>> iust got an ipad for christmas, but i don't know how to work it yet. >> would you ladies like to be the co-anchors of a new program called "cnn after dark." >> well, no word on whether edith and carolyn will take us up on the "cnn after dark" because it would be a great show. randi, what do you think? >> i think it is a great idea. let's get them under contract those two ladies. >> such a great night and incredible morning there. randi, i hand it over to you for randi, i hand it over to you for "cnn newsroom" to continue. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm randi kay and it is 1:00 eastern and we have a busy hour ahead. next stop is the new hampshire and there is a new face on board the mitt romney express. and then john mccain who defeated him in the granite state will now endorse mitt romney. this is six days ahead of the primary of 2012. and the governor holds a huge lead in the polling in contrast

to iowa where he squeaked out a victory in the caucuses last night by the smallest margin of any presidential contest ever. much more on that in a moment. the guy whose job romney wants is right now in the suburb of cleveland to talk about the economy. we will hear from president obama live at a quarter past the hour. hours after the sixth-place finish in iowa, michele bachmann says that her campaign is finished or technically suspended. the minnesota congresswoman who was born in iowa and who won a straw poll there in august cancelled a trip to south carolina today for this announcement. >> so last night, the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so i have decided to stand aside. i believe that if we are going to repeal obama care, turn our country around and take back our country, we must do so united. >> bachmann took 5% of the iowa vote, and less than every other candidate except for jon huntsman who did not campaign there. rick perry did twice as well,

and promptly went back to texas to reassess though he now says that he plans to run in south carolina. at the top of the field, eight votes separated romney from the rival who exploded out of the bottom tier a week or so ago with strong support from the christian right. rick santorum edged out ron paul, and both of them left newt gingrich in the rear-view mirrors. before leaving, gingrich took this swipe at ron paul. >> this is a major debate with congressman paul who has had a very good night, and i congratulate him having done very well, but the fact is that his views on foreign policy, and i think they are stunning ly dangerous for the survival of the united states. >> this morning on cnn, paul responded, and then some. >> you know, when newt gingrich was called to service in the 1960s, during the vietnam era, guess what he thought about danger? he chickened out on that and he got deferments and he didn't

even go, so right now he sends the young kids over there to endure the danger and the kids coming back and the young people coming back, and the ones in the military right now overwhelmingly support my campaign. with e get twice as much support from the active military personnel than all of the candidates put together, so newt gingrich has no business to talk about danger, because he is, he's putting other people in danger, and some people call that kind of a program a chicken hawkk a hawk, and i think he falls into that category. >> paul also said he didn't know anything about this snarky tweet that went out under his name. and jon huntsman, we found your one iowa voter, and he's in linn precinct 5. you might want to call him. and now wolf blitzer is in, my colleague, who was off for about four hours? >> well, we were on until 3:31

eastern to be precise, but it was exciting and fun, and what i liked to do is that they got to count the ballots the old fashioned way, and we had no project shup of a winner, and we could not do it, but a it was too close. and it was so fun. >> and you paused for the moment of silence while they were counting them, and we felt like we were in the room with them. >> these were the first votes of the 2012 presidential election campaign in the united states, and the first ballots counted and 120,000-plus individuals did and went their responsibility. they voted, and so the process has now begun and we move to new hampshire and then south carolina and nevada and maybe beyond. >> and no matter what the numbers say from last night, i have heard it say that the real winner last night was president obama, and what do you think? >> i would be hugely, a huge blunder if the democrats or officials of the white house started to high five themselves or anything like that, because you cannot make any judgment right now of what the case is going to be in november of this

year. i'm old enough to remember when jimmy carter was president and ronald reagan got the republican presidential nomination in 1980, and incumbent president jimmy carter and high five and we will beat this guy, but it did not work out. let the democrats be as nervous as they should be, because they need to work really, really hard to prove that the president deserves a second term. this is a hard fought battle and i would not be high fiving anybody right now on the republican or the democratic side. >> and let's talk about today, michele bachmann pulled out of the race. does that help or hurt mitt romney? >> well, it probably helps rick santorum, because a lot of the michele bachmann supporters will find a natural home with rick santorum than they will with mitt romney or ron paul. and michele bachmann had no love for ron paul and felt that the foreign policies were dangerous, and there is more of an alignment with rick santorum.

and if rick perry stays in and he is tweeting that he is going to south carolina, that will probably help mitt romney a l little bit in south carolina, because they will divide up that conservative tea party base a little bit more between santorum, and newt gingrich, and now rick perry, so it will wind up helping mitt romney a little bit. >> and mitt romney, no doubt expected to do well in new hampshire and what happens when everything moves south to south carolina? >> south carolina will be much more important than new hampshire. mitt romney has a huge lead in the polls in new hampshire, and with six days to go now, we will see what happens, but i expect that mitt romney has basically, he is from massachusetts and a home in new hampshire, and he will be doing well, and the fight is in south carolina. florida is a big state, and lot of the communities who need a lot of money to start advertising and romney has that money. santorum is starting to raise money, but he has a long way to go in terms of of the money and the organization. >> yeah, i mean, can he continue this or is the santorum surge

over? >> i don't think it is over. i think that newt gingrich is in it, and santorum is in it, and if perry want ts to try, let th all try. i will tell you why i say that, because three weeks ago or even two weeks ago who would have thought that santorum would only lose by eight votes to mitt romney in iowa, and don't forget ron paul, because he is a player in all of this, and he has a lot of people fiercely supportive of him, and he has a lot of young people organizing, and ron paul did well in iowa, and i think he will do well in a lot of the other states. he is in it for the duration, i think, so it is going to continue. >> why do you think that santorum did so well? was it a vote for santorum do you think or a vote against everybody else? >> well, there are a lot of republican conservatives and tea party activists who don't like mitt romney and they don't trust mitt romney and looking for an alternative to mitt romney. at one point it was michele bachmann in the iowa straw poll, and then herman cain, and newt gingrich, and a lot of alternatives and now santorum.

i am looking to see if the pro-mitt romney super pacs and not directly affiliated with mitt romney, and the ron paul campaign unleash a barrage of negative advertising against rick santorum against newt gingrich which hurt him in iowa, and that is why newt gingrich is so angry at mitt romney right now, and he is taking off the gloves. he did last night and including yesterday when he called and almost unprecedented that he called mitt romney publicly a liar on the eve of the iowa caucuses. >> i e am am so glad you are he because we want to relive some of the best moments of the early hours of the morning, so let's take a quick look. >> somebody e-mailed me and said, how does it feel that i can't project, that we at cnn cannot project a winner after all of this -- and it feels great, because i love finding out the old-fashioned way. let them count the votes.

