hello, thanks for joining us, i'm fredricka whitfield. first an update on top stories. iran one step closer to being a nuclear nation. scientists successfully built and tested iran's first nuclear fuel rod. the rod contains natural uranium, which is normally used to fuel nuclear reactors. and the number of suspected arson fires in the los angeles area is up to 39. investigators say seven of them were set last night. they are offering a $60,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. most of the fires have started in cars, then spread to nearby homes and businesses. and the new year is off to a sad start for the atlanta braves baseball team. the wife of a team trainer was killed after a georgia state

patrol cruiser struck the family's suv. our affiliate wsb television reports the trooper was responding to a police chase at the time. and civil unions for same-sex couples are legal in hawaii. this is just one of thousands of new laws that take effect today. the bill grants same-sex couples the same rights that married couples receive. hawaii's governor signed the bill back in february. >> four, three, two, one! >> tens of thousands of revelers rang in the new year in new york city's times square. more than a million others watched the festivities on television as the fapous crystal ball was dropped to signal the start of 2012. and we're following the republican contenders live in iowa today as they crisscross the state. the contenders 2012 continues now with cnn's candy crowley.

welcome to "the contenders 2012." this is our attempt to show you these candidates as they crisscross the state, as fredricka just said, we do expect a number of live events from three of these candidates during this hour. help me along through the 3:00 eastern time hour are joe johns, in atlantic, iowa, jim acosta in marshalltown. we also have, what would an election be without a poll, a new "des moines register" poll of likely caucusgoers, republican caucusgoers, about, romney, 12%, ron paul, 22%, santorum, 15%, gingrich, 12%, perry 11%, michele bachmann 7%. john huntmans is in new hampshire, hoping to stake a claim there. jim, i guess if you're a

candidate and you wake up today if you're in that bottom tier, it's sort of part of the fo folklore or conventional wisdom in iowa, three tickets out, first, second, third, and after that you may be going but you're going on fumes, and i think if you're one of the candidates in the lower tier, you're looking at another number today and that's the 41% that are not completely sure of having -- have not completely made up their minds and could change their minds. >> reporter: you know, that's right. though we've been talking a lot about rick santorum's momentum, he's fires newspaper third place in the "des moines register" poll, second place, the last two days the poll was taken, newt gingrich is still, in you look at the full results of this poll, a statistical tie with rick santorum and rick perry.

newt gingrich still has a chance to eke out a third place showing in this state. if he does that, obviously that's going to breathe life into his campaign because he's, to some extent, being written off in the last days of iowa caucuses. i think that's unfair. we're inside the sports bar ready to listen to the former speaker talk to a decent sized crowd. the back story, they started off in a larger meeting room setting up for this event and worried that the turnout wasn't going to be that great and moved into a smaller, private room which is overflowing into the sports bar. they should have stuck with the larger room to gone with. this is what happens in the final days of the contests. campaigns are trying to, still trying to find the best way to skin the cat, as they try to get people out here, fired up, ready to go into the caucus night and you know support their candidate. and you know, it's going to be interesting to hear what newt gingrich has to say at this

meeting. he has been, you know, relentlessly staying on a positive message throughout the last few weeks of the campaign heading into the caucuses. he has resisted going negative on mitt romney. earlier this morning, coming out of catholic mass, here in iowa, newt gingrich followed out of mass by a couple of reporters who asked him about what about these negative ads? they're still coming at you, every day, day in, day out. and newt gingrich said, something about mitt romney that was very interesting. he said, mitt romney is trying to buy this election. and it was probably the sharpest attack that we've heard from newt gingrich aimed at mitt romney in some time and it's perhaps an indication that he's going to finally engage with the former massachusetts governor. the question obviously is, and you asked this earlier, is it too late? >> absolutely. it might be worth if we can, putting up that "des moines register" poll of likely iowa caucusgoers. again, jim, you make a really good point if you consider there are three tickets out of iowa,

