[crowd murmurs] >> ok. my name is mike carver, i and the temporary -- temporary chairman of the eigth precinct. i am glad to see you here. thank you for coming. i would like to call the caucus to order at this point. the first order of business so that we can move forward -- i am serving as a temporary chair.

i would like to entertain any motions for a permanent chair. anybody else want the job? all in favor say aye. thank you so much. that was one of the easiest votes ahead of our head. [applause] we have out acting secretary. we need to have a motion to see who would like to be permanent secretary. i would like to move that he be our permanent secretary. all in favor? very good. wonderful, wonderful. it is wonderful to start out on a note we are all together on. i would like to begin this evening by having us all stand and say the pledge of allegiance. if we could all stand and say the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag

of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you very much. thank you very much. ok, i would like to begin this evening. one of the traditions we have at our city council meetings is we read the character count statement before every meeting. frankly, i think it is apropos for our discussion. i would like to begin by reading the character account statement we read before each of our city council meetings. urbandale is a national leader in character count, promoting and modeling trust worthiness, respect, responsibility, caring, and sedition -- citizenship.

we expect that all participants will act in a manner consistent with these principles. i thought it fit with what we were trying to accomplish. i thought it was appropriate. i would like to give you a couple words tonight about the agenda. i think you all got a copy of our draft agenda so you have an idea of what we are going to be about this evening. one of the things we will be doing this evening is, first, we are going to be focused on the balloting for our presidential ballot. that will be one of the early things will be doing. then we will have of the business regarding our present leadership. then we'll get into the selection of delegates to our county convention.

at the end, we will be focused on a platform issues. i would welcome all of you to participate until the end. some may decide that after the vote you may leave. we welcome all of you to be here as long as you would like to participate. we would like to move the process forward so we do not drive through the evening. let me mention -- thread it through the evening. let me mentioned ,-- drag through the evening. let me mention, if you have any platform issues, grab one of these pieces of papers and turn it into the secretary. it can be as simple as, we want to cut spending. i do not care. if you have an idea, you are welcome to put it down. i wanted to mention that.

okay. the next thing we will be doing, i do not know if we have -- we are going to be going into the presidential preference poll. one of the things i wanted as a group to decide before we take the ballot, it is a simple request, we have six delegates that will be elected to become a convention. i would like to suggest the following, the cutoff point for allocating delegates to a candid it would be 15%. no candidate that fell less than 15% would get any delegates. that is a threshold. if you end up with 8%, any candidate with over 15% when we calculate the ballot would get

at least one delicate. -- delegate. we will be working on the final allocation plan. we will have a discussion with the various people from the various camps to decide what seems fair and reasonable. i think at this point, i would like to put on the table -- are you willing to offer that as a motion? it is offered as a motion. when we do the polling, come back with our results, as far as delegate selection, we want to have some relationship between the delegates, the votes, and the number of delegates -- anybody would have to get 15% of the delicate -- votes to get one delegate. a second over here. any discussion? all in favor say aye.

any opposed? that was a starting point. i thought it was better to beat -- deal with that now. someone comes in with 14.5%. we will proceed forward. at this point, i believe we have -- do we have anyone here who is willing to speak for michele bachmann? anyone who is willing to speak on behalf of michele bachmann? i have asked that several times. nobody here? my understanding is that rick santorum's wife was going to be coming. is she here? she is not here yet. we will proceed down the list. we have speakers for rick perry, ron paul, newt gingrich,

and mitt romney. we will worker in as soon as she gets here. at this point, i would like to welcome to the podium joe webber. he is a friend from texas. where is joe? right here. why do you not come up here. you can come up here. three minutes to four minutes. >> thank you. good evening. we are grateful to be here. i want to tell you. this is the first time i have been to iowa. for somebody to come to texas and be treated as nice here as they are in texas is amazing, from cabdrivers to your priests and ministers. thank you for having us here. rick perry and i grew up together. we are friends. we played six man football

together in high school. we went to texas a&m together. he went into the air force, you know the story. he flu, came back, worked the farm. i went into the marine corps. i am privileged my country for 36 years -- i am privileged to have served my country for 36 years. [applause] we were all over the world. we have two children in college. if you have children in college, you worry about them carried we never worried about them. even more important, i had to make several calls from the combat zone to rick perry to say, rick, i am sending a texas kid home. he has made the ultimate sacrifice. i think you need to be with his

mom and dad. there were other cases where i said i am sending a young texan home who is not in any good a shape as he was when he came to us. i think you need to go be with his mom and dad. the governor dropped whatever he was doing and went to be with that family. that is personal. it may not be relevant to you. it says something about the character and a virtue of this man. this country needs a leader of character. leadership, i feel comfortable as a marine serving 36 years to talk about leadership. there are many great leaders in this audience. people have written great books. i have deduced that leadership, good leaders, leadership comes down to a good leader, he gets people to do things they do not want to do. i got to tell you, our country, if we have ever needed a leader to do things -- to get people to

do things they did not want to do, we need it right now. all over the world, in places that were good, bad, situations that were good, bad, i am a tired, old marine, the people are young -- is a, you always thought things were better. our country is at 8 tipping point. i think it is because we have forgotten where we came from. we forgot how we got to be prosperous and free. we forgot those who paid the price and sacrifices they had to make to get us where we are. i think rick perry will get us back to understanding and appreciating that. he will provide the leadership that our nation needs.

thank you very much. god bless all of the. [applause] >> thank you, thank you, thank you very much. i appreciate that. i should mention, we drew numbers. this sequence is based on that. we tried to be fair in terms of this sequence. the next person we have is mark baker. he is going to speak on behalf of ron paul. >> good evening. coming here, i did not know i was going to speak for ron paul. i thought i would. i got interested in ron paul from my daughter and her fiancee, 19 years old and 21 years old.

they look at the future and they say, something has to change. we cannot keep doing what we have been doing for the last 20 years. i believe that ron paul can make the most change of any of the candidates. we have a fantastic athlete of republican candidates this year. all of them are fantastic. if you look at ron paul's record, he has been as consistent as anybody. he supports the constitution as good as anybody. some of my friends have said, what about his foreign policy? it is different than the rest of us. can we continue in our economic challenges to be the policeman of the world? can we continue to spend millions and millions and millions of foreign aid to countries that do not appreciate it? i believe as the previous speaker said, we are on the

cusp. if we do not do something radical, we will not be able to help anybody. what do we want? do we want our federal government telling us what to do or do we want liberty? yes, ron paul is the most libertarian of all the candidates. some of my conservative friends have said, he is not strong enough on the social issues. do we really want our federal government deciding what we can do? those of us that are christians think at some point the government may be telling us what we can and cannot do. do we really want that? ron paul, his line is, let's bring liberty back. he is a libertarian. can we really not trust ourselves to live in liberty?

i think we can. i think ron paul is the best chance to do that. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. we have somebody who just arrived. is that correct? i believe the next speaker that is going to be coming up is mrs. rick santorum. am i correct? ok, come on up. the wife of rick santorum is going to be addressing our group. thank you for doing us. -- joining us. [applause] thank you very much. i tripped over that myself earlier. >> thank you so much. it is so nice to be here

tonight. it is an honor to be hit with so many wonderful people. we think iowa -- to be here with so many wonderful people. we thank iowa. we came here last summer for four and a half weeks. we had a wonderful time. we get to know so many of you and iowa and the way things are. we fell in love with the place. we have been back many times, my husband more than me. i am at home with our seven children, home schooling our children. he has had 381 town hall meetings here. he has really enjoy them, the time with all of you, listening to your concerns, what is on your mind, answering any questions you have at. i would take a moment to introduce four of my seven children, elizabeth, peter, patrick.

[applause] they are here tonight. our two of the boys are with our husband. a girl is at home. i wanted to tell you a little about rick. we have been married for 21 years. rick is a father, he is a great daddy. he has a real love and passion for his family. he understands the importance of family as the foundation for a strong society. you have to have strong families to have a strong country. that is the heart -- it is foundational for our nation. the economy cannot be strong if families are not strong. rick is a great provider. we have always lived on a budget. we grew up very simply. i am one of 12 children. he grew up in public housing.

we live on a budget. he says he will put his practices to life. he did when he was in the senate. as soon as he would be president, he would balance the budget. he would get the debt under control. rick's economic plan would bring manufacturing jobs back to our nation. he grew up in butler, pennsylvania, a steel town. when he grew up there, there were a lot of manufacturing jobs. he saw a lot of those jobs leith. they went overseas. rick has a passion to remove federal regulations and taxes and with the burdens on companies so we can restore -- and lift the burdens on companies so we can restore jobs and our country. rick is a great teacher. we home school our kids.

he believes that parents are the first teachers. he has been a great partner with me educating our children. he wants to get government out of education. rick is a great defender of life. he has led the charge in the pro-like movement, defending children in the womb, children with disabilities, and people at all ends of the spectrum. he understands national security. he offered the iran freedom and to put at. he understands that issue well -- freedom and support act. he understands that issue well. rick is a very faithful man. there is nothing more beautiful than a husband and a father who is on his knees praying with his family. that is the glue that makes our family strong. faith is everything for all of us.

if you want someone who has a vision and the track record to do what is necessary to restore our country to our founding principles, who has the experience and courage to be commander in chief, and someone who understands the role that faith and family play in not only of a culture, but our economy, my husband is your guy. thank you for listening to me. god bless you. [applause] >> i am sorry. i did not tell everybody. [inaudible] thank you very much for coming. thank you very much. she did not have the benefit about 3 minute limit. she did not have the benefit. we appreciate her. the next speaker we have is we

have dean who is speaking on behalf of newt gingrich. [applause] dean has never said much of anything about many things, has he? >> that is a tough step. i missed it myself. >> i had a hip replacement and two knee replacements. i am glad i did not have to have another one. a retired farmer living in urbandale. some of you know me, i know some of the. -- you. i got to know two candidates really well. i worked with them, herman cain, whom i supported first, and when he brought up, i supported newt gingrich.

gosh -- dropped out, i supp orted newt gingrich. i said it is either herman or newt gingrich. i know you both personally. i think he would both do a good job. i went with herman cain until he dropped out. it was easy to switch to new. -- newt. there is a letter here that was prepared by the gingrich people. i am not going to read it. i am going to speak from the heart. newt says i am asking for your vote for a simple reason, america has big problems, and big problems require big solutions. that is the gingrich letter. i read a little bit of it.

