guest: i have seen the passions that people here have for their system. they're very proud. right fully so. it is an intricate system. to see how the candidates truly go out and make their case face- to-face with candidates. it is very interesting. host: what do you hope they will gain from mcnall? guest: research has shown that the earlier students are engaged in civic participation and voting, the sooner they will likely become lifelong habits. that is one of the key things we want students to come back with. it's a passion for public service, involvement. also, a good way for students to begin thinking about their lives post vendor build and what they want to do in terms of their careers. i had a conversation with a student yesterday talking about possibly working in a campaign management. and drinking experience in. a long-term goal of this is to have students have a context for

their education and an ability to apply it . in real life it host: have you done this program before? guest: yes, 2008. we had such a great time and there was such a great student response that it was easy to do again. host: was experience different? guest: yes, for me. one of the big difference is this year is this is predominantly a republican race in 2012. the last time there were more candidates on both sides. the democratic race was very hot that year. in that sense it is been different. but in terms of the passion of the caucus goers, the intense interest, that is there as always. it is a very special place. host: what is your interest as far as a career? guest: mostly corporate law. i've always wanted to get into that field. i am not interested in politics,

opportunity presents itself, i would be interested in that sort of career. host: say hi, students, say hi to your parents. we have 10 to 15 students here on the campaign bus. the last word about the program? guest: it's a great program and a great privilege for me to have the front row seat to american political issues being made and to have some of the brightest students in america. host: >> tuesday the road to the white house goes through america's heartland for the iowa caucuses. c-span's coverage continues 7:00 a.m. eastern, live from des moines with "washington journal" talking to experts and taking your calls. later at 7:00 a.m., the preview program on the caucus process and the preview of the race.

then at 8:00, c-span's live caucus coverage from central iowa followed by the entire caucus, results and candidate speeches. we'll have live coverage from another caucus from western iowa on c-span 2. c-span's coverage of the iowa caucuses is available on c-span radio and online at c-span.org /campaign 2012. >> as campaigning winds down in iowa. presidential candidates are holding rallies around the state. ron paul was on a five-city tour of iowa today. we'll hear from congressman paul in a moment on c-span. then today's news coverage of the iowa caucuses from kcii-tv. after that we'll bring you an event with governor rick perry holding a rally in perry, iowa,

live on c-span.org right now. later, live coverage of a mitt romney campaign rally in des moines. here's some of the political ads running in iowa. >> born and raised in iowa, only one candidate has been a consistent conservative fighter who fought obamacare, fought increasing our debt ceiling even as other republicans were cutting deals with obama. an expert in tax law who will fight for deep cuts in spending to reduce america's debt, restore our economy, and create new jobs and she'll never back down. one of our own. michele bachmann for president. >> i'm michele bachmann and i approve this message. >> america is in trouble. >> washington is a disgrace. >> government is too big, it's overtaxing, overspending. >> we need to change direction. >> we need change. >> we can't afford to make the same mistakes. >> mitt romney's reputation as

flip-flopper. >> he got paid to go the other way. >> it's been serial hypocrisy. >> this election is about trust. >> there's been one true candidate, dr. ron paul. >> ron paul has been so consistent from the very beginning. >> he seems like a more honest candidate. >> he tells the truth what he believes whether you like it or not. >> he's never once voted for a tax increase, never once voted for an unbalanced budget. >> ron paul's plan cuts the budget. >> i believe it. >> are you tired of politicians? he's something different. >> ron paul. >> ron paul. >> ron paul is the one we've been looking for. >> i'm ron paul and i approve this message. >> we appreciate all of you coming out this morning so early and being here and caring. i think we all care right now. people are all concerned about our country. i believe in him. i believe he has the

experience. i've seen him in every situation. i've seen him as a husband, as a father, as a governor, and as a successful businessman. everything he does, he does well. and he does it with his heart and his commitment. if ever there was a time this country needs someone like mitt romney, it's now. >> this election is about more than just replacing a president. it's about saving a vision of america. we still believe in a america that brings out the best in all of us. the challenge for each of us to be better and bigger than ourselves. it's time for this pessimistic president to step aside and let american optimism that built this greatest nation on earth build a greater future for our children. >> if you can get out here in this cold and wind and a little rain coming down, you sure can get out tuesday night and sure find a few people to bring with you. and on the way to the caucus

you can tell them who you're voting for. i want to be president. i will do that with your help tonight. applause plass [applause] >> can you hear me? let's get this party started! all right, folks, it's time to get going. my name is david fisher and am

proud to be co-chairman of ron paul's presidential campaign here in iowa. i want to do a real brief review of the history of the modern day tea party movement. the date was september 16 of 2007, the 234th anniversary of the boston tea party. the occasion was a grassroots -led online one-day fundraiser for ron paul's presidential campaign, a day that resulted over $6 million being raised for the campaign in that one single day. the epicenter of the activity on that day was in boston, of course at fanwell hall where the keynote speech was given by an eye surgeon named rand paul. ands you know, since that time the tea party has gone to washington and the tea party has gone to iowa today to talk about the importance of ron paul's presidential campaign. i'm proud to introduce the honorable united states senator from the commonwealth of

kentucky, dr. and -- dr. rand paul. [applause] >> what a crowd. anybody here for ron paul? [cheers and applause] >> when my dad asked me to come am campaign in iowa, i said i'd come if i didn't have to wear a tie. looks like we've got some young people here. there's energy and it's overflowing and it's big an it's coming tomorrow. we're going to win in iowa tomorrow. [cheers and applause] >> i get to go around a lot and give a lot of speeches and i was at a buffet recently and up near the front and there was a guy in front of me that had two plates of food. he was piling up a third plate of food. the guy next to him said, you're not going to live very long eating like that. he said, well, my granddad lived to be 105.

he said, well, i get your granddad didn't get to live 105 eating like that. he said, nope, my granddad got to be 105 by minding his own business. anybody here want their government to mind their own business? [applause] >> we are borrowing $40,000 a second. we're borrowing over $2 million a minute. in the short time that we will be here today, we will borrow over $70 million. admiral mullen said the biggest threat to our national security is our debt. erskine bowles, head of the debt commission said that the most predictable crisis in our history is the coming debt crisis. even ben bernanke said our debt is unsustainable.

there is only one candidate in this race who would balance the budget in one term. [cheers and applause] >> there is only one candidate who would cut $1 trillion in spending. [cheers and applause] >> there's only one candidate who understands that conservatives and liberals will have to get together to cut spending. the conservatives will have to understand that not every dollar spent on the military is sacred or wisely spent. [cheers and applause] >> liberals will have to understand the same. not every dollar spent on domestic spending or welfare is wisely spent or sacred. spending will have to be across the board.

[applause] >> there is only one candidate who never has been accused of flip-flopping. there's only one candidate who has never taken a congressional junctionette. there's only one candidate who stands above head and shoulders above who lobbyists will tell you is incorruptable. [cheers and applause] >> there is only one candidate who the soldiers trust. one candidate. one candidate who has received more contributions from active duty soldiers than all of the other candidates combined. that candidate is my father. please welcome ron paul. [cheers and applause]

>> wow, look at the crowd. >> my wife carol here. [crowd chanting "ron paul gentleman"] >> you know we have a short time and i'm delighted to see so many but if you start chanting end the fed we won't have time for a speech. this crowd is amazing. we're suggesting we get a few people out at these whistle stops and sort of encourage everybody along but this is almost like a real rally. this is great. wonderful. and the enthusiasm has been building. of course, i've been in the business of premotoring a cause of liberty for a lot of -- promoting a cause of liberty for a lot of years. it changed over the years. for a long time it was suggests and quiet -- subtle and quiet

and i did it by voting the way i thought i should vote and frequently required me to vote no oftentimes. but today the enthusiasm has tremendously increased. and there's a big difference from even four years ago. four years ago there was enthusiasm, excitement, the college campuses were coming alive, the federal reserve became an issue, and a lot of people back then were talking about it was time to change our foreign policy. today 70% of the american people are saying it's time to get out of afghanistan and come on home. [cheers and applause] >> but the excitement has built steadily and the campaign has been remarkable in the organization. the funds have come in. they've come in as was mentioned in the introduction earlier even four years ago raising $6 million in one day was historic. but the funds still come in, which is a vote of confidence. the idea that as well that military personnel send a lot

of money to this campaign, more than any of the other campaigns. but i tell you what, the enthusiasm is growing by leaps and bounds. the crowds are getting bigger. and the issue, as far as i'm concerned, there's only one issue. you know, they talk about a lot of issues. they talk about the foreign policy, economic policy. there's one issue that has made america great, and the issue you can answer all your questions on is individual liberty. that is the issue. and it was the abuse of this liberty that provoked the revolution and the writing of the constitution. the constitution was written as a document though we were coming together in one country, the document was written, it was intended to at least to strictly restrain the federal government. that's what the constitution is all about. [applause]

>> yet today we have a federal government that's grown by leaps and bounds and the best demonstration of that is the spending. spending never ceases, one administration to the next, always spending increases. even today when they talk about cuts, you know they're not talking about cuts. they're talking about tinging around the edges and nibbling away at the proposed increases. well, what we're talking are real cuts and the shrinking of the size of the federal government. [cheers and applause] >> you cannot do that unless you raise the one significant question and that is what should the role of government be. if liberty is the most important issue, the most important responsibility of government is to protect liberty. and not to be the policeman of the world and not to have a runaway welfare state.

>> somewhere along the way we lost our way and went in the wrong direction. we've allowed our government to grow. we've accepted the idea that the federal government's responsibility was to intervene in the economy, not to protect the free market economy, not to protect private property and contracts and sound money, it was to intervene and play mischief. it wasn't to protect your privacy. right now today the government spends more time and energy in passing law, invading your privacy. it should be the other way around. we want exposure and openness of government. we want your privacy back. [cheers and applause] >> and we don't want the government to be messing around with the internet invading our privacy. we don't need a patriot act that tells you the government can come in and invade your house and your homes and your papers and everything that you do without a proper search warrant. [cheers and applause]

>> and we certainly don't need to be moving on to the next stage which is happening right now. last week or two weeks ago it was passed and then recently signed by the president authorizing the military to arrest american citizens and not -- allow citizens to be held indefinitely. that is the wrong direction. we need to reverse the direction. we have to answer the question properly, what is the proper role? stay out of running the economy. stay out of our personal lives. and stay out of the internal affairs of other nations. we don't need to be doing that. >> one of the great facilitators on the way spending got out of control and the way the government expanded was the way our monetary system works. if a country wants to do something and they have to tax

a limitation, people wake up, they're taxing us and they're not getting anything from it and rebel, so they devised the other system of borrowing and delaying the payment. now they've used this other technique for the last hundred years but it's totally out of control and it's called central banking. the federal reserve. this idea that we allow in secret the central bank to print unlimited moneys, dollars into the many, many trillions bailing out the friends has to come to an end. that's the reason government gets so big. so not only do we want to audit the fed, we want to make sure we have something much better than the current federal reserve system we have today. [cheers and applause] >> we had a grand experiment in our history. we were the greatest nation, the freest nation with the largest middle class ever. today that is not true. our middle class is getting smaller by the way -- -- by the

day. there is a transfer of payment when you destroy currencies and there's a transfer when you allow the lobbyists to control washington and washington becomes nothing more than an auction. this is the reason we have to reassert ourselves. we have a tradition on what freedom is all about, what sound money is all about, private property, and therefore, we don't have quite the task as other nations have when they want to go to a freer society. most of history has been obligated to live under a dictatorship. today we're moving in the wrong direction but the american people are stirring. this is what this campaign has been about. this is what the vote is about tomorrow. are we sick and tired of the expansion of government, the endless spending and the deficit, doing the things they weren't supposed to do and forgetting about the things they should be doing. [cheers and applause]

>> tomorrow is a very important day. small in numbers but a very big message. so you carry a lot of weight in this state, to send a message on which way we're going for the status quo. believe me, you don't have to worry about the choice if you choose another candidate because the others represent the status quo, variations of the status quo. but they're not talking about a foreign policy to defend america. they're talking about mischief around the world and policing the world. are they talking about changing the monetary policy and looking at the basic problems with the monetary system and how it creates our financial bubbles? do they really care about personal liberties when you look at the votes and what the president has been doing? they don't care about your personal liberty or it wouldn't be continuously undermined. so therefore, a lot is at stake. i used to say as many have said and some continue to say, yes, we can't spend that money because we don't want to pass it on to the next generation. let me tell you, it's not going

to happen. the next generation is here today. that is why we have to change things today and bring back the traditions of america which means liberty, peace, and prosperity. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting "ron paul"] >> this was the first of five campaign stops congressman paul planned in iowa today. the day before the state's caucuses. later tonight mitt romney will be live in clive, iowa. the former massachusetts governor is holding a grassroots campaign rally just after 10:00 eastern here on c-span. here's the rest of tonight's news coverage leading up to the conferences.

>> from iowa's news leader, this is kcci news channel 8 h.d. >> we're in the final 25 hours before the iowa caucuses, how an army armed with only telephones could help determine the winner. >> no, i don't think i'm going to win. >> that's a surprise admission from one time frontrunner newt gingrich who says he won't win tomorrow's caucuses. >> it's not just candidates, reporters and volunteers swarming the states, ohio high school students are getting a firsthand look at democracy iowa style. good evening, everyone. after months of campaigning, we're now just 25 hours away from the actual caucuses. >> the candidates are making their final pitches and eric hanson found out they have armies of supporters helping them twist the last undecided arm, so to speak. eric? >> the results will start trickling in here at the complex a little over a day from now and a little after 7:00 tomorrow night. the campaigns are convinced there are still people out there they can win over to their side so today they called

in the reinforcements. overnight the reinforcements landed. >> good morning, willis. >> hey, this is dudley wynn calling for governor perry. >> an army of lone star loyalists who can't vote tuesday but can dial. >> we hope you can see the whole picture with governor perry. >> dudley loaded his car up in lubbock and headed north. >> i didn't think it would be this cold. >> to back his man on his own dime. >> we know his record. his record is very strong. i think what america needs to understand is how credible can we transfer results from texas and make that an american thing. >> texans dominate rick perry's army of more than 400 volunteers. across town -- >> hello, thomas, this is karl calling for michele bachmann. >> other campaigns are pushing the same 11th hour message, get people out and get them to commit. >> would you consider voting

for rick santorum at the caucuses? >> it takes passion to drive cross-country for a cause but for real passion -- >> the only good thing was getting me mad enough to do something about it. >> hang out with a guy from dallas who has a year to live. >> i had my entire right lung removed, my diaphragm and heart lining and replaced with manmade material. i get outside in the cold, it hurts. >> some bucket lists include europe or skydive, his, experience bigtime politics iowa style. he's hurting but telling himself -- >> you know what, i'm making a difference so just shut up and do the job because it needs to be done. >> the finish line is within sight. >> and there's any little bit i believe will help. >> today they're not just touching base with the casual supporters but making sure all the 1,774 precinct chairs for each campaign are set and everyone arrives a little early tomorrow night before the 7:00 start time and there aren't any unanswered questions because months of preparation comes down now to just hours of

execution before tomorrow's caucuses. kevin? >> eric hanson starting things off for us. thank you very much. of course you can't vote in tomorrow night's caucuses if you don't know where to go. here are a few things you need to get prepared for caucus night. you still need to find your caucus site. log on to iowagop.org and click on caucus 12 -- 2012. democrats are holding caucuses as well tomorrow night and check those at iowa dm democrats.org. >> a surprise admission from newt gingrich about his chances of winning tomorrow's iowa caucuses. >> no. i don't think i'm going to win. i think you look at the numbers, i think that volume of negativity has done enough damage. >> gingrich was a frontrunner in iowa a month ago but since that time has been hammered by negative ads and most polls place him in the second tier of candidates behind romney, paul and santorum. even if he doesn't win, a strong showing would be a victory for his campaign.

