-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hi there. i'm brianna keilar in for wolf blitz er. it is 1:00 p.m. here in washington, and 6f:00 p.m. in london and 7:00 p.m. in brussels, and wherever you are watching us from around the world, thank you for watching us. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we are e beginning with breaking news. we are bringing you live pictures that you are looking at right here, and this is coming from the helicopter flying over union, missouri, where you can see all of the severe flooding going on. this is a half hour north of st. louis, and residents in the area are urged to evacuate immedia immediately because the water level on the mississippi river is rising. and i want to get to cnn meteorologist tom sader who is very familiar with the area.

>> yes. >> and they have been facing record rainfall, and this is bad news today. >> and it is terrible news. brianna, the radar shows it best. the storm system that dropped copious amounts of rain in the midwest dropped 8.5 in lambert airport. the rain has moved out u and the forecast is good, but the mississippi river when it reaches 33 feet, you will get some major flooding. that is what you are seeing n. west alton where the e evacuatioe va vacations are taking place, may be mandatory shortly, but this is just like in 1993 when massive flooding occurred just in st. louis, and the bi-state area, but when the missouri and the merrimack and the mississippi all come together there. and they have made improvements since 1993, but with historic rainfall like this, the only thing that you can do is to wait for the waters to recede.

now, the good news is that the conditions are dry through the weekend, and it is fabulous news, but it takes a while for all of the record rain in the region to go from the smaller streams and tributaries into the larger rivers. that is why we are seeing it. many times in the metro st. louis, what floods first is city parks and other areas where the levels can be 30, 31 or 32, but this is west alton, the consolidated north levee has been breached. so e e vvacuations will continu and as we are watching the waters recede as the crest makes its way down stream. it is a multi faceted problem here. at least the rain has come to an end, and that is very good news, but earlier, a few days ago, major interstate i-70, a major corridor through the central part of the country was shutdown

west of metro st. louis, and there is historic st. charles, missouri, which floods, and starts to see the problems, and then we will follow the crest down there from farmington to ste. genevieve, and down to cape girardo and paducah, kentuck, and maybe south of that. >> and knew, i want to show you where there are two areas here dealing with the brunt of this, right, tom? >> yes, this is where the missouri river and the merrimack river which are good-sized rivers are all starting to come together to meet the mississippi. again, it is not anything like 1993 where they have built up the levees, and it is quite populated even though it flooded thousands of homes in 1993, it was total devastation, but it is something, and i should bring it up, because it is interesting what is going on around the globe right now. el nino, the warming of the pacific waters has reached a

peak, but it takes a while for the pattern to change around the world. what we are seeing here in the st. louis, and the illinois areas is occurring in the areas of york, manchester, and leeds and cambria in england, and also, in paraguay, they have had mudslides, and then also the bush fires in australia just like we have been seeing in california. now it has reached the peak in the el nino, and it is so strong, and most likely pretty much compared to 1997 which is the threshold. we will see the effects of this, the patterns around the world for at least several more months as the decline starts to, and the cooler temperatures will start to occur, the weather p pattern has been changed, and we will see it until april or possibly may. >> how many people, tom, do you believe are affected in the

area, and are we expecting that author is the have been able to tell them to evacuate in time? that they can avoid injuries or certainly possible deaths that we have seen in some of the flooding situations? >> that is a great question, and to answer -- >> well, to pause, we are look at a football stadium, and you can see just there at the flooding of the entire field. sorry i interrupted you, tom. >> that is fip. these the areas have been flooded in the past. and again, these areas are prone to flooding, although not like what we are seeing there, and most likely a high school in west alton, but again, getting the word out as most people understand when it rains for days and days and days, sure there can be some flooding. but when you have a levee breach, that is a different story, because it is a wall of water slowly rising and at times pick up in the speed, and the water levels give no time at l

