of this debris. i'm sure there will be mre waves to come, wolf. >> we'll see what else comes over. the slow wave. everybody's okay with that. lisa, thanks very, very much. that's it for me. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." the news continues next on cnn. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com thank you for joining us. i'm candy crowley. john king is off today. rick santorum's rivals are already on the attack. rick joins us tonight to defend his record. also, if facebook doesn't come to mind when you think of washington's big power and elite, i think again. and if you pay your verizon wireless online, listen up. they're about to hit you with a convenience charge just for taking your money. we'll tell you,000 avoid it. good evening from des moines. we are coming to you from the

historic supreme court chamber here in the capitol building. tonight rick santorum's once little noticed campaign is riding into attention. thanks to the poll here in iowa, santorum is basking in the political spotlight at just the right time, five days before iowa's public caucuses. joe is trying to keep up with a man who is suddenly very money in demand. joe. >> hey, candy. i think you call it steady. that's the word he uses. he's had steady events, a steady flow of people coming out to see him. and rick santorum has been here for a long time, 99 counties, pretty much the only one to make 99 counties until michele bachmann said she's done it. very busy here in this state. good news on polls. also good news on fund-raising. the candidate told me today off camera that they've had their

best fund raising day ever online. this has been a campaign that has never been sort of a factor when you compare it to a lot of the other larger campaigns in terms of fund-raising, but one source telling us today that their fund-raising had been exponentially higher than this new poll information came out. but also going up in the polls, going up in fund-raising, you do become a target, and santorum certainly did today, and add a winout from the perry campaign charging among other things that mr. santorum had essentially asked for billion dollars with a "b" in earmarks during the time he was in the u.s. congress. i asked him about that. he defends it, is unapologetic about it. he said a lot were taking earmarks back at that time. a lot for santorum to think about. of course, he has to worry about not just iowa, but his path

through new hampshire and south carolina and beyond if he's going to be a factor in this race. candy? >> long, long way to go, but great race for rick santorum. thanks, joe johns. coming up in about ten minutes, my interview with rick santorum. here's a little pry view. >> that's because most of the media says mitt romney can beat president obama. but what -- >> there's polling as well. >> yeah, but you realize that, you know, polls change. convictions don't change. and what we need is a conviction politician who's authentic that the american people can trust. that's what we need in this election. someone that draw as clear contrast. >> iowa is a road less traveled for mitt romney. the des moines register says he has spent just 14 days campaigning here this election season. today outside a restaurant in cedar falls, his comment about the weather speaks volumes about

a sense he's changing in the political climate. take a listen. >> it's a warm iowa day, you know it? it's a fair wind that blows in iowa today. this is very nice. >> cnn's dana bash covered mitt romney four years ago. she's been talking with people inside his campaign today about what's changed. dana, take us five days out from these caucuses. >> the way it was described as overall guarded but in a good place. you talk to the romney camp and you get a sense of nervous excitement. they have very good reason to be excited but also a good reason to be nervous. it's a sore spot for veterans of romney's 2008 campaign. he spent millions there. he had a spectacular organization, but he got beaten big time by the come out of nowhere candidate mike huckabee. but now because of all the other alternatives that have come up and gone down to mitt romney,

the poll says what we see publicly. he's doing quite well. there's no question he got a big assist from the super pac that pummeled newt gingrich. they also know the same kind of thing could attack him, even in the next five days. >> you know, dana, there was a lot of home for romney this time four years ago. >> yes. >> but i sense that there is something different. how do they view the difference between how he's being received in iowa now and how he was received four years ago when he lost quite handily to mike huckabee. >> romney advisers and those quite close to him say there are several factors. first there was one candidate that evangelical voters floated toward, that was huckabee. secondly he learned from what they now admit was a big mistake in iowa four years ago. he tried to appeal to social