he talks about his tax plan. having worked with newt gingrich when i was president, he was speaker, the guy is really good. he is really sharp. i just got an e-mail the last couple of days from a former congressman who played gofer on the open quote love boat -- gopher on "love boat." he said he worked with gingrich in the house. tax architect of reagan's and budget plan, he was the author -- he is a brilliant economist. he said there are two levels of

taxation at which you get no income. if they catch you at 100%, nobody works. if you tax at 0, there is no income to the government. would that be so bad? there is a curve at which, the government its maximum income -- gets maximum income. that level is not very high. he has endorsed it gingrich. -- newt gingrich. newt says that is why i have been endorsed by the architect of reagan's economic plan. he said my job plan would create more jobs than any other candidate. i do not know who the candidate is going to be.

it is going to be one of the people voted on tonight i am going to support that person we need change in the white house. -- tonight. i am going to support that person. we need change in the white house. [applause] i got to know all of the personally. i never met president obama. he has come in since i retired. i thought the worst president -- i like him as a person, but as a president, jimmy carter. there is no comparison. there is no comparison. in chicago politics, four years ago at this caucus i told a chicago store that got a few laughs.

you know chicago politics, chicago politics is pretty nasty. president obama grew up there. he was a community organizer, whatever that is. these two guys were hired to go to a cemetery and write down the names on the tombstones. so they could vote. they were walking down two lent of tombstones, what -- writing down the names, and one guy says, come on, we have to get out of here. the other guy says, i cannot read the name on the tombstone. he says, is it, move along. the guy says, he has as much of a right to vote as anybody else

who does. -- here does. [applause] >> thank you. i am the last speaker. i am here telling you why i am supporting mitt romney. i would like to begin by thanking all of you to come this evening. it makes me proud to be a part of urbandale. as a lifelong republican, active member of my church, father, grandfather, one who believes in america, i ask you to consider voting for mitt romney for one reason -- he is a proven leader who can win next november. he is an experienced business leader who understands what needs to be done to get our economy moving again. he has a plan and will execute it. his leadership skills were demonstrated as governor of massachusetts bring in people and governments together to solve problems.

-- massachusetts. bringing people together to solve problems. he gave up two years of his life to turn around the olympics in salt lake city and make them an international sports event in which all of us took great pride. finally, his record as a family and faith leader as demonstrated by his 42 year marriage and the example he set as a father for his five sons and grandfather for his 16 grandchildren. we need change. we desperately need change at the top. mitt romney can make that happen next november. you can help by casting a vote for mitt romney. thank you. [applause] how did i do on the time?

that is a first. normally i go over. i get in trouble because i talk so long. that is why i wrote out what i was glad to say. thank you for your attention. the next that we are at, you all -- the next step that we are at, you all need to remain seated, we have people passing out ballots. as everyone registered to vote? it should have it had. -- you should have your tag. if anyone has not registered, but go back and register. we have different people who are going to be responsible for passing of pellets in different sections. -- passing out ballots in different sections. the ballot will come to you.

then they will be collected. after the ballots are collected, we have a group of people, i have two cpa's -- doug be chair of the ballot committee. they are going to be responsible -- i lost my pen. make sure i get a pen. huh? what is going to happen, we have some business we are going to take care of after we vote. you do not need to rush off. what we are going to do, we have a committee -- dean, are you okay?

does that work all right? those six people are going to exit this room. they are going to be going into a conference room and take in the completed ballots and counting the ballots. after the count is completed, uh, doug will be bringing the results back here. we will announce the results of our poll before we call them into state headquarters. we felt it made sense that the people ought to know how the ballot comes out before we turn them into state headquarters. that is the process. we have a number of things. as soon as the ballots are collected -- if you have the ballot ready, you can fold them. these are secret ballots.

we may have to go to a different color. they all work the same. i want to tell everybody that i had a few apprehensions about some of these people that might sneak in. i am so pleased that that has not been something we have been dealing with. it is great to see all of you who care as much as you do about our country exercise one of the most important rights we have in this country, the right to vote. we have that right because we have had people who have died and fought for that right, the right to vote. it makes me proud to be here

this evening. [applause] is that the ballot? here. my -- where is [crowd murmurs] >> does everybody who should have a ballot have a ballot? >> the other thing i want you all to keep in mind is that -- you see these baskets we are passing around? we are going to be passing those around very shortly. what we are going to be doing is asking you to consider that all of this money is going to go for the republican party to help

support our efforts this coming fall. we are going to need all of the money we can get. be as generous as you want to be. we are going to be passed in this basket around. as soon as they have made the round, we are going to be passing the buck at around -- bucket around. we appreciate your generosity. we want to see if we can collect a some tonight. -- sum tonight. i wanted to mention that so you can be thinking about that. the other thing we are going to

be passing around, i would like to read the statement now, we are going to be passing around some clipboards. here is what this statement -- this has come from the republican party of iowa. the headquarters, the name of this is "the ft obama -- "defeat obama." here is what they wanted us to share. "many of us are here because we are worried in the country is going in the wrong direction. we must get our country back on track. americans cannot afford four more years of and obama administration. to beat obama and elect republicans up and down the ballot will not be easy. obama is projected to raise over $1 billion for the democrat campaign. special interest groups will

contribute millions of dollars as well. we need to show that the elections cannot be bought. we will not allow ourselves to be out worked by liberals. in 10 months, i can count on all of you to go to the ballot box. voting alone will not defeat barack obama. our candidates need our help. they need as on the front line. in pressing upon iowans the importance of this election. i have setup sheet we are going to pass around. here is what i would like to have the think about. think about it from this perspective. think about donating one at work, just one hour between now and november -- donating one hour, just one hour between now and november. all we are asking for is your

name and e-mail. >> argue counters? -- are you counters? i think we have probably got it. >> doing the test more buckets? >>-- do we not have more buckets? >> what if we start. we will go through and and fold them and put them in piles based on candidate. >> ok. >> we can make our own pilots. -- piles. herem just sitting observing. >> [inaudible]

>> we are glad to have you. we are sorting them into piles. just dar your own pile. -- start your own pile. [paper crinkling] >> we are not deducting for spelling. there we go. [inaudible]

[paper crinkling] >> [inaudible]

they were here four years ago. >> were they? >> in that room where we were. >> check them. >> there is more down here. if you want to check the first pile.

dead wrong. >> i am dead wrong. >> in hieroglyphics. [inaudible] [laughter] >> good point. >> i'm going to make one more run. i will be right back. >> romney. >> i am ok with that. >> let's start consolidating.

let's put the romneys there. >> they going to check? >> we are going to count them twice. we will check them twice. we will check them and tell them twice. here is rick santorum. santorum. here is ron paul. >> here is newt. >> i have newt right here. >> what about mitt romney? here is mitt romney. >> what about rick perry? >> rick perry is right here. >> what about michele bachmann? >> here is more newt. go?re did newt kodak >> here is perry.

>> if you want to take that pile. the second time. make sure they are all there. count them. you understand what i am saying? [paper crinkling]

[inaudible] >> ron paul. >> 37 bachmann, confirmed. >> i have 37 here. >> this is perry.

[inaudible] >> all right. who would like to redo that. -- that? mmhmm. 37 for rick perry. okay.

confirmed? >> that is. [inaudible] okay. >> 824 rick santorum. -- 82 for rick santorum.

>> i got 51. >> 514 ron paul. it is confirmed. -- 51 for ron paul. it is confirmed. [inaudible] >> third count, sorry. >> yes. >> we want to confirm huntsman

here. >> 1. >> and there you go. [paper crinkling] >> make sure there are not any on the floor. >> double check the floor. >> make it official. >> not sitting on any. >> 14. >> 14. >> gingrich. 34.

>> romney. still counting. a lot. >> 115. 115. >> we had 334 people vote so far. >> at the end here. >> that is all right, take the time. -- your time.

>> 100. 16 it is. 116. >> on 116. -- 116. [inaudible] >> why do not hang on to them?

why do we not put them all in one nice container? here you go. trying to confirm my numbers

here. and check the percentages. >> 335 votes. >> yep. mhmm.

>> so, we want to make that 4 divided by -- >> 1 divided by 355. it is .00. >> it is .03. >> it is .03. >> it is not going to matter.

your top three are 15 and above. >> obvious satisfied? are you satisfied? >> i am. >> is the camera crews satisfied? [laughter] thank you everyone. good job. [inaudible] >> is $10. the alternates are seated. generally speaking. doug, you are the person with the results. do you want to bring them up? i will ask you, i will let you

and our chair announced the results. what is that? these are the ballot. if you want to say a word about what was accomplished. >> we had four or five counters. we so did all of the ballots into piles according to -- we sorted all the ballots into piles according to a candidate. each pile was counted twice and verify price. -- verified twice. --the account we have -- the count we have. the highest number is romney with 116, 34.6%. santorum, 82, 24.5%.

paul, 51, 15.2%. perry, 37, 11%. gingrich, 34, 10%. bachmann, 14, 4.2%. huntsman, 1, .3%. a total of 335 votes. [applause] those are your results. >> could i have someone here that is representing but santorum -- rick santorum, we are looking to allocate, we have a total of six delegates. we would have one delegate for

paul, two for santorum, and 34 romney. -- 3 for romney. based on the percentages, that would seem fair. does anyone have any comment? those would be the three candidates that would be selected. that would be my immediate thought. does anybody have any thoughts? would somebody like to make a motion to that effect? a second? all in favor say aye. opposed? what we have is a situation -- what i would like to have, i would like to have this -- those people that want to but dissipate -- participate, i'm

not going to be asking to be a delegate. i would like to have those people who want to participate in the wrong id discussion come over here. those who want to participate in selecting the three delegates for romney, in this corner. the ron paul, who is the ron paul leader? the fellow who spoke for ron paul? any of those people with ron paul can go over here. maybe the santorum people can be in the middle. does that make sense? this is going to take a few minutes to get that accomplished. there are going to be some people who leave. that is the way it works. thank you. ok, anybody here with santorum, the ron paul people over there.

ron paul people here. these and torn people here in the middle. he wrongly people here on this -- the santorum people here in the middle. the romney people here on this side. we need the three delegates from romney. anybody who would like to put his big as a delegate can be over here. -- who would like to participate as a delegate can be over here. ok, santorum will have two delegates. there will be one delegate for the romney people. one alternate and one for santorum, alternate. you need to have two delegates and one alternate. the romney people can go over here. i will move in that direction. it is a little dangerous here.

any of the romney people can be over here. romney people can be over here. what we are looking we are looking for three people who would like to go to the county convention on march 10. if you would like to do that, county convention, it will be on a saturday. yeah, you can. doug should be back from that job. he came back in. is there anybody of else who would like to -- written downes here. >> is there anybody who is dying

to go to the convention? i am not dying to go, but i would go if we need to. i do not want to detract somebody if they are really interested. you are on it, man. i am really surprised that all of them left. it looks like romney does not have many people over there. nobody went to that side. you need to identify yourself to the secretary. >> ok, cool. thank you.