all. so i expect hundreds of calls for rescue workers to get some of the people out of their homes, and out of their businesses that are flooding as well. because it is obviously in the week, and the businesses are still up and running, and maybe not here anymore, because of of course, getting out the rafts and the crews are going to be going, and searching neighborhood by neighborhood, and door by door, and the businesses as well. so again, it is seeing the flooding in the past, but when you are thinking that you are in the clear with the improvement s that are made, you don't expect something this fast when the levee gives way, and that is the dangerous part. >> so if they had built up the levies, and if you have seen the levee breach, have you seen the scenarios of it happening or none of all? >> i am sure that the corps of engineers have been checking the levees, because they know that the rainfall was record-breaking, but there are different types of levees. some with concrete, and sometimes is it is a road that is built up using the bulldozers, and of course sh, t will use it in minor situation, but again, when you have days and days of rain, the pressure

of that water can be so great that it takes one area to have a weakness just like here with the consolidated north county levee that has given way. they have expected it, but not expecting this to occur. >> and for the immediate issue here, it is responding to the calls they are getting from the people caught by surprise by this flooding, and this is also going to be an engineering feat in order for dealing with the recovery, and making sure it does not happen again. >> i am sure. in fact, what is happening now in northern england, they are are using the helicopters to drop concrete and other materials to shore up the levee that gave way in the county of york or the city of york. here, they may be trying to do the same thing, but they will have a couple of days of dry weather, an may a nd maybe they wait for it to recede, but they are waiting for the le e vies to reside. and 34 feet is a pretty good

flood stage, and we are expecting it to go higher. >> and we will bring in collene mcginty who is from st. charles county emergency management where water has breached a le levee, and collene, give us the latest to where you are. >> yes, the water over the top, and not breached the c consolidated north county levee in west alton. so the mayor and the fire chief have direct ed the residents to evacuate effective immediately. this is the final stage of the voluntary e e vvacuation decreet was issued sunday. >> is this considered voluntary the or mandatory? >> it is still considered

voluntary evacuation, and the authorities cannot force people the go, and it is the final stage of the vol untary evacuation decree, and given the flooding and the imminent blooding expected to okccur, an the lack of access to the town, and the flooding of the roads to advise the residents to evacuate. getting from the residents?ou - >> in terms of, you know, we have gotten a variety of calls throughout the weekend, and just residents considered about the flooding situation at a whole throughout the weekend here at emergency management, and just, this has been the unique situation here for st. louis ko -- st. charles county as a whole. >> is it is all hands on deck here, and a lot of them would be dealing with the flooding in their homes there? >> yes, and we are the emergency management, and working with ambulances, and fire to coordinate the operations during

this time. >> and what about the more sensitive parts of the population there, older folks for instance, who could be homebound or who certainly can't evacuate as quickly as some of the other residents? is there assistance for them? >> i believe that the river point fire rescue, they are keeping an eye on them, and the other law enforcement agencies have been keeping an eye out on on those individuals as well, and making sure they get access to the resources they need. >> so it is an important distinction that you are saying that the water is overtopping the the le e vie, a -- overtoppe e v levee and not breach iing the levee. can you tell us if it is over most of the levee or the length of the levee that water is essentially overflowing into the

area? >> i don't have the exact length of where the water is overtopping the levee, but it is going over the top of the levee, and they are expecting the flooding to be imminent, and, you know, for the town to be cut off and flooded within a matter of hours. >> we are seeing actually some pictures here of folks who are putting sandbags along this levee, and obviously, trying to prevent some of this overflow that you are describing, collene. and tell us about the efforts to try to reinforce and height en the levees in an effort to stop some of the flood iing. >> well, from what i understand in regards to that levee in that area, they are in that particular area, there not sandbagging going on. although, i might be misunderstood because of the situation that it is in now. but you know, like i said, may not have the latest update on that, but again, effective immediately, west alton

officials, the mayor, and river point are encouraging people to get out of town as soon as possible as flooding is imminent. >> thank you, collene mcginty with the st. charles county emergency management for talking to us. record rainfall there in missouri, and we are seeing the levees of topped and breach ed n this area where you will see the various rivers converging, and the folks here in the live pictures putting the sandbags there to reinforce the le e vie in union, missouri. we will have more on the severe weather situation out of missouri after a quick break. reaching the olympics for my country was my childhood dream. >> what truly inspire me was

