to trump. i also do -- i do a weekly show called capital week. we talk about it a lot. when you think about how many political careers have ended just because it came out that somebody was under criminal investigation, whenever somebody has been indicted, and vast majority of the time, a person will end their campaign. the fact that donald trump has not only ended his campaign but gain support. i had to laugh when ron desantis was complaining the otr day. if he could change one thing, he wished those indictments would never have happened. it is completely bizarre.

why would a contender be disappointed that their main rivals for the nomination had been chamoli indicted. -- criminally indicted. host: our next caller is from waco, texas. james, good morning. caller: i just wanted to say that i voted for trump the first time, but it did not take long for him to show his true colors. he is a crook. anybody who cannot see that probably should not be able to vote. this insurrection they were talking about? that was not an insurrection. they just went up there to write and tear up stuff. that is a stain on this country that is never going to go away. i'm not a democrat.

biden's border policy is a disaster. we have got to do something. that is all i have to say. host: laura, respond to james. guest: everybody has the right to vote, no matter how you think of them. i never thought would see an american president refused to acknowledge that he lost the election and millions of people going along with that and storming the capital. i think it is very unfortunate that the republican establishment did not stand up to trump at that time. it was related to the efforts to overturn the election. i understand where you're coming

from. it is something that lot of the republican base -- it is something that the party has to deal with. there are those who want to move on, but they are afraid of upsetting people in the base. you have seen the level of commitment for trump and it is astonishing despite everything he has done. host: let's go to dorothy calling from new york on the democratic line. caller: five things i want to say. get rid of trump. we need a president who is going to walk around and condone -- we do not need a president who is going to walk around and condone what will -- what happened on capitol hill. we have too much going on in this country now for someone to

condone what happened. get rid of trump. guest: one strange thing about the campaign is that you do not have any candidates here making that strong of an appeal. campaigning aggressively, that was his main message. all of the republican candidates have been campaigning in iowa, asa hutchinson might be an exception. they have danced around it and said trump could be a distraction and we need to move forward. he is lying about it. they understand where the base of their party is.

i do not see any way trump can be stopped for the election. even before the most recent round of poles came out, i never sign the evidence that the mass of the republican party was looking for an alternative to trump. he is the de facto incumbent in the field. host: does it matter who comes in second, or is it important to find out who the second choice of republican voters are? guest: i think it matters who comes in second because nikki haley is trailing trump in new hampshire a lot less than any other state. if she had a strong second-place showing -- pointed out a finis, b it was

a surprising, relatively strong second-place showing for him. he was able to do well in the new hampshire primary. if ron desantis ends up defying gravity and finishes well ahead of nikki haley, that could be a poor showing for her. it is a weird campaign that people are talking about. i said earlier that i thought the weather might help, but one thing that also benefits is based on one person, one vote. you still have that piece of paper with your candidate's name and your vote counts the same. it really favored candidates who

had support spread widely across the state. nikki haley, if she does extremely well in college towns, that will not be a disadvantage to her because the republican party is not looking at delegate but counting the actual votes. host: what would actually be a strong showing for nikki haley wire ron desantis? what does that look like for them? guest: that is hard to say. the latest poll shows nikki haley was in second place with 20% and santos with 16%. i think finishing in the high 20's, or if someone managed to finish at 30% would be considered surprising because they have not been poles that

showed anybody other than trump getting more than 20% support among republicans. for the first time, donald trump posted something on his platform that was critical. ramaswamy is the one that a year, hardly anybody had heard of. now he is getting 5% to 8% support. i think the trump campaign may have numbers. trump is looking for a strong showing. i have been watching all of his rallies online and former president and beaker always emphasize, do not pay attention to the polls. we need a strong turnout. we need tolow it out of the

water. i think they are very concerned about complacency. if trump only finished 15 or 20 points ahead, that would be considered peeved -- conceived as a worse showing. host: let's talk to freddie on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? yes, i have a question. a few months ago, donald trump went to court and lost the case. i want to know whether or not -- guest: that was a civil case, so

he was found liable for sexual abuse and also defamation. she filed another defamation lawsuit since then. technically, that was not a criminal conviction. he is facing a lot of criminal indictments, but it was a civil finding and not a criminal finding. when you go and listen to donald trump and his supporters, they view all of these entanglements as having nothing to do with anything donald trump did. it is only a weaponization. but it is rare that you hear anybody acknowledge that trump might have done something wrong host: one of the things the committee tried to do was bump

iowa from who are traditionally -- they tried to bump them further and move other states closer to being the first. how has isla responded to the attempt to remove them from being the first state to have presidential primary? guest: they tried really hard to persuade them not to make those changes. they were going to make a more inclusive they decided to play ball with the dnc. that is why this preference card -- they are not going to announce the results until march 5. new hampshire democrats did it a little bit differently. they said, too bad, we are

holding our primary anyways. hardly been zaila at all. the isla democratic party and local leadership have not done anything to violate the dnc rules. an event that normally would attract a lot of candidates, they invited senator john fetterman to be the keynote. obviously not -- i think the democrats are hoping that in 2028 they can get back to a first in the nation status. i do not and is going to happen. the dnc, there is a perception that isla is not representative.

there is no reason to keep isla first. -- iowa first. host: go back to the phone lines and talking to john from dearborn, michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm thinking about the democratic side of thing. i see the guest said she writes from a progressive point of view but i see a problem with that, with her supporting biden. biden is not progressive. he's always towards the conservative side of the party. he supported every war in his time in office.