>> as newt gingrich and others learned this past season, being a frontrunner means campaigning with a target on your back. >> i'm not saying necessarily earmarks are bad. i've had a lot of earmarks. in fact, i'm proud of all the earmarks i put in the bill. i know that's a very divisive thing in the state of iowa but it's the warmest coat i have. >> rick perry campaigned running the ad today claiming rick santorum's record on congressional spending makes him unelectable. santorum told a crowd this morning the attacks are not unexpected. >> because i've gotten to know and like rick perry and i know he hammered away at me but that's what he has to do and is what politics all about. >> most polls show santorum running third behind romney and paul. >> michele bachmann is not giving up and we talk with her one-on-one. >> stacey bachmann is expecting

a miracle. she went to valley junction to shake hands with many undecided voters who came out to meet her. she told me her national security experience will make a difference in the race at the last minute. >> we literally saw thousands flip and go from undecided and go from one candidate to another and switch and go our our way and they're our best advocate. >> why do you think they're waiting until the last minute? >> because they're doing their good diligence and they're looking at the all the candidates and weighing them and events are changing by the day. a big front burner issue is should iran have a nuclear weapon? ron paul is willing to wait until after a nuclear bomb hits the united states, millions of americans could be dead in a major city and then he would respond. i wouldn't. no other candidate has current national security experience. imagine that, making someone commander in chief and they don't have current national security experience?

i do. >> santorum is touting his foreign policy experience as well and his interest in iran. so what do you bring to the table differently? >> well, my experience is about 10 years newer. a lot has happened in the last 10 years when it comes to national security. i sit on the house intelligence committee. we deal with the nation's classified secrets. >> tell me something about you personally that people may not know yet or whatever that might give people more of a sense of michele bachmann? >> i am an iowan. i was born here. my family goes back for seven generations in iowa. we were a middle class family but when my parents divorced we went below poverty and i earned my way out of poverty and i became a lawyer and tax lawyer and a successful private businesswoman but also i didn't forget the challenges that single moms have. so for me, these aren't just head knowledge political issues, this is from the heart, too.

campaign commercial started running today. she chose to lead the state instead in all 99 counties. >> ron paul has jumped to second place until the polls. there is a standing room only crowd at the downtown marriott today. the room was packed with media and supporters who chanted his name after out the speech. senator rand paul was there, telling the crowd his father is the best choice for president. he says he is the only candidate willing to change washington. >> today we are moving in the wrong direction but the american people are stirring. this is what this campaign has been all about and what the vote is about tomorrow. >> supporters and reporters were not the only ones there today. the rally was part of a field trip for a group of ohio

students. they are from taylor high school in north bend. >> it is one thing to read about the iowa caucuses in a textbook but to be here and experience the process is unlike anything the students could learn in the classroom. in a hotel ballroom clamp with reporters and enthusiastic ron paul supporters -- crowded with reporters and enthusiastic ron paul supporters, they are getting a front row seat. >> the reporters are very aggressive. they really want a story. the fans are chanting. it is really cool. they take this stuff very seriously. nothing like what i did an expected -- the students expected. >> and being here actually makes the election and political

process real. >> that is exactly what does history teacher wants students to gain from this trip. >> our process in ohio is very different. in venues are large with several thousand people. you do not get that intimate of that let you do here and that is awesome for these kids. >> it is not just a chance to see several of the candidates. students get to be a part of the media frenzy in iowa. they are also looking forward to sitting in on the caucus. >> i feel like it will be really intense. per se >> this is people getting together and discussing views. versus going into a booth. this is government in action. >> the caucuses are just part of the experience. the students will also attend the inauguration in 2013. >> be sure to tune into news channel 8 tomorrow night for your caucus 2012 coverage.

starting with news at 5:00 and then a cbs evening news from the morning and news channel 8 at 6:00. then wash the expert analysis starting at 6:30 right here on news channel 8. >> scaled-back -- a look back at the weather now with your caucus they forecast. >> you cannot control although we may try. around 10 degrees tonight. mid 30's or so tomorrow. by 7:00, 33 degrees. high-temperature tomorrow -- 38. real good news there. >> thank you very much. most polls show him leading the republican pack -- so which candidate is mitt romney setting its sights on -- >> if democrats are just as focused as in the republican candidate.

we will take you inside the war room and show you what they're caucus that will look like. >> this is kcci new tv. we are proud to be i was news leader. news leader. >> i make america an attractive place for business. >> mitt romney set his sights on barack obama during a rally today. he is also eyeing a win and tomorrow night in iowa. republican candidates are not the only ones focus on toman night. what you have watched almost continuous coverage of the republican party, something else has been going on behind the seasons -- scene. >> president barack obama's campaign is launching his bid for reelection. >> at this coffee shop

volunteers are a working to get democrats to talk is. the president's fall campaign started long ago. >> i am with the obama grass christine 3 >> this neighborhood team leader has been volunteering 15-30 hours a week. >> it is important for us because it gives us an opportunity to get people energized and build up for what will be a tough election. >> i would have made several thousand one-on-one conversations with potential voters and volunteers, according to the democratic party. meanwhile in the democrat temporary war room, they are watching the competition. especially mitt romney. >> . he is but is almost exclusively on the president. >> the focus of their ads almost on mitt romney for months. >> he has been acting like pace

-- like he was measuring the drapes for the republican national convention in tampa. if he will run as a republican nominee, we will treat him as one. >> he says the grass-roots effort will help the president win. >> we will carry it again for him this fall. >> the president plans to address the democrats at their caucus sites like the biya video tomorrow night -- via video tomorrow night. >> our live coverage continues with mitt romney. he is holding campaign rallies throughout the state today, including a rally at clyde's. tomorrow morning, michele bachmann is on washington journal. our conversation with the congresswoman begins at 9:30 a.m. eastern. i know terry brandstad governor

was on this morning's "washington journal" with a preview of the caucuses. we are back. our coverage continues. we will go to our des moines debut in a downtown where the governor of iowa, terry brandstad is joining us. governor, let me show you the front page of the des moines register. the final 36 hours. the candidates are making their closing arguments. are you going to endorse? >> i am not going to endorse. i just want to be a good host and go to my precinct cossack -- caucus. i think we will have a great turnout. i owens -- iowans take this very seriously. >> why not endorse? >> as governor, i want to make

sure we have a level playing field and everybody has an opportunity. i think what rick santorum has done here is a show that even someone without a lot of resources that was an edgy together to put an organization, but to all 99 counties and do very well. mitt romney has put a lot of effort into the closing weeks early on. he did not spend enough time but he is spending a lot time and energy now. he has headquarters opened and is doing the bus tour. ron paul has at a lot of time here. he is also doing very well. retail politics is still the important. we know the debates. we know that social media and other things are now important in the political process as well. but you cannot mead -- beat meeting with real people and answering questions. america cannot afford four more years of barack obama increasing the national debt, attacking the

very entrepreneurial spirit and business people we need to grow this economy. we need a new leader and i think the caucus goers will play an important role in deciding who the next president of united states will be. >> we have heard there are three tickets out of iowa. does that still stand? >> i believe so. if you are not one of the top three in iowa, you will probably not be taken seriously, new hampshire. the conventional wisdom now is that mitt romney you is, massachusetts and has a lead in new hampshire -- it will really be who is going to be his rivals had in new hampshire. the real loser here is jon huntsman who skip the iowa caucuses. he will get no support here. i think he does have a very detailed strategy and as a

result, i do not think he will get any attention in new hampshire either. rudy guiliani, you may recall, decided he would stick to the early stages and focus on florida. -- skip the early states and focus on florida. the candidates who have put their resources here will find a reward for doing so. we are appreciative all the role that iowans play in choosing the next leader for the united states. >> if the des moines register poll came out yesterday holds tomorrow night -- let me show you the headline from the new york times this morning. rick santorum's challenge -- broadening his appeal beyond evangelical christians. do you agree that he would need to do that? >> yes but i would say he is

already buttoning his appeal in iowa because he had gone to every county. he has made a good impression. people see him as somebody who is sincere. he has a significant knowledge of paul warren -- on foreign policy as well. mitt romney having been governor and having a business background and experience also has some strength. it is really up to voters to evaluate who they think has the best experience and background. who they think will be the best leader for the country. obama came here four years ago, campaigned as someone who could unite the country. instead he has divided the country. instead of having a bipartisan plan to reduce the federal debt, he instead attacked the people we need to invest and create jobs in our country. he has burdened us with a huge debt, increasing the size of

government, more regulations and taxes. we have to turn that around. the tax and regulatory burden is causing a lot of decision makers who have resources to choose not to invest in america. >> which of those three candidates that are leading -- mitt romney, ron paul, rick santorum -- has long terms as the inability to make it through this nominating process? >> that is up for the voters to decide. votersve that iowa's will dispatch irresponsibly and choose the one they think will be the strongest and best candidate -- will take this responsibly and choose the one they think will be the strongest and best candidate.

then you have south carolina and florida and other states. it is pretty exciting. we appreciate the tremendous interest and attention and effort being put in here. i am expecting to have a great turnout tomorrow night. i am predicting 140,000 people, which would be an all-time record. >> was to make a ron paul's decision to go back to texas over the weekend and not campaign in iowa when there are many who said they had not made up their mind it and could change their vote tomorrow? >> i do not know. that is a strategic decision the candidate has made. but you are right, there are still undecided voters and people that are really waiting -- weighing this important choice, recognizing the future of the country is at stake. we need to get it right in choose the best candidate.

i think ron paul has found a response because of his stand on reducing the federal deficit and the voting against the manipulation of the currency and that sort of thing. but there are misgivings about his position on foreign policy. there are a lot of questions being raised about that in the closing days of the campaign. >> there was a piece written about you possibly being a vp. it says here that the former senator bob dole called you over the weekend to say he is endorsing mitt romney. during the call, the two-time iowa caucus winner said he would like to recommend you for vp. what do you think? >> i am honored and humbled by that. bob dole is a great friend. we colom the president of iowa because he is well loved here -- we call him the president of

iowa because he is so well loved here. we have been working hard to get our state budget under control. we cut spending and reduced the size and cost of government. we are focusing on jobs and education and revitalizing the iowa economy. we want a president who will share those views. i want to do all i can to support a strong republican to win back the white house and get the country back on the right track. >> lokke phone calls here for you. -- lots of phone calls ere for you. ron from florida. >> good morning, governor. i was just wondering your headliners down there -- newt gingrich has proven to be a liar. mitt romney in just wiped out

one after another company's. you have rick santorum. bible bonding is not what we need to have. i have talked to every one of my friends. if nobody complained about mr. bush right thing -- riding all the wars and now we get on mr. obama to do the right thing. the republicans should have been helping from day one. >> governor? >> when obama was elected, we forget this -- he had democratic control of both congress and he got what he wanted. he dramatically increased spending and pepper -- passed these bailouts in stimulus. that davis is a trillion dollars national debt. many people were critical of

bush but under obama, it has gotten worse, not better. the debt has opposite -- the debt has gone up dramatically. we're going on and $1 trillion a year. we cannot afford that. he also pushed this health care plan which is unaffordable and unsustainable. i know the governor of florida appeals strongly about it. in my state, it would at 150,000 people to the medicaid rolls. it is already out of control. it is the fastest-growing part of our budget. the federal government needs to give states the flexibility to deal with these issues. i what i want to become the healthiest state in the nation. a one people to take ownership of their own health. we do not need a one size fits all over -- take over.

>> what is the first caucus always held in iowa? what makes your state so special? >> the way this happened is the republicans and democrats decided to get together to try to get more public participation. we set our caucus date and the same night and we worked together on that. as a result, the candidates thought this was an opportunity for a real test of real boulders and started coming to iowa. we built this edition along with new hampshire with its first in the nation primary. we worked hard to maintain it. it is a great place to do its because we are relatively small state. well-informed workers. -- voters. it is not like florida or california or new york which would cost a fortune to run. so you have people like rick

santorum who do not have a lot of resources would put time and energy here and are doing well. this is the great thing. this is the state that also launched jimmy carter. some of us may regret that but nevertheless, iowa voters -- due to this response ability seriously. do take this responsibility seriously. >> an independent next. >> i would like to correct the speaker. please do not interrupt. president obama is not a divider. the republicans made up their minds when he was elected that they would not participate in anything he had to do. iowa does not represent the rest of the united states. 97% white?

i do not think so. the affordable health care act -- the free enterprise system -- they refused. you give them your money than they refused to pay your bills. that is how the free enterprise system works. the other thing -- you talk about regulations and taxes. taxes are the lowest they have been after the great depression. why do you think president obama has raised taxes? why did president bush lower taxes when we had more expenses? that does not make sense. >> i will leave it there and get a response from the governor. >> there are a number of tax she has made their but let me start out by saying president obama was elected with the majority of democrats in control both houses of congress.

instead of reaching out and working with republicans, he pushed through a massive increase in the size of the federal government and the stimulus plan that increased spending dramatically. the result of that was the american people overwhelmingly rejected the democratic control of the congress and in 2010, and elected a republican majority in the house. republicans picked up a number of senate seats as well. that was the direction -- rejection of the direction the president leading the country. he had an opportunity to put together a bipartisan plan to address the biggest problems of this country -- the chilean dollar increase in the national debts year after year. -- the trillion in dollar increase in the national debt year after year. he failed to provide the leadership. the result is we have had this conflict with congress. the president is the one that

was collected nationwide to lead this country. he built in leadership. i think we need a new leader, somebody that can bring the country together and somebody that will recognize it is not the federal government but a president who left the by a lead the economy. the tax rates are not low as they have been. tax collections are low. because people are out of work and businesses are afraid to invest. this administration wants to boards -- impose more regulations on a business, making it harder to start a business. we need to instead incentivize people to start business and create jobs. when i was governor before, canadian companies were able -- we were able to attract canadian companies to iowa. today, the canadians have a

lower corporate tax and their dollar is on par with the american dollar what it used to be worth only 65 cents. their financial system is stronger. american companies are sang it and we are going to move to canada instead of canadian companies moving to america. that is what has happened in recent years. that is why we need new leadership and not somebody who will attack the very people we need to invest in and create jobs. it is a free enterprise system. it is the great private sector we need to have confidence again in america. when you have a president attacking the very people who you need to have investing and creating jobs, it causes people to be very concerned and leery about a vesting and taking that risk. >> next it will go to alan, a democrat in rhode island. the morning. you're on the air. >> good morning, governor.

>> good morning. >> let me just say i am a little disappointed pat and i wanted to know your opinion towards separation of church and state. what i saw yesterday with michele bachmann attending a church service, the autographs, talking issues after the church service was are robert -- was over. people holding up michele bachmann for president signs in the church. and i saw rick perry coming out of some service this morning. one of the first questions to him was how were the contributions? i guess i am a little disappointed in that. i have always been a firm believer in separation of church and state reported >> think of jesse jackson. he appealed his whole campaign based on the black churches in this country ver.

just because you're at the door church, i do not think it is wrong to participate in politics. we in the catholic church do not really permitted that much political activity with in the churches but i think that is up to the individual churches and congregations to make that decision. i respect other people's rights. my feeling is i think we have seen activists in both parties that have used their base in the churches to effectively mobilized people. martin luther king used the church is to help mobilize people out of the civil rights movement. it plays an important role in this country. the idea is that he should not impose a religion on somebody else, but people certainly should have the right to practice their religion. just because theory are

religious people, it should not prevent them from also being active in the politics. >> their reaction to the headline in the washington post this morning. pickford mitt romney, a big hill to climb with conservatives. >> i think mitt romney is coming back. he dropped in iowa to about 60%. the latest poll hasn't asked about 24% -- 16%. the latest poll has him 60 -- at 24 $. %. the three top candidates are going on and we will see what happens. >> here is an e-mail from new jersey. she says, i learned that iowa

let people " might not even support republicans participate in the caucuses -- people who might not even support republicans participate in the caucus. >> if i think this is true in most states. if you change your registration and become republican even though you are a democrat or republican the day before, you can participate. this is true in the primaries as well. i would guess in most states if you choose to change your registration and become a member of that party, you have it right to do that. if you want to change back the next day, you can do that. this is america. i believe we will see a lot of republicans turn out in these caucuses. i am predicting it will be the biggest turnip's -- turned out.

i think you have a great governor in new jersey. he inherited a real mess. his predecessor was involved in the wall street scandals and drove the state into financial trouble. chris christie tells it like it is. he is depicted the financial -- he is getting the financial house in order. he is an inspiration to me and many other governors. we needed a president that has the same kind of commitment and that attitude that the government is not the answer. we need to instead reduce the tax and regulatory burden and unleashed a private-sector to create jobs and rebuild america's economy. >> good morning. question for the governor -- you put down earlier

the underdog jon huntsman. he is the only one prepared to deal with the threat to china -- a death threat of china. he wants to break up the big banks. he is an underdog and i think he will become the top dog eventually. what can you do to support him? what can people do to show support? >> he is the one that made the mistake of not coming and campaigning here. he is the one that has attacked by what. i think yes -- attacked iowa. i think he has made the decision tuesday iowa -- to say

iowa is not imported. if you want to become president, you do not attack one of the key swing states you need to carry to become president. i met with him in salt lake city last summer and told him he needed to campaign here and let people know what his vision and plans are. but that has not been his strategy. the result will be that by the time the guests of the primary in florida, he will be out of the picture. i understand he is already pulled staff out of florida. whoever is in the top three in iowa, it will be those people that will be competing by the time you get to south carolina and florida. unfortunately i think governor -- huntsman made a mistake.