look at romney and look at paul, and you think okay, those two seem like they're go fog get a ticket but go down and consider that this poll has plus or minus of 4% error rate, plus or minum, santorum, 15, gingrich, 12, perry, 11, bachmann, 7. there's lots of room for the third ticket and the other thing we know about this poll, is that in fact, if you took just the last two days you would see santorum going in second place. so you know the ground is still shifting here. >> that's right. >> santorum, by no means, you know, guaranteed one of those spots at the top. but i know that you talked to him yesterday, jim, and he was pretty upbeat. >> reporter: he was very upbeat, candy. he has been sort of the ironman, the marathon man of the iowa caucuses. ves visited all 99 caucuses, town halls. some of the candidate talk about

the issues. rick santorum likes to talk about how much time and energy and effort he's put into winning this state. if he comes out on top on caucus night, obviously it's a huge earthquake in this republican contest for the nomination. and rightly so because he has shot out of nowhere. earlier this year he was in dead last in most of the polls on where people in iowa stood in terms of which candidate they liked best. i think one of the really interesting trajectories in that "des moines register" poll when we look at it, over the course of the four days, is what has happened to ron paul? over the course of those four days, ron paul has slid, you know, a good six to ten points, and if you listen to what some of the folks in the polling unit with the "des moines register" are saying he's on a done downward trajectory, rick santorum on an upward trajectory, coupled with fact that you mentioned a few moments ago 40% of -- roughly 40% of

iowans may change their mind between now and caucus night, it shows you this is a fluid contest now. it goes to the reason why newt gingrich is taking a sharper tone, showing that fight. a lot of things people have wondered about newt gingrich is whether there is positive message of his goes against his branding. he's always been the guy who has enjoyed the fight. and to see him, you know, go positive and just take this abuse from mitt romney and the romney forces at the super pac has been counterintuitive the way newt gingrich has operated his entire career. maybe this is, you know, this is a strategy shift and we'll have to see how to turns out. >> you know, jim, you've watched him over the years and had an opportunity to be out on the campaign trail with him. and again, i think i told joe that i was really interested in a half hour, that gingrich

saying vote on where i am now, i want them to caucus on where i am now, rather than where i was 10, 15 years ago. when you are around gingrich or when you see him on the campaign trail, is that -- does he seem significantly different from the newt gingrich you knew and covered in washington? >> reporter: well that's -- we are seeing the softer side of newt gingrich. that has been part of the way he has rebranded himself, i think, in this campaign. to some success, obviously working well for him. the question, though, i think, is whether or not that is consistent with the newt gingrich people have always known. so he's sort of in this box of his own making, you know? his brand has always been the fighter, the conservative fighter out there fighting for the conservative cause. and to take on this positive message and say i've learned from mice mstakes and i'm a sof

gentler kind of guy i don't know whether or not that mix is an effective, you know, clear message to voters out here in iowa. but you know, i think newt gingrich had to do that in man many ways if you look at negative attack ads mitt romney's super pac is reminding voters here in the state on a daily basis of all of the things they may not like about newt gingrich. perhaps he was in a box and he was trying to figure out what's the best way to do this and thought, let's take the positive approach. he did have history on his side. he likes to think of himself as a history professor. mike huckabee waged a positive campaign in 2008 and that paid dividends for mike huckabee. the thinking was inside the gingrich campaign, inside the mind of newt gingrich, staying positive is the best way to go. i just keep cominging back to the thought perhaps on wednesday morning the winner of the iowa caucuses might be restore our future because it's one of the

most devastating campaigns of attack ads that i've seen focused on one candidate in this kind of process, you know, not coming from a candidate, you know, coming from somebody from the outside and outside group. and it's -- and it's done -- it's done its job. it's taken down perhaps the greatest threat to mitt romney in the race for the gop nomination, candy. >> jim acosta. just sort of or yen our viewers here, pictures of newt gingrich are not live, those are on tape. but we do expect newt gingrich live within the hour. that's where jim acosta is. i also have with us or joe johns, we're expecting mitt romney live event from him as well as rick santorum. lots of live coming up where you will be able to hear these candidates live and unedited, basically with the people of iowa have been hearing for about a year now. how about bob dole? there's a guy who knows how to win the iowa caucuses.