voters, talking about abortion and immigration. which he switched his position on. now he's staying in his lane, talking about economic issues. of course, that's what most voters in iowa and across the country care about. he still has the voters looking for beating barack obama. one thing i heard that was interesting from a romney source is because he spent so much money in iowa building voter lists four years ago which is important to getting people to the caucuses, they believe they're going to do better so late in the game. we're told 70% of the voters on the list still plan to support him, and that's a pretty good foundation. >> it is. it's a great place to start and probably finish in this year. thank you so much, dana. we'll see you out here in a couple of days. >> thanks, candy. see you soon. >> now, doesn't this sound like a bad connection. verizon, the nation's largest

cell phone company is introducing a $2 convenience fe for customers who pay with credit card online or over the phone. poppy harlow joins us from new york. who is this convenience for? >> that is yet to be seen. but it's a lead story. we're already seeing a lot of outraged backlash in twitter sphere, et cetera. they're saying starting january 15th they'll issue a $2 fee. those making a one-time payment using a credit card or debit card. there's a plethora of exceptions. you can use electronic check, auto pay, mail in your check and you will not have to pay a fee. if you pay with a one-time credit card, you'll have to pay a fear. here's what verizon is saying to their 91 million customers. it will allow us to continue to

support the single-bill payment options and designed to address costs incurred by us for only those customers who choose to make single bill payments. what does that make you think about? it makes me think of bank of america. i want to read you some of the comments i'm getting on twitter, facebook, cnn money. this is ridiculous. never have heard of paying to pay. i think this is going to be a lesson for verizon. one says, i'll mail my check in. a stamp is less than a fee, candy. we'll keep an eye on it. >> we will indeed. this isn't the last night we'll be talking about this story, i'm sure. >> no, no. >> thanks a lot, poppy harlow. today we saw a new important announcement from the white house. the announcement is about a lot more than u.s. jobs.

it comes against a backdrop with dramatically increasing tensions with iran. the deal is also a very big, very high stakes play on the stage. he's an academic scholar and author of the book no god but god. thank you so mump for joining us. what is in this deal, first of all, for the u.s., both economically and strategically? >> well, obviously a $30 billion deal to sell military hardware to saudi arabia is going to stimulate a lot of job growth in the united states. but as you said, that's not the chief issue here. although this deal was put in place about a year ago, really 2010 was the first time congress heard about this deal possibly going through, the announcement today is obviously an attend to push back against the threats made by the iranians, empty threats, by the way, to close the strait of hor mooz in

response to america trying to go after iran's oil exports. >> so there's significance to the timing of this. this is a message from the u.s. and saudi arabia to iran, is that how you interpret it? >> well, the truth is this is a policy that goes all the way back to the bush administration. remember what president bush tried to create is a kind of sunni access against iran by armg our sunni allies by trying to create an allegiance between israel and saudi arabia, israel and egypt against iran. i'm not exactly sure if that's the best idea going forward because as you know, this is not the middle east that we were dealing with during the bush administration. we no longer have just a handful of dictators that we can tell what to do. we now have slowly emerging democratic governments across the middle east, and the will of the people and the interest of the people in the region are going to be paramount. so whether this is going to work

or not insofar as putting pressure on iran, i'm not so sure about that. >> we will have you come back at some point and reassess for coming on. thank you so much, reza aslan. we appreciate your time. we'll ask rick santorum if he's ready to become a top-tier candidate. also ahead, a 911 recording of a horrific crime. authorities say it's the voice of the killer.

and that is a picture of the gorgeous state capital here in des moines, iowa. we're inside one of the gorgeous rooms inside this capitol. it used to be the supreme court chambers, now a place where they come to have meetings. but a gorgeous place inside. a city that is teaming with politicians and a state that is teaming with politicians right now. ever-changing lineup here. you know you have become a top-tier candidate when your possibilities stop ignoring you and start attacking you. that's happened today to rick santorum. our latest poll shows him

surging in third place. a couple of his fellow republicans noticed. he spoke with us a little bit ago. senator, thanks for joining us. you know, there was a little welcome to the top tier message to you this morning in the form of a radio ad from rick perry. i want you to take a listen. >> santorum grabbed for a billion in earmarks until voters kicked him out of office in a landslide. >> this morning romney's communications director said on fox, governor romney spent his year in the private sector while governor santorum spent his time in washington. both guys on the mark here? >> well, i would say, first, i've spent my time in the public and private sector. i was fortunate enough, the people of pennsylvania and a heavily democratic district and heavily democratic state elected me at the young age of 32 to the house. taking on tough challenges and