i think it is funny that you think he is progressive. guest: [laughter] let's be clear. i did not a joe biden is a progressive democrat. i have done -- the majority of my guess who were supporting biden come i published a few people. i publish viewpoints that are sometimes critical of policies that democratic politicians are pursuing were critical of democratic candidate. do not just assume that when i say i write from a certain perspective, that it means that i do not criticize them. to be clear, it is not going to be affirmation for biden.

they can check a box for uncommitted, if they are undecided or unhappy with any options. there could be quite a lot of democrats who mail in their card and prefer one or the other option. there is nothing preordained. i think the reality is none of the other candidates will be able to seriously challenge joe biden for the nomination. my perspective is that the biden administration is beyond criticism. host: these carcasses are coming up. i'm going to show this. only three candidates in almost 50 years. they wonola and then later the

white house. -- iowa and then later the white house. they do not have a -- why should the rest of america pay attention to iowa right now? guest: jimmy carter did not actually win the caucus uncommitted. he came in second. it is only two. i enjoyed the carcasses, but i think that is a valid perspective. i think that is why the dnc has shifted the calendar away from iowa. they are not as representative. you can make the case that new hampshire republicans are even more out of step with the country. it has often happened that one candidate won and then a

different candidate won the primary. it is a small state, relatively. it is a place where voters will look at longshots and people like pete buttigieg, who a lot of people did not hear about for. they go around and give people another chance. that would be the case for iowa, but i understand the criticisms. i think we are seeing a perfect example of why. people can vote by absentee and certain elections. there will be a lot of iowans who want to make their voice heard. host: perfect timing. we have an iowa resident on the

line. let's talk to alan on the republican line. good morning. caller: i am in iowa and rock rapids. it is really cold appear. we are up here and what i have seen for the carcasses, i am seeing a lot of turnouts. all the candidates of come through here. i am voting for ramaswamy in the caucus because he is an outsider, but he brings a lot of truth to what the issues are. a lot of people do not like him

too much. that is because he speaks the truth. i have seen a lot of younger generations of people coming out and listening to him. he has been picking up a lot of the younger voters who understand where he is coming from. i know donald trump was the right man for 2016. i voted for him in 2016. i also voted for him in 2020. but right now, we need to get back to the way it was when ronald reagan was around. we need a white house that will speak the truth and not bow down to the political pundit.

we need them to work for the people and do what they say they are going to do. host: let me interrupt you quickly. do you plan to attend the caucus, no matter how cold it gets tomorrow? caller: that is right. i have lived in iowa my whole life. the cold weather does not bug me at all. guest: ramaswamy has done a few things. it is a little bit odd. sometimes he sounds more like a chump stir -- trumpster, but he is also more true to trump than trump himself. let's get real. the media and the establishment are never going to let -- donald trump you white house again and

i will pardon him on day one. he said, any need to protect donald trump. the everything he has done that has set himself apart from the field and i know i have heard some people were interested in him for this reason. he has been the most outspoken about using eminent domain to seize farmland to build a pipeline. it is very divisive, even in solidly republican counties, they do not want the pipeline to go through. it is -- ramaswamy has been very outspoken. it helped him pick up the endorsement of steve king, who was defeated in the republican primary. he still has a lot of people who supports him and listen to what he has to say.

one of the legislators actually said he was coming out for ramaswamy. one of the things he cited -- he said generally, talking about how we need to get back to our very attractive. i think ramaswamy will be distant, but if he were to finish with 12% of the vote, that would be considered a strong showing for him host:. c%give us your predictions about what we will see at the caucus tomorrow yeah -- tomorrow. guest: i think the turnout will be substantially down. i think it will be low, certainly below 150,000. i think trump will win by some

large margins. i could argue it either way. but i think nikki haley will finish in second place. but he does have a bigger ground game field operation than she does, so it is possible that he could sneak past her. host: we would like to thank the publisher for coming on with us this morning and talking about the upcoming iowa caucus. thank you for your time. guest: thank you for having me on the show. host: in about 30 minutes we will go back to discuss with a political science instructor. campaigns, caucuses and the future of the nomination process. after the break, it is open for them. your chance to weigh in on any

issue on your mind this morning. the lines are open now. start calling in. catching up with a supporter of governor ron desantis yesterday afternoon. take a look. [video clip] >> i am actually a californian who has known ron desantis for over 25 years. i'm here in the snow, volunteering for him. we went to college together. he was captain of the baseball team. my favorite, on wednesday night, there was this -- they had karaoke night. i think we sang some hank

williams junior songs. did not always do very well, but it was a good time. >> what did you think about him getting into politics? >> he was the kind of guy that we wanted to get into politics. he volunteered to serve our country in uniform. people asked him to get into politics. >> did you go to florida when he was running for governor? >> i have helped broaden his whole career, helping him raise money when he ran for congress. there was actually a whole group of us, all college buddies. going back 25 plus years we are all here knocking on doors together. >> what do you think about the polls right now? >> they have demonstrated that

they have been pretty inaccurate on a bunch of different things for a while now. the big things for this caucus are that it is often a swing. but i think the weather will make it hard to predate. i think we are going to surprise the country. if ron desantis wins it, it will be a big deal. >> each one of us is speaking at a different caucus across the state. >> where are you speaking? >> very close to here in west des moines. it is simple for me. i have known him for 25 plus years and i have been proud to be his friend all that time. i was proud when he served in the navy.

but i have never been more proud of him than when he was the governor of florida. is -- watch what somebody does rather than what they say. when covid hit, donald trump decided to hand the keys to the republic over to anthony fauci, which shut down our schools. ron desantis, kim reynolds? they charted a different path. >> washington journal continues. host: we are in our open forum that may come over you can call in and talk about the most important political or policy related issue on your mind this morning. democrats, you can call in and (202) 748-8000.