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welcome back to the 3:00 eastern edition of "the contenders 2012." we are trying to bring you these candidates as they move from place to place. sometimes on tape, sometimes live. but always unedited in the form, large chunks of the form that these iowa voters have been listening to for the past year or so. come tuesday they're going to have to make up their mines because that's when the iowa caucuses are. i want to bring in jim acosta and joe johns. we're going to talk any number of things there's iowa polls, santorum surge. but really the man of the hour and the surprising thing about this has been that romney, who has not exactly played hard in iowa, now looks as though he's the guy to beat. i want to play a little bit from romney in lamars, iowa, yesterday.

>> i must admit that family's the best part of life, the people you love, the people you care for, that's really the richness of life, and i was lucky enough to grow up with an extraordinary mom and dad. my dad was born in mexico of american parents living there. when he was 5 or 6 they moves back to from the states and went to los angeles, utah, his dad was in the construction business and anyone here in construction knows that goes up and down and his dad went broke more than once. my dad was never able to finish college, couldn't get the time or money together to do that. believed in america. and knew that in this country you could accomplish whatever you set your heart to. and so he proposed to his girlfriend from high school, they got married, didn't have money for a honeymoon he took aluminum paint, borrowed these

cans -- bought cans of aluminum paint, put them in the trunk of their car drove across the country selling the aluminum paint to pay for gasoline and hotel rooms and ultimately, despite the fact he didn't have a college degree and didn't have a lot of money, he ultimately became head of a car company and made cars. they were ramblers but they were still cars. and he became governor of a state where he'd sold aluminum paint once. an amazing country we live in. >> that is mitt romney, of course, in lamars, iowa. yesterday one of the things that is so important to folks who get to meet you and know you, for them to to find some place to relate to you and hear mitt romney telling the story of his dad who became a wealthy man and executive at an auto company in michigan as well as governor of michigan, mitt romney's dad ran for president at one point, this

is a man who has lived a very privileged life but says he certainly can understand the ordinary things that americans are going through but that connection is so important i want to bring in jim acosta and joe john whos who have been out cover all of these candidates for many, many months. let's talk about making that connection because the fact of the matter is, when you look at some of the polling, the person who seems to have made the biggest connection is ron paul, at least in terms of people who believe in his issues. i think he was at 22%, was the highest of any of the contenders on who do you most agree with. mitt romney has had difficulty making that connection, jim. >> that's right. i mean, ron paul, you know, can say this, he has true believers supporting his campaign and i think it can be arguably said

that mitt romney done and that he's still making that case, and the reason why you hear mitt romney talking about you know the struggles that his far went through, building his business, is because he want s s to -- honestly he's starting to work on his general election campaign message, too. because day in, day out the obama re-election folks are hitting mitt romney on the fact that you know he has downsized companies as part of his career and that sort of thing about the romney campaign has sort of two things they need to accomplish on that front and just to talk about the tones of the humble upbringings and so forth at one romney event a couple of weeks ago ann romney talking about how her grandfather was a welsh coal miner. the romneys are going all out in terms of trying to create a second narrative, this other biography people don't know. yes, while they're doing quite well, their family might be worth a quarter of a billion

dollars their family did have to come from somewhere to get to that point and that's part of the reason why they're trying to deliver the message. one reason we're seeing mitt romney at 25% or so in this "des moines register" poll and just about every poll thats that come out in recent weeks on mitt romney, is that you know that is basically his ceiling and that's been talked. but in a fractured field, where the evangelical conservative vote is splintered and spread out among a variety of candidates, that can possibly enough for mitt romney to win. >> you know, joe johns, i want to bring you in because you've covered michele bachmann over time and i remember, in august, that any reporter that came out here talked about the connection she was making. she actually grew up, spent some of her childhood at least in iowa so she has that connectioning she's in the midwest, as it is now but she actually was from iowa, to begin with, and she had made such a

