>> with all due respect to congressman steve king who promised to cover your event tomorrow with all due respect. >> it is the iowa freedom summit hosted by steve king. and starring huckabee. palin. harry. cruz. christie. and donald trump. featuring santorum. it is the official unofficial

rubber game party presidential primary -- republican party resident of primary. >> greetings from iowa. the kickoff to the freedom summit is tomorrow morning and the fun goes all day. we have christie cruz walker and a whole lot more. it is a super bowl of the speeches to kick the tires. kathy is here. you are an expert on iowa politics. what does the somebody have to do to be considered the winner or a winner? >> you have to bring both sizzle and steak. it an iowa event. we want to entertain and rev up. yesa, i i have to give some meat to the people that are watching who are looking for an addition to the country as opposed to somebody that gives good jokes.

>> some of these people like scott walker have speeches but most of them are trying to figure out what the set. to say. >> if all else fails, you can make balloon animals. >> i think people who are more on the right, huckabee santorum, i think they have a better chance with this crowd. fascinating to see thehe candidates. >> i think a lot of these people are looking for something new. governor walker has a chance to come in and wow them. he has to bring his a game. he is not known as a dynamic speaker. >> we will keep an eye on him. steve king, the congressman of this state, is an easy target for democrats. >> because of his controversial statements about immigration,

including the crime of drug meals. not every candidate agrees but is there isa downside? >> there clearly is. look at the people who are not here. people like rubio bush and ran thend paul. i don't think they want to come here and have their first iowa event and be booed. mitt romney is not here. they are all here and willing to take the risk. is congressman king interested in what they have to say on anything but immigration? >> he is. i think he wants to see a real economic plan. he complained a lot and 2012 that he thought candidates were not being detailed enough. king in iowa is not a big deal. people are singing candidates show up all the time -- seeing candidates show up

all the time. it is an opportunity for them to be on stage. the people who are not on stage may feel that. >> immigration has been a bigger issue in iowa. is it a big issue now among republican activists? >> it is a big issue because hispanics are the largest growing minority population in iowa. there are a lot of towns in iowa where immigration is a big deal. >> the other big thing is congressman king and other iowa politicians senator grassley, joni ernst, did any of them show their hands about a favorite candidate or will they stay all neutral? >> they will stay neutral to a point. but he thinks the next president should be a governor. that leaves out a lot of the field. >> chris christie has spent

a lot of time together. not shuit down and shut up, but will jersey play here? >> i think chris christie does play in iowa. i think people really like it when he gets up into the face of media, when he is aggressive. am i going to advise him to tell a little old lady to sit down and shut up? old ladies might tell him. >> i think it is not will jersey play in iowa, it is will good christie show up? even when he is aggressive, when he is within the bounds of what people except, he is a very strong candidate anywhere. bad christie, he does not play well in jersey when he does that. i think he can play here. it'll be interesting to see. he is the main establishment candidate that is here tomorrow. >> he has to play in a conservative republican party.

he has to be able to attract establishment people. he can do that but he has the poll from some of the republican party. i think it is how well he plays with christian conservatives. >> they have built up a relationship. >> absolutely. >> the other thing about christie is he is not givening the same kind of speech in this kind of stage building together a policy speech as well as one-liners. it'll be fascinating to see if he chooses to repair not coming in here to wing it but try to break out with a strong performance. >> it would not be so bad if he was booed. >> you can celebrate the freedom summit tomorrow by watching the whole thing live on bloomberg politics. our coverage starts with a pregame show. i will be anchoring from des moines and bringing you all the speeches. we will have analysis all day

long. we have this big event here in iowa and also a major koch brothers event in palm springs. and makes it easy to remember there is another political party. the democrats have their convention one week after the republicans in mid july. given that is earlier than last time and they have the option to go later, good idea or bad idea? >> i think it is a good idea because they want their hands on the general election money. i don't think they want their candidate being attacked by republicans without being able to access that. it may be able to short the republican response as well. >> i'm mystified by this. i thought they would go labor day weekend. no one will watch the conventions in july. if you have hillary clinton, you can raise all the nomination money you need. one i get a later check -- why

