to soothe a sore coccyx. >> i ride horses. that was nothing. please be sure to join us in the cnn election center in the first months of the presidential contest. our coverage begins tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. eastern. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. the news continues next. good evening from the cnn election center, 26 hours from the start of iowa's caucuses. the race is so tight, so unpredictable, the top republican calls it unprecedented. we'll hear from congressman ron paul and his son the senator. they say rick santorum is too liberal. we'll ask franklin graham about his father's help and who evangelical supporters should support. also a possible break in the hunt for the arsonist who set 53 fires over the last few days.

we begin with rick santorum. momentum is with the pennsylvania senator and he is sticking to his conservative guns. candidate santorum this afternoon. >> i would suggest if you look at the history of republican nominees, that moderate voters, moderate candidates who were there to appeal to more moderates ended up losing. >> but is that tough enough? listen to what congressman ron paul had to say about santorum earlier to cnn's dana bash. >> why would not he be a good republican nominee? >> he is very liberal. >> santorum is liberal? >> have you looked at his record? >> uh-huh. >> go look at his record. >> cnn political correspondent jim acosta is in boone, iowa. he spent the day with jim santorum. i understand he got some interesting last-minute help. >> reporter: that's right. don't tell jim bob dug per rick santorum is too liberal.

the reality show tv show star, he is the star of the reality tv show 19 kids and counting. he backed mike huckabee. he's been in support of the former pennsylvania senator. you won't find rick santorum getting inside that bus. he is still riding in that pickup truck to keep that image that he cultivated in the months leading up to the iowa caucuses. i talked to jim bob about his endorsement. he said now is the time for the splintered social conservative field in iowa to basically come together and get behind the candidate that he says can win these iowa caucuses. he points out, santorum was in favor of a ban on partial-birth abortions. he ticked off really a laundry list that he says makes santorum the pig for christian conservatives. >> and it is very different. the crowds are bigger interesting media is bigger.

how is he handling the harpoons? you have robocalls saying he supported him back in the day. you have rick perry saying he is not electable. are they reacting from stop to stop? >> reporter: they're reacting from stop to stop. we heard rick santorum at this stop earlier today accuse the ron paul campaign of running negative robocalls. accusing the former pennsylvania senator of being against the second amendment. santorum said that is not true. and at earlier stops today, he went right after mitt romney. mitt romney as you know referred to senator santorum as being a creature of washington. rick santorum went right back at mitt romney earlier today saying, you know, what we need in washington is not a chief executive officer but a commander-in-chief. he even went after rick perry earlier this morning when he ticked off some of the deductions in his tax plan. and he said, and i hope everybody in the crowd notices, he didn't forget any of those

points. so rick santorum is i think getting to the point where he understands, as he target now. because he has so much momentum. >> live for us on the eve of the caucuses. thanks so much. we'll have more of that interview dana bash had including whether senator paul would consider -- whether the senior paul would consider running as there'd party candidate if he fail to win the nomination. cutting the debt. the number one issue, according to iowa voter. and mitt romney jumping on the issue arguing voters should be disgusted with president obama's performance. >> this president has inherited a tough economy. but he didn't make it better. he made it worse. we'll bring it back again by reapplying the principles. by relying on free people and free enterprises. by remaining an opportunity society. >> when it come to the republicans, what are the differences between the former massachusetts governor and his

caucus opponents. for that let's bring in canny crowley, our kankor of the state of the union. on that big issue, deficits, the debt, spending. do these candidates have significant disagreements? >> reporter: i wouldn't say they're significant. let's just take top three, at least in the polling in des moines. they all think the president has spent too much money. all of them think spending should be cut and that spending should be brought down to a percentage of gross domestic product. different percentages but all in the sail ballpark. where they do disagree, in the top three romney, paul and santorum, is that ron paul in his cuts would include military spending. he would put it on the table. the other two wonderful just to take one simple legislative issue that came up in congress in december, remember that pay roll tax extension.