powerful connection. she has quite a story to tell, yet somewhere along the line she seems to have lost that. >> yeah, i think you're right. i mean, there became some issues of michele bachmann's credibility from time to time. whether she could back up things that she said. i know there was that issue that had to do with michele bachmann saying that the hpv virus had somehow severely injured a child or whatever, and the medical community came out and raised a lot of questions about that. so that's the kind of thing that became her achille's heel, if you will, being able to back up some of the assertions that michele bachmann made. another one, i know, that i covered, was when she said she would be able to, if she were president of the united states, bring gasoline prices back down

to the $2 a gallon level. and if you talked to you know people in the field, of petroleum sales, the industry, they say those days are just long gone and number one, number two, the president of the united states just simply does not dictate petroleum policy to that degree to be able to make some type of a blanket promise to the american public that she's going to take them back to the good old days of $2 a gallon oil prices. so, michele bachmann is still seen as i very attractive candidate to a lot of conservatives out here and a lot of people actually are very saddened by the fact that she hasn't done any better in the polls than she has, sort of languishing now in the single digits, and people are asking whether she's going to be the next one to have to drop out because things just aren't looking for good for her, candy.

>> joe johns, jim acosta, i want you both stick with me and i want to remind our viewers we are expecting live events during this hour where you will be able to hear newt gingrich, rick santorum, and at some point we also expect to hear from mitt romney. up next, just a little quiz for you, as we go into this. who won the iowa caucuses in 1988 and in 1996? quick, go google. when we come back, i'll play you an interview i had with that candidate after this. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa.

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welcome back to cnn's "the contenders 2012." that is sioux city, iowa, and inside that room somewhere is one of the contenders, rick santorum. he is getting ready to speak. we are going to take that live when he gets up to the podium. it's what we're trying to do for you today is to give you a chance to hear these men and

women as they go about their final arguments, those caucuses, of course, coming on tuesday. i want to bring back in our jim acosta and joe johns, as we wait for rick santorum to take that podium in sioux city, iowa. what's interesting to me is, polls are cold, hard facts and the cold, hard facts for so long have been that rick santorum was getting to where, joe johns, in iowa, and he kept saying to us, you guys aren't picking up something, there's something going on here, i know my support is better than that, and guess what's happened over the past week or so? he has shot up into that upper tier. and that's what makes these caucuses so great. we can tell you the cold, hard fact of the "des moines register" poll but we can't tell you what's going to happen on tuesday night, joe. >> that's for sure. you know what? this was just hard work for santorum.

you know, he's been to 99 counties, he's done something like 350 town halls. he's been here, you know, for 100 days. ease -- it's just shoe lett leathering, sheer determination to get people to come around. iowa, it's srts ort of right fo rick santorum, 60% of evangelical, social conservatives that's the republican base that goes to the caucuses here. a lot of people who think what he thinks and believe what he believes, and so it's not that surprising when you think about it, that he's where he is right now, surging and can do very well. you think back four years ago with governor huckabee, he had the same experience because he was very much right for that constituency. that saiding rick santorum has hurdles as you know we haven't

talked about them because he hasn't been in the limelight where you get the added scrutiny. we haven't talked about his 2006 senate race. that was where he lost by something like 18%, his opponents call it a landslide. this is a republican senator in a battle ground state, pennsylvania incumbent, running for re-election just gets trounced by his democratic opponent there which raises the question, if a republican senator can't win his own state, pennsylvania, which is a very important state, why would republicans trust him with the nomination because he can't even bring pennsylvania along? i asks him about that and he makes a case that, number one, it was a very bad year for republicans in 2006, which it was, and the other thing, i think, is perhaps the more important thing to a lot of the conservative voters here, he says, look, people wanted me to

move toward the middle in order to get more votes in the middle and do better in the election on principle, i stood and decide, no, i'm not going to go there and that's why he lost the race. so that's one thing. the other thing he's getting attacks on a lot is this issue of earmarks, something like $1 billion in earmarks, he asked for, while in the united states congress. but people forget, earmarks were not always the dirty word they are on capitol hill now. there was a period where people in congress actually asked for earmarks because they wanted to do something for the folks back home and they were pretty much noncontroversial, if not a pretty good idea. his point is it's the congressional prerogative to seek earmarks and decide where the spending should go and that's where he's hanging his hat on that issue. and so, he's gotten hit lately with some few other issues.

