>> wow. how about that? [applause] this has been an incredible program and that concludes the speaker program of today's festivities. i do want to remind everyone that if you have not voted, the

boating area will be open for approximately 15 more minutes. -- 50 more minutes. send that message. we will be back shortly. thank you, everyone. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] ♪ ♪

♪ >> we will commute to the seas and continuing coverage of the iowa straw poll on the campus of the iowa state university in

ames, iowa. nine names on the ballot, six speakers. probably at about 6:15 p.m. eastern thomas of the voting continues for another 50 minutes. in order to participate in today's straw poll, you need to be 18 years of age or older and you need to be an iowa residents. it is unclear how many people have attended so far, and we will get an exact number of the attendees. this is the scene inside the hilton coliseum and we have the cameras outside the u.s. sense of what it is like for this festival atmosphere as the iowa state fair continues 40 miles away in the greater the morning. . -- des moines area. the numbers are on your screen. we will get more of your phone

calls. first up, from california. go ahead, please. while we watch the scene outside, we will get the calls lined up and we will be with you in another minute or two.

>> live coverage on c-span. the first call is from california. go ahead, please. caller: two comments. it looks like the new republican talking points on jobs has to do with offshore drilling and oil and natural gas exploration and very little about infrastructure improvement. the second quick comment is ron paul is for a limited or no government as it has introduced the abortion question as government intrusion of the bed blum -- bedroom. host: republican line. what did you see and hear today, caroline? if you are there, please go ahead. next is the vienna in dayton, ohio. -- vivian in ohio.

>> we are back live at the iowa straw poll on the campus of iowa state university. 202-624-1115 for democrats -- for republicans. the line for democrats is 202- 624-1111. this is the first test of organizational strength for the republican candidates. the no. 4 iowa residence is -- it 202-737-2579.

today, the governor of texas, rick perry, has announced his candidacy. you can watch that speech in his entirety. he will be in iowa tomorrow. from newark, new jersey, on the democratic line. thank you for waiting. caller: good afternoon. great coverage of the straw poll. a does want to say something about what michele bachmann said in her speech. she said she was going to go vote right then and to follow her. she lives in minnesota and never was a resident of iowa. that is all i have to say. host: next from connecticut on the republican line.

caller: think it recovering this alive. the caller who called a few minutes ago and made a comment about ron paul saying he is for small government but in this case is introducing government into the bedroom by talking about abortion, abortions do not happen in the bedroom and he did not say anything about who or what might happen in the bedroom. after the child is conceived, the constitution protects all life and he was talking about the protection of life, not the bedroom, and i felt that was a cheap shot. i feel ron paul is the candidate giving us the facts and not just the rhetoric. host: from minneapolis. what did you hear and see today, richard? caller: i listen to what the republicans had to say come and they are hypocrites. they say one thing and do the

exact opposite. look at michele bachmann. she said she can get the economy going in three months. obama has taken 2.5 years. how did she think she will do it in three months? if anything, she will put us in a triple-dip recession. that is all i want to say. they are hypocrites. look at what they have done to this country. they created this mess and obama had to try to get us out of it. host: timothy from jefferson city, missouri. go ahead. caller: i think all of these candidates are, in fact come hypocrites. they are quoting verbatim shit. host: we appreciate the comment, but please avoid the profanity. from "the washington post" this morning, and he joins us from inside the helton coliseum. thank you for joining us.

what is the headline? to made an impact this afternoon? guest: congresswoman michele bachmann of minnesota really worked the crowd. she brings a tremendous amount of energy to the stage. she gets very excited here and she is a very good public speaker. her speech created the most noise. in addition, outside on the grounds of iowa state university here where the candidates each have a tense, free to come along lines, and exciting activities going on, on her tent, by far, is the most crowded with a two- hour wait. there is little question right now that looks like she is attracting the most energy and excitement. what that means for the results, i would not even begin to say

yet. host: we are live also in some of the michele bachmann tent. this is a day of expectations. we heard that from the pawlenty campaign. now he says he just needs to do well. size this up for the six candidates who are participating today. guest: what we know is that former gov. tim pawlenty, ron paul of texas, and michele bachmann have all been working very hard in iowa. certainly rick santorum and herman cain have been here, but the first three have invested the most resources here and have attracted the most media attention. it has been widely viewed that those three were going to be the top three vote getters here today without anyone really being comfortable knowing what