>> republican party of iowa reporting center, he's order. >> and this is beth at the republican party of iowa reporting center, can i please have your name? >> mark morrissey. >> what county are you calling from? >> this is bulk county. >> and your precinct name? >> is urbandale 8. >> and your precinct pin? >> 77158.

>> after i read the candidate name, please tell me how many votes they receive. >> michele bachmann. >> 14. >> herman cain. >> 0. >> newt gingrich. >> 34. >> jon huntsman. >> 1. >> ron paul. >> 51. >> rick perry. >> 37. >> romer. >> 0. >> mitt romney. >> 116. >> rick santorum. >> 82. >> any no preference? >> none. >> any others? >> 9. >> i have michele bachmann with

14, new gingrich with 34, ron paul with 51, rick perry 37, in mitt romney with 116, rick santorum with 82. is that correct? >> that is correct for a total of 335. >> are you providing any other results for other precincts? >> i am not. >> thank you very much. your results have been recorded. >> we are good. thank you. >> what about the ron paul people?

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> and that is correct. that is correct. ok, i am noticing this has kind of deteriorated. but i think we have the names that we have identified. the secretary, you're going to be putting down these names. i think we have three delegates from romney, ross larson,

darren, and cathleen, and an alternate, which is craig rackham. and you have the two delegates from santorum are, carrie and patricia. david is the alternate. the ron paul delegate is nicholas colbert -- colbat, i am sorry. those are the names of like to put before our caucus right now. all those in favor say aye. we have just selected our delegates to the county

convention. it may seem disjointed, but we got that job accomplished. so thank you very much. all of you that are remaining here, if you want to come over here, we do have -- we do not want to totally forget the -- the ones that are the delegates, come up here and talk to our secretary. they need to get all of the information from those people who are delegates and alternates. that is our man right there. our secretary. the other thing we want is we have a list here for jr. delegates. there is no cost for jr. delegates. you can have as many as you want. mark, do you have the jr. delegate form? anybody else would like -- if you would like to sign her up, come on up and sign her up as a

junior delegate. there it is, right there. just sign your name right there for a junior delegate. anybody that is in seventh grade of two high school, come on up here and sign up. com on, get up here and sign in. any jr. delegates, come on up. right here, we have the form right here for jr. delegates to sign up. do not worry about it. that is no problem at all. we are very flexible when it comes to jr. delegates. how did we do tonight? did we do ok? [applause] can you imagine the democrats having a meeting like this and it being over by 8:05? it would never happen.

i can tell you that for sure. there would still be arguing and yelling and shouting. now will be in big trouble for saying those things. we do have a few issues we want to cover. what are the issues we have? you people were not into issues tonight. first of all, all those in favor of having a balanced budget amendment, that is one of the issues, how many would say yes? how many oppose? we just adopted that. a balanced budget amendment. a term limits for congress. does anybody want term limits for congress? anybody opposed to that? i guess we are for term limits for congress. the last thing is -- that is the same thing. both of these are term limits. they want to go after those long-serving people.

we cannot have any term limits if you are on the city council. maybe three or four terms. i just started my second term recently. i guess nobody was into issues tonight. at this point, what i would like to do is call the caucus and ask for a moment -- a movement to -- a motion to adjourn the caucus. thank you all for coming. have a great evening. thank you.

>> i want to ask you -- who is better looking? [laughter] >> and you are the guy who runs the show here. >> you have been watching c-span live coverage of the iowa caucus in urbandale precinct 8. in this particular meeting, one

of 1700 happening across the state of iowa, that romney came in first with 116 of the 335 votes cast in. rick santorum was second at 82 and congressman ron paul was in third place at 51. across the state, we are beginning to get results. with just 111 of the 700 precincts reporting, up to the last 15 minutes or so, it is neck and neck between ron paul, rick santorum, and mitt romney. 24%, 23%, and 22%. we will watch that as the night progresses. we are going to open up our phone lines to involve you. you can send comments on our twitter page. we also have a commentary on facebook. do the iowa caucuses matter? i would like you to tell us why, yes or no. let's begin with a phone call.

john is watching the caucus. go-ahead. >> just before they began voting, the chairman of the meeting proceeded to tell some chicago jokes. and referred to president obama growing up on the south side of chicago, which is totally erroneous. president obama did not get to chicago until after he graduated from columbia university. he took a job as a community organizer, which the chairman referred to as whatever that is. then he told another joke about chicago, where obama grew up and cut his teeth, allegedly, said he went to a cemetery and took the names of the tombstones and

one guy, falling behind, said, we have got to get out of there. the guy lagging behind said, these guys are entitled to vote. the tombstone that he had not come to. >> what does this all mean to you? >> what it means to me is i thought these people were pure. i thought this was real democracy. here is an old-time republican politician who is taking cheap shots at the president of the united states and does not know what he is talking about. we do not have anybody in there representing the public. i want your c-span commentators to correct some of this stuff. >> thank you for watching and you are frustrated with the partisanship your hearing. >> good evening. i had a different impression of the way this caucus was meant to work.

people gather in groups at a table and they try to convince each other of why they will be voting for the candidates. i understood it to be that way. the candidates had a representative to speak for three or four minutes. it is a very rudimentary system that is prone to errors. i do not know why the call of a caucus. why do they not just call it a vote? thank you for taking the time to have this program and educate us. >> thank you very much. it is really a straw poll. the results are not binding, but what the people are doing are selecting delegates that will go to a county convention and on to the state convention, then to the national convention. it is a long process of delegate

selection. that preferential poll is a tipoff to the media and the rest of the country as to the preferences of iowans at this early stage. >> this election is a campaign between the walking, talking constitution, which is ron paul, and those who would like to keep america in the service of the israeli lobby, keep the resources of america at their disposal and give them privileged and access to use it where they should. or what is represented in the other candidates, which is why the media is on the other candidates side, rick santorum and mitt romney. these people are just puppets. at any time, there will sell out

the 300 million people here. >> we are going to let you go tonight. >> rose marie in the four lauderdale, florida. >> i just watched the iowa caucuses with my boys. i appreciate the fact that you showed it in its entirety, how the system works. i saw that, after the initial vote, the ones who were left to the delegates, it was only a minority. the delegates were chosen, it was not thought out of who they're going to choose or not? it was who was left in the audience. and the people and the audience were like, do you want to go? if you do not want to go, then i will go. it was not the choosing of through the delegate is that is

going to represent the majority of the people. i do thank you for allowing us to watch it. it was a beautiful thing that you guys put on. so i appreciate it. >> a similar sentiment on facebook. "i do not watch reality tv, but the reality tv you just showed me as a practically in tears. i am not a republican but i am an american and that was a totally awesome demonstration of what america is to the world. patrick is in new haven, connecticut. >> good evening. i am a young person. i have been a longtime democrat. i will be registering as a republican for the primary in connecticut in order to support ron paul. the reason is because i expect a change from barack obama.

he has been very disappointing. i think barack obama has been no different from any of the candidates we saw. they want to support big corporations at the expense of american citizen liberties. ron paul is the only candidate on the stage today who is talking about civil rights, liberty, the american exceptional government and principles that we have in this country, which makes us prosperous, which allows us to have the quality of life that we have. i agree with some of the past callers that the media has been somewhat defensive against some of these ideas because they have been called radical or not the mainstream view. these are the principles that have made america great in the

past. a good thing for the republican party. i would love to be a republican if the principles of liberty were central to our platform. >> when people bring up the question of electability with regard to ron paul, what is your take on that conversation? >> i think he is certainly not the most handsome man on the stage. he is an older gentleman. and i think he could certainly where a tighter suit while he is up there, but he speaks the truth. i think that is what the american people need to hear. with respect to sound government, sound money, sound a civil-rights, the protection of our rights and that being a very central part of our country and what we should be focused on. >> thank you so much. we have a few of the people who

protested in urbandale ready to talk to us. >> this is really the first of the process. a couple of people who were participants, some veterans and a new timer. we have a supporter of rick santorum, mitt romney, and one from the ron paul campaign. nicklaus, this is your first caucus. what was it like? >> it was very informal. we just wrote down our votes on a single sheet of paper and passed them into a bucket to count them up. i like everybody talked about each individual candidate before we got to vote and the like getting to hear about each candidate. >> wanted to get involved tonight and why ron paul? >> i got involved because i think ron paul is the direction our nation needs to go. i travel all over the world for my job. i have been to europe and japan, all over asia. we have troops in a lot of those

countries. there are allies we are supporting in the world while our country is going bankrupt. ron paul has not changed his opinion in 30 years. he is a sound candidate. >> john, you supported mitt romney four years ago. you were one of the individuals that referred to the infrastructure that romney has had. how does this caucused compare to four years ago and what is different in 2012? >> i think his support was much more widespread. i think he had a smaller base here in iowa. four years ago. even though he did not put much effort into the state as some other candidates did, the support he did have was very strong and his appeal, because of his leadership experience, i think, has swayed some more of the undecided voters.

>> is the a different candidate, a better candidate? >> than four years ago? i think he is about the same. i think he still stands for a business approach to running the government. he has shown that he has experience in running a business as well as succeeding in the political arena and being able to work with both parties in massachusetts. >> why you want to defeat barack obama? >> you do not have time to go through all of the reasons tonight. but as someone said earlier, regardless of who comes out of this particular precinct or the state of iowa, we need to support that individual and help them beat barack obama. >> ellen, you're a supporter of rick santorum. >> we need to get away from european style socialism in the united states. we need to create jobs and alleviate all the tax problems in the country.