both romney and ron paul said yes, i think we should go ahead and extend that pay roll tax cut. it was only rick santorum who said i don't think we should because i think it harms social security. these are not major differences. every time we talk about something like this, i am reminded as you well know, john, during the campaign last time around, barack obama was against individual manindicates for health insurance. and it became one of the signature pieces of the letting legislation of the health care legislation. so these are grand plans. things they put out on the campaign trail for political purposes to kind of outline their philosophy. but once you get in touch with reality, you have to sort of bend and shift with the wind. >> getting elected is a lot different than campaigning. and abortion is not likely to be an issue we talk about in the general election. in quoting evangelicals in iowa, any key differences on that

issue? >> reporter: you know, again, i guess it depends on your real definition of key. but by and large looking at the top three, romney, paul and santorum. probably the strictest on abortion issues is rick santorum who believes there should be no abortions except in the case of the mother's life being in jeopardy. he also believes that there ought to be a constitutional amendment to ban abortions. but if you look at both paul and romney, while both are anti-abortion, paul saying only should there be abortion in the case of saving the mother's life, romney romney also thinks there should be exceptions for rape and incest. and both of them, interestingly, i just learned this today at the finer points of their position. mitt romney and ron paul both believe that the roe v. wade ought to be overturned and it should be september to the states.

>> thank you. michele bachmann's campaign scraped up enough money to put ads into some but not all of the outlets. it adopted the line that she could be america's iron lady. pay close attention to the pictures here. >> born and raised in iowa. only one candidate has been a consistent conservative fight here fought obama care. fought increasing our debt ceiling. even as other republicans were cutting deals with obama. she'll never back down. one of our own, michele bachmann for president. >> one of the most intriguing questions as we head into iowa caucus night tomorrow, what faction of the republican party will emerge the strongest? old guard moderates? or the newer tea party activists? at one stop today newt gingrich pointed to romney. >> the most intriguing thing is that after five years of campaigning in what i think will be something like $20 million, plus in total spending, that

romney is proving decisively that the moderate vote is about 23%. >> our chief political analyst gloria borger joins us now. one of the key questions we begin to answer in iowa is how different will 2012 be from 2008? here is the map from 2008. president obama carried iowa. this is the general election. let's go back and look at the republican caucuses. here's my big question. here's the middle of the state. this is mike huckabee. these are the small towns, rural evangelical voters. can we say with the split, will the evangelicals be as powerful this cycle as they were in this state last cycle? >> i think the question is will as many turn out this cycle as they did last cycle? last cycle, 60% of the voters around were evangelicals. some of the polls we're seeing now are only 37% or so might be evangelical. i think you would have to say mike huckabee. wouldn't you say mike huckabee brought out the evangelical voters. now they're not a solid block.

call. keys have endorsed rick santorum. they're the kind of wind at his back. but we don't know wlor they're going to eventually say thank you, we have one horse to ride. and that's what rick santorum wants but so far that hasn't been the case. >> and you do have i'll call him an older guard, not country club but a traditional chamber of commerce moderate pragmatic conservative republican. that was the romney vote. he had the edges in the last election. romney could get this number and win the state. >> that's a lot like the number he seem to be getting in the national polls. that's been his number. 25%, 27%. cannot seem to get above it. doesn't go much below it. i think they are counting on getting those voters. again, the question is, will that number be enough to win?

here's what we dope know. the darker the green is where you have a higher level of people in that part of the state. the higher number with the tea party. we have the evangelicals, traditional moderate to conservative republicans. we'll learn a lot about intensity. this is our first test. >> the question that i have, maybe you know the answer to this. i was trying to figure out about ron paul and the tea party voters. it seem he would appeal to them on the economic side but would not appeal to them on the foreign policy side. he could get some but not an overwhelming amount. maybe newt gingrich will get a number of tea party voters. maybe santorum. >> i think they're split. same as evangelicals. i think perry gets some. that's the key thing, the splintering. remember, all the candidates make their case at the calling

us to try to change people's minds. romney wins if they keep that splintering. about 3 million people live in iowa. a lot of people say why does this state go first in the process? 5% hispanics, 3% african-americans. turnout, 2008 turnout. watch this tomorrow. 2006, 2008, democrats had the intensity. in 2012, will republicans have the intensity? in 2010 they did. is this number higher tomorrow night? that's one way of knowing if republicans are ginned up in this election. why do we care with iowa? not just tomorrow. in the last 13 presidential elections, seven times won by republicans. six time won by democrats. that's your ultimate swing state. >> and by the way, 41% of them say they're still swinging. they're not sure who they're going to vote for. they're very persuadable. you go into the caucuses. people talk to you. >> this time tomorrow night,