not get a later check? that the republicans burn themselves out. >> i don't think anybody would watch it on labor day. >> better chance in the fall than over the summer. the other thing is you are right on top of the republicans. let's do some pre-gaming. the super bowl is now nine days away. it is basically a tossup. wait. josh earnest has something to say about tom brady's thursday press conference. >> for years, it has been clear there is no risk that was going to take tom brady's job as the new england patriots quarterback. as of today, there is no risk of him taking my job either. >> that line was both clever and kind of wicked. what is up with josh ear

nest? >> it would give a whole new meaning to politics. >> it is fastening to me so many people on social media are assuming that brady is a liar. >> he has yet to offer another scenario for how that happened. this is going to prove to be a huge distraction leading into the super bowl. >> coming up, the gentleman from the keystone state, rick santorum, will be sitting right here when we come back. ♪

>> our death tonight is the best of -- guests tonight is rick santorum. he is a big of a fan to the karate kid as i am. thank you for coming back. so talk about the event

tomorrow here in iowa. you four years ago were kind of the start of the event. it was kind of the big moments forgetting it forward fear campaign. what will it take for you or anyone else to be a winner of the day, to come out of tomorrow stronger in the minds of iowa activists? >> i think they look for someone who is a conviction politician. who has a record to back it up. >> how do you display that on stage at an event? >> you lay out the issues before the country and you make a persuasive case that you are someone that has the experience and the record as well as the vision. that is really important. people are really tired about all the junk in washington. they are looking for a vision going forward. tomorrow is an opportunity for everybody to lay out a vision for the party. i have been very vocal on a new

robust vision for the republican party. i will show that tomorrow. >> what is really more important -- what you say on stage or how you connect with activists in the hallway in between the speeches? >> it is both. you have to have a message. iowans have seen it all. having a compelling message that people can say yeah, this is a good strong message as well as being able to connect. the wonderful thing about the iowa caucuses is that people do a job interview. it is not just what you see on tv, it is not images or speeches. it is actual relationships. if you don't have that personal touch, if you don't have that authenticity that relates on a personal level, you can have a hard time. >> what are you going to make your main point? >> i wrote a book nine months ago -- >> are you going to read from the book?

>> page 1 -- no i went down to burlington iowa and announced my manufacturing plan. i talked about how we really need to get a jobs for the 70% of american to don't have college degrees and seeing their wages stagnated. that is the message that i took into iowa and continued on. i wrote a book about it. i believe very much so this is what can help united america. not just from the standpoint of politically but also economically and unite -- everybody pulling towards the middle. >> this week, your family or dissipated -- participated in a cause. at the same time, your party backed off voting on a piece of legislation that would have banned abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. why did your party back off in

the house and what does it mean to the significance, the place that issue was playing with the party? >> i think this is part of the problem of having the strategy. we are just going to ignore these issues at campaign time. we are going to bury them. >> of this is governing. >> if our candidates are not prepared to deal with these issues in a sense because they don't campaign, they hide from them and don't talk about the. when they come up they don't know what to say. if they say they are going to be attacked for this, i have never had to deal with these things before. i have never framed of this issue before. it is not just affect our ability to win the issue in the hearts and minds, but it affects our ability to be able to convince people who have been told to run away from these issues that we need to pass something on these issues. one follows from the other. >> what would you say to house leadership who urged it to be

pulled? >> i would say this is a matter of decency. these children would otherwise be born alive -- these are five month old babies in the womb. the idea that we would allow these children who would otherwise be alive and feel pain, who look as a little baby that we cannot say at this point we will put that babies rights forward and say you can't take that life. 60% plus of the american public it this is not a hard decision. this is a matter of decency humanity and they should vote for. >> is the republican party going to have the same conversation in 2016 as they did in 2012, the you nominate someone who is willing to talk about these issues or do you nominate somebody who is going to be

perceived as being more acceptable to a general election audience? or is there something in the middle that will be happening? >> here is the interesting thing on that which is i don't know of anybody who is contemplating running for president in the republican party he was not pro-life. we will be close to 100% pro-life. it is not if we are going to nominate a pro-life candidate, it is one that will not stumble over themselves in talking about these issues because those issues are coming. the other side is not going to sit back and let this issue go fallow. they will plant. the question for us is are we going to out there and make our case instead of just playing defense? we were talking football earlier. you don't score a lot of points on defense. from my perspective, we need to score points if we have to to win. >> iowa will again have a straw