>> how unusual is it that you have 1700 across the state. >> i have been to several boxes over the years. it is not an uncommon practice in iowa. people come out and want to meet the caucus voters individually. it is an important part of the process and it helps us to pick the right candidate. >> what you take away from tonight's experience? >> i took away that things are extremely cordial, organized. we had a quick, fast caucus. there was no disagreement. well-organized and well-run. >> thank you for being with us. we wanted to write -- to wrap things up with mike carper. a supporter of mitt romney. you made the point that this is the first stop in a long contest for iowa republicans. you were trying to select

delegates to go to the county and district level. explain that. >> we selected the delegates tonight, six coming out of our caucus. at the county convention, in march, there will be some of those same delegates selecting people to go on to the district and state conventions. ultimately, the final decision about who the delegates will be to the national convention will be selected. the way our system works is that, at the caucus level, the delegates who we select tonight will have an opportunity to have a say in who actually goes on to the state convention, where the final selections are made for the national convention. it is an important step. in terms of the overall national focus, they're looking at the straw poll and what the results there. that is very important. >> four years ago, john mccain came in fourth.

by the time a delhi was selected for the republican convention, many of those delegates might have been committed to someone else. nobody has pledged to go all the way if a candidate drops out. >> that is correct. we are pretty much free to make our own decisions. at this point, they are pledged to the candidate who is there. if that candidate drops out, they can make their own decision at that point in terms of who they want to support. >> on a social page, some people have said this is reality television. others called the processed cocaine. take a moment to defend what you do tonight and whether it is relevant. >> the thing that is most important about the call this process is that it really -- to have a showing at the caucus, you have to engage in retail politics. you have to get into people's

homes. you've got to get into coffeeshops in. it forces candidates to get involved at a very personal level. there are thousands and thousands of islands that have met, shaken hands with these candidates. unfortunately, everything has been so focused on the media and things like that. for candidates to do well in iowa, they have to be here. mitt romney spent a good part of this whole week in iowa. he understands that if you're going to make a showing, you have got to be here. i think governor huntsman made a mistake for getting about iowa. he had one vote tonight out of all the votes cast. i have been involved politically all my life. i like the process of. i think it works. for us. maybe some people have questions about it. from our standpoint, we enjoy it and liked it, otherwise i would

not be here doing what i've done tonight. >> our city councilman in urbandale, iowa, thank you very much. >> we appreciate c-span. i have great regard for c-span and the work you do for our country. >> thank you very much. >> steve from urbandale iowa. we will talk to a few more people. as the night progresses, we will show you continuing results. let's show you how the results are being tabulated. in poll county, iowa, this is what it looks like. 16% reporting. ron paul with 24%, rick santorum with 23%, and mitt romney with 23%. here is a live view inside the reporting center. folks across the state who are running these individual

caucuses are phoning in the results of their individual meetings and results are being tabulated there and being sent out to the media. tonight we will watch that and we will bring you candidate events. we will show you some of the coverage from the morning. and keeping you involved in the process. speaking of that, on twitter, we were sent this, about whether or not the iowa caucus matters. the iowa caucus is a good test of how a candidate can organize and campaign. if they cannot do it in iowa, how will they nationally? >> we have a call from windsor, connecticut. >> i wanted to talk about a couple of things. first of all, i find it curious that ron paul has these accusations against him, rapism and things he said before, however rick santorum and his

supporters -- he is running on the platform that he does not like a marriage very much. this is another one of those issues that society is passed today. i do not think those are true issues and it is distracting from things that people need to be talking about. >> who do support? >> bai support ron paul. >> how the city you're progressing for your candidate? >> i see him doing very well. he brings people from more than just the republican party, and independents and democrats as well agree with a lot of things he says. rick santorum and a lot of the people, they are hard-core conservatives and. not a lot of people can agree with that. they are not too popular with the masses. ron paul, i think he can get past that. >> can i ask how old you are? >> i am 19. >> how involved have you been in

the campaign? have you been working for the candidate? >> yes. >> thank you for your call tonight. >> thank you for having me. i've never been on tv, so this is exciting. i want to talk about jon huntsman. we have not been hearing too much tonight and the as not been doing well. it is really surprising to me. i think it should be for everybody else. the man is the ambassador to china. that is one of the fastest- growing countries in the world. if we need anyone who is going to be able to speak with them, the trade partners with them, and do you think people who speak chinese, would that be a great candidate to go up against barack obama? >> were you listening when the precinct chairman talked about

jon huntsman and his critique of him was that he did not put enough effort into i what? >> when you are confident, you are confident. mcdonald's does money to advertise. people buy hamburgers. >> the thinking is to work at introducing the brand to people more? >> i really don't know. >> thank you. morris is in new york city. off.ease don't cut me let me get this statement across. i wanted to say that no one, no one -- i want to make a statement about what rick santorum said about black people on 2 cents in iowa.

if this many people is on food stamps, who is voting? newt gingrich is the smartest of the candidates, but he cannot be obama. the is the smartest of all of the gop. no one else can be obama -- beat obama. $50,000 is not a lot of money. it is considered middle class. when people vote republican, there are guaranteed to -- >> thank you for your call. next up is shane in memphis, tennessee. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate your show. i will be able to give away who i am for, but i have some questions. why is it that only one candidate brings up the constitution? have we given up on it? nobody else likes to talk about

it? should we not live with the principles that make our country great? ron paul is the only one who brings up the u.s. constitution. >> we have a call from gainesville. >> thank you for having me. everybody talks about how obama -- i just heard somebody say that he speaks for the middle class. do you truly want a president who only speaks for the middle class, busbies weight every one of the same time. we all like the president writ what we only elected person who works for one part of the united states. i want someone who speaks for everyone and i think that is ron paul. it doesn't matter if your republican, libertarian, you like liberties. you want your freedoms have to say what everyone. none of the candidates have ever spoken of the mdaa bill.

>> can i ask all of you are? >> i am 20. >> is this your first time falling presidential politics? >> ron paul cured my apathy. >> have you gone to see him in person? >> i am about to finish a petition for him to visit my campus. >> where you go to school? >> i go to gainesville state. >> thank you for phoning in tonight. >> cindy from sioux city, iowa. >> i just got back from the caucuses and it was awesome. >> tell us about your caucus. how many people were in sioux city and how did it turn out? >> we had two precincts at the assembly of god church.

20 and 21. we came in, did the pledge of allegiance, had a prayer, and we were all there and talked about -- each person had a candidate come forward and have -- and talk about their candidate. many people came up there and spoke from their hearts, especially if someone was not represented. others came up and represented their candidate. >> did i just understand you had 20 people on the caucus? >> we had over 200. >> thank you. makes a big difference. how did it turn out in your precinct? >> in our precinct, mitt romney won. i think it was around 140. he won decisively. the other candidates were after

that. >> who is your candidate? >> it was written on -- it was mitt romney. >> y de like mitt romney? but i think he is positive -- he is a positive person to come into our country and lead. we just need a change. >> have you participated in caucuses in the past? >> i did 14 years ago. >> you want to explain to people around the country while it works for iowa? >> we are so blessed that we have the candidates actually come into our communities and they can come in -- you have access to them if you want to go. it is nice to see them in person. also, i think that the candidates tend to communicate. you can ask any questions and

they will respond. that type of thing. you get a lot of stuff on tv. it kind of made me upset that i was watching some of the channels and i think there were trying to downgrade iowa. we have so many people that care and we really have a wonderful state that really cares. we want to do the right thing and be able to voice our votes. >> overall, how many candidates did you see over the last few months? >> i only chose to see one, and that was mitt romney. i knew the other candidates. i had numerous opportunities to see them in sioux city. but i chose mitt and i am very

impressed with him. it was not that i actually got to see him, i did some research on all of the candidates and he was the one that i chose. >> thank you so much for calling in and sharing your experience. sounds like a similar process to the one that we televised for people to night. the outcome there was decisive for mitt romney 3 we do have a line set aside for iowans tonight. if you're watching around the state, tell us about it. if you chose not to end like to talk about your politics and what you did not go to night, with our national audience, the line is below me on the screen. you can also get involved on our twitter page and our facebook page. we have updated results now. just a few more percentage points in. 22% reported.

it is pretty close at this point, with ron paul at 24%, rick santorum at 24%, and met ronnie at 22%. i am looking at a local newspaper. that have an ipad app. there are tabulating the results and it is a little bit more nuanced. los angeles is our next call. james is on the line. >> independence will get rid of the neocon gop if they're going to continue to run candidates to a defect from the party, the gop will louvre -- will lose. we do not need any more neocon gop candidates. whether mitt romney wins tonight or not, the gop as a wake-up call that there are a number of

republicans, like myself, who became independent last year and were fed up with the liberal, neocon agenda. >> president obama did a video hookup with a number of the big democratic caucuses happening around the state. we have some video for you next. >> how are you guys? i miss you all. i understand that it is actually warmer 29 than it was four years ago. -- warmer tonight than it was four years ago. i am sure that means good things for the caucus. david was showing me an old advertisement from iowa, the last advertisement we did in the iowa campaign. other than pointing out how much more gray i am, how much older i look now than i did then, we

were just remembering the incredible energy and excitement and the spirit of common purpose that those iowa caucuses represent. it was an example of how the campaign was not about one person. it was about all of us coming together to try to deliver the kind of change that has been talked about for a long time in washington, but all too often had not been delivered. it is because of you that i have had this extraordinary opportunity of working to try to deliver on that change. obviously, we did not know at the time how severe the economic crisis was going to be. we did not fully appreciate the worldwide magnitude of the financial crisis. but we knew, even then, that the

middle class has been taking it for a long time, we have been trying to get the middle class back to the ladders that allow for mobility. they have disintegrated for a lot of people. we understood that what we were fighting for was an america where everybody had a fair shot, everybody did their fair share, and responsibility was rewarded. that the game was not fixed, that it was not raped. that people did the right thing and worked hard as some of the families do throughout iowa and the country. of work to got a lot do. think about the change the was accomplished because of those caucuses four years ago. we ended the war in iraq, as promised. our troops are coming home. because of the work so many of

you did before the caucuses four years ago, health care is a reality for millions of americans. seniors have seen the price of prescription drugs lord. there are 2 million young americans who are able to keep their insurance even if they're not getting it through a job. we're going to be allowed to say to every american out there who has got a pre-existing condition, who got a raw deal from insurance companies, they will have some meaningful security. they're not going to be bankrupt. because of you and the work you did four years ago, there are millions of young people across the country who are able to get more affordable student loans. they are able to afford college and apply themselves so they can achieve a meaningful career with good wages and benefits. because of you, we have been able to end the policy of don't ask don't tell, so that any american who wants to serve this