>> and cnn now projects who will come in third, fourth, fifth and sixth and seventh, but we can't project first and second, because you saw how close between santorum and romney. >> right at the top of the hour, i'm wolf blitzer at the cnn election center and dramatic night in iowa where 92% of the precincts have reported. how close is this? i don't think it can get much closer. 13 votes separating mitt romney and rick santorum. i'm wolf blitzer reporting, a his or ttor i'm wolf blitzer reporting, a his or ttoic night in iowa righ now. there has never been anything this close in the iowa republican caucuses. i can say three letters, o-m-g. look at this! look at what is going on. one vote, one vote right now separating mitt romney, rick santorum, and mitt romney has taken the lead. >> it is an amazing moment. mitt romney wins albeit narrowly, and on the other hand, john, a win is a win.

o-m-g, wolf. that got as much attention here in the newsroom today as the coverage and the weevils that were on. >> and i love it. omg, is something i love to tweet, and the only part i did not say is lol, and if i had, it would have been good, too. >> thank you. so nice to have you on. get some rest. >> no rest for the weary. when you are young, you work. >> we will catch you in "the situation room" at 4:00. >> you know who going to join me? >> who? >> the two women from clinton county, our two good friends. >> they did not get much sleep either. >> you know what, they were lovely. >> good to see you. >> and a reminder that we are a few minutes away from hearing the president speak. he going to be speaking at shaker heights high school, and the president is going to talk about the economy and we will hear an election pitch in there as well and we will hear the comments just as soon as they

get under way. senator john mccain is expected to formally endorse mitt romney in new hampshire and we will bring it to you when it happens. a question first for the political junkies, what was the closest caucus race in history, and the operative words here are u.s. history and the answer may not be as obvious as you think. tweet me at randi kaye@cnn, and i will give you a shoutout after the break. thrilled. wait. we can have shakes? and boston cream pie. did you say pie? pie. she said pie. pie. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. before the break i asked what was the closest caucus race in u.s. history? in the answer is guam in 2008

and during that caucus race that then senator barack obama beat hillary clinton by zen voseven and congrats to mike who tweet ed the right answer. and last night was the closest republican presidential race in history as well. and we are moments away from hearing the president speak to students in shaker heights, high school, in northeast ohio. the president is expected to address the economy, and we will hear his comments as soon as they get started there. and in 2008, the republican presidential nominee john mccain is expected to formally endorse mitt romney in new hampshire and we will bring that to you when it happens. and doz epeb and gentry collins led romney's campaign in 2008 before heading up the midwest operations for john mccain, and right now, he is not affiliated

with any campaign. mr. collins, welcome to the program and nice to have you on again. i want to play you a comment from newt gingrich today in new hampshire. gingrich got walloped in iowa, but he is swinging hard at romney. listen to this. >> i find it amazing that the news media continues to say he is the most electable republican, when he can't break out in his own party, and i don't think that he is going to -- well, he will do fairly well here, because this is one of the three best states, but the fact is that if governor romney in the end has a limited appeal in a conservative party. and by the way, you look at the dollars spent by romney and dollars spent by santorum, you'd praise santorum, too. >> and so gentry, should mitt romney be celebrating today or maybe looking over his shoulder? >> i think he should be doing a little bit of both. last night was a great result for governor romney and until recently, he was not playing hard in iowa. a lot of the pundits thought

that he might write iowa off, but after the disappointment that he had there four years ago, i think that any fair assessment is that he had a great night last night, but look it, this is a long contest and the speaker makes good points. it is going to be a brutal race and much more brutal on governor romney than in iowa. you will see far more candidates interested in attacking governor romney and knocking him off of the perch and not looking for the second-place and not-romney alternative which is why he skated so freely through the negative ads in iowa. >> certainly n the santorum campaign, it seems to be celebrating a little bit and they say, the campaign coming out saying that the results in iowa proves that santorum is the only conservative who can beat mitt romney, and do you buy that? >> well, the field is still wide open. senator sap tomorrntorum had a d night, and well run campaign on the ground, and it is that politics matter and not just

about paid television ads and whether they are from the campaigns or the paid super pacs and congratulations needs to go to santorum as well, but it is a long ways from being over. one thing today, is governor perry's announcement that he is going to stay in the race and contest south carolina and certainly looking to me that he believes that michele bachmann's exit from the race leaves room for him to do better in south carolina than in iowa. i think that the santorum people have to view that with despair, because it will help prevent senator santorum from consolidating the vote on the right. so it is a long way to go before anybody can pop the cork on the champagne. >> and what does it mean for boehner exiting and p i-- >> and what does it mean for bachmann to leave and perry staying in? >> well, it seems that senator santorum needs to be routing for

a small field, and he is looking to be the single alternative to mitt romney. and all of the talk of romney not consolidating the vote is true if there is a single consolidating person on the right, but there was polling out this last week that suggested that even if governor romney was not the first choice of evangelical conservatives more than 90% of them would support him against president obama in a jep ral e l general election, so he does look like to me an electable general election. >> i am glad you talked about the evangelicals, because there is no doubt that romney did worse with the evangelicals than he did in 2008, and does that concern him? >> well, romney's number is about the same as four years ago. it is not clear he did worse, and there were counties that santorum carried that in 2008

governor romney carried. there were other counties where he improved in the larger metropolitan areas, and he carried polk county, and dallas county and outperformed the 2008 performance in places like des moines and increased the performance in places like cedar rapids and dubuque and the quad cities where any republican nominee is going to have to run up the score on barack obama in the general election, so i thought that really was a good sign for governor romney last night. and a good sign for the alternate nominee there is that energy in the big communities. >> gentry collins, appreciate that. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. a day after the iowa caucuses and already one of the candidates is out. so who benefits from michele bachmann's exit? you might be surprised. that is ahead in "fair game." and a live event to be under way any moment now where we are expecting senator john mccain to formally endorse mitt romney in new hampshire. we will bring it to you when it

happens. and we are minutes away, another reminder here, from the president who is in ohio today where he will speak to the students of shaker heights high school, and we will bring you his remarks as he gets started there.

a reminder, we are a few minutes away from hearing president obama speak. he is going to speak to students in northeast ohio at shaker heights high school. we will bring you those remarks. and also, a live event to be under way as well, where we are expecting senator john mccain to formally endorse mitt romney in new hampshire. with e won we won't let you miss either one of the events.

>> and now we go to the part of the show where it is fair game. the battle is officially under way, and joining me are will cain, and democratic political consultant ed espinosa, and hello. let's start with the iowa q caucuses, and we have had the first casualty moments ago with michele bachmann announcing she is going to end her campaign. and that comes afterf a sixth place finish in the iowa caucus, and ed, let's begin with you, who benefits? >> well, it is interesting what happens. because you thought that perry would drop out, and now he is back in, and bachmann is out, and it is interesting to see where her remaining supporters will go. she didn't have many to begin with, but one of the things that we have seen in the race is that at no point has romney demonstrated an ability to win over undecided voters. when you look at the poll position last june he was 23% in iowa and 24% in december and got

25% last night. santorum picked up 7% going into the caucuses last night. that is significant, because it demonstrates that the conservatives are not happy with romney, and this is something that we have seen for the course of the campaign, and he's got the find a way to resolve that if he expects to have a fighting chance in the general election, he has to have that base, and right now, he does not have it. >> and will, you cannot argue with the number last night, because romney won iowa by eight votes, and what does that tell you about the republican voters? are they not happy with the choices? >> yeah, maybe. but look, it is a win for romney. i heard james carville on the cnn coverage last night say it is a massive loss. that is nonsense. the goal is not to win the caucus, but the nomination. for mitt romney to go into iowa to where he is not favored to win and i don't care how much money he spent, to get a nominal win and to new hampshire where he should win, na a grethat is start for romney.