>> it is interesting because i think ron paul has had probably the most effective attack ads against newt gingrich. many become the front runner as he did for a time, then he will attract attacks from others. there had been prepared -- plenty of attacks, some coming from the obama administration. our respect newt gingrich. i appreciate his ideas and that it is performed well in the debates. the voters will look at the whole picture and decide who they think is the strongest and the less the best record and he would be the best leader for our country. i have confidence in the iowa

caucus goers to make those decisions. >> don, an independent. >> what business did you have before he became governor? >> i grew up on a farm and that practice law in a small town. i was a senior partner. i served in the legislature as lieutenant governor and the governor. i then left office and was a financial adviser. i was involved as the eight financial adviser for three years. and then became president of the nonprofit university, the more any university. -- des moines university. i'm proud to say we grew the size of the school and the endowment. we begin the first university in the country to be recognized by the bold as counsel -- the

wellness councils. my goal is to make eye what the is stationed in the nation. -- iowa the healthiest state int the nation. >> obama did have the first two years but the republicans had the last two years to drive this economy into the ditch. nobody liked the bill out but it was needed to pull this country from a major depression. the president has done everything he can to get everything going for jobs in this country to get to help their -- health care. all the republicans have done is to fight the poor and middle class all the way down the line.

>> unfortunately, obama's stimulus did not work and we are paying for it and will pay for it for decades because when you increase the national debt by $1 trillion a year, which she has done for three straight years, i think people are looking for new leadership. somebody that can bring the country together. obviously we believe that the approach the president has taken which is a government stimulus has not worked. we need to try private stimulus and that is why reducing the regulatory and tax burdens -- there are a lot of people with money that could invest and create jobs but they are afraid to do it here because they seek penalties. - they see penalties preventing them.

they see the president attacking the very people that you need to have confidence to take the risk to invest and create jobs. it is a free enterprise system that builds great country. we need to again reduce the regulatory tax burden on them. i looked to our neighbor in canada. they have reduced the tax burden. they now have a stronger economy in canada than we did. that is wrong and that is why we need new leadership. >> howard, a republican in louisiana. >> governor, i would like to make comments. i know of only one person in the race right now that has balanced a budget, were to between parties -- worked between parties and it seems like we are trying to make this

all around him. and that is newt gingrich. if i am wrong, let me know. >> i think to make a good point. he led the republican revolution in 1994 that that control of the congress. he helped reformed and that the deficit and others controlled. we had a surplus. he did work across the aisle with president clinton. i give him credit for that. but they are also looking at some other things and are concerned about the other baggage he has in his past. people will have to sort that out. a previous person on this was our republican house majority leader. the majority leader and speaker of the house, both republicans here in the iowa legislator who gained control of the house last year, have both endorsed newt gingrich. iowa voters will decide which candidate is the best and newt gingrich has the attributes. people can look at that and the

entire record of him and the other candidates and choose who they think will be the best. >> to clarify from what you said earlier, if speaker gingrich comes in fourth, does he lose momentum heading into the other caucuses? >> i think it would be better to be in the top three. but last time, a strong force was a senator mccain. he and the debt coming -- he ended up becoming the nominee. he then won the new hampshire. that turned it around for him. obviously -- i think you need to be in the top three or four. but he if you are a strong fourth, i do not think it is that end of the campaign at all. but it is somewhat of a setback.

you do not have to win it to go on from here but if you are not in the top three or four, it becomes more difficult. >> and independence from the va. >> this morning, governor. -- good morning, governor. when will the republican party reach out to minorities in a way that they would feel good about being a republican? >> e-mail recall that we did have a candidate -- you may recall that we did have a candidate who unfortunately is descended -- suspended his campaign that was a minority. i think if you have the right

minority candidate, they can do well in this day iowa of. -- in this state of iowa. but as starkly the democratic party has gotten the minority vote. i try to work with everybody. i am proud of the fact that even though we did not have a large minority population, we have a growing minority population. they play an important role in our state. we want to welcome them and encouraged iowa more to choose as a growing and tell the place to live and work and raise a family. on the republican line is rose in indiana. >> [unintelligible] if you run for president, i

think the whole world would be so excited. since newt gingrich is the only one who has a mouth to say what he thinks -- i have to vote for him. god bless you, sir. >> thank you very much. i appreciate your kind remarks. at he said you are from indianapolis. your governor has done some great things. i certainly admire and respect the job he is done in his state. i am trying to do it similarly in our state iowa. >> to negative reactions "to the baltimore sun peace. " they talk about the efforts of rick perry and that his campaign says it will have about 95% of the caucus location with the representative from their campaign. what is the impact of that?

>> i think that is encouraging for rick perry. he might do better than people expect. early on, he did not spend a lot of time in iowa who but he has put a lot of effort here in the last month or so. he is very good at regional politics. i vicky is made a good impression. -- i think he has made a good impression. he could surprise some people. he has 95% of the caucus covered with volunteers. that could make a real difference. >> john, a democrat in kansas. >> governor you are extremely untruthful. we did not have a huge expansion of government under obama. there were about 100,000 census workers hired and then laid off. that is about it. president obama --

>> that is not true. >> he tried hard to be bipartisan. he invited republicans to the white house all the time and they did not respond. it is the republicans refused to be bipartisan. >> i will have the governor's response. >> there was a lot more than the census workers. they were hired under the previous administration. the fact of the matter is under obama, we had this massive stimulus and the democrats controlled both houses of congress so they dramatically increase the size and cost of government. all you have to do is look at the dramatic increase in federal employees during that period of time and the dramatic increase in the federal deficit ever since. the fact is they said this is going to prevent the unemployment rate from going over 8%. obviously it did not. the worst thing about it was that the debt and credit insurance burden -- and

regulatory burden, now you have agencies try to stop private companies from putting plans in right to work states. this has hurt our economy and has hurt many entrepreneurs and private-sector businesses. a president like obama as attacking the financial institutions and makes people leery about investing and to congress to create jobs and growth the economy. that is what we need to chase. >> governor, i think we are out of time but i want to ask you. as far as turn out tomorrow night, what should our viewers be watching for torchmark -- for? >> the size of the turnout will be important. i think it will be record- breaking for the republican precinct caucuses. four years ago, of how 119,000 people participated.

i am anticipating up words of 140,000. i think that will be a great turnout. >> thank you very much for your time. >> more coverage of the iowa caucuses. tomorrow, chris robinson, editor in chief of the iowa republicans. he talks about his predictions for the turnout. then we hear from national campaign chairman for the ron paul campaign. he discusses his support for the candidates. later, congresswoman michelle bachmann explains her campaign strategy heading into next week's new hampshire primary. washington journal dexter calls and e-mails live every morning starting at 7:00 -a.m.- takes your calls and e-mail live every morning starting at 7:00 a.m.. we will have live coverage of

mitt romney in 45 minutes are now at 10:00 eastern here on c- span. our campaign bus is in iowa. we talked with the vendor build university students about getting a firsthand experience of the caucuses -- vanderbilt university students about getting a firsthand experience of the caucuses. >> the way they do that is by participating in something called the iowa caucus are rolling seminar. they split up into three teams. team romney, tina newt gingrich and team america. let's use some of the students participating in this process. cusps i am on tina mitt romney -- >> i am on the team mitt romney. >> what are some of the

standouts about the caucus process? >> it has been meeting the people directly involved in going to see the candidates. they have been overwhelming and how dedicated they are. >> what have we learned that he did not know before are to mark >> i did not know how different each caucus kabila in each -- caucus could be in each county. >> all of you have participated via twitter. the post them on your accounts. you focused specific teams. why did you chose -- choose the team you chose? >> at the debt being able to participate for someone in the succeeding -- i think being ble to participate for someone is

very interesting. >> did you learn something specifically about the candidates? >> i learned about how they interact with the people. i got to meet newt gingrich. he was a very open and kind. he was laughing at jokes and very personal. i think i learned about how he will interact with a lot of youth. >> it has been great working at the mitt romney campaign, talking to voters and seeing how disappointed -- how interesting they have been. >> because you are supporting different causes, what are the dates -- what are the debates like when you get back? >> i think people copper --

sometimes argue about which candidate is a better but there has also argument about and have you approached different issues. >> we spend the debate on the candid level. it is a lot of fun because we're both republicans and want to see a strong republican candidate. so it is fun and entertaining to joke and poke fun. >> his fund to get into which candidate is right. we see the polls and changing. >> why choose to be here for this? >> is a great opportunity to see the process unfolds. and seeing how the people and candid its interact.

>> and what better way to spend your new year's eve? i am having a great time. this is a once in a lifetime opportunity brith -- opportunity. what better way to see the political realm and see the candidates in action? >> what would you take away? >> that there are many more involved and informed citizens in america than they are giving credit for. >> if you go that way, there are other students in the front of the bus. about 10 or 15 students are participating in this process. how many of you have learned something that you did not know before, raise your hand? most people get in that experience with the caucus here. what is the last word you want

to tell people at home? >> team america. >> we have been two events with newt gingrich and others. we are also seeing ron paul today. >> and everyone should try to experience this at some point in their lives. the concerns a much about the political process and a candid its. -- and candidates. >> students, thank you. >> the road to the white house goes to america's heartland for the iowa caucus. our coverage continues at 7:00 a.m. eastern, live from des moines with washington journal.

at 7:00 p.m., our preview program on the caucus process and the state of the republican presidential race. at 8:00, live caucus coverage followed by the entire caucuses. we will have live coverage of another caucus from western iowa on c-span-2. our coverage of the iowa caucuses is also available on radio and online at cspan.org. >> rick santorum held a campaign rally this evening with supporters in altoona, iowa. the latest poll has him in third place, receiving a 50% of the vote. this was the final event of the dave -- 15% of the boat.

this was the final event of that date. >> if you're feeling very good about things right now. >> what wins caucuses is energy and enthusiasm. we have that. hopefully we will end up in a good place. >> keep working hard. >> let's get this thing started. are you ready to get started? [applause] >> [unintelligible]

everybody talks about a young, strong conservative senators. they told me if i am lucky, i might get to meet rick santorum. two years ago, i asked to meet him. 380 town hall meetings. he is a strong conservative. he is married with four children. we are hearing a lot of

desperate attacks right now happens here. i need your help and need you to go -- i need you to do something for me. i need you to join me in endorsing senator santorum. if you can, grabbed a yard sign and take it home. take them with you tomorrow night. if you do, rick santorum will be the next president of the united states. [applause] before we hear from him, i want to introduce a special person. he is a number one new york times best-selling author. clancy, you will

like brad. >> i know you are here to listen to rick. and what my family because i believe this is the most important collection of our lifetime. the feature of our country depends not only on the election copper -- election but it is really important for voters to come out tonight. will we go back to a strong america or will we go the way of european socialism? i did not want to see that happen. i am voting for rick santorum because it is not just about winning the election. it is about what happens that thursday on the job. it is about having a service did -- a conservative we can

support. the biggest reason i it support him are my children. we need to leave the country for our children and grandchildren that a stronger and more free than the country that was left to us. the only person who will do that for us is senator rick santorum. ladies and gentlemen, i would like to introduce you to the next president of the united states, senator rick santorum. [applause] >> hello everybody. how are we doing? pinky all very much -- thank you all very much. brad talks about the real

challenges america has in defending freedom. i am excited to be here. he does a lot of commentary on radio and television so i am tickled that he drove his whole family from chicago to come here to campaign for us. iowa. -- here in iowa. when we were sitting at 3% in the polls, we are not getting a lot of people helping but one person did. that was matt schultz. i had an opportunity to meet him and have known him for a couple of years. i worked a little bit on his campaign for secretary of state. i found him to be one of the real, solid conservatives. i think he will be a great future leader of iowa. he is troubled all three of the

state with me. i want to give a special shout out to him for everything. [applause] we have been here in iowa. it is about 380 town hall meetings. that was in all 99 counties. we have taken our time. this is been a real court should. we sat and talked -- real courtship. we sat and talked. i saw joe klein here.' there were five or six at the table. there was a small label -- small

number in a cafe. there was not a very big crowd and the weather was not very nice but that was the typical crowd. people say why are you doing this? i said because i respect the process, i respect the fact that the iowan voters will make their decision. i want to give them every opportunity to look into something that is important. to look into the eyes of someone who wants to be the leader of our government. and you cannot do that very well or as well as we would like to without that personal interaction. i have been traveling with my family. they spent three weeks here in iowa prior to the straw poll. after that, not the entire family was here -- after that,

the entire family was here. somewhere in that throng, back here overthere somewhere. the rest of the family came here. my wife karen is with me, who is right here. you can give applause for karen. you can do that. [applause] she's busy raising those seven children we have. the rest of the family is here at the pizza ranch. i think this is pizza ranch number 35 or 36 that i have been to. and have been in the rooms like this and usually a lot less people. the rest of the family, the other boys, peter, patrick as well as my daughter, this is a real family affair today. we have really enjoyed the trips around. i just want to say really three things, nun one is thank you. this has been an incredible

experience. i don't know what these other candidates are doing running their campaigns. but i couldn't think of a better experience over the past several months then spending the time i did in iowa, new hampshire and south carolina. i have spent an enormous amount of time and all three, up until this last month, it was about an equal amount of time. people say you're all in here in iowa. i have been to new hampshire 30 times. i spent more time or done more events than anybody than jon huntsman and he's lived there the past three months. same thing in south carolina. we've done more events in south carolina than any other candidate. so these three states are the ones that fight to be first and have the tradition of being first. we respect that and we went out and tried to earn the votes of the people of these states and we started here. well, thank you. we started here and we end here tonight. this is our last big town hall meeting and i just wanted to say to each and every one of you

representing a lot of iowans that i thank you. three words that i heard more than any other words as i traveled around and shook hands, the high v when i was here last time in altoona was welcome to iowa. and that was the repeated phrase. people were just very happy that you showed the respect to them of asking for their vote and being in front of them and giving them the opportunity to do something which is in fact a burden. it is in fact a burden. it's a heavy responsibility. you're first. that is a huge responsibility. i know a lot of people make light of the iowa caucuses but as you will see tomorrow night, it will have a huge impact on this race. so the decision you make, and i know you know this, cannot and should not be taken lightly. and so i wanted to at least do my part to help you in this

difficult decision by making ourselves available, sacrificing as i have my time with my wife and my children. but this is the most important election in your lifetime and i have stepped forward probably not best time in my life to do it but i did because i just felt that this was something that when i look back at my grandfather and my dad, who were immigrants to this country, who fought hard to give me freedom, it's the lowest i could do at a juncture in history to fight hard for my children's freedom. that's what karen and i decided to do. we made that commitment. people said well, you know, what is the reason for your big rise in the polls the last few days. i would just say this -- the reason is you. i talked about matt. i could also talk about jim gibbons, who's here tonight, former iowa state wrestling coach and candidate for congress and dear friend and someone who stepped up and helped us by endorsing us earlier this last

month. i can talk about steve suk cup, business man here who stepped up to help us. variety of pastors who stepped forward. sam clovis, who was with this this day and day before. talk show host and northwest radio show in sioux city. bob and what he did have ten days ago in stepping forward. but the bottom line is yes, they provided leadership but the real lordship is being provided by the people of iowa. i always believed we would get our bounce by not from some big debate performance, not from some big flashy report of how much money have i been raising or impressive folks i got in a super pac. would i get it because we went out and earned the trust of the people of iowa and the people of iowa two do things i have been for the past couple months asking the people of iowa to do at the end of my speeches and

that is do not defer your judgment to people who know less about these candidates are than you do -- lead. you fight to be first. lead. do what you believe is in the best interest of this country and, secondly, be bold. this country is in a critical juncture. do not settle for something less than what this country needs. you will have a victory but you will not make the changes that are necessary to preserve that freedom and security for the next generation. those are the two things i challenge you. one reporter said it was an ask, don't tell close. i'm asking you to be bold. i'm asking you to lead andly let you make the decision. why? because i trust the people of iowa. my website is -- the last 2 1/2 weeks, the number one state of website visits has been iowans. i know you folks think you're the center of the universe, but -- but just the center of the country, sorry.

just the center of the country. i misspoke. believe for not, you're not the biggest state in the country. california is over ten times bigger than you are. yet you have more searches or texts than noir state y? because you're doing your homework. you're doing the work iowans are doing. and i can't ask for any more. that's what i'm doing arrange asking you to lead and be bold. pick the candidate you believe best meet what's this country needs. i know you're worried. a lot of folks told me, a lot of folks asked the last week or so, can you win? he's unelectable. he can't win. let me say this, shoate me any other candidate in this race who's ever won a state that we have to win in order to win the presidency. none of them. we have three congressmen who

were represented heavily republican districts. we have a republican governor of texas, who ran as a conservative. how hard is that in texas? again, not a swing state. we had governor of massachusetts who ran as a liberal. both for the senate and lost for the governorship and one that didn't run for re-election. why? look at his poll numbers. my poll numbers were not much better but i stood and i fought. if he want someone who's always looking at what the next political opportunity is, then you don't want a president like rick santorum because i'm going to stand and fight for what i believe in. whether when the political winds are for you or political winds are against you. i remember talking to shepard smith today on fox. he cedric, when are you going to get the drift where everybody else in this country has changed and your view points are out of touch? i said, the truth is the truth.