number one, among them, i think is his endorsement of none other than mitt romney in the last presidential election. he says he did that because he didn't want john mccain to get the nomination. so, here and there, there are some issues that rick santorum gets hit on and not the least of which is the fact that he sort of gotten pigeonholed into being the big supporter of a handful of wedge issues, social conservative issues, issues that that constituency very much cares about at a time when for a lot of voters there really just two things that that worried about if they're republicans, beating barack obama in the fall and, number two, the economy. you know, that's been really the number one issue for all americans for quite a while now. so, the question, of course, is whether he's been pigeonholed and it's interesting to see how

well he's done. and now, if this trend continues, there's a question of whether you know michele bachmanns and the rick perries of the other people competing for the same pot of votes, the social conservative votes, if they fall by the way side and he becomes guy who is the big winner of conservative votes, just how will that help him fare against, say a mitt romney, as you go down to new hampshire and south carolina and on that way. but he's also got an organization problem, too, as you know. he's really not built for a 50-state battle and for this thing to go for any protracted amount of time, candy. >> once again, for our viewers, we are looking at sioux city, iowa, the guy to the left of the

screen in the black sweater vest, the younger man, is rick santorum. he's waiting his turn to talk. that's the thing about iowa, is they want to tell you as much as they want to listen to you. so these town hall meetings sometimes can turn into long speeches by folks who came to ask questions. these are all many of them on stage, are supporters of rick santorum. he is enjoying a time in the limelight that he has not seen for the past year and a half. we want to give you just a little sense of what this is like. that is a small, but packed room. we want to open up the mike and give you a sense of what it's like to be in one of these without the heat of having to stand there. >> our elected representatives in washington, d.c. we are the stewarts of our republic and that's where we have made a mistake. we begin correcting that mistake by sending the best, capable, the best people, we can, period, to washington, d.c. the most important job that we elect for in this country is

president of the united states, it is about the person we send, it's about who they are, it's about their record. i've known rick santorum for years. when i base the president if my books people say is rick santorum in there? yeah, there is a lot of him. i envision sending best to washington to do the nation's most dangerous and most important business. as i turn it over to to the fantastic sam club, it's fantastic for me, i never thought i would introduce sam club as i would senator santorum, what's the most important reason you've endorses santorum and thrown in behind rick? i tell people, the two most important reasons i have are my kids, it's important to me -- i'm going john boehner -- it's how much i love my country. it's important to me that i leave a country stronger with more freedom to them than was left to me.

okay. how many cry when they introduce him? >> that's after. after. after. >> i'm glad this isn't on national television. >> brad, wait, right there. >> it's great for the tough guy conservative to come and weep at a caucus event. anyway, with that being said i think you know where i am on this. i want -- i want to introduce an incredible patriot, a man who served his country with incredible distinction and honor. you all know him in sioux city, so well, a fantastic american, sam clobis. >> thank you. >> way to go buddy. you'll lose some cred here. >> one thing i can do is get cameras to move back, that's for sure. well, i would -- i don't think introductions are really necessary here. i know most 0 you personally and

this is a wonderful thing about being here today. i was with the senator all day yesterday. and it was just one of the greatest things i've ever done if my life. >> the plan who was crying matt schultz, the iowa secretary of state, introducing this gentleman, who will introduce rick santorum. we will come back for rick santorum. we want to take a quick break. [ female announcer ] the healing power of touch can be even more powerful, with precise pain relieving heat patch. it blocks pain signals for deep relief precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol.