the order would be. we still feel that way. today, michele bachmann is generating a lot of energy and excitement. i think the view was that today was a very important test for her, because she rocketed to the top of the polls very quickly after declaring her candidacy in june. one of the questions that has been hovering over her is whether her excitement would have staying power. this would allow her to say that she was able to quickly generate a lot of excitement in iowa and her campaign will go forward with that energy. in contrast, gov. pawlenty has struggled with the polling and fund-raising. today is a test for him to stay alive. there will be a lot of chatter and the results are close, there will be a lot of chatter if he

is near the top of the list about what is next for him. i expect it will be his goal the state cannot get much worse than it has been in the will stay in for logger. if it is a tougher laws, on the questions will be harder for him to answer. host: he has spent so much time campaigning in iowa over the last four or five months, almost living there. he has a lot of expectations in today's event. guest: i think that is right. he also painted a picture of his campaign, and it was true. it is a very well-organized operation in iowa. if that well-organized operation does not deliver a solid performance today, that will not send a good message to potential donors and supporters out there that he needs to continue on board going into the fall. host: the announcement came

shortly after 1:00 in and south carolina that gov. rick perry is officially entering the race. the timing of the announcement happening today and he will be in iowa tomorrow and what does he bring to the race? guest: i had a conversation this morning with mike huckabee from arkansas. he is very fond of iowa and and he won the caucus here. he had very sharp things to say about governor perry. on the one hand, he seemed irritated that he was raining on the parade of iowa, using his words, and taking that underwear from what had been organized and promoted as the biggest political event of the summer for the political party nationally. he did not understand strategically why gov. harry should share the spotlight with the winner of the straw poll by giving a speech in south carolina when the vast majority

of the political media is here. it did not make sense to governor huckabee. i thought was interesting. clearly, he enters with a lot of potential and excitement and he will be a serious candidate from the beginning. he will tour i was starting tomorrow and will be watched very closely. host: according to your colleagues over at "the new york times," money will not be a factor in he has raised and it -- in excess of $100 millino. -- million. guest: in as a lot of people who are willing to help them out. host: we are talking with amy gardner, the politics reporter from "the washington post." we're going to michele bachmann and then will be back for more of your comments. [applause]

>> i understand the greatness of the united states of america. [unintelligible] [applause] i told them that it was really simple. the ames, iowa, straw poll. [applause] barack obama lost in iowa. [unintelligible]

am i right? [applause] [unintelligible] [applause] i believe that we are a team that cannot be beat in 2012. [applause]

>> the comments of representative michele bawkman. amy gardner, you're right. a huge crowd inside that tent to they're congresswoman. the congresswoman from minnesota. >> yes. the energy around congressman bawkman is clearly where it's at today. what we don't know is where that translates to. there were a huge volunteer of people phoning and did he bring in enough thousands of people

to counterspontaneous voices on the other side? we don't know. >> we don't know how many attended the straw poll today. have you seen any figures released? >> i have not heard that. i heard from a couple of folks approaching 13,000 and we still have a couple hours to go. if that figure is accurate, and i don't know if it is, that opposed well for mrs. bawkman. the higher the turnout, the more likely people are coming because they are excited about somebody. and somebody they are excited about is probably mrs. bawkman. they said a lower turnout would benefit mr. paw plenty. because he had this as a coordinated effort. mrs. bawkman and congressman

paul as well. >> we'll take a couple calls and come back. joanne is joining us. the republican line, go ahead, please. >> hello. >> go ahead, please? >> the three that i think will be the best for president of the united states, according to what they have said are clawedous mcconner, rick santorum and herman cain. they are all talking about the economy and poor business and reducing taxes and border problems. in addition to all the stuff they said, thaddeus mckotter mentioned that the communist time is -- rick santorum said we [inaudible] and with a real

purpose. and so stop giving money to our enemies. >> thanks joanne. thank you for the call. we'll go on to steve in reno, nevada. independent line. go ahead, steve. steve, you on the air? we'll try one more time for steve. we'll go to darlene, dayton, ohio. democrats line, go ahead. one more time for darlene. caller: i am darlene. host: go ahead. caller: i am about a c-span viewer. what i'd like to say is i've watched a lot of what's going on c-span and i've heard no one, i mean absolutely no one

talk about jobs. all they are doing is simply bashing our president. i would like to hear someone say something about what's going on. i look at the crowd in this audience, and i'm sure i can atest to the fact that the majority of the people there are as much out of work as i am. how they can sit there and bash the president when they are as much out of work as i am, i do not understand it. i don't understand. why can't they come together? why can't we do something to help the american people? myself included. host: darlene, thanks for the call. what do you take away? caller: the first caller raised a good point which is there are other candidates competing.