they'll be walking into those caucuses. this time tomorrow night, we'll talk to them. tomorrow we lead you into the special caucus coverage. also, the evangelicals are critical. the reverend franklin graham keeping a very close eye on presidential politics. and later, one of the country's iconic singers announces life plans for this summer. [ horns honking ] hey, officer, how's it going? [ horns honking ] not a talker. cool. i'm not either most times. passport. yes. passport. passing them to you. driver's license. yup. here you go. past five years' tax returns, high-school report cards, and i'm gonna need to see a receipt for that watch you're wearing.

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on the eve of iowa's caucuses, one of the biggest questions, whether evangelical vote letters unite behind a single candidate or split their vote and risk losing some of their political clout. joining us tonight, the reverend franklin graham. if you're an evangelical, a born again christian, you're torn tonight. you look at governor romney and you think maybe this guy is a stronger, more electable candidate against president obama, how would you counsel them?

what would you do? >> well, first, we're voting not for the pastor in chief of the united states. we're voting for the commander-in-chief. i think we have to look at the man, or the woman who can best represent our nation, who can lead us economically, militarily. the foreign policy, these things are all very crucial. very important. and yes, religion is a part of it. it has been a part of process since the beginning of our nation. a lot of people will vote for someone who they feel is the strongest candidate, as concerns their faith. but i believe we should be for the most qualified person, and we ought to go with that. >> there are some ministers who would say the values should be front and center. pat robertson campaigned in iowa. put the vote on the map. it has been a citizen constituency.

if you look at iowa to be, if you ask born again christians who do you favor, there is a split. rick santorum gets a decent slice, the biggest slice. ron paul, mitt romney, newt gingrich, santorum leads but that's a pretty good split. a bunch of people in the teens. is that a good thing to have them spread out through candidates or does it dilute the influence of the evangelical voting bloc? >> i don't think it is diluting the influence one bit. again, we're going into a caucus tomorrow. we're in the primaries. there's a lot that will come out, of course, when it is all sifted out. we'll fiend out who in the next month who will republican candidates will be. and then of course they'll be talking about obama. and we'll see whether the evangelical there's vote for obama or someone else. this is part of the process. it is very intriguing. interesting. but i am a christian. we all have to make choices in life and we're getting ready to make choices about who will be our next president. the greatest choice that a

person will have to make in life is are they going to choose to follow jesus christ as their lord and savior. for me as a minister, that's the most important message. that god loves us, that he gave his son to die for our sins and he rose from the grave. to me this is the message that i'm going to stay focused on. but yes, i am concerned about the politician that's are out there that they walked the talk, that they will say, do what they say they're going to do. unfortunately a lot of them make a lot of promises when they get into office, they forget those promises. the american people are fed up with this and when it come to the evangelicals, they'll be looking for the man or the woman that will best represent this nation. we have a very difficult world that we live in. and we have to have a man or a woman who can lead this nation and deal with the complexities that we're facing worldwide. >> as you know, sir, there are some evangelical ministers in 2008 and some in this campaign who have said they could never support mitt romney because he's a mormon. they call that faith, some of them do, a cult.

your take is quite different. here's an interview you gave to the christian broadcasting network. >> fact that as he mormon doesn't bother me. i think when we're voting for president, we need to get the person who is absolutely the most qualified. you can have the nicest guy and he can be a christian and just wonderful but have absolutely no clue as to how to run a country. you don't want that. >> if there's an evangelical in iowa watching tonight, mitt romney says he is a mormon and a christian. do you consider him to be a christian? >> i have big differences between the mormon faith and what i believe. but yet, again, we're not voting for the person who is going to be the pastor in chief of this country. i'm looking for a man or woman who can best lead this nation. and of course, i know all the candidates except ron paul. i haven't met him. the candidates that i have met so far, everyone of them can be a good president. >> i want to ask you sir, in