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welcome back to "the contenders 2012." sometimes our cup run ets over and that's the case to the left of your screen, that is rick santorum, he is talking right now in sioux city, iowa, and the right screen, familiar face, that is newt gingrich, he's talking to marshalltown. we want to start, first, with rick santorum. >> the press was saying, you know, you're working hard, doing everything they say you're

supposed to be doing but you're not moving anywhere in the polls. we kept hearing from people, we'd make phone calls and follow up, rick, we like you, but you know we're not sure that you can win because you know the pundits say you can't win. and these national polls have you behind. and and i reminds everybody that at the national polls about two months ago, pew was taking one of the national polls and they decided to ask a relevant question, how many people -- how many can name any republican nominees before we tell you who they are? 46% couldn't name one. and yet, we're following the national polls when half 0 the people in the poll don't know who's running. this is what i sort of held out for. the people of iowa are not doing what the national folks are doing, people around the country. you're doing the job of iowans. you fight to be first. you fight to be first because you take this responsibility seriously. you take the responsibility of

being the one that recommends to the nation in the first vote of this primary process, you recommend to the nation who you've met these candidates, who you've met, who you've researched, who you've questioned. you recommend to the nation who you believe, not what the pollsters believe, not what the pundits believe, but who you believe having researched and questioned these candidates more than any other group of americans ever will, you suggest who you think the best person is to lead this country. and you know what? i believed in that from the very beginning. i remember telling several of the inbeds following us, what's going get your bump? the people of iowa are going to give us our bump, not anybody else. the people that we went out and m met. we had a lot of folks saying we likes you before but we're not sure. people started stepping forward

like matt schultz, matt, carrey, like bob, people stepped forward and said take a look at this guy, we have. we decided we're going to provide leadership and we're going to step forward and say who we believe is the best person. now it's iowa's turn to provide leadership. it's all of your turn to provide leadership. do not defer your judgment to national polls or to pundits who don't come to these things, who haven't been to my town hall meetings. all they do is talk to eacher, they dent talk to the candidates. you have. how many people in this place have met at least one or candidate for president, raise your hand. okay. there you are folks, and they're here. they're here, two days before the caucus. they're here because they've measured up all of the other candidates. they are here because they've done the analysis. the analysis that frankly nobody else in this state, in this

country, excuse me, is doing now except mp new hampshire, on the process of doing the same thing. lead this country, that's what i ask the people of iowa. don't defer, lead. lead this country, number one. number two, when you lead this country, don't put forward somebody who isn't good enough to do what's necessary to change this country. put forward someone that you know has the vision, the trust, the authenticity, the background and the record to make that happen. >> that's you. >> i would agree with that. from the very beginning, i said i would trust the people of iowa if they had a chance to get to know me, and if i make myself available they'd be kind enough to come out.

we've had like i said 372 town hall meetings, the biggest one we've had so far -- >> again that is rick santorum, speaking in sioux city, iowa. we want to break away right now. we don't do that lightly but that's jim acosta and that's newt gingrich. and we thought for a moment that jim was going to grab newt gingrich and talk to him. wanted to bring that to you live. obviously you saw newt gingrich walk by him? why, voters are more important and we understand that. we're going back to rick santorum in sioux city. >> that's the experience i've had here in iowa. it's just been a wonderful, you know, experience of the heartland of america. and this is your chance, heartland. this your chance, heartland of america to speak out. people say, rick, you know you're going to do well if you do well because of social conservatives or evangelicals. i said, no, we're going to do

well because folks in iowa understand that just as pastor gordon said, just as sam has said, just as brad and matt have said, the key to america, the foundation of america, are strong families and strong faith. that's what makes america the greatest country in the history of the world. that foundation. that's what makes america the most successful economy in the world. if you think about it, having that strong foundation of the faith and family allows america to be in a position where we can be more free. we can be free because we are good, decent, moral people. we're a people that learn the work ethic, learn to take care of our neighbor so government doesn't have to do as much, right? the more we do for each other, the less government has to do for us. the more the family can provide for us, the smaller the