mitt romney and newt gingrich are also on the ballot. and so i would be remiss -- register as well in the polls. a number of people i spoke to voters, viewers, they were impressed with rick santorum's report. and so there's been some speculation -- raising his profile in this very wide-open republican field. the viewer remarks about the candidates and what they had to say, there's been quite a lot of obama bashing. but you have to remember who the audience is here which is the core of the core of the

republican electorate largely made up of evangelical christians. so bashing president obama who is not popular among them is the message of the day. there's also been a great deal of hat tipping to conservative social issues, talk of proposing -- opposing abortion and supporting traditional message. so there shouldn't be any surprise to viewers that that's what we're hearing. host: if you take that core what i call mike huck abea voters. how far will that go and will that give somebody like governor pawlenty more of an opening?

>> well, he's been out thing -- time-outing a -- touting a -- we always see that every cycle. and we're definitely seeing it this year. and this year we may be seeing it more this year because of the unpopularity of president obama and because of the state of the economy. and the economic future outlook. host: thank you. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have to agree with amy that it's just the true believers showing up in iowa to vote and somebody like michele bawk sman

really disconnected from the american people. it's hard to see her come out with a debate or bumper stickers when she's disconnected with how we're thinking. to draw off the energy people are having which host: next caller. caller: yes. thank you for televising this straw poll. i'm more liking herman cain a lot. i think he addresses a lot of the problems. he is a tea party representative, and also that kind of blows that out of the water that the reason if you're with the team, it's -- it's not about color. it's about principle. one thing that another caller said that a lot of these candidates or hypocrites, what about obama being a hypocrite

about our energy policy when canada wants to pipe in energy here and they don't want to pass that. they are vill phiing our oil companies but he gives noun brazil and says we're going to be their best customer. like herman cane says, we can be our own best customer and develop our own energy. and as far as the jobs situation, he really addresses that. and he's not having all these loopholes and citizenshiplations and also the e.p.a. running amuck making standards ridiculously high and all the corporate taxes and everything that it's hard for business to grow in this country. so i think he has really some strong issues that he is, you

know, bringing up that can be, you know, good for our country. >> thanks, charlotte. >> as always, aurprisey to this race. herman cain, is that the surprise candidate so far this year? >> i don't think he is so far. he's certainly impressed people in the very first de tpwhate south carolina a couple months ago but then he sort of unimpressed those you know what i mean june and new hampshire and has not necessarily picked up much traction in polling data and so on on the cap pain trail. i do want to go back to the previous caller's point that they are the true believers that are here and it raises an interesting observation of the straw poll or lack will have to which is a debatable idea but within the media and the

country, the straw poll is a tiny representation of the electorate in iowa. maybe 10,000 maybe 15,000 people will show up here. and not only that, but not everybody who is competing for president is competing here. like i said, mitt romney and newt gingrich are running. we don't know yet what governor payen is going to do. she's been coy when asked by the media whether or not she is going to get into this thing. so the straw poll has become a sort of a battle between tim pawlenty and menaceya go after each other but that's one corner of this wide-open field, and this is just one little

sliver of elek trats given perhaps inord informant power going into things. so it is a valued foivent put this event into context and there are lots of folks, party leaders who would like to see the straw poll donna way with. >> and of course we do know sarah palin is going to be in iowa on saturday, september 3 for an event being put together by the tea party. >> that's right. >> you put together a story that the iowa state fair and the pork association putting pork on the stick has been a scene every four years. we saw it with mitt romney and tim pawlenty. what's it like for you to cover this story personally? >> well, i had one. i went to the "des moines register" has a little venue inside the fairgrounds called soap box.