just because some people or even most people don't believe the truth anymore doesn't change it from being the truth. and you stand for what you believe is the truth. if you are looking for that kind of leadership, then i think you should look our way. we stand up went fight in good times and in bad. we stand up for the truth. we stand up for the values that made this country the greatest country in the history of the world. and am i the perfect conservative candidate? no, i'm not. you will find plenty of things that moipts will point out. i made my mistakes but my convictions are clear and strong. they are consistent. i may have voted for a bad thing or two, but here's the key, i never advocated for the bad things. may have voted for the bill that there was something in there that i didn't like but i want for the thing that's were inconsistent with my values. you make compromises and sometimes you make bad ones.

i admit on occasion i have done that. but you will never find me out there violating the principles that at the core of my being. if you want someone as ronald reagan said, struft but verify. -- trust but verify. that's what iowans have been doing. every one of the republican candidates have been saying how conservative they are. iowans are saying that's great. it's a hard decision. most iowans have been very undecided until the last couple of weeks. now they're starting to decide. why? it's the verify time. it's the time to show up at the town hall meeting. it's the time to look at the records, listen to the information you get and verify whether what they say they're going to do is actually what they have done in the past. i get a lot of critics who say, rick, talk too much about what your record is and you should be focusing just on what you're going to do. that's what all of the other candidates do. look, they've had their moment. i said if i had their record, i would just talk about what i was

going to do too. but i've got a record i'm proud of. i want you to know when i say i'm going to do something, you can look back and say you know what, he's always been there. he's always been there. he's always fought for those things because it's not just here, it's here and it's here. so if you're looking for someone like that, then i hope you know what to do and that's get out on caucus tomorrow night, 24 hours from now. get to the caucuses. stand up and ask your caucus goers for help for rick santorum. stand up and walk around that caucus and campaign for me. about a third of the people showing newspaper that caucus we have been told are going to be undecided. help them decide. you want to mack a difference here in iowa? you can do what iowans do best,

you can ignore what the puppedit class, you can ignore what the moderate republicans who tend to always say we've got to win, we've got to win. we need a moderate to win. iowa will stand up and say no, we need to be principled to win. right? >> yep! >> we need to have -- [applause] send a message from the heartland. do what iowa does, which to make sure a conservative is in the mix. one that has a record that is consistent and of accomplishment, not just political but also getting things done in washington, d.c. if you do that, as you know, we have folks, journalists here from all over the country and all over the world, you will not just send a message to iowa or midwest or to the republican party. you will send one to the country and to the world. to what iowa, the state that

will know the candidates better than any other, believes is the best person to lead this country. i hope you choose me. thank you all very, very much. i appreciate it. i'm going to go in and talk to the crowd out there so we cannot just be talking to you. another big crowd out here. let me go out done that. thank you all very much. i will take two quick questions and do the same out there. go ahead, yes. >> how pru going to get both sides of the aisle to work together to do people's work they were hired to do? >> the way to do the people's work is the old blabe cal passage. without vision, the people shall perish. one of the things leaders should do is try to find a common set of values we all agree on in which we can go forward.

it's very difficult to find solutions when the premise from which you build your answer are radically different. and what this president has done is divide this country into two groups of people who have very different views. he's done his best to divide and hope that he can get enough people on his side to ram through what he wants instead of finding consensus on how to build this country together and stronger. this is the best divisive president, in my opinion, from his political rhetoric of any president in my lifetime. and then he wonders why he doesn't get any cooperation. he goes out and individually vilifies members of congress. he vilifies anybody who opposes him. he vilifies repeatedly the past president of the united states. blames him for everything. blames everybody for everything other than him. let me promise you today, and i know there are people in this room who will record it and keep me to it, i will do my level

best that once i am sworn in as president, that i will never say the word barack obama again at least within the context of saying a problem that we're dealing with in america that's his fault. americans know that barack obama was handed a tough deck. americans will know that rick santorum, if i become president, will be handed a tougher deck. i don't need to continue to rub salt in the wounds of folks who may have lost that last election and create that antipathy that the president has. i need to work with folks to get things done to shrink the size of government, grow this economy, make us stronger and safer. you don't do that by dividing. you do it by bringing people together. one other question i had. was it you? >> what do you think the biggest hurdle between now and your nomination? >> what's the biggest hurdle

between now and my nomination? ten days ago i was at 4% in the polls and is look what's happening here. here's what i believe. here's what i know is that money isn't going to win this election. if that was the case, i would be below every other candidate and wouldn't even be close. when we report other financial picture, it's going to be embarrassing, except for the last in the past four, five days we raised more money than we have in the last three, four months. we've done very, very well. and we hope to do a lot better after tomorrow night. but we're not going to run a big campaign. we're not going to hire a bunch of experts and staff and -- we're going to run the campaign that keeps continuing to interact with voters that is accessible and accountable. we're going to do our best to be lean and mean and set an example that you can win the presidency

that way, you can govern the country that way. we believe that's the best approach and we're going to go to new hampshire, we're going to campaign there nonstop. we're going to get up on television. we're up today on television in new hampshire. we're going to increase that steadily as the week goes on and we think we can compete there. obviously, governor romney's been running there for many, many years. but we think we can do well. we think we can do very well in south carolina. we have a lot of folks from south carolina here. in fact a bunch right behind me who have come up to help. we have legions of folks, couple dozen state reps helping us in new hampshire. you go to the bedford office new hampshire, i guarantee you find it full of folks making phone calls and working for the past weeks and months. we've got a great team on the ground and building that team, getting calls from all over the country and have been not just the last week but longer and we

will continue to do that and build an operation just like america works best from the ground up, from the bottom up believing new and believing in free people. thank you and god bless. [applause] >> alito and roberts is the reason i endorse becker. >> will do you it again? >> two supreme court justices for 30 years? >> for obama care. >> if i knew he was going to switch, no, no, i wouldn't have. i can't know that, right? i couldn't know that. >> yeah, i know. >> thank you.

>> let's hear it for rick santorum, next president of the united states! [applause] >> all right, thank you! thank you very much. thank you very, very much for coming out. greatly, what an incredible crowd. you're putting me in front of pizza, which is a very dangerous thing for me. especially this is about 35 pizza ranches that i have been to in the state of iowa and first i want to thank them for their hospitality and repeated hospitality in leding candidates come and use their facilities. i know i'm not the only one but

it's great of them to do that. let me thank you all for coming out. this is our last town hall meeting. this is number 380. maybe this is two different ones. i can count that as one and this is one, 81. and we're here down the stretch run and here with the entire family. i'm here with my wife karen. i don't know if you can see karen. she's down here. karen has just been an amazing rock at home. we have seven children. as many of you know we have a special needs little girl who requires a lot of care and karen , for her to step forward and say, yeah, i will support you when do you this, seven children ages to 23 and having that responsibility of having your husband out traveling around iowa doing 380 town halls and doing over 100 in the state of

new hampshire and similar number in the state of south carolina, a lot of time away if home. we felt this was what we were called to do, to go out and speak and lay out a vision for this country, a vision that wasn't just about taxes and spending. wasn't just about growth. yes, it's about all of those things. you know if i have been to the town hall meetings, i talk a lot about those things. but it's also about -- it's also about -- i'm sorry. sorry about that. it's also about what is at the core of our country, values of this country. faith and family. can't have a strong economy. can't have limited government. if the family is breaking down and you don't live good moral and decent lives. right? [applause] and we talked about a strong national defense. we talked about having a principled leader who goes out

and not only says what america's policy but then does things that actually effect waits -- affectates this policy, what this president has not done. it's important to have a leader that you can trust. we trusted the people of iowa. people asked, how are you going to get your bump? i said karen and the kids. we're going to go out and beat the people -- meet the people of iowa. came here in the summer. we brought all seven kids. we brought six this time. little bella stayed behind. where's the rest, right in front of me. peter and patrick and john and sarah marie, daniel, elizabeth. give a wave right here in the front. [applause] elizabeth and john have spent a

lot of time on the road and sarah be, marie and daniel a little time and peter patrick home helping mom. divided family but united family and a mission and message for the people of iowa and for the people of this country. >> thank you! >> thank you. i just want to say to the people of iowa first and foremost, thank you. i don't know what will happen tomorrow night but this has been an amazing experience. i say this all the time, people of iowa, new hampshire and south carolina have not only made me a better candidate, not only make me a better president but they made me a better person and i just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. [applause] the three words that i heard almost everywhere i went in iowa was, welcome to iowa. we're so glad you came and

respected us enough to be in our town. in all 99 counties, in most counties repeatedly in those counties and even the small ones. we came because we trusted iowans if we stood before them and related to them what our vision was for this country, what our record was, so you could trust what i'm saying is what i actually do. you throw on top of that, we told them how we were going to win this election and how we were the best person in this field con trardwroy what you might be hearing. we're the best person in this field to take on not just barack obama but take on the challenges after we defeat barack obama. [applause] so i would say to the people of iowa, this is my closing comment and that is do what iowans do.

you fought to lead. you fought to be first. don't defer your judgment to national polls or national pundits. trust what you have seen, what you have heard. trust the interactions you have had with the candidates. trust the work that you have done in researching the candidates because let me assure you, you have done more than any other group of people in this country, with maybe the exception of new hampshire now because they're in the very same process. but you're doing your homework. i know, because of all of the states on our website we get visits from, number one state for the past two or three weeks has been iowa. you're doing your homework. right? [applause] so my call to you, number one, don't fee fer, lead. lead this country. you want to be first. it's a huge burden. this is the most important election in your lifetime. this is a very tough decision that i know many of you have

struggled with because you know how important it is. you want to get it right. trust your gut. trust your head. 6 don't trust anybody else, particularly those who haven't gone through the process that you have. once you have made that decision, be bold. once you made the ziss who the right person is, be bold. go out and give america a signal from iowa that we want somebody who is up to what america needs. don't have a victory because you vote for somebody because they can win. they may not be able to do what america needs to have done but they can win. that's a victory that will feel very, very empty. it will not be pizza ranch pizza. you will walk out of those caucuses hungry. you will walk out of those caucuses like you just ate at a pizza ranch buffet.

>> $9.99. >> $9.99. there you go. lead and be bold. if you do those two things, you will have done your job as iowans. would you have said we have looked at the candidates, we have found the candidate that we believe is the best person to lead this country and we believe because they're the best person to lead this country, they're the best chance of winning the election. that's what iowans are charged to do. if you do it, you will not only shock this country, you will shock the world and you will put this race in a completely different place than it was just a week ago and you will do a great favor for your children and grandchildren. with that let me thank you and god bless you and god bless america. thank you. [applause] thank you. if it wasn't for the people of pennsylvania, i wouldn't be here. they gave me a tremendous opportunity.

and i will be forever grateful no matter what happens. thank you. thank you. how did i do? >> great. >> did i do ok? ok. thank you. thank you. >> how do you do that without eating pizza? >> just about to reach in there and grab one of those babies. >> senator, how does it feel to be a contender in this race? >> very grateful to the people

of iowa for putting us in that position. >> don't know what the question was so you're taking it sort of out of context. what is in context, if you look at my record, no one -- no one worked more on poverty, no one worked more on the inner city, no one worked more with the african-american community than i did in the united states senate. i held annual summits for historical black colleges to help them, enormous amount of work in the inner cities in a state like chester that were heavily anch american. i still have not heard the question in the context in which i answered it that i did it in that context. in any respect, you look at what i said is i believe every american should not be dependent upon -- upon government, that they should have opportunities. we're not doing anybody any favors for that. i think that's what -- i'm very,

very proud of the work i have done. you talk to anybody in pennsylvania and philadelphia, the work that i did in the city and twhoork i did in the urban areas, we did more than any republican anywhere in the country. thank you. thank you. there you go. thank you. how are you? good to see you, thank you. thank you. all right. there you go. ok. there you go. >> we don't have the high-tech stuff. >> good deal. thank you. >> you're a good man. that's why we're going to vote for you.

god bless you. >> i think we have a great record and i'm willing to go out and compare it as i will with everybody in the race. thank you very much. thank you. monte, good to see you here. thank you. thank you. how are you? ok.

>> how are you doing, rick? how are you? >> can you put this one on? let's go. hook this through your system. >> devastating program to a

country -- that's a big question. thank you very much.

we're fortunate to have someone else running for office, a republican who has the right kind of experience, the right background, the right expertise and the know how to fix what ail this is country, grow jobs the old fashioned way, in the

private economy torque get this economy going again by ending and doing away with all the excessive regulation and taxation that is keeping this economy from getting back on its feet. we have someone who has experience creating jobs in the private sector, who turned failed enterprises around, turned failed businesses around, turned the state of massachusetts around, someone who i believe can get this country moving again and i hope we won't miss an opportunity starting tomorrow night here in iowa to make mitt romney our nominee for president of the united states. >> if you want a president who understands that the greatness of this country isn't in government institutions and you don't make the country better by massively ex-panning the size of goth like what we've seen in this last presidency, we've seen the largest expansion of government literally in half a century.

if you want a president who understands that to create jobs you have to unleash the ingenuity, the creativity of the american people and small businesses who create jobs in this country, if you want a president who is ready to put the american workers back to work in this country and create jobs and get our economy going again, we've got the right person. so when iowans go to vote tomorrow, i hope you will think about two very important questions and one is the qualifications that we need in the white house in our next president. the kind of leader that we need, the kind of experience that we need and then secondly think about who, when it comes to november of 2012, can win this election, defeat president obama and take this country in a new and different direction that is consistent with our historical heritage and restores america's greatness. ladies and gentlemen, i believe and i hope that you will too that the nominee for the republican party and the next

president of the united states is none other than mitt romney. would you join me in giving a warm iowa welcome to the next president of the united states, mitt romney. [applause] >> oh, my goodness, look at this. you are so kind to me. thank you, clive, thank you des

moines. thank you so much. what a thrill. what a way to get started. wow, this is exciting for me and for my family. i say my family because they're here. you just saw senator john thune and some other elected official here's, one guy that's been organizing my effort in congress to get congressmen to help out, i want to thank, where is he hiding out over here? i want to say thank you to jason, jason chaffetz, for the work he's done in congress, got 47 congressmen to help out. congressman flake also here helping us out. i appreciate his support. but i want to introduce my family first here. my oldest son, no applause, because there are a lot of them. this is my oldest sonning tag, father of four, this is my number two son, matt, father of four, you never know, then number three son, josh, father

of five, and here comes craig, the baby of the family, father of two sons. this is craig, you've got to give applause to these guys. thank you, guys. our son ben is a doctor and he's in residency and he can't be here tonight because he's doing his job at the hospital. but here comes one more person. this one here is the youngest of all the children, my daughter ann. no, she's not my daughter. this is someone who i must have seen in elementary school. when i was in fourth grade, she was in second grade at the same school. i wouldn't have noticed, i don't imagine. but when she was just about 16, i went to a party at stu white's house and saw her there and i was impressed. she had come with someone else and so i said to the guy who brought her, look, elive closer to ann that than you do. why don't i give her a ride

home for you. he said fine, go ahead, we've been going steady ever since my wife, ann romney. [applause] >> now that was a warm welcome and we love that and we need that. we need all of your nrnl and all of your passion to give us wind in our sails and push us all the way to the nomination to make sure that this is the next president of the united states. i'm glad to be here. i'm glad to have my sons here. they look so nice and well-dressed and well-behaved. i like to remind people that there was a time in their lives when they weren't like that. they were particularly, anyone here, i'd love to know this, anyone is the mother of all or fur father of all boys in the audience? then you all know what i'm talking about.

they just -- all they do is wrestle, bounce balls, and fight. and so when i was a young mom, mitt would -- was traveling often in consulting, he would call home and hear a very exasperated wife on the phone, at her wit's end and he would say, hang in there, i'll be home soon. but he would also remind me of something, which i loved, and he would say, ann what your job, what you're doing is more important than what i'm doing. your job is more important than mine. and i loved that. and he was right, by the way. he reminded me that his job, it would come and it would go. but this would be forever. and he is so right. i was so grateful to have that kind of a partnership that kept us having the right perspective in those hard yearings. so it's been a wonderful 42 years of marriage and as mitt

said, we've got a lot of grandkids now and i would like to remind people, the best part of being a grandmother is watching my grandchildren misbehave and then i just tell these boys, oh, you deserve it. so it's been -- it's been an exciting few day here's in iowa. you have an important job to do tomorrow. in 24 hours, we need to get this process started and we need to give mitt the energy he needs to push us forward to victory system of thank you all for being so great and being here. [applause] >> thank you, sweetheart. boys, you know, i was looking at some videotapes and -- on youtube, actually, looking at the president, then candidate, obama, going around iowa about four years ago. campaigning. and he was making a lot of promises. there's a huge gap between his promises and his performance.