poll in the summer. are you going to participate in that? >> we will make a decision by then about whether or not we will be in the race. i have a feeling on straw polls -- there is a variety of straw polls in washington. i'm someone who keeps my eye on the ball. when you're really going to put points on the board. whether there is a straw poll or not or other ones -- will we participate? we went and spoke and had a good time last time but we did not spread the priestess -- the precious resources on a straw poll. we will spend our time and energy when the points count. >> which is more -- whether tom brady is telling the truth or the meeting between mitt romney? >> i want to know if tom brady is telling the truth. i don't know if mitt romney and jeb bush will have any real

consequences. >> what is your gut? >> i think i picked off patriots fans enough yesterday with my comments that he should take ownership which i still believe he should. he should stand up and say this is what happened. if he did not do it he has the obligation to find out who did because it is sitting on his shoulders right now. >> at this phase of the operation, how would you rate the job you in your operation have done so far and allowed you to position yourself if you are going to be a candidate? >> we have strong bases of support all across the country. we have maintained communications and iowa and across the country. . we have been traveling a lot and working a lot with people. we have been able to maintain a strong donor base which is very important. i read an article today talking about how 60% of mitt romney's

money came from people who gave them more than $2000 or something like that. i think something like 70% of our money from people who gave us under $200. we do it a different way. our's is broader, blue-collar folks. when people say can you get these big donors to support you? we will have some people who share our vision. but, i don't make any pertinence if we will get to $100 million by the end of the year. we will raise enough money to run a strong campaign if we decide to go. that is the part of the process we are looking at. what kind of support are we going to get? how much of the grassroots will be there? these other questions we will decide in the next couple of months. >> rick santorum, the obvious front runner for 2016 for the presidential nomination. thank you for joining us. when we come back, the guide to

des moines, iowa. the city will make a big splash next. ♪

>> des moines and the rest of iowa are going to get a lot of action so we decided to go to the capital of iowa and revealed a hottest of hotspots in this very simplicity -- in this very sleepless city. >> this is a bar where everybody comes. >> we all used to go to the same place but it fell apart and we went to the next hotel. we wanted a drink and wanted to get marriott points. >> the answer to why everybody comes here is everybody comes here. i'm leaving the marriott now. a lot of midwestern cities have these walkways. it is all over the downtown. you can go to restaurants, office buildings.

you can do things without ever having to go outside into the cold. the smart reporters know how to leave their hotels wearing shorts and a t-shirt and cover a presidential political event without ever going into the cold iowa winter. you have musical entertainment and great views. for instance, there is the state capital. you can do pretty much everything on the skywalk. i once saw mike huckabee get a haircut and about 50 reporters crowded into a tiny little barbershop. we want a good iowa haircut. square in the back, not too short. heavy ever cut joni ernst hair? >> no. >> jeff bradley? >> no. >> heavy ever cut -- have you ever cut will blitzers hair? >> no. >> my cup to be -- mike

huckabee. i was there that day. the day when there were 70 reporters. there is a lot going on in this part of town. there was a weird mural on the wall. this building behind me is now a church but in 2008, it was the headquarters of barack obama's presidential campaign when he ran against hillary clinton and john edwards. this is a seafood restaurant in the mowing -- des moines. it is a seafood restaurant. eight here once and i thought about it, des moines, iowa and lobster? we are here by a pork tenderloin place. we are going to order and go big. this is the best tenderloin in the world? >> i would agree. they make it homemade everyday.

>> that roger man was roger simon, not just guy i ran into in the lobby. what did you think of that tour? >> i think you make des moines look really cool. it is cool. >> we will be right back with a very exciting promo after this. ♪

>> we are live 24/7 online. tomorrow right here at 9:30 eastern you can join us with the best live streaming coverage available of the iowa freedom summit. we will have anchored by yours truly, with a big pregame show.

"taking stock" is next on the radio. for "bloomberg law" thanks for watching. sayonara. ♪

>> i am him stock, and this is what i am taking stock of. in greece ideologies collide and the greeks decide whether an anti-austerity politician willie. at -- party will lead. meanwhile, investor euphoria wore off after yesterday's ecb announcement of 1.1 trillion euros of quantitative easing. the s&p 500 closed down more than 0.5%. and there is a new king in saudi arabia