>> and do you believe he succeeded painting himself as a clear al tern toif the rternati? >> well, he was a alternative iowa, and he has to raise money and has to do it in a short amount of time. new hampshire, it is difficult to see what will happen in new hampshire, because it is a home state for romney and something that is just an anomaly as far as the turnout goes, and the percentages goes in this primary. what is really interesting to see right now is what happens in south carolina. rick perry staying in the race tells us one thing, he still has a lot of money to spend. and if newt gingrich thought that attack ads from romney were bad, he ain't seen nothing yet. >> what do you think of rick perry staying in? a good move for rick perry, and how does it affect the party overall? >> well, it demonstrates the rick perry campaign, and it can't decide which way to go and

gets in its way, and i doubt it will have an impact beyond south carolina. and you asked ed, is rick santorum the alternative to mitt romney, and this is the ongoing conservation, who is the mitt romney alternative and who can the conservatives rally behind as principled and romney and we will settle on him, because he is electable. let me say that if conservativetism is what we are seeking here, i'm befuddled by this. rick santorum does not want a income tax on the corporate america, but the rest. i'm not sure how we are defining conservativism, and it is about the passion of opposing gay marriage? what is it that defines conservativism, because for me it is largely economic liberty and i don't understand how the conservative waves flow away from mitt romney to people who don't live up to the billing. >> and all right. guys, we have to head over to the president who is speaking in ohio and that is "fair game" for

the day, and thank you both. the republicans have been stealing the sfotlight in recent days, and now president obama is back on the road as well. of course, he will make remarks outside of cleveland. he is expected to spend most of the time at shaker heights high school talking about the economy and technically not a campaign stop, but a key regional battleground, and president obama is expected to announce that he is using the presidential authority to ip stall the ohio attorney general as the first new president of the controversial consumer bureau which is a way for the president to get an appointee on the job whose nomination has been blocked by senate opposition. the word of the president's decision has angered the republicans, and they have refused to confirm anybody to the new post which they argue has too much power. the president is there beginning to speak. he has been to ohio three times this year. he is traveling to most democratic congressional district in the state.

ohio is a critical state for the president. it was a swing state that went for george w. bush for 2004 and obama in 2008. obama carried it in 2008 by 2% or so ahead of john mccain. so of course, he wants to be focusing there. let's listen in for a little bit and hear the president's comments there in ohio. >> and dennis kucinich, and congresswoman kap, ttur, and gr members of congress. we are happy to have them here. i understand that the folks here at the school have a pretty good basketball team -- [ applause ]

-- boys and girls. unfortunately, i have no eligibility left. so i can't play with you. i want to wish everybody a happy new year. [ cheers ] >> 2012 is going to be a good year. it is going to be a good year. and one of my new year's resolutions is to make sure that i get out of washington and spend time with folks like you. [ applause ] because folks here in ohio and folks across the country, i want you to know, you are the reason why i ran for this office in the first place.

you remind me what we are still fighting for. you inspire me. [ laughter ] okay. you do. no, you remind me that this country is all about folks who work hard and where responsibility pays off. an america where anybody who puts in the effort and plays by the rules can get ahead. that's the america that you deserve. that's the america we are working to build. that's why i told congress before the new year, they couldn't leave for vacation

until we made sure that 160 million working americans wouldn't get hit with a tax hike on january 1st. [ applause ] now, now, this wasn't easy. it should have been easy. but it wasn't. but in the end, we got members of both parties to come together and make sure that you could keep more money in your paychecks each month, and you are keeping the extra $40 in every paycheck, because, because we made sure that we didn't stump the recovery and that families got the break they need. that means more security for the families and it also means a boost for the economy at a time when we have to do everything we can to keep it growing, because more money spent by more americans means more businesses hiring more workers. so when i, when congress returns, i'm going to urge them to extend the tax cut all of the way through 2012 with no drama,

no delay, do the right thing, and it is a no-brainer. let's get it done. let's pass these tax cuts. now, we still have more the do. so, today, we are taking another important step, one that will bring us closer to the economy that we need. an economy where everybody plays by the same rules. and to help us do that, i'm joined by somebody that you might recognize, richard co cordwright. [ applause ] son of ohio, a good, good man. today, i am appointing richard as america's consumer watchdog.

and that means that he is going to be in charge of one thing, looking out for the best interests of american consumers, looking out for you. his job will be to protect fam plys like yours from the abuses of the financial industry. his job will be to make sure that you have all of the information that you need to make important financial decisions. right away, he will start working to make sure that millions of americans are treated fairly by mortgage brokers and payday lenders and debt collectors, and in fact this week, his agency is opening up a simple 1-800 number to call the make sure you are getting a fair deal on your mortgage, and hold banks and brokers accountable if you are not.

now i nominated richard for this job last summer, so you may be wondering why am i appointing him today. it would be a good question. [ laughter ] for almost half a year, republicans in the senate have blocked richard's confirmation. [ audience booing ] they refused to even give richard and up or down vote. this is not because richard is not qualified. there's no question that richard is the right person for the job. he's got the support of democrats and republicans around the country. a majority of the attorney jen rals, and richard is a former attorney general, and a majority of the attorney generals from both parties across the country have called for richard to be confirmed. your local members of congress who are here today, they support

him. he has a support of a majority in the senate. everyone agrees richard is more than qualified. so what's the problem, you might ask. the only reason republicans in the senate have blocked richard is because they don't agree with the law that is shas setup a consumer watchdog law in the first place. they want to weaken it, and water it down, and by the way, folks in the financial industry have poured in millions of dollars to try to water it down. that makes no sense. does anybody think that the reason that we got in such a financial mess, the worst financial crisis since the great depression, the worst economic crisis in a generation, and that the reason is because of too much oversight of the financial

industry? of course not. we shouldn't be weakening oversight, and we shouldn't be weakening accountability, we should be strengthening it. especially when it comes to looking out for families like yours. you know -- [ applause ] -- the financial firms have armies of lobbyists in washington looking out for their interests, and you need somebody looking out for your interests and fighting for you, and that is richard cordray. now, i have to say, richard is a really nice guy. you know, you look at him and you think, this guy is not somebody who is going around picking fights. and yet this fight on be hhalf

consumers is something that richard has been waging here in ohio for the better part of two decades. so -- [ applause ] -- as your attorney general, he helped recover billions of dollars in things like pension funds on behalf of retirees. he protected consumers from dishonest lending practices. before that, richard was the state treasurer where he earnped the reputation of working with folks across the spectrum, democrats, republicans, bankers, consumer advocates and had a great reputation across the board doing the right thing. in cleveland, you have seen the difference that richard can make for the consumers and i have, too, and that is why i want richard to keep standing up for you and not just here in ohio, but for the consumers across the country. now, everyday that richard waited to be confirmed, and we were pretty patient, and we kept on saying to mitch mcconnell and the other folks, let's go ahead

and confirm him? why isn't he called up? let's go. everyday that we waited was another day when millions of americans were left unprotected. because without a director in place, the consumer watchdog agency that we have set up doesn't have all of the tools it needs to protect consumers against dishonest mortgage brokers or payday lenders and debt collectors who are taking advantage of consumer, and that is inexcusable. it is wrong. i refuse to take no for an answer. so, i have said before -- [ applause ] -- i have said before that i want to look for every possible opportunity to work with congress to move this country forward and create jobs. i'm going to look for every