he said he would get us working again he talked about repairing the nation and repairing the tpwhrobe, the world. and a lot has happened over those last three years. but those are not the things that have happened. one of the greatest threats we face is what's going on in iran as they move toward nuclearization, and threaten the entire world. he has failed to put in place crippling sanctions, he failed to speak out when the dissidents took to the streets. he failed to put together credible military plans to convince the iranians to be dissuaded of their folly and then there's the economy itself he went to the american people and said i'm going to borrow $787 billion and the administration said with all that money we'll keep unemployment below %. hasn't been below 8% since. by the way, that 8% number, that's 25 million people without work or stopped looking for work on just got part-time work and need full-time employment. this is not just a statistic. these numbers mean real people.

if you ever been out of work for an extended period of time, you know what that means. it means in some cases depression, in some cases trouble in marriage, trouble at home. in other cases, people lose their faith. being out of work is tough. this american president didn't cause the recession but he made it worse and it lasted longer because of his policies. and then we face another problem. and that was a government that was borrowing too much. he was very critical of president bush he said borrowing $450 billion more than you spent that was wrong. he's borrowed three times that much every year. he's on track by the end of his first term, his only term, by the way, by the end of that first term, he'll have put together as much public debt almost as all the prior presidents combined.

this has been a failed presidency. i remember after he was inaugurated, he went on "the today show" and he said if i can't get this economy to turn around in three years, i'll be looking at a unwith-term proposition. i'm here to collect. i'm here to collect. we're taking it back. you see, to get people working, i'm convinced that to help create jobs, it helps to have had a job. and i have. and i'm going to use that private sector experience to get people working again. how do you do that? one is to make america once again the most attractive place in the world for entrepreneurs and innovators and pioneers and businesses of all kinds so they come and invest here. i saw that the head of coca-cola, talk at an american iconic business, coca-cola, he said it's a more favorable business environment in china than in the united states. i'm going to change that. we'll make it more attractive

here than anywhere else in the world. i'll do that by getting our tax code right, i'll do that by putting a stop to all the obama era regulations and throwing out those that kill american jobs. i'll do that by opening up new markets for american goods so we can sell around the world and i'll clamp down on china that's been cheat, they've been stealing our intellectual property, our designs our patents, our know-how, our brands, they've been hacking into our computers. that's got to stop. i'll stop it if i'm president of the united states. there's one more thing we can do to make this an attractive place for enterprises, pioneers and job creators, to take advantage of our oil, our gas, our coal, our nuclear, let's get energy secure in this

country be our -- with our own energy. now i've also got to balance the budget. i've got to cut spending. i've got to cap federal spending. then i've got to balance the budget. how do you go about doing that? let me tell you how you do that. he's got an idea. not the same as mine but i appreciate your right to express your view. my view is this. what you do to get our budget in line is you take all the programs the federal government has and you say, which of these programs is so critical that we've got to have it? and those things we keep. but those programs that don't pass the poll throw -- following test, we get rid of. this is my test. is this program so critical it's worth borrowing money from china to pay for it? on that basis we'll get rid of some programs, even some we

like. but first, let's get rid of this one on day one. obamacare. i'll get rid of that one. [applause] and there's other things. amtrak ought to stand on its own feet or its own wheels. i'd like the national endowment for the arts and national endowment for the human tais but i'm not willing to borrow money from china to pay for it. i like that my grandkids can watch big bird on tv but because they don't have advertising, the government has to put in a check. so we're going to have big bird with advertising because i don't want to borrow money from china. you guys, i think it's -- i don't think it's moral for us as a nation to borrow money knowing that my generation will never pay it back and the next generation will have to pay those burdens. it's wrong. we have to live within our means and finally get america on track to a balanced budget and i will do it.

but i think you know that this campaign is about even more than jobs, important as that is, and even more than reining in the scale of the government. important as that is. this is also a campaign about two very different directions for america. one is represented by the vision of the founders. i love our patriotic muse ex. there's a sign "america the beautiful" that you know well. oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber wave of grain, if corn counts as an amber wave of grain, you're in that song. but one of the other verses says this. oh beautiful for patriot's dream that sees beyond the years. the idea is that the founders in crafting america new york

writing the declaration of independence and the constitution, created something that sees beyond the years. not something temporary. something enduring. that's the american experiment. and it worked. when they crafted this country they said that god had endowed us with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. the right in this nation for each individual to pursue happiness as he or she chooses. the circumstances of birth would not be a barrier to what we might achieve. instead our own effort could be that -- nubble nubble -- [inaudible] >> thanks, guys. let's talk about the constitution again. by the way, -- >> it's not part of the constitution. >> i'm sorry.

[inaudible] [laughter] >> hey, you guy, isn't it great to live in a country where people can express their views? it's a great country. i love it. make it loud and clear. and i'll tell you one thing, when president obama is here, i hope we're in the audience making the same sounds about his policies. let's make sure we hear our voice loud and clear.

i was talking about the course and direction of this nation, with the declaration of independence letting us choose our path in life, this nation became an opportunity nation, a place where based upon merit, we could achieve our future. by virtue of being a merit society, that meant people who got education and worked hard and who took risks and who had dreams could achieve great things. and interestingly, by virtue of their accomplishments, they did not make us poorer as a nation. they made us better off. we worked with one another. we lifted the entire country. an opportunity nation drew the best and brightest from all over the world to othis extraordinary country. i love what the founders saw. but i watch our president today, i don't think he gets it, i think he's other his head, i think he wants to turn this into a european style welfare state. i think he wants an entitlement society where goth's job is to get bigger and bigger, to take

sfr some and give to others. the methodology of that approach is to create envy in the american people instead of ambition torque poison our respect for one another torque divide us, person by person. i want america to remain as it's always been, one nation under god. i will unify this country. [applause] as a boy, i was taking by my mom and dad. they put us in our car and drove us around the national parks and it was a rambler. any of you remember ramblers? a couple of you do. we drove around the national parks and along the way, we fell in love with america. we saw the extraordinary people of this country and the beauty of our mountains and canyons and rivers. we saw people who loved their country as we do. that hymn i spoke of, "america the beautiful," there was another verse i love, "oh

beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country love and mercy more than life." do we have veterans here, heroes proved in liberating strife. thank you gentlemen, ladies, thank you for your service. [applause] i love this country's beauty, i love this country's people, i love this country's heroes. i believe it's time for us to bring america back to the principles that made us the hope of the earth. when ronald reagan spoke of a shining city on a hill, that wasn't in the past, it's not just in the present, it's in a future. we've taken a detour the last three years from those principles, i want to return those principles to america, i want to make sure the light from that shining city is brighter than ever. i want our kids to know their future is bright. i want an optimist in the white house, not a pessimist. i'm going to do everything in my power to restore the greatness of this country.

with your help, we'll do whatever it takes. let's get the nomination, let's become the next president of the united states, let's win this thing for the entire nation. thank you, guys. thank you for your help. great to be with you. thank you. [applause]

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>> call 202- 37- 001, our line for democrats. 02-737-0002 for republicans. for those in iowa, 202-628-0205. we are in clive, iowa, about eight miles outside of des moines. one of the areas mitt romney has been organizing, he's been completing his 700-mile trip across the state of iowa. tomorrow night, the caucuses get under way at 7:00. i want to ask you about the turnout tomorrow, earlier on "washington journal" they expected 100,000 people to be

in attendance. four years ago, 1118,000 people showed up at the caucuses for the republicans. >> the romney campaign is expecting a higher turnout than last time around, along the lines of what the governor said this morning, listen, we have not seen the kind of mass i crowds that we saw with the democratic side four years ago but that turnout was somewhere north of 220,000. so it'll be nothing like that it'll be closer to 100,000 on the republican side, maybe a little more and that bodes well for mitt romney, it's not just a committed core of the traditional caucus goers, it's a broader audience and i think that's good for him. >> this is a message from the lieutenant governor over the last few months.

>> he's not talking about specifics anymore, now it's just a tug on the patriotic heart strings. they're looking to contrast, this whole pitch is to love the country and join them in restoring america. >> there's a couple of stories for tomorrow, rick santorum could be one, ron paul could be another, and mitt romney. >> i think the big story, no matter which way those three play, will be mitt romney one step closer to the republican nomination. we'll see results probably tomorrow that even if he's third, there'll be a lot of talk of, wow, he went all in at

the end, it didn't work out for him, in terms of those rallying around him. but pocket conservatives were newt gingrich, who are falling behind. i think the big story here will be that. >> let's get to some of your phone calls. jim, in arizona, republican line. >> good evening. i would love to be there. i am so excited, you guys have done an incredible job on all of this. i can't wait until mitt romney is our next president. i saw chris matthews earlier today feeling so sorry for newt gingrich, i was cracking up. he kept trying to have romney speak french, saying let them eat cake. he said he wouldn't do it. but that would have been the first thing the d.n.c. would

have done. but mitt romney went to france on a church mission for two years. he was taught french by his church. and the other thing they were making fun of him on msnbc because he said he reads his scriptures every day. he could go after any bible -- after the bible with any pastor there. look at romney's family and look at newt's third wife family. mitt romney has the family, he has the class, he knows what he's doing. he know house to do jobs. they can spin it, msnbc is scared to death. >> thanks from the call from mesa, arizona. the arizona caucus is scheduled for the end of february. and on the democrats like from new jersey, one day before the iowa caucuses, what are your

thoughts tonight? >> first, i would say that the last caller, she should not count ore chickens too soon. most democrats are not scared to death of mitt romney. but i would like to say i'm annoyed when i hear mitt romney say the president of the united states has incited class envy. the working poor have known for some time that there's a widening wealth gap and they didn't need the president of the united states to tell them that. all they have to do is look at the war profiteering, look at the jobs being sent oversea the tax breaks for wealthy people, bailouts, poor people are not stupid. >> thanks for the call. next is nick from north carolina. good evening. >> hello, i want to say that mitt romney -- hello? .

i am going to leave my caucus tomorrow night. all fully met comes out a winner. host: what does that mean? guest: tomorrow i will give that

speech for mitt romney. and then we will debate a platform and we will issue delegates to go on to the next county conviction and on to the state convention. host: why mitt romney? why not any of the other candidates? why the former massachusetts governor? guest: i am a moderate person and i am looking for a moderate person to vote for with high ethics and morality. i think he has demonstrated that in his family life. host: is all i know a representative of what the country is looking for right now? -- is iowa representative of what that country is looking for right now? guest: i think we are a diverse

place. we have farming and we are the insurance capital of the united states. here looking for someone who has experience who will lead the country, who will look to us and our leaders around the world. host: are these handmade signs? when did you make them? guest: i went to the dollar store and it started to create signs that i thought would be meaningful for tonight. host: will be watching the process around the state. we appreciated. the republican line from florida, go ahead, please. caller: mitt romney is a great candidate, he will bring back this economy, and get out and vote in florida for mitt romney on the 31st.

thank you so much. host: thank you. one of four key primaries and caucuses. tomorrow here in iowa, then new hampshire, south carolina, and in florida. good evening, gregory. caller: i am with speaker gingrich, and i think he is the most electable candidate. he will challenge barack obama to seven lincoln-douglas-style debates with no moderator's. just a timekeeper. what it comes down to and they can discuss true issues, i really think that america will see that newt gingrich is the best candidate and he will be the one that beats mitt romney. i mean, barack obama, i am sorry. thank you very much. host: thank you in from davenport, iowa.

tony and marcia, you or sunday morning. it is about a third 10 miles away from where we're located. still undecided? guest: we think so. guest: probably more meat in her but definitely undecided. host: we have gone through this process for over a year. when will you make up your mind? guest: tomorrow night. host: what factors would you take into mind? guest: you have to sit back and think about what they really stand for, do they really are, and then make a decision based on that. host: what are you looking for? guest: i am looking for the same thing. i like things about mitt romney and i like things about newt gingrich. if you could take the best of both of those and put it into one candidate, it would be perfect.

host: let's talk about moving into the general election. from your standpoint, how does the republican party move on? guest: we build the enthusiasm of the american people again. i think america is depressed, rightfully so to some degree based on what we have gone through with the recession, but i have not seen anything in this administration attempting to reverse that. i think we have that talk positive and the good things about america, still by far the best country in the world. host: have you caucused in the past? guest: yes. we caucus at baylor township high school. last time we were there, there were more than 100 people there. host: who did you support four years ago? guest: mitt romney, in fact i was one of those who stood up

and spoke for him. host: and yet you are still undecided? guest: yes, because newt gingrich is, men, and i like his knowledge and his manner. host: thank you very much. you will caucus tomorrow evening. guest: absolutely, 7:00. host: only one network will take you to the caucasus to show you how they work in their entirety. one in c-span and one in c-span 2. next is clinton from north carolina, our line for democrats. good evening. caller: how are you doing today, sir? host: fine, go ahead, please. caller: i am a democrat and i am supporting president obama. i just wanted to say that he is

what we need for america. i do not believe that democrats are people that the gop bills as -- hopefully, [unintelligible] once again we are supporting president obama. host: thank you for the call. we will go to add an in pittsburg, the republican line. what your thoughts one day before the iowa caucuses? caller: thank you, sir. i am for ron paul, the only one against the ndaa bill. it can in definitely entertain americans and obama signed that last saturday and it did not get much press. ron paul is the only one who

stood up against this and he is the only one who stood up against the wars in afghanistan and northern pakistan, from the drones, and the libyan wars. we do not have the money defied all of these wars. -- to fight all of these wars. host: ok, thank you for that call. coming to the caucuses, we saw on the morning students from troy high school in cincinnati traveling all day saturday to come to an event with rick santorum. they are here through wednesday. this is more than just a process for iowans, but including the gomez family, troy and lisa, thank you very much for being with us. wherein i let you live? guest: johnson, iowa. host: had made up your mind?

guest: mitt romney. we need someone who understands -- being self-employed must my career, i am looking for a president that understand just what it takes for small business people to try to make things grow. host: lisa, why did you come out tonight? guest: i came out to support my husband in his position. i am for michele bachmann. host: i'm trying to switch arms here. what is happening on the breakfast table mornings? guest: well, we will see. i will make my mind up in the caucus. host: what you like representative bachmann? guest: i strongly support michele bachmann because of her views on life, anti-abortion,

and our stance of life from conception until natural death. that is wide. -- that is why. host: holder you? -- holder you? guest: 12 and 13. if i was old enough to vote, i would definitely vote for mitt romney. guest: he gave a strong speech. if i was old enough to vote, i would vote for him as well. host: let me ask you before we go. , what does mitt romney need to do to carry into north's hampshire and other primaries and caucuses? guest: i need to get my wife to check off of her ballett mitt romney, but we're thinking who would be the best candidate to beat obama. i went to the michele bachmann

rally in everything, and i think most people are going to sit down when it comes to checking off the ballot, we want to make sure that we put the candidate they can definitely beat obama. a lot of the other candidates are great guys, but a lot of them have been in politics for one way or the other. gov. rahm the only server four years, and the rest of his career was building jobs. we need someone who will make the economy go. i helped arrest of i what does that, send him on his way and hopefully get him to the white house, and make things better for my family in the upcoming years. host: we thank you very much for being with us. a couple more minutes with your phone calls. we are in clive, iowa. all of our programming is available on our website, c- span.org. antonia's on the phone from mount pleasant -- anthony is on

the phone from mount pleasant here in iowa. caller: i am 17 years old and i'm a supporter of romney last time and this time actually get to vote. we need someone to who can beat obama in november. he can do that. mitt romney turned the olympics and businesses and created jobs. he turned around massachusetts and he will do that for america. he is going to be great because ron paul cannot be the nominee. he will when south carolina and have a great state of the union address. thank you for letting me call. host: ok. doug, you get a last call from new jersey, the democrats' line. good evening. caller: i am a democrat.

i like to find out more about mitt romney's record at bain capital. they talk about his ability to create jobs but did he create more jobs or let more people off? and how it bain has worked out afterwards. so far like what i see with mitt romney. i just need to find out more. host: one way to find out is through the c-span video library. all the events that we have covered throughout the campaign in the years that mitt romney was governor of massachusetts and other public events, all available at c-span.org. just click on video library. tomorrow morning on the "washington journal," michele bachmann will be with us. a chance to call in with your questions and comments for the republican presidential candidate. our coverage for the caucus

getting underway at 7:00 p.m. eastern, the caucuses beginning at 8:00 eastern. and then on to new hampshire. one of our partners has been kcit television, and this is their coverage of the caucus to process one day before they go in cast their ballots. >> from i was news leader, this is kcit. >> the final 25 hours before the iowa caucuses. on army on with only telephones could help determine the winner. >> i do not think i'm going to win. >> quite a position -- an admission from the onetime leader. >> it is not just volunteers, ohio getting a first plant -- firsthand look at democracy.