republicans, your number is (202) 748-8001. independents, your number is (202) 748-8002, and you can always text us at (202) 748-8003 . we are always meeting on social media. before we get into our open form segment, there is a little bit of is that i want to bring to you about averting a possible government shutdown. congressional leaders have come to a deal. i will read to you the story in the newspaper about what is going to happen with the government shutdown. congressional leaders have reached a deal to avert a government shutdown, landing on a stopgap bill that will keep the lights on in washington come into march. under the deal, the new government funding deadline will be march 1 and march 7.

the agreement comes ahead of a deadline and a second deadline on february 2. text is expected to be posted sunday, according to a spokesperson for schumer. sunday at 8:00 -- it will include a discussion about plans over the government shutdown. the proposal, which the house and senate must approve by friday night to avoid a partial shutdown will give them more time to complete work on the 12 appropriation bills. appropriators need more time to hash out particulars for each funding bill. this comes from the hill newspaper. a government shutdown coming this week.

what is the most important political or policy topic on your mind? let's start with maureen calling from new york on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call, c-span. i want to ask you why c-span has become more democratic and republican. it should be equal. host: i think our democratic viewers would probably disagree with you. caller: they can say all they want about january 6 with trump. he has not been convicted of anything. they refuse to do it. the democrats need to give the other part of the story. they might as well get used to it.

it shows that the democrats fear him because he is bringing to light what most americans refuse to see. host: all right. let's go to melvin calling from asheville, north carolina on the independent line. good morning. caller: yes. trump is just a devil. he is doing devilish things. he is getting support. it helps them. it helps the people who act like devils. therefore, he is a devil. host: let's go to clarence calling from maryland on the democratic line.

good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the american people need to understand what mr. trump has done to this country. when he said he could walk across the hall and kill somebody -- a lady died. she can no longer see her kids anymore. no longer able to support families or work. if anybody goes and votes for child, it is an embarrassment to this country and to the families who have lost loved ones. they should be ashamed of themselves. i did not care who they vote for, but trump has actually killed people. he is responsible. i really think everybody should

about it when they pull that lever. the parents of loved ones -- thank you for taking my call. have a great day. host: let's talk to walt calling from valparaiso, indiana on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a republican activist. i can tell that the lady who was on earlier from pilot -- i do not really worry about voter fraud in places like iowa or north or south dakota. what i worry about our states like illinois our neighbors to the west. declaring that chicago was the

most corrupt city in america, i have seen studies that showed illinois was the third most corrupt state in america. when you have that level of corruption, can you seriously think that the public officials involved in illinois and chicago -- i live in indiana and i work in chicago. i am -- i worked in chicago. i am retired for many years. what astonished me was how tolerant they are with the high levels of corruption that go on in that city. they are very resentful of even bring up the idea that official corruption -- one of the top democrats in chicago was convicted of corruption. he is like the 39th councilman

that has been convicted for corruption. voter fraud is a reality. progressive democrats pretend that it does not exist. or they will say it is impossible to rig an election in 50 states. you do not need 50 states. you just need four or five. i remember the days when progressives attacked reagan as a fascist. that he was a warmonger, that he had dementia and was unfit to be president. and then amazingly, they say nice things about them. do notthey just throw around hae speech, political hate speech and the demands of the moment. host: let's talk to arthur,

calling from illinois on the independent line. arthur, you are an illinois resident. do you want to defend your state from our previous caller saying it is corrupt and voter fraud and all of that? caller: no, i am not going to get into those kind of things. i want to preface would have to say by saying i am 81 years old. in those years, i have been a democrat. over the last 10, 15 years, the parties, the corruption on both sides is unbelievable. you have a candidate for the republicans who, i believe every word he says and one of the words he said was dictator. i believe the man is totally against this country. for the democrats got we have a guy who is my age.

the only issues i have to say are it is time for another party that is more centrist. i believe of the candidates that are running now from is very scary. desantis is his puppy. the only one i see now that may have our country at heart is nikki haley. she has been a local. chinos local government because she was governor. she understands worldwide because of when she was in the u.n.. she has a better stance. i believe the reason she campaigns the way she is is because she has to play against trump. if she was left without that holding her down, she would be a very centrist candidate.

host: let's talk to brenda, calling from new jersey on the democratic line. caller: good morning, america. i'm calling in regards to talking with the president. all the things he has done in the past were ok. he slacked off in the last year or so and always on vacation, which is so disappointing to the country now when we need him more than ever to work and get this country back on track. i do not know anymore. i really do not. and it is coming up voting tomorrow. i hope and understand that people are going to be voting for different people. that is ok. please come up president, do something good for america. thank you for listening. host: let's talk to ray from

north carolina on the republican line. before you get going, pronounce the name of your town for me. caller: near raleigh. i just wanted to say i feel that overall folks are not looking at the fact of what trump did while he was president. not the fantasies or things that do not affect a person's life on a daily basis. compare what he did to what biden did. the person who just called said biden went on vacation last year. when he was moving quickly on day one, he opened up our borders and now we have enough people who have come into our country that are over the population of delaware, over the

population of many states in the country. that is dangerous, not only to us, and wrong to us, but it is dangerous also to the people coming through. the fact that we are not verifying who they are. the first year, afghanistan occurred. i hear no one talk about that. that was a disaster and it had a lot of people -- a lot more people died in afghanistan than on january 6. i think if you look into ashli babbitt, she was a very nice woman. she just had supported a president. she did not break a window. she was actually shot and she was not armed. neither were the people who were

there. no one was armed. it just seems to me we are forgetting the facts. the democrats do not have ideas to talk about, so all they talk about now is january 6. host: let's talk to deangelo, calling from south boston, virginia on the democratic line. caller: i have two comments. as far as the board is concerned, when i look at what is happening at the border, i have to think about the trojan horse. if you know about the trojan horse. it has to stop. we are fighting an economic war and it is being generated from the border and we are losing that. look at new york city. it is horrible. they cannot take care of their own people.