opportunity to try to bridge the partisan divide and get things done, because that is what the american people need right now. that means putting construction workers back on the jobs, repairing the roads and the bridges. that means keeping our teachers in the classrooms. and that means keeping our cops and firefighters doing what they do, protecting us everyday. that means helping small businesses get ahead. that means serving our veterans as well as they have served us, just like this young man in the front, and we are grateful to him for his service. these are ideas that i have support from democrats and

republicans around the country, and independents around the country, and i want to work with congress to get them done. but, when congress refuses to act and as a result hurts the economy and puts our people at ri risk, then i have an obligation as president to do what i can without them. i've got an obligation to act on behalf of the american people, and i'm not going stand by while a minority in the senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve, not with so much at stake and not at this make or break moment for middle-class americans. we are not going to let that happen. for way too long, we have had a

financial system that was stacked against ordinary americans. banks on wall street played by different rules than businesses on main street. they played by different rules than a lot of community banks who were doing the right thing across the country. hidden fees, fine print that led consumers to make financial decisions that they didn't always understand. you have been listening to the president speak in shaker heights, ohio. on the other side of the screen, you see mitt romney introducing john mccain who is about to endorse him in new hampshire. let's listen in. >> thank you, thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. i say thank you, thank you for the kind introduction, mitt, but i also want to say it is with some nostalgia that i return to

this place that i love so well, but i'm really here for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to make sure that we make mitt romney the next president of the united states of america, and new hampshire, and new hampshire is the state that will catapult him on to victory in a very short period of time. that's why i'm here. i'd also like to thank all of you again for your involvement in this political process and for your investigation and examination of the candidates. you know that there are so many jokes, and a guy who was running and a guy in man chestchester, said, what do you think of mo udoll for president? and he said, i don't know, i have only met him twice.

and that is why so many of you are committed and you have watch watched the campaign, and we will get an overwhelming result to catapult this candidate to the white house. so thooni ithank you governor sd i cannot help but seeing him without the old joke of the two inmates in the chow line of the state prison and one turned to another, and he said, the food was a lot better when you were in here as governor. but anyway, could i -- could i -- >> he said he is happy this is not illinois. >> some states you cannot tell that joke in. can i also say that how proud i am of this rising star in the american political scene. this leader, this incredible united states senator, kelly ayot

ayotte. kelly. and many of you know her husband, joe, who has also served with distinction and honor in the national guard with a-10 pilot and a lot better than me, because he did not get shot down, right, joe? and also, ann and cindy, and if you will stand so people can say hi. there are so many dear friends that i would like to say hello to, but i'd like to get right into it if i could with you. you know, i'm a big boxing fan, and i have always loved the sport. i think it is one of the most difficult and challenging that there is, and sop of the great moments in sports have taken place as we always know with some of the great boxing matches and some of the worst have, and that is why grandman rice called pit sweet license and david

runion called it the red light district of sport, but one of my greatest fighters of all time was joe lewis, and many of you remember he was the heavyweight champion of the world. he was an incredible fighter, and he had a fight coming up with a guy who was the lightweight boxer of the world, and billy khan, and he had a lot of style and elusiveness, and joe said, well, how are you going to beat this guy? he is very elusive and good, and joe lewis said, well, he can run, but he can't hide. now, my friends, our message, our message to president barack obama, you can run, but you can't hide from your record of making this country bankrupt from destroying our national security, and to making this nation one that we have to restore with mitt romney as president of the united states of america.

all the media reports, all of the media reports says that the president is going to attack congress, and you know, maybe that is not a bad idea, because our approval rating is 9%. you get down that low, you are down to paid staffers and blood relatives. but the fact is that, the fact is that democrats and president obama had both houses of congress, both majorities in both houses of congress when we passed the bailout, and when we passed obama care, and when we passed a $1 trillion stimulus package and remember, that was the one to bring the unemployment down below 8%. remember that? well, my friends, he can run, but he can't hide. and that's what this campaign is really going to the be all about. i would remind you again, that we just finished up, and the taxpayers were relieved i am sure a couple of weeks ago that we passed a $991 billion money

bill, approapriation to make th government run. you know how long we debated that bill? 15 minutes. 15 minutes. we debated that bill. i identified $3.5 billion in pork barrel and earmark spending in the defense part alone. friends, it cannot go on like this, and see who is in the majority of the senate, and it is a guy named harry reid, and along with mitt romney, we will have a majority in the senate, and we will get things done. so can i say to you -- [ applause ] -- i know, i know that jobs and the economy will be the dominant theme in thism campaign. i understand that. my own home state in arizona, people are hurting very badly and nearly half of the houses in my home state in arizona are

under water and worth less than the mortgage payments. i understand that, but we have to understand our nation's security. i guarantee you one thing, no one will ever say that mitt romney will lead from behind. he will lead from in front the way that ronald reagan did and not lead from behind which is what this president is doing. my friends, we are believed around the world to be weak. we are believed to be around the world in decline, and that is not the case. mitt romney and i and you believe that america's greatest days are still ahead of us. it just requires the kind of leadership to put us back in the position that made america the greatest and the noblest experiment in the history of the world, and the person who will do that is right here with you today, president mitt romney.

all right. there you are watching two live event events one in ohio and one in new hampshire and more recently listening to john mccain endorsing mitt romney, and he defeated mitt romney in new hampshire in 2008 and returned today to tell the crowd that i am here to make sure that we make mitt romney the next president of the united states. he said we will get an overwhelming vote to catapult this candidate, meaning romney, to the white house. and on the other side of the screen, you see president obama has finished speaking in shaker heights, ohio, near cleveland to endorse richard cordray as the watchdog for the public. and wait until you hear the new label of newt gingrich for mitt romney. that is next.

his margin of victory was only eight votes but mitt romney is about to run into a disappointed, determined, some would even say angry newt gingrich. the former house speaker once vowed to stay positive but says he reserves the right, in his words, to tell the truth. about an hour ago he questioned the price romney paid for his slim iowa victory and here's what gingrich had to say while conceding in iowa last night. >> whether this party wants a reagan conservative who helped changed washington in the1980s with ronald reagan, helped changed him in the speak of house, somebody who is into

changing washington. all we want a massachusetts moderate who in fact will be pretty good at managing the decay but has given no evidence in his years of massachusetts of any ability to change the culture or change the political structure or change the kbompbment. >> and here's one of the super pac ads that had gingrich so upset that is technically not affiliated with the romney campaign. >> so far, newt gingrich has admitted his mistakes or teamed up with nancy pelosi on immigration, health care, and more. >> i made a big mistake in the spring. >> haven't we had enough mistakes? restore our future is responsible for the contents of this message. >> gingrich has apparently seen enough of those ads. get a look at this.

gingrich is the bold reagan conservative, it says. romney is portrayed as a timid massachusetts moderate. get used to that line because you're probably going to hear it a whole lot in the next week or so. now that iowa is in the rearview mirror, it's full-speed ahead in new hampshire. we'll take you on the busy campaign trail there coming up next. wow! from your house?! from the car. unh! ooh. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. can you enjoy vegetables with ad match gu saucee. and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from.

who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty good. hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today.