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we are following the breaking news, and severe weather situation. live pictures from union, missouri, and these are taped pk churs th s th -- pictures that we turned around from union, missouri, one area where the levees have been either breached or overtopped as this state is going to face record rainfall in recent days, and the towns and the infrastructure is just overcome by the sheer amount of water. historic amount of water. you can see the first responders have been there patrolling the streets and obviously, dealing with the calls from the residents. the other area is west alton north of st. louis, and yup yon is west of st. louis. west alton where you have rivers that are converging, and basically surrounding that town with just so much water coming through the rivers because of the record rainfall, they have been overcome.

the levees have been overtopped, and at this point, an e e v-- e evacuation, and they have been in a voluntary evacuation, but now they are in an almost mandatory evacuation to tell folks there to get out. these are the goalposts at a football stadium. we have been looking at the flooded stadiums, and where water is past the first floor, and severe situation, and already at this point, we know that as we have seen casualties from the severe weather in missouri today, we are hearing from the officials there that officials that three are dead today, and just from some of the severe flooding that you have been seeing, and we will continue to follow this. we have live pictures coming in, and taped pictures that the affiliates in missouri will turn around, and we will deep you

posted on this. and we have break news out of syria where isis with links to the attacks in paris has been killed in a coalition air strike in syria. this took place christmas eve, so days ago, but the coalition says that the man charaffe al moudan was actually planning more attacks. we have elise labott with us, and also cnn contributor michael weiss joining us who is also a senior editor the at the daily beast. elise, to you first, what do we know about the man killed in the air strike? >> well, the 27-year-old isis fighter, and this is not the first time that he was suspected of terrorism, and we believe that he was investigated for terrorism in 2012, but he traveled in syria in 2013. we understand from the sources that he was in touch with some of the paris attackers, and those who were plotting the attacks, just days before the

attack. it is unclear what his actual role is, brianna, but we understand that he was in touch with more than one of the attackers, including abdul hamid abboud who was considered the ringleader of the attacks. >> and also, al moudan was one of ten high value targets killed in december, and how much do we know about the others targeted? >> not a lot. some of them in iraq, and some of them in syria, but what the coalition is trying to do is to tie it to some of the successes that they have had on the battlefield. the iraqis and the syrians against isis. what they are saying is that, you know, some of the middle management if you will, and not really the big fish the isis leaders, but system of the middle ranked leaders. the fact that they are not able to help plan the attacks, and help execute is having a direct success to some of the gains

they have had on the battlefield, and including the recent liberation of the center of ramadi, brianna. >> and michael, you have been hearing the intelligence that they have been plotting another attack, and what does that tell you about the quality of the intelligence they have now? >> well, they say that he was a senior member of isis, and the fact that he is 27 year-old, that e leads me to believe he is little bit of the exaggeration. paul cruickshank, terrorism expert, said that one of the isis gunmen in bataclan had referred to one of the attack s attackersers as sulaiman, and that is one of the aliases as this guy. the way it works with these terrorist operatives abroad, they tend to provide them with

the money, and some low yist cal capability, but once you get to europe and the west, you are on your own in terms of scouting the targets, and surveillancing them, an all of the rest of it. it does not sound to me like this guy was, you know, high ranking. to give you an idea, the guy essentially responsible for setting up the atk in libya, he was an older operative and was a policeman in saddam hussein's regime. and the fact that he was a french national leads me to believe that he was part of the cad ri, but the rumor had been that one of the guys that chickened out at the end might have fled and gone back to el raqqah, and so i am waiting to see what the coalition really knows or what they are putting out here in the days late arer. keep in mind, this is a new

pentagon push to sell the quote narrative, and yes, that it is the strategy is successful, and not flailing. >> and we are have seen it in polls as well. michael weiss, and elise labott, thank you. coming up next, i will speak to the iraqi ambassador to get his take on the advance in ramadi, and also, the prospect of 2016 and the fight gaiagainst isis. it's hard to find time to keep up on my shows.