for allowing these people to come in. it is the trojan horse all over again. as far as trump is concerned, if we did not learn anything from the trump administration, what we should have learned, what the american people should have learned, how vulnerable democracy can become if you have the wrong person in the oval office. we have to do something about that. i do not want to see biden in the white house again and i do not want to see trump in the white house again. we are letting these people destroy our youth. our youth is our saviors. host: let's talk to mike on the independent line. are you there? caller: yes. i was calling -- i have watched c-span quite a bit. i am a vietnam era veteran and

when i'm calling about is the fact that america is going to be in a lot of trouble regardless of whether trump wins or biden wins. if biden wins, there is going to be up people. a trump wins, there is going to be up people. we need new blood in the white house. in congress and the house of representatives. we need a new vision. all this that is going on, all this talk that is going on is only making people hate each other. i have always believed if you sit down and talk to any individual long enough you will find out that you have more in common then you have differences. right now, nobody wants to sit down and talk to anybody.

nobody wants to have common sense. it is just a political disarray and my biggest fear is what is going to happen next year regardless of who wins the white house. host: let's talk to bill on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. a lot of these folks keep talking about donald trump's indictments. i wonder where they were when the horwitz report came out that they did 17 acts of misconduct much changed testimony. the fbi changed testimony against donald trump. tillery clinton's campaign manager admitted she made up that russia collusion. her own campaign manager. horowitz was a democrat attorney general for barack obama.

why weren't there no indictments? why dozen anybody care about this indictments? donald trump ain't my favorite person, but we wonder why he does not trust the elections and fbi? of course he does not with the fbi gets away with that. one other thing i like to comment on, they asked joe biden about a year ago, when is the price is going to go down like you promised they would? he said -- they said the high prices were just transitory. they asked him a year ago, when is the price is going to go down? this is what he said. this ought to concern us. he said, get used to it. this is how we are funding the new look -- liberal world order. joe biden said that, the president of the free world, said that get used to it. this is how we are funding the

new liberal world order. i do not hear anybody in■j the media holding his feet to the fire. what does he mean by that? host: let's talk to nathan on the republican line. caller: i am a long time independent who has basically become a republican primarily because the democratic party has gone crazy. the main issue i want to talk about is illegal immigration. whether you are an independent, democrat, or republican, you have to understand the costs and burdens of illegal immigration. i have seen my state of california, who was number one in health care and infrastructure and basically every metric and now we are basically worse in all those metrics. you cannot let 10 million of the poorest people in the world flood your country and not think there will be costs and burdens. those are primarily paid by the working class and poor. this issue has to be dealt with quick or this country will not

recognize itself. i have seen it in my state. i am telling the rest of the country you have to do something about this or you will not have a country anymore. host: let's talk to davis -- david on the democratic line. caller: thank you. i have a question for you. the question is whether you optimistic about the future. before you answer, let me read something quickly from john steinbeck, who wrote, we can populate the dark with horrors, even we who think ourselves informed, believing nothing we cannot measure. i know beyond all doubt that the dark things crowding in on me either did not exist or were not dangerous to me and still i was afraid. john steinbeck. i hear these comments and the fear and ignorance and hatred

that has propagated on both sides of the aisle. we have problems in this country in the past. we have gotten through them. my question is, are you optimistic about the future? host: i spend a lot of time around university students and my family. the more time i spend around them, the more optimistic i am. let's go to the call from illinois on the republican line. caller: you have to deal with some kind of comments all morning, so i feel with -- for you. sometimes it can be too early for that. i am a republican. i voted for donald trump. i will vote for him in the march primary in illinois and again for president in november. i am sick of these people from indiana calling in and bashing my state.

you guys may say chicago's corrupt. we have had nine credit upticks under jb pritzker. i do not vote for him and i have no intentions of voting for him, but he has done good for our finances. we pay our bills. he is the first governor that i can think of -- yes, he is being investigated, but who is not at this point? he is the first one i can think of who is not in jail, so indiana, reagan republicans, y'all are something. keep voting for desantis and stay in indiana because your state owes mine quite a bit of money. why don't you guys start paying what you owe us? host: to caller from detroit, michigan on the democratic line. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i do not understand why people vote for someone who put out hate at the capital. all these people trying to get into the united states from all over, they are running from people like trump. i do not understand it. the governor works for the people. the laws need to be strengthened or something because it is not right for someone to do what mr. trump did and still remain in the office and still try to run. he still seems like he is running things and he should not be running for president again. the laws need to be changed. because you work for the people.

host: let's go to bill on the independent line. caller: i have called a few times. it is good to get on. my problem is the same thing that most of the people have been saying. it is how bad the situation is in the united states now and all over the world. from day one, it was biden who started all this and never before -- i am meeting years old. never before have i seen this stuff so bad as it is now. from afghanistan from day one when he signed all these bills and took away everything from the american people. now you got wars all over the place and soon it will come here. i would think this biden crime

family is what i would call them, they were -- are trying to run this like the old mafia days and trying to take every right away from the american people. these people that think this to my credit party -- there is corruption in every party, but they are running the country the way they want to run it. it has never been this bad. host: we would like to thank all of our callers who joined us for the open form segment. next, we will have more from iowa with grinnell college political science professor barbara trish, co-author of a book inside the presidential campaign. we will be right back. ♪ >> discover the heartbeat of

democracy with c-span's voices 2024 as we engage voters nationwide, asking what issue is most important to you in this election and why? >> the most important issue for me is continue to support for ukraine. i believe failure to support ukraine would be a violation and it is important we continue to support them. >> the issue of abortion now that roe v. wade has been turned over. >> i'm interested to see how politicians are able to handle this issue and making more access to other health care alternatives like birth control and making sure mothers and babies are protected. >> the most important issue to is education. i feel no one has been talking about this issue.