being successful in the states that are necessary and the areas that are necessary for the republicans to win. i don't apologize for that at all. we were able to do a lot of strong conservative things including cut spending which takes on rick perry's idea. you look at my record. i introduced more original bills one year to cut spending than anybody else. i fought for the budget balanced amendment to the constitution. i have great record from the taxpayer groups and from the spending groups. yeah, did i have some earmarks? well, if you look at the constitution of the united states, it says that cob spends the money. and what happened was that earmarks were abused. not mine but others that did abuse the earmark process. and when that became evident and the public was upset about this and saw this as a real disqualifier that shouldn't be done anymore, i said, you know what? if the public is saying that congress should. be doing this anymore, i'll go along with it. >> senator, tell me.

looking at you now, you've had a great uptick in the polls to third. it looked like you might get one of those three tickets out of iowa, you say. but what makes you not the soup du jour as so many of your predecessors have who have seen sparks in their campaign only to go back on the road to mitt romney? >> you know, this isn't my first rodeo. i've about been through very, very tough campaigns, big national scrutiny types of campaigns in the state of pennsylvania. the last few races, actually the three statewide races i ran in pennsylvania, had a national meeting konking the no, times, "washington post," et cetera, digging and scraping and finding everything they possibly could. it's all out there. you know, there are issues. i never said i'm a perfect candidate but if you look at things i've accomplished and the thin things i've fought for i've been strong.

not perfect, but, again, the issues -- you know, i've made some mistakes. >> senator, one of the other things in our poll was on the very important issue of electability. you know, we talk a lot about how campaigns -- voters, they sort of have a candidate of the heart and then their head tells them, i want someone who can beat the other guy. when we ask likely republican caucus-goers, who's got the best chance of beating obama in november, romney was at 41%, and you were at 4%. so while you clearly have grabbed the hearts of some of these folks here in washington enough to boost you into the top tier, only 4% of likely caucus-goers believe that you actually could beat president obama. >> well, that's because most of the media says that mitt romney is a guy that can beat president obama. but what history does mitt romney have of beating anybody -- >> there's polling for it as well. >> yeah, but you realize that

polling -- polls change. convictions don't change. you need a politician who america can trust, one who has a clear contrast, one who can balance the budget in five years, one with experience, has a track record of being right on the issues when it comes to the security of our country and the state of israel. we need someone who understands the intrinsic value of the role of the family, went out and fought those issues when it wasn't popular. i'm the candidate that actually was able to win in states as a conservative and getting democrats and independents to vote for us when, you know, i was out there fighting all these battles. mitt romney has no track record of doing that. income, he's only run as a moderate or liberal and when he ran in the conservative pry player last time, he lost. >> to sum up, you don't think mitt romney could beat president obama? >> i think i'm the best candidate but also to get this country going, a conservative

who can rally people around a common set of values. this is very much the 1980 election all over again. this is, you know, do we go with someone who they -- the pundits say can win or do we go with someone who we know is the best person to govern this country. i hope in 1980 we chose the latter and it made all the difference. >> what do you think? >> i think any of the republicans have a chance of beating barack obama. that's not the question. the best question is who's the best to govern the country if we do one. we want a victory that does the things that are necessary to make our country free, safe, and prosperous. >> senator rick santorum, you certainly have timing on your side. if you're going to peak, this is the time to do it. thanks so much and good luck in the coming days ahead. >> thanks so much, candy. up next, are you and your facebook fans updating your status? tonight we're updating you on facebook status. it's become a major lobbyist and power player back in washington.