government can be. that's been the watch word of america for 200 years, but we all know that's changing. and it's what really has royals us, the american that we were given is an american that may be changing from underneath ourselves and in fact, i would make the argument i agree with all of these presenters this is the most important election in our lifetime. this is the decision as to what kind of america you are going to hand to your children and grandchildren. are you going to leave america that is more and more dependent on bigger and bigger government to do the things that families and churches and local communities used to do? >> no. >> are you the american -- are you going to leave an america that says that, no, america isn't a source for good in the world, we shouldn't have a

responsibility to make sure that americans are safe by making sure the world is a better place and a safer place, or do you want to withdraw from that? like the president said when campaigning, i predict, that if president obama has four years, he's not looking to re-election, his foreign policy will not be any different than ron paul's foreign policy. they will be the same. you're seeing it -- evidence of it, of pulling back, of focusing on a growing the welfare state subpoena you look at every european country that has had world domination if you were, a world presence, from the french to the british, 100 years ago the sundidn't sthe sun didn't s peop empire? they lost heart and faith in themselves and their mission who they were, what values that they were going to spread around the world, not just for the

betterment of the world, but for the safety and security and the betterment of their country. we have taken up that -- we have taken up that cause. we have a president who doesn't believe in that who believes that we can give this to the united nations, we can give this to other bodies that we can pull back and that we can be timid in the face of threats. ladies and gentlemen, we've been through this before at one of these transformational moments back in 1980. when we had the malaise, the economic malaise of jimmy cart somewhere a poor economy, high rates of inflation, and a horrible situation with our president didn't believe in his own people. we are back in that situation where we have a president who believes in government more than he believes in you. he believes in top-down not bottom-up in solving america's problems and a president who

done believe america's a source for good and promoting those values around the world will make america a safer place, just like jimmy carter, iran is now causing problems. t. was the hostage crisis. now it's a nuclear weapons crisis, was worse? which is more dangerous to the security of the country? the president, as i talked about on "meet the press" sits idly by and throws platitudes out and does nothing to stop iran from doing what will fundamentally change the security posture of america and the world, we cannot afford that. that's why iowa has to step forward. >> we want you. >> that's a very good thing. i appreciate that. eye ask you all for your help and support. this is an election that is going to be very close. i'm very british tv of what we see that our support is rallying and rising here. there's two more days a lot of

work to be done i ask all of you, take those yard signs, take the stickers off your shirt and put them on the coat so when you go to the grocery store or wherever you're going, so you can talk about it, sign up to be a caucus captain. we have about 1100, 1200 caucus captain now but we need more here in woodbury county. we need you to sign up, go to the caucuses, be an advocate for us, get up and speak on our behalf. we're hearing -- i was listening to one of the -- kathy from the des moines register saying she thinks maybe a third or more of the people who are coming to the caucuses will be undecided. help them make their decision. say i've met with him. i've talked to him, i've had a chance to ask him the tough questions. let me tell you, i know what's up here, i know what's in his heart, i know the fire burning in his belly. this is the most important election of your lifetime. i'm asking you to do what our

founders did, when they wrote at the bottom of the declaration of independence, they pledged their lives, their fortune and sacred honor. they knew the easy job would be establishing freedom. what they wrote about and they understood that the hard job would be for generation after generation of americans to maintain that freedom because every country over time eventually as they get farther and farther away from the passion that created their greatness loses heart, gets soft, forgets the hard work of freedom. don't be that generation. don't be the generation that says, okay, president obama, okay those of you who believe in statism, those of you who believe in western european socialism, okay, you take it from here. we're tired. >> no. >> we don't want the responsibility anymore.

don't be that generation. stand up and fight for your freedom. stand up and go to those caucuses and in between times recruit those voters. i'm making the sacrifice. we're making the sacrifice. my daughter elizabeth is here. my son john is here. we have got five other kids at home. seven children, age 53 and our little girl has a disability. this is not -- not the best time of my life to run for president of the united states. but this is the most important election of my lifetime. this is where america's freedom is at stake. and so i couldn't, karen couldn't, and our kids couldn't stand by and not do everything we could. ladies and gentlemen, the next two days i'm not asking you for great things, i'm asking you for your lives, i'm not asking you for your fortune, though you can write a check to rick santorum for president or you can go on the website at ricksantorum.com