after months of campaigning, 25 hours away from the actual caucuses. >> the caucuses -- the candidates making their final pitches. and have armies of supporters helping them twisty undecided arms. >> paul little over different now, 7:00 tomorrow night, the campaigns are convinced that there still people out there that they can win over to their side. today they called in reinforcements. overnight, the reinforcements landed. >> good morning, willard? this is the bleak calling for governor perry. >> and at army of long starts which alone start loyalist. >> we hope you can see the whole picture with gov. perry. >> i did not think it would be as cold. >> a man on his own time. >> his record is very strong. what america is starting to

understand is how credible can we transfer results from texas and make that an american thing. >> texas dominatrix -- rick perry's army of 400 volunteers. >> i would be happy with michele bachmann as candidates. >> get people out and get them to commit. >> would you consider voting for rick santorum at the caucus? >> id it takes dedication to drive cross-country. >> hanging out with a guy from dallas who has been given one year to live. >> later i get outside and the cold, it hurts. >> he is experiencing big-time politics by a let-style. he is hurting but telling himself -- >> you know what, go

and do the job. it needs to be done. >> the initial line is within sight. >> any little bit will help. >> not just touching base with castle supporters appeared there making sure that all the caucus precinct shares are set and that everyone arrives early before the 7:00 start. any unanswered questions, months of pressure -- preparations come down to hours. jim thank you very much, eric. you cannot both in tomorrow night's caucuses if you do not know where to go. you still need to find a caucus at, log onto iowagop.org. democrats are holding caucuses as well and you can check those sites at the democrats -- at the democrats website. >> a surprising admission from newt gingrich. >> no, i do not think i am going

to win. take a look at the numbers, i think that volume of negativity has done enough damage. >> he was once the front runner, but he has been hammered by negative ads. most polls place in the second tier of candidates behind mitt romney, and others. gingrich said even if he did not win, it would still be a victory for his campaign. >> as newt gingrich and others have learned, of being a front runner puts a target on your back. >> i am not saying that, but i'm very proud of all the earmarks that i put in the bill. >> i know that as a very divisive thing in the state of iowa. >> rick perry running the ad saying that rick santorum's record makes him unelectable. santorum saying that the attacks

and not unexpected. >> i know rick hammered at me but that is what he has to do. that is what politics is all about. >> santorum is running third behind mitt romney and ron paul. >> michele bachmann is not giving up. reporters talked with her one on one today. >> she is expecting a militant -- a merkel tomorrow night. after i talked with her boss, she went into four to for jobs to shake hands with undecided voters who came out to meter. she told me her national security experience will make the difference in this race at the last minute. >> we literally saw thousands of people flipping government decided or from another candidate to go our way. and they are our best advocates. >> why you think they're waiting for the last minute? >> because they are doing their duty diligence. i what is taking a good look get all the candidates and weighing them.

there is a big front burner issue now, should at around have nuclear weapons? ron paul is willing to wait until a nuclear bomb hits the united states, millions debt and a major city, and then he would respond. i would not. no one -- no one else has current national security experience. they do not have current national security experience, and i do. >> santorum is touting his foreign-policy experience as well. what you bring to the table differently? >> my experiences about 10 years more. a lot has happened a lasting years when it comes to national security. i stand on the house intelligence committee and we deal with the classified secrets. >> if tell me something about you personally that people may not know yet that might give people more incentive to vote for michele bachmann. >> i was born here.

my family goes back to seven generations in iowa. we were a middle-class family. when my family divorce, we went below poverty. i earn my way out of poverty and became a lawyer, a tax lawyer, and then a successful private businesswoman. i do not forget the challenges that single mothers have. this is not just had knowledge and political issues, this is from the heart. >> bachmann's first campaign commercial started running today. she is meeting iowans face-to- face instead. she did so and all 99 counties. >> ron paul to of the second place in the polls, fueling a standing-room-only crowd in the marriott today. the room was packed with supporters who chanted his name throughout his speech. rand paul was there to drum up support for his dad, telling the crowd at his father is the best choice for president.

today paul says he is the only candidate willing to change washington. >> we are moving in the wrong direction today but the american people are starring. this is what this campaign has been all about. this is what the voters about tomorrow. >> supporters and reporters were not the only ones crowding and to see ron paul today. it was part of a trip for a group of ohio students. we caught up with the students during their three-day stop through iowa. >> one thing to read about the iowa caucuses and the textbook, but to actually be here and experience the process is unlike anything the students could learn in the classroom. >> in a hotel ballroom, crammed with reporters and enthusiastic throng of supporters -- >> ron paul! >> 24 high school students from all high of getting a front row seat to the caucus process in iowa. >> off the charts. the reporters are very

aggressive. they're really what answers. the fans are chanting. it is really cold. they take themselves very seriously and they are really supporting. >> nothing like what these steps is expected in the 11-hour bus ride to isle of. >> being here, it makes the political process will be -- that is exactly what that teacher wanted students to gain from mr.. >> it is so profoundly different here. there's several thousand people and you do not get that into an event like you get in des moines. that is awesome for these kids a chance to see several of the candidates. they can be a part of the media frenzy in iowa. they are looking forward to sitting on a caucus overnight. >> i think it will be really intense. >> this is people getting together in discussing their

views. verses' going into a good thing covering and a box and dropping in the poll. this is government inaction. >> the iowa caucuses just part of the spirits. students will attend the inauguration in 2013. >> be sure to tune into news channel live tomorrow for your best caucus 2012 coverage. first news at 5:00, then a special cbs evening news from des moines. in news channel weighted 6:00. and then watched results expert analysis starting at 6:30 p.m. starting right here on news channel 8. >> the weather -- are meteorologist with a look at your caucus day forecast. >> you cannot control it. but you may try. let's talk about the weather outside. we will be down to 10 degrees, a nice little baltimore. mid 30 postures of, and by 7:00 p.m., 33 degrees.

high temperature to more, 38, really good news there. >> 90 very much, john. most polls show him leading the republican pack. which candidate is mitt romney setting his sights on? >> 24 hours ago, democrats are just as focused as any democratic candidate. we will take you inside the war room and show you what they're caught despite will look like. >> this is kcci in hd, with chief meteorologist john mclaughlin, and sports director andy harmon. we're proud to be iowa's news leader. >> government does not create jobs. three american people pursuing their own dreams, if that is how we create jobs. how do i do that? i make un-american -- america unattractive place for business. >> setting his sights on barack obama. he is also eyeing a big win in

iowa to market but the republican candidates are not diyala once focused on tomorrow night. live coverage, something else has been going on behind the scenes. and president barack obama's campaign has been building a base from which to launch his bid to win reelection. >> from ed johnson called the shot, the president's fall campaign started lower and go. >> this team leader has been volunteering 30 hours a week since 2009. now he has focused on caucus night. >> a really important to get an opportunity to get our base back out and get people energized and build up for will be a tough election in the fall. >> it is made 350,000 phone calls in the past with potential the voters. >> meanwhile inside the

democrats temperature war room, they are watching the competition. especially massachusetts governor a few reasons why. he is focused almost exclusively on the president virginian and they focus their as almost exclusively on romney for months. >> is virtually ignored his rivals. he has been acting like he is measuring the drapes for the republican national convention in tampa. if he is going to run as the presumptive nominee, we will treat him like one. in fact that the coffee shop, walter does not care who wins. the grass roots effort will help the president when. >> we're going to carry forward into the fall. >> the president plans to address democrats at their caucus sites live via video tomorrow night. in coming up tonight on c-span, our coverage leading up to the

iowa caucuses continues with rick perry had a campaign stop in perry, iowa. that is followed by a campaign rally where congressman ron paul it joined by his son ran paul. later, rick santorum at a restaurant and altoona, iowa. mitt romney is joined by his family in clive, iowa. texas governor and republican presidential candidate rick perry held his final campaign events the night before the iowa caucuses at the hotel in perry, iowa. it is located in the central part of the state north of them on parade is joined by republican governors of jindal palm louisiana and sam brownback from kansas. this 30-minute event begins with a talk-show host mark davis. ♪

♪ where all-american in god we trust living the dream and never getting out what we believe in we're all american

and we work real hard trying a barbeque hard every july for ♪ >> is it a good act -- is a good night to be in perry, iowa for rick perry or what? [applause] we are surrounded by all sorts of gubernatorial, future presidential talent, who knows what is going. let's start with the gentleman who down in texas, mark davis, dallas-fort worth, occasional them off the land, ok, i am done. down in texas, this gentleman is a neighbor. this tenement is a competitor. this gentleman is a friend of taxes, or friend to rick perry, a friend to america. given up for the louisiana governor bobby jindal. >> thank you all very much.

thank you. i have got the privilege of introducing teach you a great governor who will come up here, a man i served with when i was in congress. before i do that, i want to give you five simple reasons it is so important we send repairing to the white house. i do not know about you, but this election is not about personality or a fancy speeches. this election is about the direction in the future of these great united states of america. we are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world. unapologetically, i also believe that as parents we have a special obligation as americans, our obligation to leave more opportunity for our children and we inherited from our parents. every generation has done that. the reason this election is so important, what is at stake is

here is the opportunities that we leave behind. do we leave the opportunity to pursue the american dream, or continue on a path that mortgages are children's and grandchildren's future? five simple reasons why rick perry has to be in the white house, making sure that president obama is a one-term president. [applause] reason number one, the president of the white house today believes that we are going to tax and spend our way into prosperity. rick perry has cut taxes nearly 64 times, setting over $14 billion for taxpayers. he understands what never has been, never will been. there will never be as aside your country that has taxed its way into prosperity. pretty simple. if you want to encourage an activity, do not tax it. this president wants to tax everything he can, especially job creators in this country.

rick perry is not only talking the talk with a flat tax, he has proved it by cutting taxes and taxes. he will do the same thing for our country when we get rick perry into the white house. [applause] the second reason he is on board, rick perry has a proven track record under president obama's leadership, losing nearly 2000 jobs. leadership,perry's texas has created 40% of the jobs created, nearly half created in the state of texas. a lot of people are promising to create the environment for the private sector to grow. rick perry has actually done it in the state of texas. he will cut back government spending, by shrinking the size of the federal government, the second reason we need to put rick perry in the white house. it is time to put america back to work. that is why we need rick perry

and the white house. [applause] the third reason -- rick perry understands the reasons and the importance of cutting off the excess of regulations. you have an epa costing us jobs and shifting those jobs overseas. nearly 10 new regulations a day coming out of washington, d.c., costing $10,000 for every manufacturing jobs in america to comply with those regulations. he has proposed a moratorium on every regulation until there is a real cost-benefit analysis process templates. he will lead the fight against obamacare, against the epa sending jobs overseas, and other federal regulations that are strangling our economy. for this reason, we need to send rick perry into the white house. [applause] fourth, rick perry understands the need for us to produce more energy at home rather than sent -- sending billions of dollars overseas. he is embracing and all of the

above strategy, renewables, biofuels, more oil and gas production, nuclear, conservation, solar, wind, all that. we now have our president ally house, whether the moratorium and a goal, whether the politically motivated decisions, whether his own energy secretary said that we need the pocket the price of gas up to european levels here in america. there clearly doing everything they can to accomplish that. and they're sending more of our jobs overseas and sending more are dollars to other countries. rick perry has a specific plan for producing more energy on, creating more than 1 million jobs a year. it is not need a study to figure out if we need a pipeline to keep canadian energy from coming to america instead of sending it to china. that is why we need rick perry and the white house. [applause] then finally, i have seen firsthand rick perry is leadership during times of crisis. weather was hurt kinds --

whether was hurricanes, and we live in a great country facing great challenges. we do not have time for on-the- job training. now more than ever we need a president ready to lead from day one. we have a president the white house was a great speaker but who never ran anything other than his campaign before we elected him as president of these united states of america. rick perry has got executive leadership. i saw firsthand. i will say that during the will spill, you contrast with the obama administration didn't drowning us in red tape and brought proceed. we were simply trying debt defend our customs way of life peer you contrast that with rick perry, who during the stalled, i call them up before the air space was about to close in new orleans, instead of waiting, the very first plane that arrived in louisiana at the break of dawn on sunday morning were sent by rick perry and the texas national guard, the air national

guard. thanks to his health, we cut those patients out of harm's way. [applause] we ultimately that aircraft from another command up to the north, but the first planes came from texas. and he did not ask me, do you have fema approval. he did ask me to fax him forms or sign anything. he scored state and he took decisive action. he has been a governor now for 11 years. under his leadership, texas is grown to the second-largest economy in this country. he will not need on-the-job training. the bottom line is this. tomorrow is a very important day not only in i will before prepared it is time for us now take all of the excitement and energy and turn it into real work. is time for us to get our neighbors, friends, family, everyone we know how and make sure that we elect rick perry is the next president of these united states of america. it is my additional job to introduce another great

american. sam has been a conservative voice in the united states senate when it was not always easy to do that. he is moved over to the state house of the great state of kansas. he will help to lead the fight to cut spending in kansas. what i love about having these great governor concerts -- conservative governors, that is what the founders intended, these laboratories of experimentation, he is back to making kansas the great american success story. give a great ilo welcome to governor sam brownback from the great state of kansas. >> thanks, bobbie. appreciate that. what a great state i know it is. you guys are wonderful. this is a great place. being the son of former and rick is, too, don't you love the farmland and?

my home farm is about 8 inches deep and his is 6 on their farm. maybe on the gullies, but this is beautiful stuff. great to be in iowa. bobby is a great governor in louisiana and here supporting rick perry, doing a fabulous job. when i first met rick perry, he was running against an incumbent, had commissioner, i got the name of jim hightower, who had a very left wing record. nobody thought he could wind, did they? they were saying, jim hightower is too well known, to well- financed, you not be able winter league did, any move forward in texas politics to produce a state that is on a roll growing jobs in building the economy the way that we need to be on our role in the united states of america. he has done that, he has taken on a machine that pushed back against him and he is doing it

again. all washington machine pushing back against them, and he is taken it on again and he is doing the exact thing that we need to do, talking about getting congress to be part- time. changing the federal judiciary. going to an optional flat tax. you'd pick and let's get this place rolling but we have to do it by taking on washington. he is taking on washington. when i ran for governor in kansas, one of the biggest lines that i used was kansas and our future need to look a lot more like texas and a lot less like california. and you know what? people knew what that meant. it meant less taxes, it meant more growth, it meant more opportunity for people. and that is what we need in the united states of america. that is why i am backing rick perry. this is a guy that has the batting average. when you're going to pick a player, you want someone that has produced.

this guy has produced. and finally in this field, [unintelligible] he rents the whole facility and says i do not care if i'm the only guy with an usher, i am going to go there to pay for the country because the country needs this. we have to work ourselves and we need to ask the good lord has blessed this country for blessing the united states of america. and for these reasons, i am asking u.s. of fellow midwesterners, to support someone from all little further south of someone that has a proven track record and can get the job done. and let's start him appear on the platform with that it -- let's get him out here on the platform with a chant. rick perry. ♪ ca >> sam brownback, bobby jindal -- to degrade as samples of what

the 10th amendment is all about. i just want to recognize it -- two great examples of what the 10th amendment is all about. i want their recognize our comptroller from the state of texas, appreciate you being here. my darling daughter sydney. my son and his wife meredith. and the love of my life, the woman who has made every day in my life better, because almost 30 years ago she said yes to a request that i had been making for nearly 16 years, and my wife anita. [applause] and i want to go back to these governors. they are such great friends and competitors. bobbie, i have to watch close because he is over on the eastern side of texas and he will slip across and steal a job

or two and he was sir come get a football player. [laughter] bobby is an lsu guy, so he loves to talk about football right now. anyway, listen, it is important but the only scoreboard that matters is tomorrow. it is the scoreboard, won the caucuses meet and we win the big iowa caucus tomorrow. that is the one that matters. [applause] and i have a couple great members of the united states congress that are here, one from your neighboring state of missouri, sam graves, thank you for being here. and another start united states congress, met more than any from south carolina, he is with us. -- mick mulvaney from south carolina, he is with us.

they understand how important what we're talking about, making america more competitive. what we're talking about, what this country needs is a president of united states and a congress that will work with that president to pass a balanced budget amendment to the united states constitution. that understands because one of the most powerful ways that you can impact of that cultural corruption and what is going on between washington and wall street is to have a part-time congress, cut their pay, cut the amount of time they spend in washington, d.c., cut their staff, send them back, have a real job like you have to deal with, live under the laws which they pass. someone says that such a radical idea, and i say, no, it is not a radical idea. we have a great opportunity to operate the 13th largest economy in the world. in the state of texas.

in our legislature meets for 140 days every other year. they come in in january of odd years and they get their work done, they passed laws that need to be passed, we have a balanced budget amendment, they take that $600 a month that we pay them and then they go home to their real job, sam. and they live with their constituents and that will worker -- that will work. it will work in washington, d.c. it is the power of the people in that people are ready to take this country back, which i feel it in my so they're ready to take this country back, they have seen four years -- i mean, three years as president trying to spend our way to prosperity, let me just ask you, are you better off today than you were 4 trillion dollars ago? >> noaa! >> seriously, mr. president, you cannot print more money. bobby nails and on the head when he says that there has never been a country, a state, a city,

or a family that has been able to spend themselves to prosperity. does not work, mr. president. it has never worked in americans know that and they are ready to take this country back. there are young men and women serving around the world today who are great patriots, who are ready to have a president of the united states that does not go anywhere and apologize for america, because they are out there putting their lives on the line. as they have done so many times before. [applause] no president should ever apologize for the american -- for america. we are exceptional. you'd think about what the men and women of the united states military have done throughout history. you're talking about your dad in the great sacrifices our fathers made in the world war ii generation. young men and women who are serving today -- how many

veterans are in this audience? thank you for your service. god bless you. [applause] and there are a couple of veterans appear on the stage that i want to point out a second, because it is so important to me to have individuals like these, who are supporting my candidacy because they understand not only was i willing to volunteer and serve our country back during the vietnam conflict as a pilot in the united states air force, but also having been the commander in chief for 11 of years in the state of texas and seeing our young men and women employed multiple times into these theaters of conflict where we have been asked to send them. and one of them here with us today, matter of fact, two here with us today that have extraordinary stories. one of them is a young navy seal. and in the mountains of

afghanistan in 2005, he was on a mission to kill or capture of very high level target. and there were overrun. by taliban fighters. they outnumbered 150 to 4. and the fight was on. and all of them badly fob, one medal of honor recipient, three navy cross recipients, and he was the only one that came of that mountain alive. another 16 of his special operators were killed when they're coming to rescue him. you may read the story. the "new york times" best- selling author, markets. -- markets. -- marcus.