and later we'll be joined by rick perry's supporter sheriff joe arpaio who got himself in a little bit of trouble when he was in iowa. [ nadine ] buzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz,

you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪

welcome back. that is lisa sylvester. she is in washington with the latest news you need to know right now. lisa. hi, candy. please in grapevine, texas, a killer called 911 to report he was shooting people. authorities say they didn't understand his words at first.

the man dressed in a santa shoot shot and killed six members of his family and killed himself on christmas morning. a quick warning before we play the newly released 911 recording it's both difficult to understand and disturbing to hear. >> hello, grapevine 911. do you need help? are you sick? what was that? do you need an ambulance or police? hello? in other news, you may remember the 2008 crash when a marine jet plunged into a house in san diego. the pilot ejected safely, but the crash killed two women and two children in the home. now the judge just ordered the government to pay nearly $18

million to man who lost his family. he says he harbors no ill will to the marine corps or the pilot who he said did all they could. finally here's a story you can sink your teeth into if you're in japan. wendies at a japanese company just announced a joint venture to open about 100 restaurants. in addition to the familiar frosties and fries and hamburgers, they will feature items like avocado wausau by sandwiches and grilled chicken sandwiches with truffles. how about that? >> sometimes i'm really grateful to be a vegetarian. none of that appeals to me but i'm sure it's going to be great success. thanks, lisa. next up, facebook power play. the people who bring you social networking are spending big bucks to get their way in washington. also, rick perry's no-nonsense supporter, sheriff joe arpaio who got himself in

some trouble in iowa. what do you got? restrained driver in a motor vehicle. sir, can you hear me? two, three. just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine.

but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck. [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson.

in this half hour of "john king, usa," there needs to be a big change on "sesame street." the man called the toughest sheriff will explain how he got into trouble while campaigning for rick perry in iowa. and what do michele bachmann

and thatcher have in common? today's moment you missed. we begin with mitt romney's beef with big bird. he says the public can't pay for public broadcasting anymore and "sesame street" will have to pay its own way by running commercials. >> my test is a program so critical that it's worth borrowing from china to pay for it? i can say -- so some things you might say, i like the national endowment for the arts, i do. i like pbs. we subsidize pbs. look. i'm going to stop that. i'm going to say pbs is going to have to have advertisement. we're not going to kill big bird, but big bird's going have to have advertisements, all right? >> jim, it's not much of a bumper sticker, is it? i will not kill big bird? >> reporter: no. elmo is not tickled by what mitt romney has to say about killing

big bird and eliminating federal funding for pbs, but this is something conservatives have had their budget knives out for many years. as a matter of fact, earlier this year house republicans talked about eliminating federal funding for public broadcasting, so it should come as no surprise to viewers of ps that mitt romney would want to do it. reality checks on this. keep in mind that "sesame street" and other shows have a form of advertising. they're called sponsor "showbiz flashpoint"s. for example, "sesame street" is already brought to you by, if i can use that parlance, mcdonald's and the beaches resorts changes. so "sesame street" and pbs already has ads. and on the other side, president obama's own deaf state commission had also talked about eliminating federal funding for the corporation in federal broadcasting saying it would save $500 million by the year 2015. so both sides have talk about

this, candy. >> so in some ways, jim, this is merely a small picture inside the larger picture of what this entire election is about is what should federal government spend its money on. >> reporter: it really is. you know, thing there's also a political element in all of this, and that is mitt romney trying to appeal to tea party conservatives. this is a block of the republican party he's had trouble with over the years and there are some tea party conservatives that are very concerned with the possibility that romney will be the republican party standard bearer in the upcoming general election, and so this is one of those issues that goes right to their hearts and minds on this issue of funding public broadcasting. so it's not too surprising that mitt romney would come out and put it like this. but in the grand scheme of things and mitt romney realizes this, this is not going to cut the federal deficit down to

zero. this is just a start in that direction. and he says he's going go through the entire federal budget, top to bottom. this is one of the things that he says makes him a good candidate for president. he's going to bring a businessman's approach to working on the finances. he's going to go through line by line and say these are things we can cut out of the federal budget, perhaps privatize things or have advertising for pbs. >> jim acosta. thank you. there has been a big shake-up in michele bachmann's campaign in the last 24 hours. her campaign manager deserted, jumping to ron paul. bachmann said he did it for money. >> i had a conversation with ken sorensen, and in the conversation i had with him, he told me that he was offered money. he was offered a lot of money by the ron paul campaign to go and associate with the ron paul campaign.