and candidates cycle through there surrounding this day, and i went looking for ron paul and listened to tim pawlenty then made a beeline for the pork on a stick and i had one. and it was delicious. i won't say whether i felt particularly healthy after i was done with it, but it's fun over there. it's a great scene. you look at the exhibits of cows and look at the butter skull. ture. and it's not staged or an organizational test like it is here today. it's a place where regular people are coming out to the fair with their families and kids and having a lot of fun and the candidates are interacting with those people and trying to listen to what they have to say, and that's good politics. >> you can't see this but our viewers can. it's ron paul's camp it's

called the prosperity playground and next to it is a water slide called the sliding dollar. >> there are quite a few gimmicks around those things going on today. michele balkman has a little trick where she asks for a dollar from the crowd and she folds it into 12% of it is folded to show how much debt we're accruing, and this is what happens in on the political nesting in iowa. it's fun. >> joining us from idb, waiting if amy gardner who is in ames, iowa. caller: hello. thank you so much for taking my call. i first wanted to make a commeant about how reporting from different news media outlets how the republican field of candidates is not deep

and i think all the different candidates coming out really proved there's a misconception. i've been a michele balkman supporter and follower for quite a number of years, and i have to say all these well, she is most definitely not a hypocrite. she talks the talk and walks the walk and votes how she says she is going to vote. but i really am kind of torn, because i am so impressed with herman cain, and that really shows, you know, how strong of a candidate he is, because i've been steadfast that i'm a michele balkman supporter. and now i'm to a point where i'm kind of torn between the two of them, and i think his speech was one of the strongest speeches i've ever heard and within last point about people saying they are not discussing jobs.

but a president does not create jobs, policies create or discourage job growth. so their going to the heart of the issue is that it's obama's policies that have to be repealed in order to get our economy restarted and going again so jobs creators are north no longer fearful of bringing on new hires. thank you for bringing on -- for taking my call. >> you're welcome. go ahead, next caller. caller: i'm amazed when quoting history the historical facts that are overlooked. i realize the audience they are talking to. but there's great emphasis on the god and the creator in our constitution and that's all part of our constitution. i would suggest that everyone read the presidential oath of office as set forth in the constitution. number one, it says i do

solemnly swear or affirm. and at the end it does not say so help me god. so that's a very neutral oath of office, not a religious one, the way it's been turned. >> thank you. from -- sorry, go ahead. caller: i like what bob had to say about the constitution but i'm calling for my support for ron paul because i believe he is the only one talking about things and talking common sense and i heard a few callers, somebody brought up the subject of gas. ron paul is actually talking about monetary policy and a few days ago they opened reserves and that did not because the money -- ron paul actually does read his history. he's the only candidate besides

johnson who is trying to go to the framers that made this country great and the only ones trying to follow this policy and showing america is a state of america and doesn't get taken over by big government like republicans or democrats. host: thank you for the call. amy gardner if you include the nine names on the ballot and throw it rick perry, johnson and roamer, there are 12 candidates competing for this g.o.p. nomination. what have you heard from the viewers over the last couple of minutes and the first caller. caller: i'm not 100% sure what the caller meant by the field but i think i know there's been a lot of press and observation by republican leaders nationally that the person who they are looking for isn't in the field yet.

and i think when the caller talked about the field of candidates, the caller may have been referring to a weak field. and certainly there's been quite a bit of showing that there's not been somebody in the race yet that has generated the excitement in the base. and also who is viewed by the party establishment as the prepared and capable of going up against president obama. next year. >> and that's really the key. i mean, one of the things that you most often hear on campaign trails among regular voters, party strategists, candidates, everybody up and down the republican world is that the number one goal so defeat president obama. and born not only from the frustration and diet people feel about the current state of affairs stand economy but also by a very real sense that he's

beatible because of the state of the economy. and so electibility is a big issue this year and one of the reasons governor perry decided to jump in because there was a view that even mitt romney is very often regarded as a weak runner, because his numbers aren't that strong and when you go to the rallies or a republican event, the thutch is just not there. it's just not huge. it's just not off the charts. so whether governor perry can be that person who generates that excitement, these next couple of days will start that process of showing us and forming our opinions. i think balkman and mr. cane and mr. paul are those who generate excitement and it's