closing, your dad, the reverend billy graham was hospitalized with pneumonia. how is he doing? >> i had lunch with him yesterday. he is doing much better. thank you for asking. he is recovering and he is getting a little stronger every day. he is 93. we're thankful that he is still with us and his mind is so clear and he's getting stronger. thank you. >> we're so glad to hear that. thank you so much. send our thoughts and prayers to your father, sir. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. tomorrow night you'll want to be right here. the country first real votes. the first real test takes place in the iowa caucuses. we'll be live following the candidates as they make their last-minute efforts. then at 7:00 p.m., join us for the first votes of iowa 2012. a favorite of the tea party conservatives, his son, the senator from kentucky before they climbed aboard the train, they stopped to talk to dana bash and had some surprising citizen civil of rick santorum.

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welcome back. >> a short time ago the los angeles authorities announced a man detained early today will be charged in connection with a string of arson fires over the past few days. the 53 fires, many started in

parked cars, have caused at least $2 million in damage. l.a.'s mayor says two other men arrested early thursday, just hours after the first fires were set also may be involved. and she probably won't wear the hat this time but singer aretha franklin is shopping for a we have go gown. franklin who lost 85 pounds after a health scare last year plans a summer we having to the man she calls her forever friend, willie wilkerson. so clakss to the both of them. >> i wonder who sipping at aretha franklin's wedding? >> an excellent question. in a moment we'll hear from ron paul and his son taking i am a at rick santorum. so, this is delicious

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the man who could win the iowa caucuses, ron paul who has the organization and now help from his son, the man who is the tea party favorite. the top strategist for the man they're attacking. we'll ask what's ahead for rick santorum. and the hunt for a killer. both rick santorum and his wife broke down while discussing their son gabriel who lived only a short time after being born. >> it was so important to recognize for the family, to recognize the life of that child. and for all the children to know that they had a brother and sister. [ applause ]

and they did. >> you see a very emotional rick santorum today. a very different ron paul today. more candidate, less professorial. plus, his son from kentucky. dana bash is in cedar rapids, iowa, where she caught up with both of them. let's start with what the congressman said about rick santorum. let's listen. >> rick santorum is a former senator. you know what it's like to serve in the senate. you know what it's like to serve in the congress. why would not he be a good republican nominee? >> he is very liberal. >> rick santorum is liberal? >> have you looked at his record? >> uh-huh. >> go look at his record. >> liberal. >> he spends too much money. he wasn't leading the charge to slash the budgets and vote against big government. >> what do you think? >> well, he voted to double the size of the department of education, he voted to expand

medicare and add free drugs for senior citizens and he voted for foreign aid. though are not conservative principle. 77% of the american people are opposed to foreign aid and rick santorum voted for it 77%. >> that's saying to every tea partier out there, don't vote for rick santorum. >> you can probably tell i almost fell over when they called rick santorum liberal. but ron paul, they just wrapped up an event here. and rob paul took what he said to the stump. he didn't say rick santorum's name but it was clear who he was talk b and very interesting that it was ron paul who is a tea party favorite who gave that message instead of his father. they are very worried about rick santorum. and they should be, no question. i saukd to several voters and here they said many. they voted for mike huckabee and now they're deciding between ron paul and rick santorum.

>> you tried to get ron paul to put to rest this question. he would consider running as a libertarian or some other third party candidate. did you get an answer? >> reporter: sort of. i tried to ask him because actually i was told by his campaign that they really felt that there was no question in their minds that he was not going to leave the party. so i tried to ask him. he maybe web a little bit further. you decide. >> reporter: once and for all, if you do not successes succeed in this republican contest, will you continue to be a republican? >> i have no plans doing that. tomorrow is a big day. we'll see what happens but i have no intention of doing that. no plans and no desire, and flat out i don't want to. >> reporter: okay. before you've been a little bit circumstance up spegt. you've run as a libertarian before. >> right. and i've never spoken in absolutes. i have no intention of doing it. i would not see myself doing

that. >> reporter: for now obviously they are very much focused on getting out asle voters to the caucus sites as possible. i'm still hearing from republicans who are affiliated with other campaigns that they are amazed at how wonderful frankly that they say the ron paul organization is. we'll see if that actually bears out tomorrow. but in material of the long term, there is no question. i'm sure you talked to republican who's are worried as well like i said. that ron paul will continue on long into the spring and summer, even further, even if he runs as a republican or an independent. he could really hurt whomever the republican nominee is. even if he does here in new hampshire, nobody thinks he will be the nominee. >> a fascinating play here. 24 hours from the vote in iowa. and with us, let's put the question from iowa. erick erickson, and democratic strategist donna brazile.