no one else knows about that conversation other than ken sorenson and myself and i know what he said to me about that. >> cnn's shannon travis is keeping up with the troubles in bachman bachmann's campaign. just as it's great time to peak, it's not at a great time for this to be happening to michele bachmann. >> reporter: absolutely not, just days before the iowa caucus, candy. just days after the bombshell from ken sorenson that he was defecting, leaving michele bachmann's side. let me explain this. there's a man who was up until a little while ago michele bachmann's iowa political director, okay. so ken sorenson said that he was going to defect over to the ron paul campaign. mish shell bachmann said he was offered money to do that. today -- earlier today wes enos

said i'm going to remain michelle back mane's political director but i em going to defend ken sorenson, he was not offered money to go over to ron paul. guess what, candy? just a short while as i mentioned we found out wes enos is no longer with the bachmann campaign. there was a press release saying he was fired. i talked with the press release for michele bachmann. she said he's no longer with it. we're trying to chase down, was he fired, did he quit? what is the case. this is major drama just a few days before the iowa caucuses, candy. >> surely, shannon, it's not the sort of thing if you're a candidate struggling to stay alive that you want people to be talking about this late in the campaign. thanks so much to our shannon travis. we appreciate it. it's no surprise that corp raegss try to lobby and curry favors with legislators on capitol hill, but now high-profile internet companies

are mobilizing their own political everies aimed at influencing washington lawmakers. athena joins us now with more. athena. >> power houses like google and facebook have been getting more and more involved in politics in recent years. now facebook's path appears to be gearing up for 2012. this year they updated their pack filing to show its headquarters had moved to nearby menlo park, california. and so we thought we'd take a look back at their activities this year. >> my name is barack obama and i'm the guy who got mark to wear a jacket and tie. >> as a company facebook is no stranger to the political scene. in april mark zuckerberg hosted a town hall with the president at the company's headquarters. he joined yahoo! and google among others for an intimate dinner with the president. they've also sponsored events with the republicans including new jersey governor chris christie and three top house

republicans. the center for response v politics says facebook spent $910,000 on lobbying this year, more than twice as much as in 2010. >> they're getting ahead of the curve. they have a strong watch on the lobbying presence and now they're putting together a pac. >> they formed a political action commit knee in september ichlt among the issues of concern to facebook, privacy, cyber security, and intellectual property. so what does this new pac mean for 2012? >> sounds like they're going to be very bipartisan in what they do and support policies that support facebook. not necessarily republicans, not necessarily democrats, but it looks like it's going to be a big bipartisan effort, which is smart in this town.

>> still, gop hopeful michele bachmann had this to say. >> i think that we receive, without a shadow of a doubt, whether it is the head of facebook or the head of google, it's been very clear that there has been an alliance with the obama administration. >> it's worth noting that the obama campaign does not accept pac money. now, candy, facebook has been slowly building up its roster of politically affected employees adding joe lockhart to its communication team along with obama staffer sara feinberg. another big name, former clinton name erskine bowles who joined the company's board of directors this year. >> thanks, athena. joe arpaio, the sheriff in maricopa, arizona, which includes phoenix, is not a stranger to controversy, particularly when it comes to

policies of detention of undocumented workers. sheriff arpaio found himself in hot water this week while campaigning in iowa for republican presidential candidate rick perry. >> well, i'm getting to know iowa, the great state of iowa. was it the buckeyes or -- what do they call -- hawkeyes. buckeyes, hawkeyes, what's the difference. >> sheriff, sheriff, sheriff. as the mother of a hawkeye, i have to tell you that is a big mistake here in iowa. the hawkeyes, of course, university of iowa football team and then there's the buckeyes from ohio. are you going to live that down, do you think? >> i don't know. we had a great reception, governor perry and i touring the area on a bus, but that was an early morning meeting. i believe that was the first one where i introduced the governor. you do know there's a town