country will have that opportunity. across the board, whether it is fuel efficiency standards of cars, making sure that we have a more effective system to provide job training for people love lost their jobs, across the board, you have made a difference. we know we have a lot more work that we have to do. although we passed health care reform, we passed wall street reform, there are a lot of forces that pushed back against us and want to undo some of those changes. we are battling millions of dollars of negative advertising and lobbyists, special interests who do not want to see the change that you worked so hard to take root. that is why this time around it's going to be more important than the first time around. change is never easy. dealinglems we've been

with, they did not happen overnight and we are not want to fix it overnight. we have been making steady progress. that is what this is all about. the only way we will be able to do that is if all of you maintain the same determination, the same energy, the same drive, hopefulness, optimism about this wonderful country of ours as was on display four years ago. because of you, because of all the memories i had being in your living rooms and meeting you in a diner, seeing you in a campaign office, i have never lost the same source of inspiration that drove me to embark on this journey in the first place. you guys inspire me every single day. i want us to remind each other that as much work as there may

be out there before us, there is nothing we cannot accomplish when determined citizens come together to make a difference. thank you, everybody. >> president barack obama addressing by video conference attendees at the by what democratic -- at the iowa democratic caucuses tonight. we are now looking at a tabulating center for polk county. we have updated results. 31% reporting. this is what it looks like right now. neck and neck for mitt romney, rick santorum, and ron paul. we are taking your phone calls, looking at your tweets, and taking some of your facebook messages tonight. we will continue updating results and show you some events with the candidates. here is a tweet from lisa about the iowa caucuses.

"unfortunately the first states have too much sway. all should be able to gvote." >> it truly should matter who gets elected president. instead, we should work together to make a country a better place for everybody. right now, a look like the republicans are confused about who they want as their nominee. even though it is the first caucus state in the nation and all of that. obama is trying to do everything he can. he cannot do it alone. we all have to work together to make it better place and make sure that special address and big business stays out of the way. people should be able to work together to try to make the country a better place for everybody in all regards. that is all i want to say. >> thank you so much. one week from tonight, we will report results from the first

primary election in new hampshire. our crews have been on the ground for several days to rid our coverage continues, showing you the candidates and the events and talking to local reporters covering it and the national media who were there, while leading up to the whole weekend of the fence and tuesday voting from new hampshire. lisa from iowa. did you go to a caucus tonight? >> yes. >> how many people came? >> there were about 270 people. romney won. a lot of people were talking for all the candidates. i caucused four years ago for obama. i regret caucusing for obama

because he has turned into a lot of socialist policies and it is really scary. that is not the way the united states should go. i am hoping that mitt romney will be the ultimate candidate and he can win. >> can you tell us who came in second and third in your precinct? >> second was ron paul and third was rick santorum. >> thank you very much. we are watching them right now. it is neck and neck across the state. about one-third of the proceedings -- of the precincts have reported a. damon is watching us from minnesota. >> thank you for taking my call. i want to thank you for the most objective reporting of any of the major media sources. very refreshing. i want to call into night.

i am a ron paul supporter. i am 100% proud of that. we have been through a lot of demonization and things like that. at the end of the day, there is something that is very important that the american people need to understand. that is simply that there are different factions, different things we may agree on and disagree on a. at the end of the day, whenever a country spends way beyond its means and the national debt becomes an issue of national security, we all stand to lose. every single one of us. it does not matter if you're somebody that receives welfare or cure somebody that is on the big end of corporate payouts. everybody stands to lose here. if we do not change the course of the ship, we are all going to go down. it is not a fear monger thing, not a scare thing, but if we do not seriously look at the way we engage ourselves around the

world and the way we deal with our monetary policy, thinking we can simply take care of everybody from cradle to grave by printing money, it does not work. it will not work area history has shown, over and over again, that when a great nation does these things, they fall to their knees. we need to recognize that ron paul is the absolute only candidate that has been talking about these issues. they have come to fruition right now. it is up to the american people to recognize that this is the guy for our time. >> that is damon in michigan. excuse me, minnesota. we have another comment from twitter. "gop u.s. support is overrated. urbandale caucus moderator clearly begged for junior gop delegates. my generation is for president

obama!" you are on the air. what did you think about what you saw tonight? >> i am disturbed because most of the characters -- this is america. if you're going to rule the world and present yourself as number one, you have got to be honest. you never got to cut away from hypocrisy, because you are a number one, leading the world. newt gingrich is a hypocrite. ron paul has double standards triet rick santorum -- if you cannot be honest, how are you going to rule america. the message to give to the people, the message to give to

the world, shows that you have double standards. you are not honest. people say they are christian evangelists. you cannot even define what their real cause is. how can you call the head of state of america is attacking? you give all sorts of names to prove that america is in curie about democracy. -- in fury about democracy. i love the process. it is wonderful. it sends a message to africa, the middle east. you have the greatest economy in the whole entire universe. but be honest. just be honest. be honest. >> thank you for your call. about the impact of the iowa caucuses, among democrats and

republicans, only three have won the iowa caucus and the presidency in recent decades -- jimmy carter in 1980, george w. bush in 2000, and barack obama in 2008. only half of the iowa caucus gop winners have won their nomination. that is president ford, senator dole, and george w. bush. we are awaiting results to come in from across the state of iowa on this caucus tonight. we are showing some of your your comments on social media and taking your calls. to the question of whether or not the iowa caucuses matter, we have this -- "yes, they matter. first vetting process. people get to hear the nominees and say why they support them."

we have another caller. >> i wish to be a ron paul supporter. i am reading for them. i'm going to vote for ron paul because this is the only chance we have to have a free america and not depend on another country like we are from china. >> we have another caller from florida. >> i have a question about the process. i really appreciate the coverage, but there seems to be something missing. i remember past caucuses where they would have the initial vote and they would give the group's chances to bring others into their groups to get more liability and get more delegates. >> what you're talking about is the difference in how the

democrats caucus from the republicans. the democrats have people go into groups and they have a liability standard. if you do not have 15%, you have to get more supporters or go to another group yourself. the republicans use the straw poll. that is the difference. >> that is why i am seeing different straw poll results. thank you for that. i appreciate it. >> thank you for watching. next is jerry from palm city, florida. james in lima, ohio. >> all of these ron paul supporters calling in, do they have any idea that his -- him and his son, 60% of their patients were on medicare, like most doctors. their idea is to either

privatize medicare or eliminate it, hopefully. they have not said one word about whether the payroll tax is a good idea. whether it is a better idea to give millionaires and billionaires their $100,000 per year tax cut. i just wonder how the ron paul think that it is a good idea to make it a privatize it? it does not make any sense. host: thank you for your call. we're going to show you when and newtbachmann gingrich visited a caucus. let's listen in.

we're having problems with that video. let's go go back to calls. san antonio. caller: thank you for taking my call. in 71 years old. because of recent petition from c-span, i learned what ron paul is really talking about. i was very interested in the condition of our country in the last two years. i have come to realize he is talking about the constitution. he said we are not the policemen of the world. we are not. we're not supposed to be socialists. i look at the constitution. we are not. those are the big differences between ron paul and all of hte the other candidates.

they're talking about issues of this and that. none of them are talking about going back to the fundamentals. i became very impressed with ron paul. i want to thank you for taking my call. host: we have been getting a few ron paul calls. it is interesting that the oldest candidate is running away with a 30 and under vote. next is a call from charlie, florida. go ahead. caller: thank you for letting me talk. i hear these people talking about what they think. there does the person by what he says. it is not what they say but what they do in their own lives. you do not judge by what he does of worker on television. you judge his life. has he been marriage is alive?

did they do things that other people are not willing to do? if you do not sacrifice for your children, you will not sacrifice for your country. it ain't us that matters. it is our children. i care about our children. i do not care about my health care. i care about my grandchildren. i don't care nothing about me. i care about my country. they are only talking. you have got to judge a person by their life. life means everything. in their family. and their children. their grandchildren. not a word or he says this. we do not need a crystal methamphetamine labs. that is what ron paul says. you do not have to do anything if you have a crystal methamphetamine lab. it is your own fault. host: thank you for your call.

we have that video as promised earlier of a new to the courage and michele bachmann. clip: good evening. i am running to be the next president of the united states of america. i have no doubts barack obama will be a one-term president. tonight i know what has the opportunity to make the down payment on that promise. i had the opportunity to take our country back. iowans are rejoicing because of that opportunity to reclaim our republic. we will do that. standing with me is a woman he gave me life. as i think of her and the sacrifices that she lay down, i

think to myself that we do not stand here alone. we're surrounded by a crowd of witnesses, generations to have gone on before, going back to the time of jesus christ. they willingly laid down their lives, literally a stepping stone so that next generation would prosper. generation after generation has sacrificed for us including our military veterans. my father's side up to surf honorably year compared -- to serve honorably here. we are here tonight because we are here to reclaim the great next of this bridging the

greatness of this country. watchunwilling to let him this. that is why i stood of against obamacare. i stood up and was counted. i let 40,000 americans to washington to say no to the crown jewel of socialism. that is socialized medicine. we cannot allow the federal government to run the housing. we cannot allow the federal government to run the honorable one. we are better than that. we are the united states. he continues to make a decision

after decision for unilateral disarmament. we're going to stand up and protect this nation. i ask you to stand with me and protect american sovereign borders. officialke america's language english. i will stand up against the federal reserve and for you. i asked these together less stand up for our freedom. let stand up for the constitution of the united states. but stand up for the generation of gone before us. i am a proven time tested conservative. i believe in the blessings god has given.

i believe in the traditional definition of marriage. it is one man, one woman. i believe that we stand up against out of control judges and stand up for the sure if we're being given. stand up, america. stand up by a web. -- iowa. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. god bless you, everyone. [applause] >> our next speaker does not be much of an introduction. he was speaker of the house. mr. speaker, newt gingrich.