that's why i switched from u-verse to xfinity. now i can download my dvr recordings and take them anywhere. ready or not, here i come! (whispers) now hide-and-seek time can also be catch-up-on-my-shows time. here i come! can't find you anywhere! don't settle for u-verse. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. in ramadi, iraq, today, the government forces are trying to get the civilians to safety a

day or so after iraqi troops retook control of the city's center from isis fighter es. you can see that the families are shuttled to a area that is under government contoll. meanwhile, the city was swept for bombs after of the isis fighters plead the area. and they say that they still control a quarter of the city, but in a statement, they said that the security will be hand ed over to the police, and sunni tribes. the the prime minister also promised that the city of mosul would be liberated from mi isis, and isis would be defeated in 2016, and a big, big promise. let's talk more abthis in the fight against isis in iraq, with lukeman fayly, and i want to begin with the area of iraq, and it seems that a quarter of the city has isis fighters in it.

is that your understanding? >> yes, we have cleared the main city, the center, and focusing on the residential areas to make sure that the civilians are out of way's harm, and eradicate isis. >> and what type of traps are you look g fing for? >> traps, car bombs, and using the human shields, and going street inch by inch. we have to make shure that the iraqi citizens are safe. >> this is being herald ed clearly by the prime minister as a victory for iraq. quite a turnaround from several months ago when the iraqi forces e fl fled the city as isis came in, but this is just the beginning, because so much more to be done to hold the city, and how confident are you that iraqi forces can hold the city? >> the reason it took a usus a e

to take it is to stabilization, and making sure that people can go back to their homes. this is considered a victory by all of the standards. the iraqis have now retaken the initiative. mainly by the army, and that is a great sign here. >> and not necessarily rely iin on the shia paramilitary forces as you are trying to get the buy-in, in that area? >> right. sunni allied tribes who have contributed significantly with the ally, and they are game-changer, and we continue to want them there. >> and we are seeing the pictures of the civilians evacuated from the center of the city, and there was a report that was issued that said that iraq has the highest number of displaced people, and some 3.2 who have fled their home, and how is the iraqi government coping with this. >> certainly, a challenge, and some people have been out of their homes for a year now, and it is a challenge to health care, an education, and so on, and we are responsible for

thash, that and we have needing substantial international support to stabilizing the e construction of the areas. ramadi had the impacted relationship to the infrastructur infrastructure, and need support there, and the government is focusing on making sure that we clear the areas, and the people are safe, and also to get support, international support. and local allied support, and others to make sure that we can control the areas after. it is not a short-term project, but long. >> and so perhaps there are cities such as mosul that are more important than the ramadi, and the president was talking to some u.s. officials and the coalition, and they don't commit to a time line of when mosul would be retaken? >> well, since the liberation of

ta the career, we have learned some lessons, to make sure that we have the buy-in of the people. and from our side of the government, we don't call it a victory or others, because all iraqis are responsible, and we have the responsibility of the state on them to make sure that we liberate all of iraq. we need support from the neighboring allies to make sure that we cleanse iraq and the region from the venom of isis. this is a key issue for us. >> and very key for you, and i wanted to know when it comes to the u.s.-led coalition, and obviously, you have talked the about a number of parties in that, what is the role that you want the see going forward that is essenti -- that you want to see going forward to ensure success? >> to make sure that there is a clear cooperation, and in intelligence, and making sure

that there are trainings, and the low gist ticks help that we need, and making sure that the skies is under control of to iraqi army, and with the coalition support. to that effect, it is ongoing cooperation, and cross cooperation, and we need to focus on that issue. as i said, it is not an overnight project, but it requires months and months of training and preparation and p support. >> this is heralded as a victory by your country, and a lot of optimism here in the u.s. and other partners with iraq on this. and there was a lot of criticism several months ago of the iraqi forces. do you feel it is a turnaround in a way? >> i believe it is a symbolic victory for us, and retake, and it is not just strategic to make sure that we are able to clear one of the main cities which is predominantly sunni by the way. so make sure that we have the buy-in of the locals, and make sure that the close cooperation, and to ensure everybody we care

about the lives of iraqis and the dignity of iraqis and that is where we need the help other countries. this is what has to be the focus of all stakeholders. >> ambassador, thank you. the iraqi ambassador to the united states. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you for having me. and now, back to deadly flooding happening in missouri. we have learned that the at least three people have died today alone. and now the town of west alton is being evacuated as we speak, because water there has now topped a levee. west alton sits between the m t mississippi and the missouri river north of st. louis, and when we go live the region after this quick break. stay with us. sglifrnlts