called buckeye in my county. i must have been on phoenix time when i mentioned buckeye. but it stimulated the crowd. became very positive and excitement. if that's what it takes to get excitement, i guess it's okay. >> you know, sheriff, i find it so interesting because -- and i want to ask you about some of the controversies that are following you at this point, but i find it interesting that everywhere i read today in preparation for this interview, it talked about how many of the republican and presidential candidates supported you and yet you get in so much hot water particularly when it comes to your treatment, dwlagss of your treatment of undocumented workers in the prisons or in your system there. how many people actually supported you and why do you thing they like to have you campaign for you when campaigns are normally kind of adversed to controversy? >> because they know us all.

it's not true. it's allegations. three years the justice department has been investigating me. three years. they really haven't come up with anything. but, you know, they're all good people running for president, but i like the governor of texas. i spent two days with him. i like him better having spent those two days and meeting the people of iowa. he was tough on immigration, the border. i can go one on one. i can tell you one thing. he's a man of integrity, honesty, he's a good guy and a tough guy, having been the governor of texas three years -- three time, not three years. 11 years. you have to be tough. he's my guy. i stick by him. even though i made a little mistake on buckeye versus hawkeye. >> let me ask you, since you brought up the justice department. it did, in fact, find what they called blatant pattern of

discrimination coming out of your office that went against latinos -- the latino community. i think you have until january 4th to come to some sort of arrangement where you can have meetings with the justice department to come to some sort of appropriate end to this. where are we in that process? >> well, we've been dealing with the justice department for three years. what's the rush? why all at once? politics? two days before they came down and did their press conference without us knowing about it, two days before the state law, 1070 went to the supreme court, two days before you had democrat legislators, hispanic, wanted me to resign. that's the same day -- anniversary of our border patrol agent that was killed. the same day. i can go on and on about the politics. it's all politics. >> i understand you think it's

political. right. i understand you think it's political and accept how you view it, but the justice department has also said, look, you've got till the 4th to reach agreement on the negotiations. are you going to reach that deadline? >> i don't know. we'll talk to the lawyer. they threatened to take me to court. what else is new? they suit apz all the time. they love to go to court and sue. aisle try to resolve it. i've spent 50 years in law enforcement. we'll see what happens. >> sheriff joe arpaio, thank you so much for your time tonight. we appreciate it. coming up, what's up with the man who's number two in the iowa polls and could be next week's winner? plus "american idol" winner kelly clarkson is backing off comments she made today about one of the presidential candidates? that's up next.

erin burnett is coming up. brooke baldwin is sitting in for erin. brooke. nice to see you. two stories i want to tell you about. first if you have not heard of ben breed love, it's a compelling story. he passed away christmas day, and we're speaking to his parents because what you're seeing is this video that has got one and a half million hits on youtube.

he left this behind where he talks about cheating death and it's a story he tells about using a single word, a spoken word. you have to see. we'll be speaking with his family tonight. also, someone, candy you've covered in washington. let me throw this at you, three words. arlen specter, comedian. he apparently popped up on open mike night in pennsylvania, candy. all of that coming up on "outfront." i have to say he is poking fun at congress. he has decades of stand up. the material is there. >> we'll see if he's headed there next, if you can catch him. >> thanks, brooke. the numbers one and three. mitt romney and rick santorum are getting plenty of attention. here to talk about that prospect and more our new york times

blogger and national political correspondent. thanks, both. it's getting exciting here. okay. here are a couple of things that caught my attention. rick santorum, surging in the third. bought ads in new hampshire. i assumed he would go iowa, skip new hampshire, straight to south carolina. >> yeah. he is much more straight to south carolina. he's a much more like a south carolina kind of guy. the only rationale i can see here and it is sort of a thin one is that, you know, potentially if jon huntsman is crowding mitt romney from the left in a primary where independents can vote, there may be a bit of an opening for whoever is the ascendant conservative voice to at least make a better than expected showing. >> and, look, the fact is that the idea of gaming the system by skipping the places that you're not going do well, it generally doesn't work very well and all of the attention and all of the week after this caucus is going