and help us out, but i'm asking you to stand up for your honor. honor is not something talked about a lot in america, but it is really important. it is really important that we have that integrity, that honor, of doing what's right. i'm asking you, you pick whatever candidate you want, do what you think is right, don't defer, do what you believe is right for this country, and in the next two days, fight for it. fight for it. fight for what's right. do your duty. go to those caucuses. and you will send a loud and clear message to the world of what the heartland of america wants, what america is looking for, for our future. thank you very much. god bless you. thank you. [ applause ] do i have time for questions? do i have time for questions? i can take -- i can take a few questions. so why don't we do that. yes, sir. i can't see you, but go ahead. >> i wanted to say hi to your

daughter. she's the one i had to escort at the debate. >> oh, okay. thank you. sioux city, there you go. >> i wrote this down. so i wouldn't say it wrong. this tuesday i will be speaking on behalf -- on your behalf at the precinct. i would like to totally assure the folks there that you will be different. most of you agree on the major issues, promises have been made, with a career politicians and the house and the senate making these promises of change is like saying my favorite nfl team, the colts, will win the super bowl next year, just by changing the coach. without better players in the case of these politicians, how can these promises and changes happen? my question is, is there anything you can or will do to fix this problem of political corruption in d.c.? >> well, hopefully -- did everybody hear the question generally? well, yeah, kerry, you want to summarize the question. >> what are you going to do about the corruption in washington?

>> that was the final question. there was a little bit more to it than that, okay, thank you, pastor. again, track record is a pretty good indication of what you're going to do in the future. and if you look at our track -- the pundits have always criticized me up until the last few days, said, you know, you're not working because all you do is talk about your track record. i said, well, people want to know what you've done in order for them to be convinced that you're going to do what you say you're going to do. they say the other candidates talk about that they say they're going to do i said, if i had their track record, that's what i would do, but i don't, right? i have a good track record. it is not perfect. and you'll hear, i'm sure, from my friends, about my words. but just because i display voma voted for a thing or two that i didn't like -- you got to take some good with bad but you didn't see me abdicating for the

bad. when it comes to corruption there is nobody in the field that has gone through the in washington and taken on the tough challenges of beating back the good old boy network in washington, d.c. i did it as a freshman, along with another iowan, jim nestle. we were the two youngest members of the house. he was 30, i was 32. and we heard about this check bouncing scandal. where there were members of congress who were loaning themselves money at taxpayers' expense for free. and then subsequently found out about members of congress who would go and get stamps from the post office and then sell them for cash. well, this business had been going on this bank scandal, had been going on for years. there were reports on it every two years by the general accounting office and usually a member of congress would highlight it and do a speech on it. this has got to stop and everyone said, okay, fine, just be quiet. and they were. well, there was a group of us called the gang of seven and said no, we're not going to be

quiet. we were all freshman. we didn't know better. that's what they told us. and we decided we were going to go out and fight this. so day after day after day we went out there on the floor of the house and said, we're not going to rest until this bank is closed and we expose who was doing this and members of congress. we had both parties, both leaderships, republican and democrat, crushing down on us, telling us to shut up, why? because they were doing it. just like everybody else. and we stood and we fought and those names were released. people talk about 1994 being a year of the contract with america. go back and read your history. 1994 was about corruption in washington because we stood up, a group of us, freshmen, minority, folks -- republicans were such a minority, nobody even paid attention -- we had been in the minority for 38 years. we were so much in the mood of just, well, you know, whatever scraps you can throw from the table, that's what most republicans just live for.

we didn't care about the scraps from the table. we cared about standing up for honesty and integrity. and we did that. >> that, again, rick santorum in sioux city, iowa. you have a good take of what his speech is. he has spent more than 100 days here in iowa. while santorum was talking, in sioux city, in marshall opportunity to, newt gingrich was talking. we'll take a quick break and when we come back, we'll hear from newt gingrich. nyquil (stuffy): yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. tylenol: and i relieve nasal congestion. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.