[applause] we want to thank all of you and all iowans for the courtesy and positive reception you have given us during this campaign. we are very grateful to your hospitality and interest. i also want to recognize a distant, craig been great in

his two sons to served in afghanistan. iowan to t hank every who has served to defend america, because without them we would not be having this kind of free event. this may be the most important election of our lifetime. barack obama is so radical and is so incompetent that eight years of his administration may cripple america for several generations. did the decision you are making is very important. in considering my candidacy, i ask you to just think of four

things. first, i am the only candidates who worked with ronald reagan to turn around the economy, to grow jobs, and to defeat the soviet empire in in 1980's. and who then went on taking the reagan playbook and reformed welfare in 1990's, cut taxes, but unemployment down to 4.2%, helped create 11 million new jobs, and balance the budget for four years. this is not a time for another amateur. we had three years of an image your. the problems are too hard. sk you to consider he will

stand up to obama's campaign. to decisively repudiated policies, his principles, his values, and his ideas and win despite every attack and distortion which you know there billion dollars campaign will launch. i suggest you come closer to decisively outline he is and if the tenant. third, we have run a positive campaign. we have done our ads. they have been positive. our speeches have been positive. you have a chance to send a signal to america that the consultant driven vicious negative campaigns are totally wrong for this year when america

is in these kinds of problem. did you can do that by refusing to vote for anyone who has run negative ads. you can insist to vote for someone new has been positive. the conservative movement has the advantage of taking over obama's weaknesses. with your help, we will try to leave that moment to a decisive change in washington for our children, grandchildren, and the future of our country. thank you very much. host: earlier tonight when two

of the candidates were making their pitches. the updated numbers from the associated press, 45.5% of the precincts, rick santorum in place. mayor ronnie m. second place and ron paul and other place. -- mitt romney now goes second place and ron paul in other place. it in college if you like to tell us about your experience. caller: if good evening. thank you for taking my call. i am from pennsylvania. no. 1995, i supported rick santorum for the senate. i supported him a second time. he was a member of the u.s. house of representatives.

when he ran for election, i worked in campaigns against him mainly because of his foreign policy. he was soundly defeated in pennsylvania by the people. i hear almost no one bring this out. i do not understand how anyone thinks he can be electable when a center and office can not hold onto his own seat. -- when a center with 12 years in office cannot hold onto his own seat. he has nothign to offer. if you look at the foreign policy, he back to the war in iraq. he said he had an irrefutable proof that their weapons of mass destruction. he said there is irrefutable proof. both that were lies that cost the u.s.

money and lives. no iraqis were embalm in 911. how many schools could have been built for $1.60 trillion? host: were you surprised he threw his hat in the ring? caller: i was. he's up against barack obama and obama will win. he is basically a socialist with some -- and talking about santorum -- with some social issues. i am pro-life. i am not in favor of gay marriage. it is not a big issue. now you're talking about a war that has claimed 4500 u.s. lives that was based on a lie.

people say we can trust him in nuclear weapons. i would not trust rick santorum with nuclear weapons. he would have that control. host: jim is an iowan and on the line. did you go up to a caucus? caller: i did. i registered republican this evening. i was classified as independent before. host: the to go to support a candidate? caller: i went to support ron paul. i think he is the only one who can beat barack obama. polls showed that. he is the only one who can attract independents and democrats. he had an overwhelming number of people come over to vote for

him. his most important military and all the other republican candidates and barack obama combined. he attracts non-white, and democrats, independents. he is the only one who can do that. if it was a tie, who ever is the republican nominee will get the majority of votes. what will determine it is the independents and democrats who are fed up with the war and the interests of unconstitutional government we see developing. host: we're going to see the results on the screen. caller: it looks like it is about a tie. the only other way to look at it is ron paul. host: john is watching this.

he tweeted this. is up by only 2 votes. new york next. caller: hi. coverage andithis the understanding that everyone has a twitter account. we have been brought up on the justifications for our presidential primary system and iowas participation. now it seems to give one state more power than the other parent is in at the same problem we're dealing with in iraq? the real issue is about the state in the parties. dollars flowing into iowa. i was in the finger lakes

area and we have never seen a choice of more than one hour to candidates. it's everybody just assumes we are going to vote democratic. why is that? host: would you prefer a national primary system? caller: absolutely. to my0 iowans decided choices were going to be. host: thank you for your call. he mentioned it spending. cnn is mostly based on a review of spending that it is behind the pace of the predecessors four years ago. the super pak has spent 5.5 million. it is the campaign media that is putting these numbers up.

it is allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited funding. hello to you. what do you have to say? are about this. we will have to move on. let me move on to tennessee. caller: i have watched all these millionaires run for the money. i want to know what they're going to be when they grow up? are they going to help us out? is is about the money? can it really happened? >> thank you. >> we are going to watch a bit of the coverage of the caucus

results. we will be back to. >> the sic a look at the latest numbers. rick perry is about half of that. we want to go over to price and check out this situation. >> things are just starting to fill up. people are over to the sides. that is where the open bar is.

right now the gop chair joins me live here tonight. he spoke in favor. thank you for joining us what is the response he got? >> we have a big turnout. the money was flowing. we are raising money for the party. >> right now he is in fourth. what do you make of the fourth place finish? what is your reaction be to back? >> the negative ads have worked. that is too bad. i have to work with the people in order to try to put the county back together. i think a lot of people get offended because a very active people work with these candidates very closely. when a colleague other names, people can be offensive. we may have a lot of work to do.

i suggested day he started singing a couple of negative things about mitt romney and called him a lawyer, suggesting he is a liar. should he have gone-earlier? >> i am not endorsed anyone ever. i've been quite about my own personal convictions. i think he did the way he should have. newt has always been a unifier. he treated 11 million new jobs. we have unemployment dropped to about 4.2% what he was speaker of the house. his work to people like president clinton to build that. reform is an example. they should be focusing on the problems and needs to be solved. that gives us time to go out and

work on communities of voters. much forank you so your time tonight. we appreciate it. >> we're going to hang out here. we understand speaker gingrich is still on route. we will be here to see what he says from the crowds. >> let's check things out at the romney campaign. >> sees one of the advisers for the romney campaign. you have a low chance to watch some of the numbers. any initial thought? >> it looks like we will end up with one, too, at 3. >> what does that mean if it is

closed? he is in the lead. >> he prepared its well to go the distance to become the nominee against barack obama. perhaps unique of all the campaigns, this one was not tens of having to bear all the eggs into the iowa basket to go on to the next eight. we're happy to be where we are. we have a lot of respect for what he did. we will see the candidates is been the least candidates here with his national campaign being very close and not the head of the candidates. we will feel good about that. >> hopefully that is the war

reward you get. >> they have a lot of friends in iowa. a lot of those folks stay with him. a lot of new people came along. we believe the to be an important spring and summer. the conventions will be putting the party back together to have a unified party. >> thank you very much for joining us. back to you in the studio. >> we appreciate your input. >> we are live from the rick santorum campaign. thank you for being here. >> this is our first interview. is he just came downstairs and saw the room. what do you make out of the? >> it is so great.

you are upstairs watching everything. what is the feeling like? >> my dad is steady. eiffel's grateful and good. we're so thrilled. -- we are so grateful and good. we are so thrilled. >> it is still early. it looks as though the early numbers are showing a three-way race. what you think? >> that makes sense. he said the people of iowa would see you worked the hardest in had the best chance of beating barack obama. that is my dad. >> you had a lot of bonding time. you hit the campaign trail with him a lot. we saw you a lot at events. how does that feel to get to this point tonight? >> it is so rewarding.

it is rewarding. at the same time, it makes sense to me to be here. i am so proud of him. burger king, mcdonald's, everyone in i what you're correct thank you. >> thank you for joining us. we will bring live updates as the knights come. >> thank you very much. >> i want to remind folks that about 4000 people are watching live online. it is not just the video you are watching at home.

there are all sorts of commons information coming in from our reporters. they are tweeting in getting information. information is also coming in from reporters all around the globe. it is fun. we are doing it here. it is also informative. >> we want to check in with molly green. >> >> you want to check in on the numbers. with 57 of the precincts reporting in seven santorum 40%. we will be back with more. then we will go to the studio. >> we will do that indeed. let's bring in dennis to talk about some of the numbers.

have you secochecking some of the locales? >> i do not want rigid i want to compare them a complete numbers. his total so far are not quite at that level. there are something sinks -- precincts left to report. what is the turn of going to be? we're sitting around 52,000. you think it would at least double and it's what we had in 2008. it is looking then at the moment. story counting has not come at all yet. i am not sure how far scott county is. we still have a way to go. we are not overwhelmed with her moutturn out yet.

>> are you getting any indication without their voting? is a with issues, their heart attacks? >> when they talk about the most important and equality, 31% say the goal is to be barack obama. in terms of being a true conservative, 25% said that is important. strong moral character is 41%. >> he is obviously the candidates you has been trending up here in the past week. it has been very interesting to see that. the numbers that were taking over do not really record the

trends. they're able to record that. >> thank you very much. us get an update. 49% reporting rick santorum 24%. mitt romney 24%. from paul with 22%. >> newt gingrich has 22%. rick perry is at 10%. michele bachmann at 6%. viter%. we times perry for an interview. the answer is no. >> now we will check in with the ron paul campaign. >> the crowd continues to grow over the last couple of hours. a lot of people are coming from the caucuses. a strong youth turnout. also we solved these -- we also

saw the senator who was backing bachmann who decided to back ron paul in the past couple of weeks. we at 71 did to come up and talk. he said he would let congressman -- we asked him if he wanted to come up and talk. you said you of a congressman paul top. a lot of these people have been staunch reporters up ron paul even for the last election cycle. his numbers are significantly better last time. whether or not he wins, he considers this a good showing here and will hopefully hear from him. there congregating in another part of the hotel. we're waiting for more the precincts to come in.