in the old days you win a state, you win the state and get all the delegates. nou now winner gets most. if you're ron paul, you're coming in a strong second and a strong third. there is every incentive to stay in the race to get to the convention in tampa and to be for the republicans maybe what jesse jackson was for the democrats back in the '80s. if you're the nominee, that word would be nuisance. no? >> i think that's right. if you're ron paul, you want to speak at the republican convention. you want that national audience. you want some influence on the platform and the party the republican candidate are going to carry to the general election. you hang in there a long time. if you're michele bachmann or rick perry, even if you lose to santorum in iowa, you want to wait and see if he collapses in two weeks like rick perry and newt gingrich did. you might stay in. so i think there is an incentive to happening around a while. >> let me bring the democrat

into the conversation. this is the first vote tomorrow. the very first vote. president obama is up opposed. if you're the democrat, you ran al gore's campaign. you know the notes. what is your biggest question when you watch the republicans? if you're team obama and you're trying to figure out what lesson do we need to learn, what's at the top of the list? >> no question. they're going to look at the organization of the top three candidates to see how well they did in sxurning out the voters. president obama is unopposed on the democratic side, he has team of organizers. this is after all a very competitive state. so they intend to do a dry run tomorrow also in the democratic precinct caucuses to ensure that the organization, the voters are enthusiastic, and athens the importance of this state in the general election. i want to say one thing about the rules on the republican side. as a democrat, i like the rules. this time there is no winner

take all until what? april. that means that half the delegates will not be chosen until sometime in mid-march, early april. that gives candidates like ron paul and perhaps rick perry and newt gingrich a second chance if they don't do well tomorrow night. >> a second chance. go ahead. >> we're treating this as almost the super bowl. it seems like every campaign season the media treats iowa as the super bowl. this is really the preseason. we've got proportional representation of the delegates. we're going into south carolina. some of them will skip new hampshire. i think we're going on get 10 or 11 real delegates out of iowa, new hampshire, and then 75, and then into april we'll finally get all the delegates. >> if you have a long race, if you have obama, clinton, then it becomes about delegates. if you don't it is about momentum. if mitt romney comes in first or

a very strong second, does momentum win this race? not delegates? >> i think it does. i think romney could effectively win this whole thing tomorrow. this means he would win iowa with fewer votes than last time. that spring boards him into new hampshire which is a home game for him. that's a state where he's lived and nearly been governor. next door in massachusetts. then all he has to do is endure south carolina with still having all these other republican candidates in the field a little bit. get to florida where he bounces back. i think that's the end of the game. there's a pretty clear path for him. >> we can't underestimate the money factor. it will take a while to sustain it. if mitt romney is sweeping through, no one will give them money. we've seen the campaign donations rise or fall. if they're all bottoming out, why does anyone want to invest in these candidates? >> and north state is expensive to lose against.

>> and you want this to drag on a good long time. >> absolutely. look on the democratic side, it really helped president obama to have a long process. because throughout the entire season, of course, democrats did a lot of work and registered new voters so it really helped us in the fall. >> thank you for your insights. they'll be part of the big team tomorrow night and be sure to join us for the country's first real votes. it takes place 24 hours from now. the caucuses will be live at 6:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow. then join us at 7:00 p.m. for live coverage. coming up here, is santorum the latest gop flash in the pan or is he the one? we'll dig deeper. plus a routine traffic stop turns deadly. rie sweetener is sweet... and more. if you replace 3 tablespoons of sugar a day with splenda®, you'll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year.