>> i am from kentucky. the most a born issue to me this election cycle is returning civility to our public discourse. our politics have taken a divisive edge and i think it is time candidates commit to going back to civil discourse. >> be part of the conversation. >> the name of the book is the vice president's black wife, the untold story of julia chen. professor myers is a history professor from indiana university. she explains in the first paragraph of the production, this is the story of an american family in the 19th century. it is a tale that seems typical at first glance, a plantation

owner sexually involved with an enslaved woman who had children with her. the union, the congressman fm kentucky who became vi in -- under martin van buren, is anything but standard. >> on this episode o notes plus. it is available oc-span now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back and joined by barbara trish, professor for local science at grinnell college. she is here with us this morning to preview tomorrow's 2024 iowa caucuses. good morning. guest: good morning, jesse.

host: jump into it. how important is iowa in the presidential nomination process? we talked about this with a guest earlier. only three candidates since 1972 have actually won iowa and then the white house. put in perspective for us how important iowa is. guest: right. that is an interesting statistic. i think when you think about the importance of iowa you do not necessarily just think about the outcome of the caucuses and the extent to which that corresponds to the outcome of the general election because of the sequential process of the presidential nomination season. what happens in iowa is going to spill over into the contests in other states, so that is a way it can have an impact without actually picking the winner of the presidency.

when we see the results from iowa, even more daunting in terms of a lack of impact is the fact that the results from iowa are going to pick just a handful , about 40 delegates, who will go on to the republican national convention. just a small splash of the delegates who actually nominate the president. but if you think about that the impact of the iowa caucus is going to signal to candidates whether they can stay alive. we are likely to see some candidates drop out of the race. most of already dropped out of the race. likely to see donors, endorsers line up behind other candidates. it is not just the outcome that matters. host: can you explain what a

caucus is? most voters are used to just going in, voting, the person with the most votes wins. iowa does it differently. explained to us what a caucus is and how it works. host: a caucus is a party meeting. you can think of it in a straightforward way that is easy to understand. a party meeting at a neighborhood level, in a precinct, the smallest geographic unit -- local units in the state of iowa. a party meeting in a precinct, regardless of whether it is a democratic or republican caucus. there was a democratic caucus -- attendants will express their preference for presidential candidates. the way republicans and

democrats have done it has varied over time. in short, those preferences get translated into aggregated to the outcome of the iowa caucuses. in the case of the republican party, it is counting of votes that are taken at the caucus. down the road, no one pays attention to this, but that outcome will translate into delegates to the national convention, but in the short term that is seen as the outcome of the caucus. it is more complicated than that. the meeting itself can only be attended by or at least in order to participate you have to be a registered partisan with the democratic or republican parties. these are separate processes that the two parties use. there is party business that

transpires at the caucuses, work on platforms, selection of party officials who will in effect govern the local party for the next two years. when it gets down to the focus on the selection of the presidential nominee, what happens is that representatives of candidates who are from that precinct get a chance to talk, make a pitch for candidates. depending on the caucus, there might be discussion or not and then in republican caucuses people will get a piece of paper cannot write a candidate name, and that will be the vote for the presidential candidate of their choice. that is that is the medium complexity description. guest: is there anything different iowa voters will find when they come to the caucus

meeting? are they doing anything different that they did not do before? guest: the republicans are not doing anything differently. i suppose, and it is important to remember this, that in iowa you can change -- a voter can change party registration or can register for the first time at the caucus itself, so you can get new voters in a primary or general election and over the last couple cycles the rules in place in iowa have tightened up for voter registration, so there might be some nuance in the extent to which people can register at the caucus were chained registration, but by and

large not much is going on differently at the republican caucuses. the democratic caucus is different. guest: can you explain the differences in the democratic caucus? guest: prior to this year, through 2016, there were changes in 2020, prior to this year the democrat caucus -- in their caucuses through an elaborate set of rules, expressed preferences, and those preferences were translated into state delegate equivalents as kind of a forecast that the party does of how money delegates the party would get --

the candidate would get in the state convention to go on to the national convention if everything stayed the same. it is a little bit of an obscure thing. this happens at the caucus and immediately after. this cycle, for a variety of reasons, most importantly because the democratic national committee had concerns about iowa and the privileged position that it had coming first in the nation, and concerns about maybe the lack of representation in iowa -- it is a rather homogenous state, concerns about the inaccessibility of the caucus, but it is a meeting. you have to show up at a set

time. there is no transfer early voting. if you work a night shift, you cannot go to the caucus. there were a number of concerns the democratic national committee had. iowa democrats were stripped of their first in the nation status. they have come up with a plan that maintains the meeting sense of the caucus they have always had, but there is a mail-in voting by which registered democrats can express preference about candidates, and the ballots were apparently supposed to start being sent out on the 12th. the vote from those ballots will be announced on super tuesday, so in early march. that is how iowa democrats have

complied with the democratic national committee, which did not want it to go first or even early among those five states that go early. will happen at the caucus for the democrats is basically a party meeting, likely to be not highly attended and also expression of interest in becoming delegates among the people at the meeting should their candidate win enough support, so it is a game changer for the democratic party. host: this is a good point to remind my viewers they can take part in this conversation. we are going to open our regular line. that means democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, your line is (202) 748-8001. independents, you can call (202) 748-8002. we want -- we have opened a

special line for iowa voters. we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8003. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003. we are always reading on social media. on x @cspanwj and on facebook at facebook.com/cspan. i want to go over some demographics for iowa and then i want you to tell me who among these demographics actually show up for the caucuses. according to the census, iowa has a population of 3.2 million. these are the 2023 estimates with 50% male, 49% female. the under 18 population is 22%. the over 65 population is 18%. when it comes to race, we have 83.7% of the state is white.