. this is cnn breaking news. >> we are following the breaking news right now out of missouri. this is where the residents in one a area of the state are being told to evacuate because of the imminent flooding elsewhere. we are seeing the flooded homes and businesses. you can see it here the water through the windows of that business there in union, missouri. these are the pictures from moments ago, and this mcdonald's is completely overcome. this parking lot around the businesses a lake. now, we have also learned that at least three people have been killed in the flooding there, just today alone, add ing to the casualties in the area that we have seen in the recent areally das, and all of this is a result of the strong storms that have swept across the country. joining me on the phone now is chief richard pender who is with the rivers point fire district in st. charles county, and chief, thank you for talking to the us, and i know that you are in the calm before the storm, right? you are expecting the things to

get worse as you expect more of the levees to of flow? >> yes, ma'am. that is the point where we are right now, and sections of the levees are some spots are overtopping, and we have concerns with the overtopping that is going to be filling in area areas that our residents need to evacuate from. so we have sent out the final warning of the voluntary evacuation notice. for the folks that are not able to stay in what we call flood-ready homes, and now is the time for you the leave. things are just getting to the point where it is unsafe. >> what scenarios are you preparing for, and what resources are ready to deal with the scenarios? >> well, right now, any type of scenario scenarios that we have, we are, we are ready for would be any water refuse that occurs with

anybody who has not heeded any warnings that we have with our fire district, and the neighboring fire districts as well as reaching out with our partners throughout st. charles coun county, and the regional teams, not only because of our, you e know, our piece of the state here that we are trying to protect, but other areas having flooding and flash flooding issue issues. and what the chiefs have been doing is to taking and staging the water rescue assets throughout the state for the past few days. now, with the situation that we are in, we are plugged into the plan, too, for the possibility of the there is a levee that actually breaches, and forces the water on to us rather than a slow overtopping of the levee,

we could have the possibility of folks stranded if they have not he heeded the warnings. >> thank you, chief richard pend pender with the rivers pointe fire district. i want to go to the mayor of union, missouri, which is west of st. louis, and not too far from west alton, the area north of st. louis that is facing the flooding as well. thank you, mayor, for being with us. tell us what is happening in your area. >> well, we have had record-breaking down flood, because we went about a foot over our 1982 flood, and that is the record. you know, we topped out at about a foot above that, and we have just received word that we did crest, and that is a good thing, so that the water is starting to recede, and now we can get to, once we get back into the communities, and get back into the homes, and get back to help

them recover. there's a lot of water. >> there sure is. we are seeing the live pictures, and i don't believe that you can, but we are looking at the live pictures out of, i believe moments ago out of union, missouri. there where you are. and you said it is a foot over what you saw in 1982. you are trying to get back into the homes. >> correct. >> and the river has crested, but have you seen any levee breaches or have the levees just been overtopped? >> we honestly don't have levees around here, and we are getting our water from the burgess and the merrimack, and that is where the issue is with the merrimack backed up, it is take forever for the water to get out of the region and get away and that is why we have the flooding here. we are very familiar wit, yes. >> and now, people have been, are you confident that people have evacuated or are you sort of waiting as the water reseedr

to survey the damage? >> well, we notified the people, and original ly when the nationl forecast, weather, told us we would crest at 28 feet, we didn't feel it was right. we knew it wasn't. we thought that we would crest more at 35 feet, and we crested at 34 1/2. we were able to warn the citizens, and warn the citizens, and we don't have any reports of injury, and everybody with the time to get the stuff out of the homes, and that is a flus plus. we had -- that is a plus. we had 25 homes affected by the the flood, and nine of the major retailers and you have seen the picture, and major flooding down by the rivers and the major reret reretailers. >> and we are certainly glad to hear that you are not doing to have any injury, and that is great news.