now that iowa is done, time to catch up with the gop presidential candidates at street level in, where else, new hampshire. after a narrow win in iowa yesterday, mitt romney is in manchester, new hampshire, today. take a listen to what he had to say about his chances there. >> i look at a place like new hampshire, i think i'm leading among evangelical voters there. last time around i led in michigan. i'm going to do just fine with the different groups in this country as long as i continue to talk about my message of getting america stronger, getting our economy going, shrinking the size of the government, and holding firm on the principles of freedom and opportunity that made the country the hope of the earth. >> and another big feathered romney john mccain. you just saw it live here a moment ago. a little earlier in concord,

newt gingrich said he may be down. he said he's definitely not out. take a listen. >> i find it amazing that the news media says he's the most electable republican when he can't even break out in his own party and i think -- he'll do fairly well here. this is one of his three best states. but the fact is that governor romney in the end has a very limited appeal in a conservative party. and by the way, you look at the dollars spent by romney and the dollars spent by santorum, you'd praise santorum, too. >> after all, the negative ads, it looks like he's on a romney bashing spree. after a strong second place in iowa, rick santorum is going to be in brentwood, new hampshire, holding a faith, family, and freedom town hall. now that he has some company, jon huntsman is stomping all

over new hampshire. the former utah governor held an employee town hall meeting. listen to huntsman endorsing mitt romney. >> and you can get all of the doles and romneys in the end and mccain probably will but in the end nobody cares. >> huntsman has another employee town hall in barrington and then manchester. you can join wolf blitzer, anderson cooper for live coverage of the new hampshire primary tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. thanks everyone for watching. as always, i'd love to mahear wt you think. you can find me on twitter or facebook. don lemon is joining me now.

>> thanks, randi, i'm don lemon. already the ground is shifting after a squeaker in the iowa caucus. michele bachmann is pulling out of the race after finishing next to last in her native iowa with just 5% of the vote. the focus shifts to new hampshire after mitt romney just barely beat rick santorum by eight votes in iowa. romney may not have won iowa by much but today his campaign is getting another boost from a man republicans wanted to be president back in 2008. >> i am really here for one reason and one reason only and that is to make sure that we make mitt romney the next president of the united states of america. >> my how things can change in just a couple of years. senator john mccain is returning the favor after romney endorsed him in 2008. president barack obama angered republicans by apoirnting a new consumer

watchdog while congress is in session. he has appointed cordray. republicans have blocked him at every turn. >> the only reason republicans in the senate have blocked richard is because they don't agree with the law that set up a consumer watchdog in the first place. they want to weaken the law. they want to water it down. >> so this move by the president would let cordray serve through at least december when the congressional session ends. we're also watching the markets for you. the dow is down. down some double digits at this point. it's about 16 points down. it's all because investors have refocused on europe's debt crisis. again, being told that it's up by 16. oil prices are leveling off after a big jump yesterday. the man arrested this week in the l.a. arson spree is also under investigation in germany.

officials say it looks like someone burned down the family home of harry burkhart. officials believe he's the suspect in the 50 fires. anger over the arrest of his mother on an international warrant on fraud and embezzlement charges. a change of direction for a struggling internet giant to tell you about. yahoo! named scott thompson as its own new ce oechlt. still in the force online, yahoo! has lot a lot of ground to companies like google and facebook. bringing in thompson makes that less like league now. america's got talent host nick canon is starting the new year in the hospital he's in a colorado hospital. his wife, mariah carey, says that he's recovering from mild

kidney failure. she asked people to keep him in their prayers because he's in a lot of pain. this is a meteor shower that hit the east coast at a whopping 900 miles per hour according to the nasa. people along the east coast were able to witness the beautiful view. we've got a lot more to cover for the next two hours. watch. iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. if mitt romney sweeps those states, his campaign is probably hoping three strikes and they are all out. but the big prize now could be south carolina. i'm don lemon. the news starts right now. the police cal race that's never been boring gets more

interesting. >> it's very, very close. >> one, two, three. >> this message is growing. >> no time for victory laps as candidates hit the trail in new hampshire. >> whether this party wants a reagan conservative or we want the massachusetts moderate. >> meantime, newt gingrich out for blood. plus, as the nation waited for iowa's mysterious final votes, cnn goes directly to the source. >> joining us now on the phone, edith and caroline. >> i'll show you how it unfolded live on the air. >> also, a murder mystery on the queens private estate. we're hearing the body found is that of a young woman, possibly as young as 15. and a little girl dies at school from a peanut allergy. now her mother wants answers. sunny hostin is on the case. ♪

[ male announcer ] why do we grow quaker oats? because there are mountains to climb. ♪ dreams to be realized. ♪ new worlds to be explored and hearts to be won. quaker oats. energy to get you going, fiber to help fill you up and help keep your heart healthy. super people eat super grains.

aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. all right. mitt romney may be the iowa winner but how close is the presidential race? starting with a come from way behind candidate rick santorum, here it is. >> you know, this is the first step in the process and we're going to be on to new hampshire and we're going to work hard and compete there. i'm a little bit behind the curve in the sense that governor has been spending a lot of money and a lot of time out there and has been running for six years but we feel like we can go up there and compete and we've got a great team on the ground. we have my campaign manage frer new hampshire. he started out as my new

hampshire guy. and so he knows how to win races. we've got a lot of organization that was able to win a congressional seat up there and 25 state reps already before tonight that have signed up. they haven't just signed up. we have hardworking state reps up there. new hampshire is all about grass roots politics and we feel very good that we're going to climb the ladder just like we did here. there's going to be a rematch. and we're going to go to new hampshire and take him on and we're going to run a campaign talking about my vision for this country. you didn't hear me going after people tonight. i just laid out what -- where america needs to go and how the republicans needs to address those issues and talk about, you know, strong economy and to make sure that the economy is going to be vibrant for everybody in this economy and that we have an economy built on strong families, too. that message will resonate not

just here but in new hampshire also. john mccain is a great man. someone who has been an honor to serve with. he's served this country frankly more than anybody i've had a privilege to know. i commend governor romney for getting his endorsement but i'm not surprised by it. john is a more moderate member of the republican team and i think he fits in with newt's -- excuse me. with mitt's view of the world and i -- you know, i wish him the very best. and, again, i have nothing but respect for john mccain. >> from someone who did well. we're going to hear from someone who didn't do too well. michele bachmann pulling out of the race after finishing next to last. in august she won the ames poll but that was her peak. she's suspending her campaign which allows her to keep raising

money to pay off debts. >> and so last night the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice and so i have decided to stand aside. and i believe that if we are going to repeal obamacare, turn our country around and take back our country, we must do so united. and i believe we must rally around the person that our country and our party and our people select to be that standard bear but make no mistake, i'll continue to be a strong voice. i'll continue to stand and fight for the country and for the american people and for our freedom. >> dana bash in des moines, iowa, right now. it looks like a very chilly des moines as she's there for the bachmann announcement. back in august she won the ames poll. i was there. the campaign was ecstatic about it. what turned iowa voters off since then? it wasn't that long ago? >> reporter: it is really stunning, isn't it?