6.9% of the state is hispanic. 4.4% of the state is african-american. 2.8% of the state is asian. exactly who is showing up for the iowa caucuses? who do we plan to see tomorrow? how many people do we plan to see tomorrow? guest: that is a tough question and you have all the data in front of you. let me say one thing. you are asking about tomorrow, but over time i think you find that turnout at caucus and demographic representation at caucus will vary from year to year. if you look at any particular caucus, you would find differences as well. that said, i think that the last point you made, it is hard to

predict turnout, but prior to the weather that we are now experiencing, which is daunting and going to be daunting in terms of very cold tomorrow and tomorrow night, prior to that there was an expectation it would be a reasonably high caucus turnout among the republicans and by reasonably high i mean something like 100,000 or 150,000 in attendance. nobody is talking much about turnout at the democratic caucus because it is an uncompetitive contest even though there are a couple other candidates on the ballot, dean phillips and marianne williamson and the president. the process is such that it does not encourage turnout.

i think generally you can expect to find that experienced caucus-goers will continue to turn out because, as straightforward as it might seem for a republican caucus, you show up, you listen to people talk, you cast a ballot, it still can be an intimidating affair. there is a mystery in many people' minds about what caucuses are actually like. when it is time to get in your car or walk to the caucus on a cold night in january, temperature maybe 15, 20 below zero, i think those who have done it before are more likely to show up then the newcomers. i think this could cut many ways, but enthusiastic supporters of candidates are

more likely to show up. enthusiastic, committed, tight communities that support participation, probably meaning evangelical christians, those who are in churches or have friends who share those views, they are more likely to get the network of support that it takes to show up. it looks like there is some difference in enthusiasm among supporters of candidates. the recent iowa poll, which will be the last in iowa before the caucus suggests there's is a difference in enthusiasm among nikki haley and trump and desantis supporters, so less enthusiastic supporters are less likely to turn out. i'm not trying to dodge

completely your question about whether age or race matters, but i think some of these clinical factors are equally or perhaps more important. host: go ahead. go ahead and finish your thought. guest: i was going to say is usually a given that attendees skew old. you see more participation among older islands. host: that is a -- exactly what i was want to ask. you are a professor at grinnell college. is there a youth photo that shows up at caucuses in iowa? guest: absolutely. it shows up in an organized way in counties or precincts that have colleges and universities. the three regions university in

iowa, the university of iowa, iowa state, university of northern iowa, they will have -- the campaigns are going to fork -- focusing on that collection of students who will probably be able to caucus in a location that is very close to where they are. my institution, grinnell college , which tends to lean left, there's generally not much for dissipation in republican caucuses, but this year, as is the case in many years, we are still on break. our winter break right now. it would be extraordinary for someone to come back to caucus, especially because much of our student body comes from outside of grinnell. this youth vote is very important to candidates and to

be able to mobilize the youth vote can really make a difference. for instance, obama did this well. in 2008 especially. looking back to 2020 and the competitive democratic contest, candidates like bernie sanders cleaned up in many left-leaning or competitive colleges and universities. and other candidates, not just leaders like sanders but candidates like andrew yang, really seems to resonate with young voters. that is a good constituency or group that candidates can tap. host: let me let some of our viewers take place -- take part in this conversation. we will start with donald on the democratic side. caller: good morning.

i would like to get three quick comments out. first, if you consider yourself a christian, you have to accept all immigrants and people coming across the border. i think nikki haley will be a great choice for the republicans to elect. as to trump, republican voters have a choice to make. that is we support the constitution or do we support a cult? bless this country. guest: his signals coming in and out. what do you think the results of the republican caucus will be? do you believe polls that say

president trump should win handily or the most recent poll that he is at 48% and nikki haley is at 20%, ron desantis at 18% -- do you believe that is going to be the finalrder when cauces are complete? guest: maybe. i am not doubting the accuracy of the polls at this point. there's a great deal consistency across polls. i will note that usually want to factor in a margin of error, at least when talking about any single pole. trump would still be ahead, but nikki haley and desantis are pretty close if you factor that in. the iowa poll, i think the one you are citing, even though the

results were released yesterday it was in the field before, perhaps last week, so it is not necessarily going to capture at least in those data any changes happening at the end, any last-minute surges or declines. that said, things that could really explain a difference in caucus outcome from the forecast that you get from the polls, the weather and turnout, and the weather is going to be extreme and i think turnout will be depressed. if turnout is depressed in a way that affects supporters of certain candidates more than others, you might see some departures. things that go on at caucuses can matter. it is less the case for

republicans than it would have been for democrats in the past, but part of the caucus procedure is to make a short speech in support of a candidate and they might be persuasive. they might be able to have conversations before the caucus begins, so there might be persuasion that goes on at the caucus itself. what the polls suggest, if you read deeper than the top lines you said, is there is a difference in enthusiasm among supporters. when you go to campaign ents, and i do not want to make too much of this because every campaign is different every event is different, you can get a feel for the degree of enthusiasm that the candidate