and mayor mike livengforth there, and that is interesting, because he said that the weather service said that the river would crest at 28 feet, but he said they had a feeling that it would not be that, but it would be 35 feet, and perhaps they were correct if it crested at 34.5. >> yes. and we have to clarify, because when looking at the images of st. louis, it is not one river. it is the mississippi, the missouri and the merrimack and other small tributaries coming in, and it started last week with unprecedented storm system ises that dropped record rainfall from 8.5 to 10 inches, so that is why they were expecting the rivers the to rise. when you talk about the historic levels of 1993, that is the missouri and the mississippi, but we are going to be seeing on the rivers the second highest

crest ever recorded. it will not surpass those of 1993, but we are going to be seeing on the merrimack river record crests in the area such as union, and pacific, and we will break it down for you along the merrimack. and the merrimack records are going back to 1982. let me break it down for you and to clarify in a few regions what we are seeing here. take this, if we can, pull full, and give everybody a good idea here. downtown st. louis here. flooding along the cobblestones and the landing and the city parks get flooded. the record in st. louis from 193 was 49.6 feet. they are expecting by thursday morning 44.8. so it is far from the record, but it is the second highest level. north of the city, right in between the missouri and the mississippi, it is west alton. that is where we are also seeing the records. now, in alton, it is 33 feet, and expected to get to 38, and the second highest level, but then you have st. charles where we have areas along the

missouri, and a major interstate was closed eastbound and westbound traffic, and they are expecting it to happen again. out to the meramec and interstate 44, and 144 goes underneath, but it is flooded and expected the go more. and the meramec will go to fenton and arnold, and so again, this is where st. louis meets, and if you have seen the city flag, it has the three rivers, and that is the problem. some cases, not as bad as 1993, but in some cases along the m a meramec, it is going to be worst flooding we have seen. >> and now, we will look at things are looking to get worse in the coming hours. and tom sater stay tuned so we

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and every day for as long as my doctor tells me. don't miss a day of brilinta. news, flooding out of missouri and also in northwestern arkansas under flood warnings. these are the pictures that we turned around moments ago out of union, missouri, west of st. louis. he here, you can see all of the rivers in the area, the meramec, the missouri and the mississippi river, and this is an area where you have tributaries coming off of the rivers, and so much water backing up and creating flooding, really outside of st. louis. we have been talk thing to official officials there on the ground, and they are actually bracing for things to get worse before they get better. as we expect the rivers to rise

even more, and we are hearing word that some levees have overtopped north of st. louis. i do now want to bring in g governor, former governor of arkansas, mike huckabee, who is also a presidential candidate live with us from little rock, arkansas. governor, obviously, you have experience dealing with the emergencies like this. i want to talk politics, but first, i want to talk about what is going on there in your home state, because i know that in northern arkansas, there are a number of flood warnings, and we are expecting the arkansas river to reach flood stage tomorrow, and this is going to be worse in your state before it gets bet r better? >> yes, it is. and the floods are the most god-awful thing that you deal with as a natural disaster, because some of the damage, you won't see for weeks if not months after the floodwaters recede. there is nothing that you can do really to stop the flood. people don't take seriously enough the dangers, ooso of all

of the emergencies that governors manage, it is one of the most dangerous, and ominous, and more people are killed in floods than in tornado, and it is the kind of thing that you see the pictures. the arkansas river in little rock is moving at 400,000 feet 70,000 feet a second a small craft advisories are out. so that means the water is just pouring through at the rate it's going. there's probably going to be water topping the dams along the arkansas river. that's bad news for a lot of people and probably some evacuations. >> what we see them dealing with missouri is going to be the story going into. tomorrow for your home state. i do want to talk politics with you. i want to turn to the 2016 race. dthd dth has been stepping up attacks on the clintons as well as rivals. trump is claiming that the obama campaign called bill clinton a

racist during the o 2008 presidential race. here's what he said tomorrow in a "today" show interview. >> they called him a racist. it was a miserable campaign. he did very poorly. they are bringing him out again. he's being wheel ed out and we'e going to see what happens. frankly, he did very poorly. he was not good for her. and obviously, she lost to obama. that was the end of that. they brought him out before. >> you said, governor, on fox news in a battle matchup between donald trump and the clintons that your money would be on trump. do you think this is an effective strategy in attacking bill clinton and how might this affect the republican race for other candidates? >> i don't think it's going to have a big effect. ultimately the race is not about clinton. it's not about trump. it's not about me.