>> time for an update from our editorial cartoonist. >> iowa has been known as the cinderella of the state. adobe interesting to say which -- it will be interesting to see fit theirdidates can foo foot into a tiny glass slipper. it'll be interesting. another one that i just came up with was taking a look at rick perry. he did not spend a lot time in the state as been a lot of money as far as television advertising was concerned. he spent the most in central iowa. it looks like he is having some technical difficulties. >> where does this process

actually spark? i'm looking at your tablet. i see at least four or five different designs. these have all come about in the past three hours. >> i have been as this a lot of times. i cannot come up with a good answer. i have things scratched up all over the place. the best way of describing what i do is if an idea comes to me, it is like a firework. it explodes. there are bits and pieces that fly down everywhere. i have to catch them before they disappear. a lot of times i will have an idea on something or bit of an idea and i only remember one of two of them. fothat is the best way to descre

them. it is like fireworks going off. thank you very much. >> week of going to leave this network. -- we are going to leave them. thank you for a great partners. c-span2 is reporting them on their local broadcast. you saw the editorial cartoon with the 3 ft. vying for the ruby slippers. 3 candidates are neck and neck. let's show you the map. you have it on your screen. the purple is rick santorum.

the goal caller is romney -- gold color is romney the caucus that we covered is in this county. it came in for mitt romney. the other is over here. this is santorum country. he made a point of visiting all of the 99 counties. you can see his results are spread out throughout the state. it is very close so far. andrew on twitter. he does a play on words. if the results are as close as

you think, we will have a wino. josh you are on the air. how was your caucus? caller: it was great. host: how many people showed up? caller: there were hundreds of people that showed up. it turned out good for the most part pie. and it up going for romney. host: was that the candidates you supported? caller: no. i've been a lifelong democrat but i registered as republicans. with obama, i had great hopes and expectations. i think that he fell short while breaking all the promises that he promised.

host: who are you hoping will when the republican nomination? caller: this time i was not going to make the same mistake twice. i am not going for mitt romney. i want someone that can actually do sending in a positive way. host: what do you think of his showing so far? caller: he is in the second tier. the islands ended at not winning it. that was mike huckabee. this is going to be a very non -- very long grace perio.

thank you so much. next up is tennessee. you are on c-span. where are you? caller: i am purely independence. i am embarrassed to say i voted for hillary clinton in primary in tennessee. i am really disappointed in where we are now. host: what you want to happened? caller: i wanted be easier for a guy to take work, easier than it is to draw unemployment. i feel that we are leaning away

from that context. i am employed. host: you are just watching the scene around you? caller: yes. host: thank you for your call. florida, you are on c-span. caller: there is all this talk of ron paul supports. had it not been for this and his lack of showing of support for israel, the fact is is a key ally. is the one ally we can have safe harbor on.

this is generally a threat to israel. we are doing this. eventually, the united states is threatened. the reason i like romney is because out of all these candidates, he is the winter executive in terms of government and what he has done in the private sector. he's the one true leader. i cannot get his record as a

business leader. i can say even though he is not perfect, he is a cheerleader. i think he is the one that can turn this economy around and can take a decisive stance in in world. >> thank you so much. less to give the get the updated results now with 59% reporting. ron paul at 22%. santorum at 24%. williams is in tennessee. you are on. caller: hello. host: when you turn on the volume on your television? we're getting some feedback. caller: i was turning my television volume down.

thank you so much for taking my call. i have been on the line for almost 25 minutes. i am a community leader here. i know what it is like to work with people. many people are not recognizing that when the president promised, the president and not send a message that change is not come easily. we've been trying for the past three years. the government will not set up to work for the state. host: are you still there? i am afraid i lost him. less move on to los angeles. -- let's move on to los angeles.

caller: i am surprised that the evangelical groups have not stepped up. i was surprised me get his message resonates with the fundamental tangents of war. fifth host: it is a bad connection. did you caucus tonight? caller: i did. host: what was it like? caller: very overcrowded. you're looking very beautiful today. i like your body. host: who did a good job and johnson, i would? -- iowa? caller: my vote to win for ron paul. -- went to ron paul.

host: massachusetts, go ahead. caller: thank you for having me. i had a few comments regarding mr. romney. i have not heard very much from any other massachusetts residents. we lost a lot of respect for him. with the sec with the big finances. we have to worry about people trying to private days -- to privatize. host: new jersey. caller: ron paul will get a lot more scrutiny now with his anti-

is a medic -- anti-semitic newsletters and racism. he was 2009 on the congress floors saying that they created hamas. most of the followers are anti- semitic. these kids are crazy. they have been saying for six years to wipe it off the map. it is half the size of new jersey.

ron paul followers look on the map. they're surrounded by their enemies. we will have nuclear weapons within six months or a year. israel cannot defend itself. he is too old. >> thank you for your call. this is the pre seemed caucus that we covered earlier. these are the candidates making their test cases before voting. clip: thank you very much. we are grateful to be here. i just went to tell you this the first time i've ever been sued io-- been to iowa. to be treated nicely is amazing

from cabdrivers to hotelkeeper to be your priests or ministers. thank you very much for having us. greg perry and i drive together. we are dear friends. we played football together in high school. we went to texas a&m together. he went into the air force. you know the story. he came back and work on the family farm. i was privileged to serve my country. we were all over the world. we have two children in college. many have children in college, you worry about them. i never worry about them because they kept a close eye on our two children.

i had to make several calls in the combat zone to rick perry and say i'm sending a young texas kid, and he has made the ultimate sacrifice. i think you need to go be with his mom and dad. there are other cases rice said i am sending a young texan home who is not is as good a shape as he was. add think he needs to be with his mom or dad. rick perry jobs whenever he was doing. that is personal. dimon not be relevant to you. it says something about the character and virtue. i feel comfortable waiting six years to talk about this.

leadership gets people to do things that they do not want to do. our country right now needs a leader to get people to do things that they do not want to do. we need it right now. we need leaders of character. in 36 years, and places that were good and bad, and i know i am a tired old marine, i said he always thought things are better when you were our age. our country is truly at a tipping point. our country, our society, our culture is at a tipping point. i think it is because we forgot where we came from. we forgot how we got to be prosperous and free. we forgot that -- we forgot

those to pay the price to get is where we are. rick perry will get us back. it is something our country needs a desperately. thank you very much. god bless all of you. to correct thank you very much. we appreciate this. we had numbers. we drew numbers. the sequences based on that. we wanted to be fair. the next person who we have is marked baker -- mark baker who will speak on behalf of ron paul. >> coming here tonight, i did

not speak -- did not know i would speak for ron paul. i got interested in him mainly because of my daughter and her fiance, 19 and 21 years old. did they look at the future and they say something has to change. we cannot keep doing what we have been doing for the last 20 years. i believe that ron paul can make the most change of any candidates. we have fantastic republican candidates this year. i believe if you look at his record, he has been consistent as anyone. he supports the constitution as good as anyone. some of my friends have said what about his foreign policy? it is different than the rest of them. can we continue in our economic challenges to be the policemen

of the world? can we continue to send millions of foreign aid to countries that do not appreciate it? what do we want? do you want the federal government telling us what to do? he is the most libertarian of all the candidates. some of my conservative friends have said he is not strong enough on the social issues. do we really want our federal government deciding what we can do? both of us that are christians, the government may be telling us what we can and cannot do. do we really want that?

and his byline is "let's bring liberty bac." can we really not just ourselves to live in liberty? i think we can. i think ron paul is the best chance to do that. thank you. >> thank you very much. i believe the next speaker is mrs. santorum. she will be addressing our group regarding her husband, rick santorum. thank you for joining us.

>> i tripped over the myself earlier. don't feel bad. >> it is so nice to be here tonight and the so many wonderful people. we thank iowa for all their hospitality and thoughtfulness they have given to me and my husband. we came here last summer for 4.5 weeks and had a wonderful time. we got to know so many of you. we just fell in love with the place. he has had so many meetings here.

let's take a moment to introduce four of my seven children. there in the back. there is elisabeth, peter, patrick. they're here tonight. thank you. are two other boys are with my husband. my little girl was at home. i just wanted to tell you a little bit about rick. we have been married for 21 years. he is a father and a great dad. he is a great love and passion for his family. his family is the foundation of a strong society. he really believes that his family -- that if he had a strong family you have a strong country. he says economies can be strong.

at home we have always lived on a budget. we drew up very simply. i am one of 12 children. he grew up on public housing. we live on a budget. he says he will put his practices to life. as soon as he would be president, he would balance the budget and get the debt under control. his economic plans will bring a lot of manufacturing jobs back to our nation. he grew up in pennsylvania. when he was growing up, there were a lot of manufacturing jobs. he was a child and boy in young man and saw a lot of the jobs leaving go overseas. he has a real passion for the federal regulations and to let

the burdens on companies so we can restore a lot of the jobs back here in our country. he is a great teacher. he believes parents are the first teachers. he has been in great he wants to get government out of education. he wanthas led the charge in the pro-life movement defending children in the womb, children with disabilities, and people at all ends of the spectrum. he is a great protector. he understands national security. he authored the iran freedom and support that. he understands that too well. he has spent six years going all over the country educating people on thradical islam. rick is a faithful man.

there is nothing more beautiful than a man who is on his knees praying for his family. that makes our family strong. the glue that holds our family together. faith is everything for all of us, strong families in a strong nation. if you have someone who does what is necessary to restore our country to its founding principles and someone who understands the role that faith and family play and not only our culture but our economy. my husband is right. thank you for listening to me. i appreciate your time. god bless you. [applause] we are going to leave this coverage to take you to the ron paul headquarters.