the fact that 4 1/2 months ago and her campaign was by far her high water mark and it really crumpled from there and this is her home state. this is the state where she was born and she certainly touted that as she visited all 99 counties as rick santorum did. why did she fail to catch fire? it's a question mark and even her campaign is trying to figure out why exactly that happened. look, the bottom line is that the conservative vote that she was vying for was definitely split among herself and rick santorum who gobbled up most of it and the question is whether or not the whole idea of her tea party appeal, which was very real. she was an early supporter of the tea party. she was a founder of the tea party caucus. that was another question. she got 9%, according to the entrance polls of people who agree with the tea party. it's just completely perplexing. >> listen, no one is perfect on

the campaign trail. everyone has a gaffe every now and then. she had a few. the hpv thing and did that factor into her drop? >> reporter: you know what? privately some of her aides say that they do think that -- they are not sure why and they are certainly not overting or even quietly playing the gender card but they are saying that some of those things she said got maybe more attention than some of the gaffes that other candidates make. because as you say, don, everyone makes gaffes. another example is remember the day that elvis died and she said it was elvis' bird birthday. she said that elvis was her favorite singer. people are tired. we make mistakes sometimes when we're out and speaking off the cuff but her campaign does think that she didn't get as much slack cut to her as others did. >> the only woman in the race,

how much did that factor into it? >> reporter: you know, i don't think we'll ever know the answer to that. i do think -- because i've been thinking about this today -- that she definitely stood up there with the boys at all of those debates, 13 debates, and she held her own. look, she definitely had and has views that for some republicans just didn't jive and whether it was that or whether it was the fact that women or man, she's been in congress for just a few years. she didn't have that much experience and perhaps that was it. you never know. but one interesting thing, if you do look at the entrance polls and as a woman, this is a little bit discouraging, women didn't tend to vote for her. and it's unclear why. if that is some gender thing or not. >> yeah. that's interesting. and that deserves some analysis in and of itself, longer than you and i have to talk about it.

in the debate she did fire back. she said, listen, i am a strong candidate. i am in this race. i want to move on and talk about john mccain and rick santorum because it just happened. four years ago they were at odds with each other. i think john mccain said i wanted to hug him just long enough for him to stop breathing and now he's endorsing him. >> reporter: isn't it amazing? i was standing right in this state four years ago watching the two of them go at it and continue to go at it in new hampshire and south carolina and really intensely and in florida and he actually went out and he supported john mccain whole-heartedly. and that is something that john mccain has told me and he really much appreciated it. one interesting thing, the subplot of it has to be underscored and who is the chief opponent right now to mitt romney? it's rick santorum.

i covered him in the senate, covered john mccain in the senate. the two of them do not get along. there is no love lost there for various runs but they do not get along and i actually pulled up a clip from me and john mccain in 2008 about a robo call questioning his temperment saying he shouldn't be president. there is definitely an under lying issue there and i'm told that that's one of the things that greased the skids for mccain to endorse mitt romney today. >> and i said rick santorum but obviously i met mitt romney. try to stay warm, dana. >> reporter: thank you. i've got my hat. after finishing fifth in iowa and to stand down and wait new orders, perry put out this tweet today. look at him come south carolina

okay with an exclamation point. i want you to look at that photo. rick perry looking fit, nen injury jet particular, different than the rick perry that we saw last night after his disappointing showing. >> i've decided to return to texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether if there is a path forward for myself in this race. >> joining us from manchester, new hampshire, rick perry -- i've got to ask you, does perry still think is he viable or is he soldiering on to south carolina for more a more graceful option than bowing out now? is he trying to save face, in a way? >> reporter: well, look, they always think that they are still viable until they are not. i think there's a part that he does still think that he's still viable. things could happen. you just never know in politics.

on the other hand, i think he does want to save face. south carolina is a southern state. he's a southern governor. he thinks he can do fairly well there. we will see. he has a message that le do pretty well. his people on the inside believe rick santorum will fade and that perry will ultimately or could be in a position to accumulate those voters who will not be for mitt romney. but fundamentally, what happened last night and you had it exactly right, don, if you saw him last night, he was beat. >> yeah. >> he said he felt like it was over. he went in and our christy spoke to griffin perry, the son of rick perry, and he said, you know what, he went in and talked to mom and his kids, griffin and sidney, he went out for a run, cleared his head and said, you know what? i'm going to do this. and there were some members of the staff in austin that were surprised by that. they thought it was over and it ain't quite over yet.

>> he said he's going to reassess his campaign and then he does this. you know, when herman cain says i'm suspending my campaign, when michelle campaign says she's suspending her campaign, i guess for rick perry it means a different thing. the impression he's left on voters so far, as i say in texas, he's all hat and no cattle. how can he change that now this late in the game? what's the plan, if any? >> very, very hard. i mean, the column i wrote today is that rick perry failed to learn the lesson of 20 years ago when a republican was at the top of the ticket on perry's first race when he was running for agricultural commissioner, he was a cowboy, outspoken and all of the things that are in a cowboy, independent, self-reliant, full of commonsense. once you begin to stumble and the voters get to see you, all they get to see are the bad aspects.

swaggering, boot and mouth disease. it's going to be very difficult and some analysts say it's going to be virtually impossible. when i travel and talked to voters in new hampshire -- i mean n., in iowa, i would basically get to rick perry and they dismissed him as a good guy, great resume, but he's simply not up to the job. >> it's a larger than life image. if it doesn't work for you, as you say in your column, it's sort of difficult to turn it around. he's definitely in the lead of youtube moments. this is november 9th. >> it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education, and -- what's the third one there? >> you can't name the third one? >> the third agency of government i would do away with is education, the -- commerce,

and, let's see, i can't. the third one i can't. i'm sorry. oops. >> it's hard to watch. >> painful. painful. >> and the people in texas, what's their assessment on this performance on a national stage? >> well, there are rick perry supporters in austin and in texas and they certainly feel very badly about how things are going. they support him. i sense when i talked to a number of texans that i don't typically want to talk about publicly, especially if they are republican or conservative, moderate independents, they are not happy with rick perry's performance because it seems to have told the rest of the country, offered this stereotype of again, the boot and the mouth disease, these texans are not the sharpest knife in the drawer. it's not been the best image that we want for our state. that may be perry's contribution if he ultimately doesn't give the nomination, that he will go down with that clip that you just saw, with the historic

clips of american 20th century and 21st century politics, you know, i was brainwashed or i didn't have sex with that woman and, oops. >> and i have to say, oops for you because that was your guy. >> reporter: i know. you know, stay in there, rick. but you know what? the democracy marches on. >> all right. wayne slater, thank you very much. you're a good sport. we appreciate it. next tuesday, it heats up in new hampshire. candy crowley, john king, wolf blitzer. live coverage at 7:00 p.m. eastern. one of the clear winners in last night's iowa caucuses was a former senator, rick santorum. in a large list of people he changed for his support at the top was god. >> for giving me his grace every day, for loving me, warts and

all, i offer a public thanks to god. >> there is a lot more to this story. up next, how the eve van gel cal vote helped in rick santorum's surge. stay with us. tylenol:nyquil. what are you doing? nyquil (stuffy): just reading your label. wait! you relieve nasal congestion? tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no... nyquil (stuffy): dude! anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

especially in politics, many people say he didn't have a prayer but rick santorum proved them wrong, losing in iowa by only eight votes. that's a win for him. he made sure to give thanks to above. >> i've survived the challenges so far by the daily grace that

comes from god. >> yeah! >> for giving me his grace every day, for loving me warts and all, i offer a public thanks to god. >> that could be seen as two thank yous. one to god and one to the evangelical voters who flocked to rick santorum in iowa. dan, thank you for joining us. how much evangelical support did rick santorum actually get? >> he got about a third of the evangelical votes last night. there were a lot of surprises last night. one of them was how big of a share the evangelical voters of the iowa caucus turned out. that was seen as a mike huckabee effect. he was a former baptist