pretty high. ron paul, while his followers are extraordinarily passionate about him, there's quite a few that view him with ferocious isolation to foreign policy. many of us heard him talk about letting iran develop nuclear weapons and as mike huckabee told us, that's his doom. governor perry has used or hopes to become somebody who is viewed as sort of capable of generating that excitement. and going up against president obama. >> of the frontrunners, how much access stroud governor romney's campaign in terms of interviews and his ability to

interact with voters >> although i've been covering the pawlenty campaign and he has not agreed to an interview. and that's been probably been a smart strategy, as we all faux. he has been sort of absent with the not competing with iowa and has made very selective opinions on where things should be after the new hampshire debate in june, we had this extraordinary stage walk through diners and hardware stores with no access to the candidate. and that's what it's been like. and i think that's the strategy of a frontrunner who doesn't want to have to answer questions or put in the fray

with other competitors and so far it's worked for him, but we'll have to see how much further to keep that up. >> let me just give a little self-promotion if we could. our c-span bus is in ames, iowa for helping us host in if you're in des moines we hope you'll stop by and check out of the this 4 brand-new digital bus that shows you the best of c-span, c-span.org and video archives also available on a lap top near you. elaine with amy guarder, go ahead, elaine. >> yes, sir. this is what i wanted to find out and know, people running for president. i heard today everyone speaking and they are making promises of what they should do and what america should do, they need to

get america back going again and promised about the jobs and promise about getting migrants called back to their own country, but what i want to know is it doesn't matter if it's a republican or democrat that gets into the president is as i. but when they get in there, they all lie and make promises around when they get in there they do the opposite so, how do you know which one to actual obama's made a mess out of this. >> thank you elaine. a couple minutes left. we'll go to judy in athens, texas. independent line. caller: hello? i'd like to stay something to your callers. i'm watching you. there are several people that you can follow and watch that you will know who is, that's

alan wince, sarah palin, ok? balkman, herman cain, newt beginning 2k3writ67, and for ebb's information, rick perry is my governor. and let me inform you, he is good on jobs, but you need to find out exactly what he's going to do before you put him in office, because you see the mess we got now? if you don't check him out, we're going to have a worse mess. >> thank you for the call. amy gardner? what are you hearing there? >> i'm not quite sure. what are you hearing there? i had trouble hearing because of the echo. >> governor perry, he report that that's in part because of the oil and gas industry and because of the cheap labor force in texas unlike many

other states. >> there is a point of exploration there. and you're going to see a ink spilled about that in the days and weeks coming forth in the media. the jobs that governor perry boasts about does include low -- an enormous portion of low-wage jobs, so there will be questions raised about the quality of jobs he has atrackeded to texas. no question. >> if it contrasts to the huge crowd that surrounded senator balkman's tent. a rather spars crowd but appears to be 100 or fewer at the pawplenty tent. >> i just came back from governor pawplenty's tent.

grabbed a bite of famous dave's barbecue, and the crowd was dwindling no question. he was with the crowd under the tent taking pictures with moms and kids and shaking hands and he looked relaxed and energetic. but the crowds looked like they were dwindling and there's no energy there and what you're seeing in congresswoman's balkman tent. >> before the voting concludes at the straw poll in ames, iowa. summing up the day with rick perry entering the race and president obama in iowa monday and tuesday with a keen eye on 2012 and theo candidates that have just entered this race? >> well, it's very interesting, at the iowa state fair yesterday, we saw jars and there were coins or tokens in

the jars for you to put into the jar of whoever is your candidate. and there was one for president obama and then a jar for each of the republican candidates and the obama jar was vastly fuller than any of the republican jars. however, if you imagine what all of the tokens in all of the republican jars looked like added up together, they would outnumber what was in the obama jar, now is that a scientific porl? no. but it's interesting to contemplate what president obama's reception would be here at a moment when the economy is making the entire nation anxious and four years after he performed so well and really launched his presidential campaign here in iowa. as far as the ruments here today at the straw poll, if

it's one data point going forward, it's a moment that launches the campaign into its more -- phase. probably the -- what's more likely is we see so people drop away at the bottom as a result of not performing well here. we've got to give it another hour for the results. >> we'll have the results at about 6:00 p.m. eastern time. amy with the post and the press descending on iowa for