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rick santorum is the man of the moment. here's the question. is far santorum the latest gop flash in the pan or is he the one? as in the contender to emerge as the serious and lasting conservative alternative to mitt romney? senator santorum relishes the challenge though no one took notice earlier in the campaign. >> you don't have credibility when it come to repeeling obama care. your plan was the basis for obama care.

and to say that you are going to repeal it, you have no track record on that that we can trust that you you're going to do that. >> well, people are paying attention now. here's tonight's truthful senator santorum has the potential and the background to be more than a mike huckabee. but it won't be easy. senator santorum is way behind governor romney when it comes to organization and the bigger the challenge is getting back to his blue collar political roots and becoming less defined as a culture warrior. >> 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'red, . >> the commit top opposing abortion and opposing same sex marriage. try a quick internet search and

you will see liberals mock him for saying things like this to the associated press in 2003 on why in his view marriage must be defined as a bond between a man and a woman, period. this is senator santorum. quote, it is not, you know, man on child, man on dog or whatever the case may be. it is one thing. now senator santorum knows he cannot succeed as a one dimensional candidate. evangelicals are hard to find in new hampshire, for example, and to emerge as a lasting earn a in places like florida, he needs to prove he can go head to head with romney and president obama on the economy, the challenge is enormous. but it would be a mistake to dismiss santorum out of hand. for starters, the appetite on the right for an alternate to romney is considerable of plus at the beginning of the his career he was much more about the blue collar struggle. he first came to congress after upsetting an incumbent in 1990 to win a blue collar western

republican house district. you'll hear more about steel mills and jobs as senator santorum moves on from eye waffle will he lead the leading presidential contender? that's improbable yerg. but impossible? most people would say yes but the truth is it is finally the voter's turn. and sometimes the voters surprise us. let's dig deeper on the santorum surge with john, senator santorum's senior strategist. long time christian activist and organize he. i want to you listen here. i don't pretend to have been ahead of this but if we were out there in iowa back in november, we started to peck up the inklings of something. listen here. >> if there is a big surprise this year, emphasis on if conservative activists in this states do say keep an eye on senator santorum.

>> how did you do it? >> well, i think what has happened is people have had an tub to look at the candidates and what they bring to the table. i think there are two things that santorum has shown that has demonstrated consistently. he is not somebody in conservative rhetoric only. he is not somebody who used to be only liberal and now says they're a conservative. his rhetoric and his actions match. i think the second thing is there is a strong desire in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, republicans all over this country to defeat barack obama them realize that had rick santorum has that resume. not only the conservative credentials but one of the only people in the race with the extensive foreign policy. particularly in the area of iran. he is the only one here in this race that has really overhauled an entitlement program which did he with welfare. he took on his own party leaders to fight for a balanced budget amendment.

the "washington post" described him as a tea party guy before the tea party even existed because he fought corruption and waste in washington. so i think when people are understanding it will take a unique candidate to beat barack obama. not somebody like mitt romney who helped pass, wrote romney care or obama care. not somebody who like perry who has no foreign policy experience. rick santorum is uniquely positioned. the only thing that people say is holding him back is he doesn't have as much money as the other people and that shouldn't be the criteria. although i will say this. if anybody wants to help, all they have to do is go to rick santorum.com. >> why did i know that was coming? you made your name back in the late '80s with the christian coalition. is rick santorum viewed as a credible lasting conservative alternative? >> he is a serious substantive

candidate. 16 years in the congress, served in leadership in the senate. john just mentioned some of his many credentials. he was the author of the most sweeping reform of an entitlement program since the great depression and welfare reform. he carried the partial-birth abortion bill over multiple vetoes. he is somebody of real policy substance. he's been talking about iran for years, not just since they've been on the verge of having a weapon. if as i expect, he overperforms, even the expectation that's we see in the des moines register poll, the public policy polling poll that came out today which basically shows a three-way tie at the top. if he can raise the money, build the organization and not run too far ahead. his supply lines, you may see rick santorum in this race for a long time. >> and another guy we'll see for a while is ron paul who sees him as a threat. listen to this conversation he

had with dana bash where he said rick santorum is no conservative. >> he's very liberal. >> rick santorum is liberal? >> have you looked you looked a record? go with his record. >> liberal? >> he spends too much money. he wasn't leading the charge to slash the budgets and vote against big government. >> he did have, he was an earmarker, when he was in the senate and the house. he did vote for the medicare prescription drug benefit to conservatives, tea party voters, ralph mentioned reformed welfare. to many people that was a wasteful entitlement. >> yeah, well, first of all, rick santorum said what they should have done with that was paid for it. he thought the program was good. if you look the program has beneficially run. come in under budget. on the earmarks, rick santorum said now that we know about all the abuses that have happened he agreed with people they had to shut the things down. rick santorum has a plan that