it's about what people are feeling. people are angry because their paychecks respect going very far. i think they are going to be voting for their frustrations, voting for their sense of disconnect with the washington elite who continue to poor dead on top of them. there's a a complete disregard for the struggles that people have. i hard the president say the economy is e getting better. he needs to stand in the layaway line just before christmas because he would have a very different assessment of how great the economy is if he talked to the people who barely got through christmas. the average american is living off $1,000 worth of savings. that means the average american family is a root canal away from disaster. there's a lot of personalities and all of it is an immense amount of fun to watch his sport, but when people go to vote, they are going to be voting for their frustrations and voting for somebody that might be listening to what they are going through. >> and some people wonder if

that person could be senator ted cruz. we have seen him rising in the polls. you criticize ehim u. you said he's not consistently conservative. what do you mean by that? >> he said some things in manhattan that is different than he's been saying in iowa. i think people are looking for a candidate that doesn't wake up and look at the map and say, let me see if my message is going to be different because of where i am. i believe ultimately folks want authenticity. they want people that know what they believe. they don't have to say what do the latest polls say and what are the trends, where am i, that will determine my message. the message is going to be koint. it's going to be about the american people and about what's hurting them. what's causing their lives to be so challenged as so many people are feeling today. they are frightened of terrorism and of the economy and scared

for their kids' future. ultimately i think those things matter so much more than the horse race and the process that we often even those of us who are candidates we sometimes get sucked into. >> if you judge donald trump in a similar way, would you say that he's consistently conservative? >> he's consistent. one of the things i think that -- >> consistent but maybe not consistently conservative in a time where you said people want someone who is genuine. maybe it doesn't matter if they are conservative? >> i think people are less concerned about where folks are on the horizontal scale of left to right liberal, but they are looking for someone who campaigns as i have said for 26 years. people ultimately vote vertically, not horizontally. are you left, right, conservative, liberal. average americans are asking are you going to take us up or take us down. you see our country is going

do down. what they want to know is somebody going to take us up. they are far more interested in the vertical than the horizon l horizontal. they can live with things on the spectrum a little differently. they can't continue to e see this country go down in its culture, go down in its economic opportunities for americans. people are angry and they are frustrated because they see washington arguing over horizontal issues and they are struggling to keep their heads above water to use a flood metaphor considering we're looking at some horrible things. when the flood waters come, you're not trying to figure out what are you going to have for dinner. you just want to survive. and survival mode is where a lot of americans are right now. >> real quick before i let you go. you have indicated if you don't do well in iowa that could be it for you. how well do you need to do to stay in the radce?

>> i think we're going to do great there. i think we're going to surprise people. we're going to spend the entire month of january. the fact is at this point of the stage in the last two election cycles, things have changed over 20 points. the front runner at this point never wins. and there's always a surprise. i was the surprise eight years ago. rick santorum was four years ago. we poll 5,000. people in iowa last week. 75% of them have not made up their minds yet. we think there's going to be some surprises on february 1st. >> we will see. iowa certainly has a spot in your heart, governor huckabee. . we'll see what shakes out there here in the next month or so. thank you so much, always good to see you. >> thank you, happy new year. >> happy new year to you as well. that's it for me. i'm going to be back at 5:00 eastern on "the situation roo"." for our viewers in north america, "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right after a quick break.

you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. we begin with breaking news. here we have one day after tornadoes in these monster storms devastated large sections of the country, one town right now actually on the verge of going ushd water. union, missouri, the pictures tell you everything you need to know. they are now warning folks to get out. the access roads will be flooded in a water of hours. not if, but when. the floods there are covering homes, cars, restaurants, businesses, but the race is on to get these people out before it's too late. joining me by phone is seeing some of this flooding. we also haveom