seems to engender, so it will not surprise me for a variety of reasons if the differences are -- if there are differences in outcomes compared to the latest polls. it would be hard to imagine the president not coming in first. it would be -- he has plenty of support to lose and still have a resounding first place finish. then it becomes his job or his campaign's job if he drops below , their job to actually convince us that that is a rose ending -- resounding win. host: i want to remind our viewers if they tune in tomorrow the poster behind that most recent poll will be a guest on this show, on monday morning, so tune in if you want to get beyond those top lines and talk

to the poster herself, who was in charge of it. she will be on the show tomorrow morning. we have a question from one of our social media followers about when -- who made the decisions about win the caucus would be scheduled, and wl read this question to you. did they schedule the caucus on mlk day on purpose? was it making election day a holiday blocked because more people will vote? looks awfully suspicious. tomorrow is a federal holiday. was that intentional? guest: i have no reason to believe it was intentional. it is not hard to believe it was -- i have no evidence of this. i could imagine the discussions among the rnc and republican party of iowa that would project a january 15 start and someone realizing that is martin luther

king day because it varies from year-to-year. i do not think it is intentional. it is interesting. you see different rhetoric surrounding that. on one hand, some try to make the case that what better way to demonstrate your civic responsibility and engagement in politics? your celebration of dr. king, then to participate in this democratic process? it is probably concerning to the democratic party more that they are doing it on the holiday, but on the other hand some people are off of work who would not otherwise be able to caucus. i do not think it was deliberate. host: let's go back to our phone

lines. from baltimore maryland, the democratic already line. caller: i have a quick comment and then question for the professor. either joe biden is an 80 it or the greatest crime boss in history, having gone through the senate and the vice presidency and presidency without anybody finding out whatever this is that he has done. quickly, professor trish, why are we talking about iowa? what is the significance of iowa? why is it not the new york caucus or the maryland caucus? i'm not sure i ever understood the significance of iowa so early. guest: yes. that is a great question. the reason we are talking about iowa is because it is first. it is first for lots of reasons.

iowa always had a caucus, but it is first for a fluke. the longer sto are the national democratic party change its rules after a disastrous 1968 national convention. under the new rules, which called for more transparency, more public processes, iowa, to comply with the rules, ended up putting is caucus first. they did not set out to be first but were first. after a couple cycles, democrats in iowa and republicans realized what happened to the parties in the state were good things, media attention, money coming

into the state, more say for rank-and-file democrats and republicans, so they fought hard to keep it first. until now, both parties have basically complied with that. so whether advanced sense or not that is the way it was. now we are seeing a movement away from that in the to my credit party, but the short answer is we are paying attention to iowa because it is first. host: barbara is not just a professor. she co-authored the book "inside the bubble." i bring this up because i do not know whether you can answer this question but you are the correct person to ask -- how much money does being first in the presidential nomination process bring into iowa?

is this a financial windfall for the state? guest: i am the right person to ask because it is impossible to quantify it. apart from the economic value the comes to iowa or any state, new hampshire as well from the caucuses, you have a lot people who come to the state, reporters , campaign staff who set up shop, who live in the state and spend money. there's a lot of tv advertising that goes in -- that goes on in the state that would not otherwise happen, and this is a good example of the difficulty of figuring out the money thing. you know how much money is coming into the tv stations from the data of the federal communications commission.

but the problem is the contracts are usually purchased by a third party. that firm is probably not in iowa but might be. there is a little uncertainty about money. you have campaign staff who are spending money in the state. they are renting. they might be renting at a higher rate because they cannot commit to a year-long lease. you have restaurants, event spaces, production firms that are getting money from candidates who are doing events in iowa, big dinners, production of shorts for tv and social media. there are a lot of different factors that factor into the

economic windfall that iowa gets commit to the extent that hotel rooms or the rates hotels charge are dependent on the demand on the rooms. there is high demand. i suspect on most of the hotels in des moines and other population centers are filled and get on one of those third-party sites and see how much money it would cost to get a room in des moines tonight versus a week from now and that would be a little experiment that everyone can do. host: let's talk to jim, calling from eagle point, oregon on the independent line. good morning. caller: first, i love your show. it is very educational. thank you for putting it on. my question today is not just about iowa but about the entire

voting process. when so many people are changing party affiliates because they are mad at one side or the other and then you take these polls, how do you know based on these polls what your error rate is of how many people you think are going to show up, how many people are one party or another, with all the confusion going on? thank you. guest: that ability of people to change registration and participation does pose a challenge to pollsters. the typical pollster will have some sort of screening question that try to get at whether someone is a likely caucus attendee, but the place you would usually start, getting voters to pose that screening question, would be registered partisans and if someone can

change their party registration that throws a wrench in that methodology. it is interesting. i'm not sure how important it will be in terms of outcome, but that ability for people formally registered as democrats to show up at a republican caucus tomorrow night and register as republicans -- they are probably doing it for many reasons. some might be doing it because they support one of the republican candidates more than likely nominee, president biden. others may be doing it for strategic reasons or the hope that their support for a candidate might somehow help to produce a candidate less likely to be biden in november. that is what partisans will do when they have a noncompetitive primary contest and then they

can wail in -- weigh in on the other party's primary. i talked to a gentleman last weekend who is doing this. what he said was the reason he was doing it was so that he could cast two votes against donald trump, one at the republican caucus and one in the general election, presuming trump would be the nominee. so the changing party registration thing, whether in iowa or elsewhere, i think that causes problems for pollsters. host: but there is no way i ones can participate in both caucuses at the same time, right? guest: that is right. first, it would be illegal to do it. secondly, the caucuses go on at the same time.