[applause] thank you, brother. and his beautiful wife, melanie, thank you for coming. dan,, on the stage. this young marine, captain dan moran, his humvee was hit by an ied in afghanistan, and he and one other young marine were the only two that survived. of the five. i got a phone call. from one of my classmates. who was in theater. he said, one of our kids is coming your way. he said he is probably not one to make it. is that third degree burns over a substantial part of his body

and his lungs burned really bad. but he is on his way to brooke army medical center. i said, roger that, we will have our sister-in-law look him up and look after his family. we will do the best we can and keep him in our careers. well, today, i am proud to be standing by this real american hero, a man who has been through 30 plus 34 go forward 30 plus surgery's but one of the great patriots and christian brothers that i've got. [applause]

that's the part about -- that is part of what this is all about. it is about those young men and women, it is about supporting them when they come home, it is about making sure that we have aviate it works. it is about making sure that -- that we have a va that works. that we have governors that make sure that they do everything that they can so that when they come home and not only have the support mechanisms, weather making sure that we have college programs that take into account their expertise and transform it where they do not have to spend more time at universities to be able to get the degrees to be able to get into that work force, it is being able to make sure that if they are disabled, we give them tax rates, it is being americans and saying god bless you, for serving, and putting your life on line for

us. that is what this is about. [applause] so we cannot do that, we cannot do that if we do not first make sure that we have an economy that is going on all cylinders. and the way to do that is to make sure that we're not overtaxing and over regulating and over litigating that businessmen and women, the entrepreneur is, if individuals who know how to create the wealth in this country, whether it is on the energy side or on the manufacturing side, when the chief executive officer of coca-cola says, like he did this last year, it is easier to do business in communist china than it is in the united states, you do not need a playbook to understand that, mr. president. cut the regulations. have men and women at the nba, at the fda, at that other alphabet soup of agencies, we're

going to pull every regulation act has gone forward since 2008 and we're going detested and audited. if it is a job killer, it is gone. if it will help create jobs, it will stay in place. [applause] one of the great manufacturers instead in this country, john deere, they have an epa regulation coming down the pike that basically says we are going to lower by some minuscule amount than nitrous oxide emissions out of these next tractor engines. at the tune of $20,000 more per tractor. that is just one of those thousands that bobby talked about of regulations, steve forbes was with us this morning, $1.70 trillion what it cost americans every year in the regulations that come out of washington, d.c. $1.70 trillion, because there is some bureaucrat in washington, d.c. that has never set foot on

i was all most likely, who is making decisions -- iowa soil most likely, who is making decisions, telling you how to educate your children, it is time to do away with the department of education in washington, d.c. let the people of iowa decide how to take care of their children. that is what americans are ready for. listen, if you do not remember but one thing tonight, other than these great patriots that are here, and i just want to add one thing, i am so honored to have people like markets and dan that have stood up and said, listen, we're for the sky. and these two guys, they know me personally. mike cullerton, medal of honor recipient. general jim livingston, medal of

honor recipient. those individuals are standing up and saying to their friends and their veterans and fellow military colleagues we need this man because we know his heart, we know him, they are making a difference for us to the veterans all across this country. but remember this one question has to leave here tonight. why would you settle, why would you settle for anything but an authentic conservative that shares their views and values and will go to washington, d.c. and not apologize one moment farther? you do not have to. you've got a choice. and that choice is a governor who has a track record of creating jobs, a governor who is and pushing back on washington, d.c. if withheld my colleagues in the senate and house and we understand how to compete.

we understand what our spending fathers meant when they had those enumerated powers for the federal government. to stand up to the mental terry -- stand up the military, to secure our borders, not that they would do one of those really well. we get one out of two. very endeavour rated and limited powers of the federal level. -- enumerated and limited powers at the federal level. and the powers not delegated to the united states by the constitution nor prohibited to it by the states. they are reserved for the states. respectively. or to the people, the 10th amendment. these governors and a number of other governors understand that intuitively, that is states that should be making the decisions about how to educate our children, how to deliver health

care, how to build transportation infrastructure, how to take care of our environment. i can promise you, bobby knows better, sam knows better how to take care of the folks of louisiana and kansas respectively than some bureaucrat in washington, d.c. that is what this is about, a president who instinctively understands you let the states compete, fallout that medicaid to go back in the kansas, allow the epa-type work to be done at louisiana levels, and our people will do better. stand up and take out your hand and sign an executive order on the first day you are in the oval office and wiped out as much of obamacare as you can. with an executive order. [applause] look forward sam carry the legislation on the house side to completely wipe it off the books. and you can be the co-sponsor in the senate, david.

we can get our country back again and get it on track and get it there hurry, open up our federal lands and waters to get the energy that is sitting there, proven reserves, 90% of our reserves are not even be news, david. i mean, the dollars that could be used from creating the energy industry and the american domestic energy and allow that money from the federal lands to go to pay off this debt, this 15th dollar trillion worth of debt, that is what this election is about. this is not about me. this is about our country. and our country is calling right now. they are asking us, our children are waiting for us to answer the call, and the question is this -- are we ready to step forward? i thought about what the prophet isaiah heard from the lord when he was asked who shall i send. and who will go for me?

isaf said, here and my, send me. i, sendh said, here ami i me. our children are waiting for us to answer, we answer that call? would you hold up your hand and i will make you this one pact, you have my back tomorrow at the caucuses, and i will have your back for the next four years in washington d.c. god bless you, and god bless this great country of america. ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

♪

>> tomorrow night, i will host the first in the nation presidential caucuses. on "washington journal," as our guest is greg robinson. he talks about the final efforts by the campaigns in iowa and his predictions for the turnout. then we hear from jesse benton, national campaign chairman for the ron paul campaign. he discusses his support for the candidate and his eye was strategy. later, michele bachmann explained her campaign strategy -- his iowa strategy. "washington journal" take your calls live every morning starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern, here on c-span. >> tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., or preview of the iowa caucuses. we will look at the caucus process and the state of the republican presidential race. then live coverage from caucusus from central iowa.

on our companion network, c- span2, coverage of another caucus from western iowa. you can join the conversation by falling on facebook and twitter. the iowa caucuses, tuesday on the c-span network. >> that site has already made up its mind. this site has already made up its mind and the, i call it garbage, dr. rice. >> that is the university. >> you just be quiet. cubicle at. >> you don't know me. -- you be quiet. >> i work for the private sector. >> the confrontation at a congressional hearing between representative don young from alaska and historian douglas brinkley ranked as the force --

fourth most watched a video in the c-span video library. click on the most watched have to view other videos from the past year. it is what you want, when you want. >> republican presidential candidate rand paul and his son, senator rand paul, kicked off a tour of iowa today beginning in the morning. current polls have congressman paul in second place with 22% of likely republican caucus goers. only two points behind mitt romney. this is 15 minutes.

[applause] >> can everybody hear me? let's get this party started. [applause] it's time to get going. my name is david fisher and i am proud to be co-chairman of the ron paul presidential campaign in iowa. i want to do a real brief review: the history of the modern day tea party movement. the date was december 16, 2007, the 204th anniversary of the boston tea party a. the location was a grass roots- lead online 1 day fundraiser for the ron paul presidential campaign, a data resulted in

over $6 million being raised for the campaign in that one single day. the epicenter of the activity on that day was in boston, of course faneuil hall where the keynote speech was given by rand paul. the tea party has gone to washington since then and the tea party has come to iowa to talk about the importance of the ron paul presidential campaign. i am proud to introduce the hon. united states senator from the commonwealth of kentucky, dr. rand paul. [applause] >> alright, all right, what a crowd! anybody here for ron paul? [applause] when my dad asked me to campaign in iowa i said i will come of i don't have to wear a tie. it looks like we have some young people here. [applause]

there is energy and it is overflowing and did they get it is coming tomorrow. we will win in iowa tomorrow. [applause] i get to go around a lot and give speeches and i was at a buffet recently and was up there near the front and there was a guy in front of me that had two plates of food. it was pilot of the third play of the. the guy next to him said," you're not going to live very long living -- eating like that." "he said my granddaddy live to 105. "he said i beg your grendell did not live to be 105 leading like that. >> he lived to be 105 by minding his own business. [applause] anybody here want their government to mind their own business? [applause] we are borrowing $40,000 per second.

we are borrowing over $2 million per minute. in the short time we will be here today, we will borrow over $70 million. admiral mullen said the biggest threat to our national security is our debt. erskine bowles, head of the debt commission said that the most predictable crisis in our history is the coming debt crisis. even ben bernanke has said our debt is unsustainable. there is only one candidate in this race who would balance the budget in one term. [applause] there is only one candidate who would cut $1 trillion in spending. [applause] there is only one candidate who understands the conservatives and liberals will have to get together to cut spending.

the conservatives will have to understand that not every dollar spent on the military is sacred or wisely spent. [applause] liberals will have to understand the same, not every dollar spent on domestic spending or welfare is wisely spent or sacred. spending will have to be across the board. [applause] there is only one candidate who has never been accused of flip flopping. there's only one candidate who has never taken a congressional junket. there is only one candidate who stands above had and shoulders -- head and shoulders above, lobbyists say is incorruptible. [applause]

there is only one candidate who the soldiers trust, one candidate -- one candidate who has received more contributions from active duty soldiers then all the other candidates combined. [applause] that candidate is my father, please welcome ron paul. [applause] >> look at the crowd. hey! [chanting] >> thank you, thank you. we have a short time but i am glad to see so many. if you get to chanting, we will

not have time for this piece. it is great to be here. this crowd is amazing. we suggested we get a few people out of these was the stops and encourage everybody along but this is almost like a real rally. this is great, wonderful " [applause] the enthusiasm has been building. i have been in the business of promoting a cause of liberty for many years and it has changed over the years. for a long time, it was subtle and quiet and i did a by devoting all the time in washington the way i thought i should vote, frequently that required me to vote no. today, the enthusiasm has increased. it is a big difference from four years ago when there was enthusiasm and excitement and the college campuses were coming alive and the federal reserve for became an issue. many people back then were talking it was time to change our foreign policy. today, 70% of the american

people are saying it is time to get out of afghanistan, home. [applause] -- and come home. [applause] the excitement has built steadily and the campaign has been remarkable in the organization. the funds have come in, as was mentioned earlier, even four years ago, raising $6 million in one day which is historic but the funds are still coming in which is a vote of confidence. the idea that military personnel sent a lot of money to this campaign more than the other campaigns -- the enthusiasm is growing by leaps and bounds. the crowds are getting bigger and the issue, as far as i'm concerned, there is only one issue -- they talk about foreign policy and monetary policy and economic policy. there is one issue that has made america great and the issue you can answer all your questions on -- individual

liberty. that is the issue. [applause] it was the abuse of this liberty that provoked the revolution and the writing of the constitution. the constitution was written as a document though we were coming together into one country -- the document was written and intended to strictly restrain the federal government. that is what the constitution is all about [applause] yet today we have a federal government that has grown by leaps and bounds and the best demonstration of that is the spending which never ceases, one administration to the next, it is always increases in spending and today when they talk about cuts, you know they are not talking about cuts. if they are talking about tinkering around the edges and nibbling away at the proposed increases. we are talking about real cuts and shrinking of the size of the federal government.

[applause] you cannot do that on less you raise the one significant question and that is what the role of government should be. if liberty is the most import issue, the most and poured responsibility of government is to protect liberty and not to be the policeman of the world and not to have a runaway welfare state. [applause] somewhere along the way we lost our way and went in the wrong direction and we have allowed our government to grow. we accepted the idea that the federal government's responsibility was to intervene in the economy, not to protect the free market economy, not to protect private property and contracts, it was to intervene and play mr.. it was not to protect your privacy. the government spends more time today invading your privacy. it should be the other way

around. we want exposure and openness of government. we want your privacy back. [applause] we do not want the government to be messing around with the internet, invading her privacy. we don't need a patriot act that tells you that the government can come in and invade your house and homes and everything you do without a proper search warrant. [applause] we certainly don't need to move on to the next day it is happening now. two weeks ago it was passed and recently signed by the president authorizing the military to arrest american citizens -- [boos] for citizens to be held indefinitely. that is the wrong direction. we need to reverse that direction.

we have to answer the correct question properly -- what is the proper role? stay out of running the economy. stay out of our personal lives. stay out of the internal affairs of other nations. we don't need to be doing that. [applause] one of the great facilitators on the way spending got out of control and the government expanded was the way our monetary system works. if a country wants to do something and they have the taxes and people rebel, they devised this other system of borrowing and and delaying the payment. now they have used another technique for the last 100 years which is totally out of control and it is called central banking, the federal reserve. this idea that we allow, in secret, the central bank to print on limited dollars into the trillions bailing out has to come to an end.

that is the reason government gets so big and not only do we want an audit of the fed, we want to make sure that we have something much better than the current federal reserve system that we have today. [applause] we had a grand experiment in our history. we were the greatest nation, the freest nation, with the largest middle-class ever and today that is not true grit our middleclass is getting smaller by the dead. there's a transfer of payments when you destroy currency. there's a transfer of pimmit when you allow the lobbyists to control washington and washington becomes nothing more than an auction. this is the reason that we have to reassert our cells. we have a tradition on what freedom is all about and what sound money was all about and private property.

therefore, we don't have quite a task that other nations have when they want to go to a freer society. most of history has been obligated to live under dictatorship. today we are moving in the wrong direction but the american people are staring. this is what this campaign has been all about and this is what the vote is about tomorrow. are we sick and tired of the expansion of government, the and less spending, and the deficit, doing the things they were not supposed to do and forgetting about doing the things they should be doing? [applause] tomorrow is a very important day. it is small in numbers but a very big message. you carry a lot of weight. send a message on which we we are going for the status quo. you don't have to worry about the choice if you choose another candidate because the others represent the status quo. they are variations of the status quo but they are not talking about farm policy to defend america. they are talking about mr. round the world.

are they talk about changing the monetary policy? are looking at the basic problems with the monetary system and how great our financial bubble? do they really care about personal liberties when you look at the votes and what the president has been doing? they don't care about your personal liberty or it would not be continuously undermined. therefore, a lot is at stake. i used to say, as many have said, yes, we cannot spend that money because we don't want to pass on to the next generation. let me tell you -- it will not happen. the next generation is here today. that is why we have to change things today and bring back the traditions of america which means liberty, peace, and prosperity. thank you very much. [applause] [chanting ron paul, ron paul]

[room noise] fax tomorrow night, iowa holds the first presidential caucuses. on "washington journal," our guest is greg robinson. he talks about the final[inaudible conversations] efforts by the campaigns in iowa and his predictions for the turnout. then we hear from jesse benton, national campaign chairman for the ron paul campaign. he discusses his support for the candidate and his eye was strategy. later, michele bachmann explains her campaign strategy heading into new week's new hampshire primary. "washington journal glo-coat take your calls and e-mails like

every morning starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern, here on c-span. >> tuesday, the "road to the white house goes through america's heartland for the iowa caucuses. c-span coverage continues at 7:00 a.m. eastern, live from des moines, talking with political experts and taking your calls. at 7:00 p.m., our preview program on the caucus process and the state of the republican presidential race. at 8:00, live caucus coverage from central iowa, followed by a results and candidate speeches. we'll have live coverage of another caucus from western iowa on c-span2. coverage is also available on c- span radio and online at c- span.org/campaign2012. >> after the iowa caucuses, the candidate's head to new hampshire for that state's first

in the nation primary contest. we will bring you the campaign, town halls, and speeches leading up to the january 10 contest. all the candidates from iowa to new hampshire, here on the c- span networks, c-span.org, and c-span radio. one day before the iowa caucuses, republican presidential candidate rick santorum held a meet and greet session in altoona, iowa. the latest poll has him in third place, receiving 15% of the vote. from the pizza ranch rest thought, this is 50 minutes.