preacher. this time it was expected to be a little lower and it was 65% again. evangelicals played a bigger vote. >> why rick santorum? what's his attraction? >> well, you know, of course, rick santorum has been outspoken throughout his career as a senator and a congressman before that on the hot button issues, abortion and gay marriage. the secret to his success was more than that. you had bachmann and rick perry who really tried hard to get evangelical votes and who also talked about gay marriage and abortion. i think the other candidates may have been trying too hard. >> oerk, really? >> yeah. his early ad promising to get prayers back in school and i think it was seen by

evangelicals that i spoke to as pandering. whereas, santorum, who is catholic, not evangelical. >> he was on message. he stuck to his principles when it came to what he believes about religion, gay rights, gay marriage, all of that. he wasn't a flip-flopper, as you say. you mention him being a catholic. he was a catholic and protestant evangelicals don't always see eye to eye with catholics, do they? >> no, not on theological issues. evangelicals see the primary authority as presiding in the bible itself. but when it comes to politics, this has been a big change in american politics after the last half century. it would have been impossible to imagine a catholic like santorum winning on the back or coming in second on the backs of evangelical votes in iowa. but what has happened in american politics and religion, think about john f. kennedy, of

course. what's become the major dividing line isn't these kind of traditional denominational differences. are you a catholic or evangelical. rather in politics it matters how much do you go to church and how much does your faith influence your politics? that's become the bar. so santorum clearly cleared that bar last night. >> we just have a short time here left. i think this is the crux of everything. was this really support for santorum or a rebuke of mitt romney among the evangelicals? >> it was a little bit of both. he only took a third of the evangelical vote et cetera. it's not like he actually won it. there were candidates like rick perry and ron paul. so it was a show that evangelicals really don't care

for romney. romney did even worse among evangelicals than he had four years ago. but there's not a consensus of who the alternative should be. that's going to play over the course of the next weeks and months. >> dan, always a great conversation. cnn.com/belief. you can see it all there. all your hard work right there. >> that's right. thank you, don. >> thank you. good to see you. happy new year. up next, a young mother shoots and kills a man who she says was trying to break into her house and the whole thing was caught on a 911 call. >> i've got two guns in my hand. is it okay to shoot him if he comes in this door? >> well, you have to do whatever you can do to protect yourself. i can't tell you that you can do that but you do whatever you need to do to protect your baby. they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart association for foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

so they're good for my family, and for yours. heart smart idaho potatoes. always look for the grown in idaho seal. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death.

this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you've had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion.

this next story certainly captured our attention. i'm sure it will capture your attention as well. a terrifying call in owe nye ohio as a young mother takes matters into her own house as a man tries to break into her house. she was home on new year's eve one week after her husband died of cancer. she heard a man trying to break in. >> he was from door to door trying to bust in, just going from door to door. and i don't know what he had in his hands beside the knife. i believe he actually had a hammer in his hand at one point. you have to make a choice, you or him. and i chose my son over him. >> absolutely. mckinly made that choice during a terrifying call to 911. >> i've got two guns in my hand. is it okay to shoot him if he comes in this door? >> well, you have to do whatever you can do to protect yourself. i can't tell you that you can do

that but you do whatever you have to do to protect your baby. >> she shot and killed 24-year-old justin shane martin. his body was found on the couch. he had pushed against the door to barricade it. it's legal to kill someone who breaks into a house in oklahoma if there's a reasonable belief that the intruder's intent is to kill or harm you. now back to politics. a war on words. mitt romney called gingrich a liar. a chicken hawk, ron paul called disgusting. it's like who shot john, right? we'll talk live with the head of the republican national committee about the candidates attacking their fellow candidates. ask me how i've never slept better... why not talk to one of the 6 million people who've switched to the most highly recommended bed in america. it's not a sealy, a simmons, or a serta... ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how i can finally sleep all night. ask me how great my back feels every morning.

did you know there's a tempur-pedic for every body? tempur-pedic beds now come insoft...firm...and everything in-between... ask me how i don't wake up anymore when he comes to bed... these are real tempur-pedic owners...ask someone you know...check out twitter, or your friends on facebook... you'll hear it all...unedited! ask me how i wish i had done this sooner. ask me how this is the best investment i've ever made. tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied. than owners of any traditional mattress brand... to learn more, or find an authorized retailer near you visit tempur-pedic.com. tempur-pedic the most highly recommended bed in america.

all right. you need a scoreboard to keep up here. joining us now from washington, the head of the rnc republican national committee joins us. mitt romney out of a win in iowa, has a sizeable lead in new hampshire. if he wins there and pulls out a win in south carolina, is this ra race essentially over, romney wins? >> i don't know, don. as you've talked about before and analyzed this, we have a race to about 1200 delegates

and, you're right, momentum plays a big part of it. but i think we can all agree that predicting how this is going to turn out and how one day it's very different than the next day, that's been the case with the primary and i'm not in a position to make that prediction and i think that's what makes this primary unique and, quite frankly, i think it's a good part for our primary and a little bit of a drama in a horse race and i think it makes it exciting and is good for our side of the aisle. >> any time i hear someone say predictable, you -- >> especially in this primary. 72 hours ago, you know, things were different and at least if you look at polling. a lot of these things in primaries are hard to predict. they are very hard to poll, they are hard to predict. but for the most part i think what's good for us is that 70% of the american people in poll after poll believe that our country's on the wrong track. now, that's not good for our country but it's certainly good in our chances of defeating

barack obama. >> all right. you got that one in. but let's stick to what we're talking about here. we all know the ultimate intention is to beat barack obama. let's move through this. newt gingrich got really riled up. >> i didn't say i think he is a liar. i said he is. because he doesn't tell the truth. >> is he out of bounds with that? >> well, you know, listen, i think that for the most part we do our best to abide by reagan's 11th commandment but as chairman i'm not going to become the referee of the primary field. but i'll remind you and don and all of the other people viewing this, we have a president in the

white house who went through -- they went through a wild horserace with hoil clinton hillary clinton and barack obama. remember the 3:00 a.m. call? it didn't work. >> are you saying that americans don't -- >> no, i'm not saying that at all. i think americans expect primaries to be tough. and if you look at governors throughout the midwest that have come through tough primaries in 2010 from wisconsin, ohio, chris christie, every one of these republicans came through a very difficult primary and they won in blue states and the fact is that a history shows us that primaries -- including tough primaries, work for the opposition party. that's just the fact. >> okay. i want to talk about this. and if we have this video, after rick santorum made his speech, you saw mitt romney. a video of mitt romney's people

pulling down the teleprompters because they said that santorum basically went out and hit a home run and didn't read from a teleprompter which is what mitt romney was believed to do and it was to make mitt romney look more human. what can romney do to win over the conservative base which really santorum has, he's failed to do it up until now. is there anything that he can do at this point? >> well, i guess i sort of reject the basis of the question, don. i don't think this is a matter of choosing one candidate over the next on the basis that a particular voter would never go to the next candidate. i think it's just akin to going to a restaurant and just because, don, you don't order the hamburger, doesn't mean you don't like hamburgers. it just means that you want a caesar salad. >> you disagree with me that romney hasn't won over the conservative base of the republican party? >> i disagree with the premise. and the second thing s. itis, i