they start in iowa on the same day. they start at 7:00, so physically it is impossible to be in both. that said, if you think through this, there might be a way to -- i'm not encouraging this and it would be illegal, but you could probably cast that mail-in ballots on the democratic side and then show up for the republican caucus. that would be, again, you should not do it, but it would be a way to participate in both. host: we want to repeat again that would be illegal, but i wanted to make sure i asked that question. let's talk to lance from sterling, colorado on the democratic line. caller: thanks for taking my call. the reason -- i want to make a couple points. the reason the caucus is on

martin luther king day is because martin luther king was a republican. check it out. it is the truth. the other thing is there is nothing democratic about the democrats party. you guys keep saying democratic. in that case, i must be a republican and the independent candidate -- the thing is that trump is going to win. i appreciate you taking my phone call. check it out. martin luther king was a republican, not a democrat. it was a democrat that shot him. check it out. thank you for taking my call. host: go ahead and respond, even though i do not think he is right that martin luther king jr. was a registered republican. go-ahead and respond.

guest: i do not think he was thinking in these terms, that there is nothing democratic about the democratic party, but i want to talk about how democratic the procedures are that the democratic party has used in the past. if that is what we are looking at, i think he is right that there are some things you would not think of as very democratic in the way that the democrats in iowa have run their caucus in the past. i glossed over the details of how it worked in iowa, but in short it is -- public attendees express publicly their support for a candidate, so that is -- that sort of violates our norm of a secret ballot, which is considered to be more small-d democratic.

there is a context in which the weight of one attendee's support is different than the weight of another attendee's support depending on where they caucus. it gets into the weeds of how the caucuses are run, but you can have a really high turnout, like once i have observed where there might be thousands of people attending, which is not actually much of a caucus, but that happens, compared to a small caucus with maybe five people attending and just because the turnout in the caucus does not factor into the support or level of support that can be extended from the caucus itself might your vote means more in that small caucus then if you had attended a large caucus, so no secret ballot, no one person, one vote thing, those are pretty undemocratic things. host: we can squeeze in one more

caller. let's make it cat. caller: i do not believe in caucuses because where you live, you already know how you're going to vote. i believe in telemarketing, talking to people all over the united states. this question, whether you're political or how you feel about the country. host: go ahead and respond, barbara. guest: what that makes me think is there are proposals to reform the nomination system that call for essentially a national primary, not quite with the caller was talking about but at least eliminating the role of

individual states that are staggered and some having more impact than the other. and in favor of having a split up into states is that it gives candidates a chance, especially those who do not enter with strength, not the front runners with all the money and support already, it gives them a chance to build up■z support, which, if you had a single day primary, it would be basically the same sort of campaign you have in a general election, setting aside the fact that there would not be in electoral college, you would have to have enough resources at the start to send out to all of the states and you are only going to candidates who are winning the nomination, who are already successful and have a lot of money. guest: is this going to be the coldest caucus in history?

is there any chance that caucuses get delayed because of weather? guest: it is going to be the coldest. i think there is almost no chance -- i would say no chance, but i have thought this through a couple years ago. we had a devastating storm that came through the state and tore down trees. everyone was out of power. if we had a storm that no one had power, i do not know that they could run the caucuses, but short of something like that, and i think that is unlikely to happen, short of something like that i cannot imagine the republicans postponinghost: we k barbara trish, co-author of "inside the bubble" for being

here with us this morning and talking us through the iowa caucuses. thank you so much. guest: thanks, jesse. host: we would like to thank all of our guests, social media followers, callers for another great "washington journal." we will see you again tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. stay safe and continue to wash her hands. have a great sunday, everyone. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> c-span's "washington journal ," a live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy. from washington and across the country. coming up monday morning, austin

harris discusses his support for presidential candidate nikki haley in the iowa caucuses. another iowa state representative bobby kaufman, a senior adviser on donald trump silent campaign, talked about the former president's strategy. bob vander plot discusses his support for presidential candidate ron desantis and the issues that matter to even -- to evangelical christian voters. this breaks down the latest polling in iowa. c-span's "washington journal." join the conversation live 7:00 eastern on monday morning on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> c-span campai 24 coverage continues today as republican candidat make their last sps in the run-up to monday's iowa caucuses.

thweather continues to play a major role as frigid temperatures and snowy conditions have forced the cancellati omany events, but we plan to cover at least three. first former president donald trump will meet with supporters in iowa. thats e to start at 1:00 p.m. ete. lar this afternoon, we will catch up with nikki haley as she campaigns in iowa. that is scheduled for 00.m. eastern. finall frida governor ron desantis will stop in iowa for one of his fal ralesefore the caucuses begin on monday. make c-span your source for all of your campaign 2024 coverage. >> discovered the heartbeat of democracy with c-span's voices 2024 as we engage voters nationwide asking what issue is most important to you in this election and why? >> i am from columbus, ohio, and

the most important issue is the u.s. continued support from ukraine. i think it is important we continue to support our democratic allies. >> the most important issue to me would be abortion now that roe v. wade is turned over. just seeing how politicians are able to handle this issue in terms of reproductive health and making abortion the unthinkable, making access to other health care alternatives such as contraceptives and birth control and making sure mothers and babies are protected. >> i am from cincinnati, ohio, and the most important issue to me is education. i feel no one has been talking but this issue and it is falling behind year after year. >> i am from kentucky. the most important issue to me is returning's to our public discourse.