greatly reduces spending. as a member of congress in one year, introduced more legislation, original bills cutting the deficit than any member of congress. listen to ron paul, describing rick santorum as a liberal, most people would use that as evidence they need to start random drug testing in congress. because if there is anybody that has serious conservative credentials that the conservatives rally behind because of everything he has done to help families, on national defense, and as a fiscal conservative, it's rick santorum. >> i want to ask you, john, a question, during your answer, ralph and i will walk to the map. i want to point something out. you look at mitt romney, rick santorum on the economy, john, what is the most significant difference in your view you will make as you move from iowa into new hampshire? >> manufacturing. what, what people have to understand is that this country is never going to have a strong economy again and be a superpower economically again unless we make a real commitment to bring manufacturing back to

america. not only does it hurt us from a job standpoint that we have sent so much manufacturing to china and other places, it's beginning to be a national security risk. rick santorum's manufacturing plan takes the tax rate to 0 to companies that bring back manufacturing jobs from overseas back to here. obama's plan is to create more government jobs, temporary, public works programs those types of things those are band-aid fixes. rick santorum's manufacturing plan will really restart the economy of this country and believe me you put the american people on an even playing field, getting rid of regulations. getting rid of high taxes that are job crushers. put them on an even keel, even playing field, we'll beat anybody on jobs. and creating products here. >> ralph, you hear john make the case. we'll beat anybody on jobs. that will be the challenge. looking at the iowa map here. this orange in the middle. mike huckabee did that here.

move to new hampshire next. notice not a lot of orange. pull out here, huckabee did poorly. libertarians. don't find christian conservative voters here. you do down in south carolina. even in south carolina mccain was able to eke out a win because of thompson's numbers. what its the challenge? if you are viewed, identified as christian conservative candidate out of iowa how do you pivot into a broader-based coalition republican? >> in iowa, tomorrow night, john, you will have 40%, 50%, caucus attenders will be evangelicals. when you get to new hampshire, that number will fall 12%, 17%. santorum, let's assume he does well tomorrow night. if he hangs in there in new hampshire and puts together a credible showing. he them goes to south carolina. and there you are going to have about 45% of the vote is

evangelical. here's what's interestinghistor. what would happen if a roman catholic, somebody. i don't know he would self identify this way. a john paul catholic if you would, john paul ii catholic becomes the favorite of the evangelle cals. here's the danger for santorum if we can go to south carolina. if you look at the south carolina '08 results you will see huckabee losing by 15,000 votes in a state where fred thompson got almost 70,000. >> michele bachmann will be there waiting for him. >> if you look at the red, greenville, spartanburg, over here to my far left, that's where, this is where -- thompson -- really -- essentially, i don't want to say took huckabee. >> started getting high teens. >> this is what romney is hoping for. hoping he can win new hampshire. go to south carolina. and you will have '08 redux, perry, gingrich, michele

bachmann and santorum splitting the vote. >> fascinating. votes start tomorrow. ralph reid, and we'll watch the santorum campaign in iowa. ahead, started one of the most famous fight scenes in human history. why "star wars" is making a come back with this campaign. man: my eltrill s king ban

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welcome back. the latest news you need to know right now, lisa. >> national park officials confirm a man found dead in mt.

rainier national park is benjamin colton barnes wanted in yesterday's shooting death of a park ranger. cnn affiliate, kcpq, reports barnes was wanted in connection with a new year's shooting outside seattle that injured four people. remember the lightsaberer fights in the second and third "star wars" movie. the guy in the darth vader, was bob anderson, a olympic fencer who taught generations of actors how to sword fight. anderson died yesterday. he was 89 years old. john. >> that's sad. i liked those movies. thank you. finally, a moment you may have missed. new year's eve we started seeing tweets from rupert murdoch. yes, it is the rupert murdoch. among the 17 tweets. thoughts of movies, books and politics. good to see santorum surging in iowa. regardless of policies all debates show principles, consistency and