>> how are you feeling, senator? >> we did not come here to lose. we are going to do the best we can. we have the momentum right now, and hopefully we will end up in a good place. >> do you think you can win tomorrow? >> we came here to win, and we hope we can do that. it. we have a few folks here and we are feeling very, very good about things right now. energy and enthusiasm is what wins caucuses. right now and hopefully we will end up at a good place. keep working hard.

>> let's get this thing started. [applause] >> i was an intern on capitol hill. we are in the russell building. right across all, everybody is talking about young, strong conservative from pennsylvania. i never got to meet him while i was on capitol hill. two years ago we sat down at a restaurant and talked. we have had close to 380 town hall meetings.

i am telling you, he catches fire. there is just desperation. i need your help. i need you to do something for me. i need you to join me in endorsing rick santorum. tell your friends, all your neighbors and family. take them with you tomorrow night. if you do, rick santorum will be the next president of the united states. [applause] before you hear from the men of the hour, i want to introduce a real special person, a great american. and number one new york times

best selling author. give a shout out for brad gore. >> i know you are here to listen to rick, but he asked me to get up here and introduce him. i came here from chicago, illinois. i believe this is the most important election of our lives. the future of our country depends not only on the election coming up, but it is important how iowa will vote in the caucus tomorrow night. are we going to go back to a strong, prosperous america, or are we going to go the way of socialism? people say why are you voting for rick santorum? it is about having a

conservative in their who we know we can trust to do the nation's most important business. most important for me, the two biggest reasons or my children. i believe we need to leave the country for our kids and grandchildren that is stronger and more free than the country that was left to us. the only person who is going to do that for us is senator rick santorum. without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, i would like to introduce you to the next president of the united states, senator rick santorum. [applause] >> here we go. i don't want to hit my head. hello, everybody. how are we doing? how about that? no, that is not working. is that better?

thank you all very much. one of my favorite authors is a great conservative who talks about the real challenge is that america has in defending freedom. i know he does a lot of commentary on radio and television. he drove his whole family from chicago to come here to campaign for us here in iowa. i want to thank brad for being here. when we were sitting here at 3% in the polls, there were not a lot of people coming up and saying i want to help you because i believe in you. one person did. that was matt shultz. i worked with him a little bit on his campaign for secretary of state. i just found him to be one of the real, solid, salt of the earth conservatives.

he is already a leader in iowa and will be of future leader of iowa. he has spent the last three days with me. i want to give a special shot out to him. thank you very much for everything. [applause] we have been here in iowa at town hall number 380. all 99 counties, that was over a month ago. we have taken our time. this has been a real court ship. we sat and talked, sat across the table more times than not, and most of our town hall meetings have been sitting down at a table. i saw joe klein here. he was with me in corning, the home of john carson, i found out. there were five or six at a table.

there was a small number in a cafe, and it was the night of a world series game. there was not a very big crowd. that was the typical crowd. people say, why are you doing this? i said because i respect the process. i respect the fact that iowans are going to make their decision, and i want to give them every opportunity to get a chance to know not just what i believe then, but their chance to look at something that is important. look into the eyes of someone who wants to be a leader of the government. you cannot do that very well, or as well as we would like to, without that personal interaction. we have been traveling around iowa.

my family spent 3.5 weeks here in iowa prior to the straw poll. after that, the entire family was here, and after that we have had kids coming in and out. my son john and my daughter elizabeth are here, somewhere in that throng back there somewhere. the rest of the family came here. my wife, karen, is right here. you can applaud for karen. [applause] she is busy raising those seven children that we have. the rest of the family is here at the pizza ranch. this is pizza ranch no. 35 or 36 that i have been to, and i have been in rooms like this, usually with a lot less people. the other boys and my daughter -- this has been a real family

affair today. we have enjoyed the trips around. i want to say three things. number one is thank you. this has been an incredible experience. i don't know what these other candidates are doing, running their campaigns, but i cannot think of a better experience over the past several months and spending the time that i did in iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina. i have spent an enormous amount of time in all three. up until this last month, it was about an equal amount of time. i have been to new hampshire 30 times. i have done more events in new hampshire than anybody but jon huntsman. we have done more events in south carolina than any other candidate. these three states are the ones that fight to be first, that have the tradition of being first. we respected that, and we went out and try to earn the votes of these people. we started here, and we end

here tonight. this is our last big town hall meeting. i just wanted to say to each and everyone of you representing a lot of iowans. the three things i heard more than any other words was "welcome to iowa." people are just very happy that you showed the respect to them, asking for their vote and being in front of them and giving them the opportunity to do something, which is, in fact, a burden. it is a heavy responsibility. it is a huge responsibility. a lot of people make light of the iowa caucuses, but as you will see tomorrow night, it will have a huge impact on this race.

the decision you make cannot and should not be taken lightly. i wanted to at least do my part to help you in this difficult decision, by making ourselves available, sacrificing my time with my wife and my children, but this is the most important election in your lifetime. i have stepped forward, probably not the best time in my life to do it, but i did because i just felt this was something that when i look back at my grandfather and my dad, who were immigrants to this country, who fought hard to give me freedom, it is the least i can do at a juncture in history to fight hard for my children's freedom. that is what i decided to do, and we made that commitment. people said, what is the reason for your big rise in the poll these last few days? i would just say this. the reason is you. i talked about matt. i can also talk about jim

gibbons, a dear friend and someone who stepped up and helped us by endorsing us early this last month. i could talk about steve, a businessman here who stepped up a couple of weeks ago to help us. sam was with us yesterday and the day before. i could talk about what bob did 10 days ago in stepping forward. the bottom line is yes, they provided some leadership, but the real leadership is being provided by the people of iowa. i have always believed we would get our balance, not from a debate performance, not from a big, flashy report on how much money i have been raising or how many impressive folks i have in a super pak, but i would get it because we went out and earned the trust of the people of iowa. the people of iowa would do the

two things that i have been asking them to do at the end of my speech. that is, do not defer your judgment to people who know less about who these candidates are and you do. you fight to be first, lead. do what you believe is in the best interest of this country, and secondly, be bold. this country is at a critical juncture. do not settle for something less than what this country needs. you will have a victory, but it will not make the changes necessary to preserve that freedom and security for the next generation. one reporter said it was and ask, don't tell. i am asking you to be bold and lead, and i will let you make the decision. i trust the people of iowa. the number one state for

website visits the last two weeks has been iowa. i know you think you are the center of the universe -- the center of the country, sorry. i misspoke. believe it or not, you are not the biggest stake in the country. california is over 10 times bigger than you, and yet you have more searches and that of taxes or any other state. you are doing your homework. i cannot ask for any more. going around and asking you if the that is why i am going around and asking you to lead and be bold. to pick the candidate you believe it meets what this country needs. i know you are worried. a lot of folks have told me and a lot of the questions i get, can you win? one of the candidate said i am on delectable and cannot win. show me any other candidate in

this race who has ever won a state that we have to win in order to win the presidency. none of them. we have three congressmen who represent heavily republican district. we have a republican governor of texas who ran as a conservative. how hard is that? again, not a swing state. the governor of massachusetts ran as a liberal. he won, and did not run for reelection. why? look at his poll numbers. a poll numbers are not much better, but i stood and i fought. if you want someone who is always looking for the next political opportunity, you do not want a president like rick santorum. i am going to stand up and fight for what i believe in when the political winds are for you or against you. i remember talking to shepard smith today on fox.

he said winter you going to get the drift that your viewpoints are out of touch. i said the truth is the truth. just because some people or even most people do not believe the truth anymore, does not change it from being the truth. you stand for what you believe is the truth. if you are looking for that kind of leadership, then i think you should look our way. we stand up and we fight in good times and in bad. we stand up for the truth. we stand up for the values that made this country the greatest country in the history of the world. am i the perfect conservative candidate? no, i am not. you will find plenty of things that might opponent will point out. but my convictions are clear and strong. they are consistent. i may have voted for a bad thing or two, but i never advocated for the bad things. i may have voted for bill was

something in there that i did not like, but not things that were inconsistent with my values. i admit that on occasion, i have done that, but you will never find me out there violating the principles at the core of my being. if you want someone, as ronald reagan said, trust but verify. that is what iowans have been doing. every one of the republican candidates is saying how conservative they are. iowans are saying that is great, it is hard decision. most iowans have been undecided until the last couple of weeks. now they are starting to decide. it is the verify time. look at the records, get the information, and verify that what they say they are going to do exactly what they have done in the past. a lot of critics say i talk too much about what my record is,

and i should focus just on what i am going to do. that is what all the other candidates do, and they have had their moment. i said if i had their record, i would just talk about what i was going to do, too. but i have a record i am proud of. i want you to know that when i say i am going to do something, you can look back and say, he has always been there and fought for those things. this is not just here, it is here, and here, and here. get out on caucus night tomorrow night, 24 hours from now. speak to those caucuses. stand up and ask your caucus goers for help for rick santorum. stand up and walk around that caucus and campaign for me. about one-third of the people showing up to that caucus, we

have been told, will be undecided. help them decide. if you want to make a difference here in iowa, you can do what i once do best. ignore what the pundit class -- you can do what iowans do best. we need to be principals to win. [applause] send a message from the heartland. do what i would does, which is to make sure that the conservatives, one with a record of accomplishment, not just political, but also getting things done in washington, d.c. we have journalists here from all over the country and all over the world. we will not just send a message

to iowa, but the midwest, the republican party, and the country and the world. iowa, the state that will know the candidates better than any other. i hope you tuesday. jig i hope you choose me -- i hope you choose me. thank you very, very much. i appreciate it. [applause] i am going to go in and talk to the crowd out there. there is another big crowd out here. thank you all very much. i will take two quick questions. >> the goal is to work together to do the people's work. >> the best thing you can do is the old biblical passage. with television, the people will perish.

-- without vision, the people will perish. one of the things that leaders should do is try to find a common set of values that we can all agree on, from which we can go forward. it is very difficult to find solutions when the premises from which you build your answer are radically different. what this president has done is to divide this country into two groups of people who have very different views. he has done his best to divide and hope he can get enough people on his side to ram through what he wants, instead of finding consensus on how to build this country together a and stronger. this is the most divisive president, in my opinion, from his political rhetoric, of any president in my lifetime. then he wonders why he does not get cooperation. he goes out and individually vilifies members of congress. he vilifies anyone who opposes him. he has vilified repeatedly the past president of the united states.

he blames everybody for everything, other than him. i know there are people in this room who will record it and keep me to it. i will do my level best, and once i am sworn in as president, i will never say the words barack obama again, at least in the context of dealing with the problem in america that is his fault. americans know that barack obama was handed a tough task. americans know that rick santorum will be handed a tougher task. i don't need to continue to rub salt in the wounds of folks who may have lost that last election, and create that antipathy that they president has. i need to work with folks to get things done, to shrink the size of government, to grow this economy, to make it stronger and safer. you don't do that by dividing, you do that by bringing people together. one other question.

>> what do you think is the biggest hurdle between now and nomination? >> what is the biggest hurdle between now and my nomination? 10 days ago, i was at 4% in the polls, and look at what is happening here. here is what i believe. here is what i know. money is not going to win this election. if that was the case, i would be below every other candidate and would not even be close. when we report our financial picture, it is going to be embarrassing. in the last four or five days, we have raised more money than we have in the last few months. we have done very well, and we hope to do a lot better after tomorrow night. but we are not going to run a big campaign. we are not going to hire a bunch of experts and staff. we will run the campaign that keeps continuing to interact

with voters, that is accessible and accountable. we will do our best to be lean and mean and set an example that you can win the presidency that way, and you can govern the country that way. we believe that is the best approach. we're going to go to new hampshire. we're going to get on television. we will increase that as the weeks go on. we think we can compete there. obviously, governor romney has been running there for many years, but we think we can do well. we have a lot of folks from south carolina. we have legions of folks that are helping us in new hampshire.

we have a great team on the ground. we are building that team. we are getting calls from all over the country. just not this last week, but longer. we will continue to do that and build an operation that works from the bottom up. thank you and god bless. [applause] >> [inaudible] >> i could not know that, right? ok. >> [inaudible] >> thank you.

sorry about this. thank you. >> we pick rick! >> let's hear it for rick santorum, the next president of the united states. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much for coming out. what an incredible crowd. you put me in front of pizza and that is very dangerous. i want to thank pizza ranch for

their hospitality. it is great for them to do that. thank you for coming out. this is our last taha meeting. -- town hall meeting. we are here with the entire family. i am here with my wife. i do not know if you can see karen, but she is here. karen has been an amazing rock at home. we have seven children. we have a special needs little girl that requires a lot of care. for karen to step forward and say, i will support you, and you have seven children and

having that responsibility doing over 100 town halls in the state of new hampshire, it is a lot of time away from home. we felt this is what we were called to do. to go out and speak and lay out a vision for this country. a vision that was not just about taxes and spending and growth. if you have been to my town hall meetings, i talk a lot about those things. it is also about the values of this country. you cannot have limited government. we talked about a strong

national defense. we talked about having a principled leader that says what america's policy is, but then does things that will effectuate that policy. that is what this president has not done. it is important to have a leader that you can trust. [applause] we have trusted the people of iowa. karen and the kids, we came here in the summer. we brought all seven kids. we brought six this time. they are right in front of me.

give a wave right here. [applause] elizabeth and john had spent a lot of time on the road. peter and patrick have been home helping mom. it has been a divided family, but a united family. a mission and a message. >> thank you. [applause] >> i want to say to the people of iowa, thank you. i do not know what will happen tomorrow night, but this has been an experience. you have made me a better candidate, and a better person. thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. [applause]

the three words heard everywhere i went was "welcome to iowa." we're so glad you came and respected us enough to be in our town. in all 99 counties. we came because we trusted iowans. if we stood before them and related to them what our vision was for the country, what our record was, you throw on top of that, we told them how we were going to win the election. we're the best person in this field to take on not just barack obama comment to take on the challenges after we defeat barack obama. [applause]

i was saying to the people of iowa, this is my closing comment, do what iowans do, you fought to lead. you fought to be first. do not defer your judgment to a national polls and national pundits. trust for you have seen, what you have heard. trust the interactions you have had with the candidates. trust the work you have done in researching the candidates. you have done more than any other group and this -- in this country. you are doing your homework. i know because of all of that state's on our website we did visit from, the number one state for the past two or three weeks has been iowa. you are doing your homework, right? [applause] do not defer -- lead.

if you want to be first, it is a huge burden. this is the most important election in your lifetime. this is an important decision that many of you have struggled with. you want to get it right. trust your gut, trust your head. once you've made that decision, be bold. once you have made the decision of the right person is, be bold. go out and give america a signal from iowa that we want somebody who is up to what america needs. did not vote for someone because they can win. that is a victory that will feel very empty. it will not be like this pizza. you will walk out of those

caucuses hungry. $9.99 -- there you go. lead, and be bold. if you do those two things, you would have done your job as iowans. we believe they're the best chance of winning the election. that is what iowans are charged to do. if you do it, you'll not only shocked this country, you will shock the world. you will put this race in a completely different place than it was just a week ago. you'll do a great favor for your children and grandchildren. god bless you. god bless america. [applause] thank you.

they gave me a tremendous opportunity. i will be forever grateful matter what happens. thank you. all right. >> we pick rick! >> i just about to reach in there and grab one of those babies. >> [inaudible] >> thank you. we really appreciate it.

>> thank you so much for coming out. >> how does it feel to be a contender in this race? >> i am very thankful for the people of iowa for putting us in this position. >> [inaudible] >> i do not know what the question was. if you look at my record, no one worked more on poverty and with the african-american community than i did in the united states senate. i did an enormous amount of work in the inner city. i have to believe -- look at what i said, i believe every american should not be dependent on government.