not for me to decide who the voters -- and what i think the american people are sick and tired of, number one, me as party chairman, i don't get to decide who the nominee is. i think voters are sick and tired of washington insiders telling them who should be supported and for what reason. >> i understand that. i respect that. >> and i'm going to support the nominee, don. >> and that's not what i'm asking you, as head of the republican politics, someone who's been in politics, is there anything that romney can do to win over the conservative part of the party? >> i think romney's doing well and i think a lot of the candidates are doing well. so i'm not going to offer him advice as far as anyone else as far as what i think they should do, accept the premise that

other folks will ex trap poll late. if you look at the polling they do well head to head and the president is bleeding in these battle ground states and he's extremely vulnerable and all for the better. because i think we need to save this country from a president who hasn't followed through on a single promise. >> thank you. we appreciate it. we know you're very busy one day after this caucus. >> i'm happy to do it. happy new year. >> see you next time. ahead, new details of the discovery of one woman's body on queen elizabeth's estate. the answers to this royal mystery. most for arthritis pain... two pills can last all day. ♪

welcome back, everyone. we have new information this afternoon in the murder mystery on the bris tissue royal estate. police say it was a body of a young woman found by a dog walker on queen elizabeth's estate. that's where the family spent the christmas holiday. max is in london. police have identified the victim or determined how she died, have they, max? >> no. they've got some remains and they've carried out dna testing on those remains but they are trying again with that. they know that she didn't die from natural causes.

it is a murder investigation at this point. the body, described as a young whited a dult female, age between 15 and 23 years old. the body had been there between a period of a month and up to four months. what they are trying to do, don, is have them look at unresolved disappearances. not just locally but across the uk and try to match up those disappearances with the body. but without the dna, it's a real problem. there are three young women who match that description who have never been found so that's what they are looking at for the moment. >> it's three to four months, you say. the estate is huge. give us a layout of the land for the viewers. >> well, it's one large house where the queen and the royal family spend christmas and she's there with prince philip at the moment but it's a 20,000 acre estate. it's not like your backyard, i suspect, don, and certainly not like mine. it's largely a public area with public roads going through it

and there are villages within the estate. so people can wander through it. and that's what happened when a dog walker found these remains. so that's what we know about the estate. it's a vast area but no association being made with the royal family, of course. >> and the queen's not there, anymore, right? >> she is still there. >> she's still there? >> yes. and we assume that she's been informed but they are not making a public comment. it's a police matter. they are staying clearly out of it. >> max foster, appreciate it. thank you. mitt romney and rick santorum practically tied for first place, separated by on eight votes. ron paul not far behind. well, we heard from santorum earlier this hour. coming up we're going to hear from romney and representative paul. so make sure you stay with us. [ male announcer ] the more you lose, the more you lose,

because for every two pounds you lose through diet and exercise, alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat.

let's fight fat with alli. ♪

mitt romney may be the official winner in iowa. we heard from rick santorum earlier in the hour. now i want to hear from mitt romney and representative ron paul. >> well, i'm actually feeling terrific because, as you know, we were well behind several weeks ago. i don't think anybody gave us a shot at winning. speaker gingrich, rick santorum,

ron paul all had big nights. we come out of iowa a lot stronger. i continue to believe that the right place to focus is on president obama. of course people are going to ask us about the difference on our -- positions on issues and background and so forth but really if we talk about what the american people want to hear is how we're going to be different than president obama when it comes to getting the economy going, preserving the economy abroad and make sure we rein in the scale of the american government. i think that's the focus of the campaign over the next several months. i lead on polls from those who call themselves conservative. look at a place like new hampshire. well, my record is understood pretty darn well because i came from the state next door. i've got great support from tea party members, evangelicals. you may recall four years ago that mike huckabee and i were the two conservatives in the race. i've got conservative credentials but i'm going to

communicate going forward and i think conservatives will rally around that effort. as i look at a place like new hampshire, i think i'm leading among evangelical voters. so i'm going to do just fine with the different groups in this country. as long as i for continue to talk about my message of getting american stron gerks getting our economy going, shrinking the size of the government and holding firm on the principles of freedom and opportunity that made the country the hope of the earth. >> i was impressed with the enthusiasm of the young people. obviously we did get, you know, the large majority of the young people voting last night. but the volunteers are very often the young people that college kids have such enthusiasm and they respond very well to this message of freedom and change foreign policy where we don't sacrifice ourselves overseas and waste our resources

and we balance our budget and emphasize personal responsibility and economic liberty and they are enthusiastic about it so i would say that this message is growing by leaps and pounds and it's going to continue to do it. if you say i have an attraction to young people, what kind of a republican thinks that they can win without the independent vote. the primary is wide open and more independents than anybody else. i would say if you're looking to obama and i can be show you some other polls where we do very, very well equal to how romney does. what i laugh about is nobody disagrees with me that my reputation is i strictly adhere to the constitution, i strictly adhere to balanced budget and never vote for spending we can't afford, always lower taxes. i don't ever want to fight a war that is unconstitutional and i'm the dangerous person. when newt gingrich was called to service in the 1960s during the

neat yaum era, guess what he thought about danger? he chickened out on that. he got deferments. didn't even go. so right now he sends these young kids over there to endure the danger and the kids coming back and young people coming back and the ones in the military right now, they are overwhelmingly support my campaign. we get twice as much support from the active military personnel than all of the other candidates together. so newt gingrich has no business talking about danger. he's putting other people in danger. some people call that kind of a 3r578 a chicken hawk and i think he falls into that category. >> the words from the candidates. ladies and gentlemen, i give you edith and caroline. >> guess what? joining us now on the phone edith and caroline. let's give them a big round of applause. >> if you haven't heard about these iowans yet, you simply have to. they helped fix a major problem last night in reporting caucus

numbers and now they have gone viral online. up next, we'll hear from them and our very own wolf blitzer has a -- shall we say, moment. i can only say three letters, o-m-g. look at this. look what's going on. and boston cream pie. did you say pie? pie. she said pie. pie. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. nyqui tylenol: me, too. and cougnasal congestion.ers?ee. nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

where they grow america's favorite wpotatoes. idaho, everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they're good for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart association for foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. so they're good for my family, and for yours. heart smart idaho potatoes. always look for the grown in idaho seal.

two iowans named edith and

carolyn. now they have their own twitter hash tag. they are the iowa gop officials that helped cnn clear the confusion when one vote separated mitt romney and rick santorum. it's 2:00 in the morning. one vote separated. one missing county. and all of a sudden that's when it all went nuts. >> it was one precinct out of 1700 and they didn't have some numbers. mark press son, we were focusing on this one county, clinton county. by coincidence i happened to be there with mitt romney last week. we went from davenport up to clinton. i was a little familiar with clinton. and all of a sudden one precinct in this county, they didn't have the right numbers. so we said, let's call up the gop officials who were in

charge. >> we have your conversation with john king and john king had with the two women. >> the numbers we're receiving from the state do not match the numbers we just received from the county chair woman right here in clinton county. >> what do you mean the numbers don't match. >> john, you go ahead and explain it. >> just to be precise, the state chairs in des moines, they called you. they woke you up. is that right? >> no. i woke her up. this is carolyn. i was watching cnn waiting for results when i was told from the party. i came to wake up edith who didn't answer her phone. >> you don't have any