to be in new hampshire. if he wants to capitalize on whatever he's done here, he'll have to be there. >> and i was actually in new hampshire with rick santorum a year ago, and at that point it was his seventh visit to new hampshire. it isn't like he hasn't gone there at all. we look back four years from this week just to sort of see where everybody was and that was when the polls were showing for the first time, huge lead for mike huckabee who went on to lead the caucuses. even at that point he was pulling 25 to 20. and we have santorum at 16, i believe. does he have -- does santorum have enough time to overtake either romney or ron paul at this point? >> i think it's entirely possible if only because at this point it looks like ron paul and mitt romney both have a ceiling and we don't know what rick santorum's ceiling is especially if the other social conservative candidates are collapsing. >> i think it also depends on

whether people conclude that rick santorum has a future beyond iowa. if voters think if this is a guy that we do give him some lift and he can go on to these other places then maybe that will happen. there's still a lot of doubt in a lot of people's minds and i can remember we were all freezing. >> four years ago, a lot of people dismissed the results because it was mike huckabee and we went, there is no way he's going get nominated and is the sort of same fate awaiting santorum and iowa caucusgoers think he can beat president obama. >> that's the point. what do voters in iowa and then going on through the rest of the caucuses, do they conclude this is a person of having a real chance of beating president obama or occupying the white house or not and that plays into their final decision making when they go into that final day. >> quickly, i want to get to romney because i thought it was so interesting. somebody asked him today if ron paul wins this and you come in

second, is that still a win for you? he said no, which was a bit of truth telling. who's going to be standing there asking iowa voters for their votes and saying at the same time that it's not -- it doesn't matter if i don't win. >> right? they can spin it afterwards. >> they can try, though i still think it will be tough for them now that expectations have been raised so dramatically. he's definitely raising expectations, mr. romney is for a clean win. >> we've got one minute left because i know you both were at michele bachmann's news conference, just as quickly as we can say what's happened over the last 24 hours. her campaign chairman quit and went to ron paul's campaign. her political director has either been fire order quit. he defended the state chairman. this is not what you want to be doing five days before the caucuses. >> this is a campaign, i think, that collapsed a while ago and it's a particularly bitter

almost poisonous end to it. and charges of money, trading hands that mrs. bachmann denies that and all of messaging when you want to be communicating to voters and asking them to come support you. >> so is she off the -- is she off the cliff now at this point, do you think? >> this year, i don't want to say that about anybody, but it is -- i did attend several of her events yesterday and there were maybe a dozen people here, 20 people there. it's hard to see this momentum that she keeps telling us about is out there for her. michael shear, thanks for stopping by. see you later. one year ago today here in des moines someone bought a lottery ticket worth $16.5 million. we'll tell you why that person will now hear bad news when they come forward. too mall. what's next? 607 franklin st. ♪

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welcome back to all of you and to lisa sylvester who is there in washington with the latest news you need to know right now. >> okay, candy. i love this story. talk about waiting until the last second. a year ago today someone in des moines purchased the winning ticket for a $16.5 million lottery jackpot. nobody claimed the prize, but we have just, just learned that someone stepped forward this afternoon to claim the jackpot just before it expired. we don't know who it is yet, but they'll have a lot of questions

to answer on that one. ron paul captured the vote of an "american idol" tuesday when kelly clarkson tweeted her support, but when clarkson expressed doubts about his electability she faced backlash from his supporters. she said she was sorry for offending his supporters and adding, quote, out of all of the republican nominees he is my favorite. candy? >> they're touchy times, thank you, lisa, and now for a moment you may have missed. michele bachmann who is struggling both the polls and maintaining her staff is looking for strength from british prime minister margaret thatcher known as the iron lady. >> we are in need of an american iron lady like never before like britain had in margaret thatcher to restore our united states leadership. i will be that strong leader, and i will be that president of the united states.