>> smile, you are related to ron paul. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. is anyone excited? i have got great news for everyone tonight. we got one of the three tickets out of iowa. [applause]

as we go on there is only two candidates in this race that have the resources to compete as we head into nevada and louisiana. that is ron paul. [applause] did everybody have fun tiebacks -- have fun? please bertran me in welcoming the champion of the constitution, dr. ron paul. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you.

great. [cheers and applause] thank you very much. thank you. i think you might recognize my wife. her picture is not a cookbook. anybody see that, but? -- her picture is on the cookbook. anyone see that cookbook? sometimes i say that was a good speech. that was a good crowd. that makes all the difference. we talk about and aj mentioned one of three tickets out. one of two that can run a campaign and raise the money. there is no one else that has people like you working hard and

enthusiastic and believe in something. [cheers and applause] that is all the difference in the world. before i continue i want to bring, a lease step forward three of our chairman. you have met a.j. striker and drew ivers. they had led the charge throughout iowa. [applause] but all i can think about in tough campaigns and the hard work is the hard work you people do. what makes me feel good about it is you are doing it because you believe in something. [cheers and applause]

but you also know there is too good things. people say you do that because you believe in something and promote the cause. how is the best way to promote the cause? winning elections. that is where you wrote it. [applause] the enthusiasm has been unbelievable. it is fantastic. it is national. thousands of people have been involved not only in iowa but around the country. they're ready and during to go. we have to look at the wonderful changes that have occurred in a positive way. the country has suffered a lot in a negative way. the economy's in trouble. our civil liberties are being trashed. our foreign policy has been a mess and drains us economically and paramilitary forces. at the same time, people are coming together and we had the task which where we are successful is reintroducing some

ideas of the republic has needed for a long time. that is the conviction that freedom is popular. [cheers and applause] once again, we have had a fantastic showing for this cause and challenging people, not the status quo we have been putting out with a decade after decade, but challenging them and saying, let's go back to this real old-fashioned idea. this dangerous idea. let's obey the constitution. [cheers and applause] and too often, those who preach limited government and small government, they forget invasion of your privacy is big government. we have to emphasize protecting

your personal rights and economic rights are what the government is supposed to do. they're not supposed to run our lives are spend our money. -- or spend our money. someone came up to me and he was refreshing my memory. i've said this. in the early 1970's, nixon said we are all keynesians now. even the republicans accepted liberal economics. i am waiting for the day we can say we're all austrians now. the biggest change in intellectual and political changes that we have brought about is the emphasis on a very important matter. making sure we get to the bottom of the ultimate bailouters and

that is the federal system. we need some new monetary system. -- a new monetary system. this is something we made great progress. the initial step, we have worked so hard and it is on the table. there was a national poll talking about how many people supported the gold standard. how many years has it been since they took a national poll on the gold standard? guess what? the majority of the american people believe we should have a gold standard, not a paper standard. also, the great strides that we have made has been really on foreign policy. the fact we can once again talked in the republican circle and make it credible. talking about what eisenhower said. beware of the military industrial complex.

we should not be engaged in these entangling alliances. he did not want to be in nato. we do not need nato to tell us when to go to war. we have seen a great difference of maturity of the american people -- a majority of the people are behind us. they're tired of the war. it cost too much money. too many people getting killed and injured, too many people getting sick. 8% say it is time to get out of afghanistan. those are the issues. those are the issues we have broad front and center. they're out there. they're not going to go way. we have tremendous opportunity to continue this momentum. it will not belong that there is going to be an election in new

hampshire. this momentum is going to continue. this movement is going to continue. we're going to keep scoring. just as we have tonight. so tonight we have come out of an election. we are three winners. three top vote getters. we will go on and raise the money. i have no doubt about the volunteers. they're going to be there. lot of you have said and thanked me and complement me and thank me for helping you along. you helped me along. you helped my family along. all our supporters. without your enthusiasm, we

cannot do it. this is where i feel most obligated. we want to do the job and present the case and if anything is not perfect i worry about you and making sure that you are satisfied. i think there is nothing to be ashamed of. everything to be satisfied and be ready to move on come on to the next stop which is new hampshire. -- ready to move on to the next stop which is new hampshire. [cheers and applause] i have another speaker, a special guest. he has been with us in our campaign for quite a few years. you may have met him because he has been around here this

evening but i would like him to come out and say a few words. he has been serving in the military for 10 years and he has -- a lot of it was in iraq and afghanistan. he was on tv tonight. he did not quite get to finish his statement. i would ask him if he would come out and make his comments about why he supports our foreign policy. why he is fighting for the constitution and what he thinks we should do. i would like to invite him to come out and say a few words to you. thank you. how about ron paul? if there is any man who has had a vision, it is definitely him. his foreign policy is better than any candidate's out there. we do not need to be picking

fights overseas and everybody else knows that, too. i am flabbergasted. this is an incredible moment. it is like meeting a rock star. you know, what, you will go to new hampshire and we will get on line and keep talking to people and we will make sure this man is the next president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. that is a powerful message and once again, we all know where the active military people said their money -- sent their money when they're campaigning. they sent it to our campaign for the constitution and for eliminating government. our campaign for personal liberty and privacy. and it wise for a policy. the most important thing we have terrific career is the want to

have influence in the world. we want to be active in the world. we want to talk to people and trade with people and be friends with people. we need to realize is our ways -- there is people who say we are an exceptional nation and we are and have been. we are slipping. this idea that we're so exceptional, we must do is prove it to the world, we have to send our troops around the world and force it down their throats. and now we will invade them and occupy them. i will tell you the best way to spread our message. do our job at home. preserve our liberties at home. provide the free market. have a sound currency. balance the budget. set an example. get the rest of the world to emulate us. that is the road to peace and prosperity. thank you very much. thank you.

[cheers and applause] >> that is ron paul greeting supporters. in third place in the iowa caucus. it is neck-and-neck between mitt romney and rick santorum. i am using this because you can see that this this -- is a discrete difference. newt gingrich is gettinggreetins supporters.

>> americans demand a candidate with ideas and solutions to rebuild the america we love. there is only one conservative in this election and we just punched his ticket for new hampshire.

>> thank you. i want to thank greg ganski, my former colleague who held this together when it could have fallen apart. i want to thank everybody who worked through the fault especially through the avalanche of negative ads. i want to thank the people of iowa. everywhere we went people were positive and receptive. they were willing to ask questions and they would listen. they wanted to get to the truth rather than the latest 30-second distortion. they give us a feeling this process does work. i am delighted to be here tonight. we're at the beginning of an extraordinarily important

campaign. [cheers and applause] the ultimate goal of this campaign has to be to replace barack obama and get america back on the right track. let's be clear. one of the things that became obvious in the last few weeks is that there will be of great debate in the republican party before we are prepared to have a great debate with barack obama. i think it is important to understand that. i want to take a minute and congratulated their friend of ours. someone we admire and his family we admire and that is rick santorum. he waged a great, positive campaign.

we have had a great relationship over the years and i admire the courage, discipline, the way he focused and i admire how positive he was. i wish i could see that for all the candidates. here is the key thing to ask. it is not just about beating obama, as important as that is. what do we need to do as a country to get back on the right track and that is bigger than replacing one person in the white house. that is fixing the congress. fixing the bureaucracy. fixing the courts. resetting the culture. getting the judges to understand they operate within the constitution, not above it. there are tremendous steps we have to take. we have to reestablish the work ethic and we want to award work, not redistribution. we want paychecks, not food stamps and this will be an important national conversation. is that just about here at home.

we all have to understand and this will be a major debate. at a good night and i congratulate him on doing very well. his views on foreign policy i think are stunningly dangerous for the survival of the united states. i think it is a simple question which i would be glad to ask. if you have a terrorist was prepared to put on a bomb and where it as of best and walk into a grocery store -- wear it as a vest and walk into a grocery store and blow themselves up, why do we think if they could get access to a nuclear weapon that would not use it? an iranian nuclear weapon is one of the most frightening things we have to confront for the future of every young person up here and out there. they have to live in a world in

which there is no iranian nuclear weapon, period. it is an important debate. is the world dangerous and we need to be strong enough or is the world safe enough? i have no doubt about 9/11. it was bad people trying to kill us. it was not americans. i have no doubt about the importance of their survival of israel. that is essential to our future. we will have a great debate. it is important for setting a new stable form policy to the 21st century. i have another one great debate. that is whether this party

wants a ronald reagan conservative who helped change washington in the 1980's with rodríguez and helped change washington as speaker of the house. somebody who is into changing washington. all we want is a moderate who will be good at managing the decay but has given no evidence of any ability to change the culture or change the political structure will change the government. let me be clear. it is important given all the things that were done in the state the last few weeks. we're not going to go out and run nasty ads. we're not going to do that. i do reserve the right to tell the truth. [cheers and applause]

if the truth seems-, that may be a comment on his record than it is on politics. this is going to be a debate that begins tomorrow morning in new hampshire and will go on for a few months and i am convinced the republican party will pick an air of -- with a track record of changing washington. two last things. the first is, and you will find rick santorum saying the same thing. my dad was a career soldier. i would not have survived in this campaign against millions of dollars of negative advertising of it were not for the thousands of volunteers who showed up and helped us in every town and precinct. people went out because they cared.

someone drove in from indianapolis around thanksgiving and said, i am staying. let someone else who brought three children and drove from texas, they said i am staying. there were not millionaires. they were not from wall street. they did not have a super pak. they had courage and work and they were smart. together we survived the biggest onslaught in the history of the iowa primary and we set the stage. i want to say one last thing. we were over earlier tonight at waterloo which has the largest single site for caucusing. a very distant relative, like 190 years who came from pennsylvania for his great great grandfather spoke to me.

history kind and has a younger daughter. part of what he said to this caucus is about his sons. who just came back from serving in the middle east. it reminded me and i would like to close this because it is important. it is why the experience and the new hampshire experience, the places where you have to see people. you cannot buy tv ads or used for mccall's but in the end is people. this process house with -- been what they risk their lives to preserve. this process of people coming together, sharing values, sharing for fears and dreams, finding a way to come and get it to work. unlike the current total mess which i believe is a bipartisan mess, i do not like the term. the american system over time works with the american people roll up their sleeves to make it

work. everyone of us, it is what these -- made these ads so shameful. this process so bribes because young men and women risk their lives -- survives because young men and women risk their lives. we should act worthy of them. god bless you. on to new hampshire. [cheers and applause]

>> that is newt gingrich gritting his supporters. he came in fourth place according to the tally. -- newt gingrich greeting his supporters. the race for top spot has been too close to call. in the course of that speech, it switched from mitt romney to rick santorum. this is thanks to "the des moines register." 28049 total votes. mitt romney at 24.6%. we will continue watching the iowa caucus results here. and see if we can stay with it, some outcome that puts one or

the other on top. we will take telephone calls. stender tweets and facebook comments. we will put the -- and/or tweets and facebook comments. -- and your tweets and facebook comments. thanks for your patience. what do you think about what you are seeing? >> thanks for your coverage. i am very happy with c-span and its coverage. i would like to talk about the war, racism, and israel. and this choice of candidates and how important this election really is. i am an independent that registered republican to vote for dr. ron paul in the florida primary coming up later in the month. i am concerned about our foreign policy, susan.

we really have to look at this honestly. we have been waging wars of aggression. by our own standards at a nuremberg. i am pro-life and i am pro-life in the sense that means killing humans, whether they are yet to be born or after they are born. i do think these charges of racism, we have to look at what racism is in our racist policies in the wars of aggression abroad on the brown people of the world as well as here at home with the war on drugs and the prison industrial complex. dr. ron paul is the only one who has been honestly speaking out against both those racist policies. i also want to say i believe the antiwar movement in this country is racist in that for

the years of the bush administration, beijing these wars of aggression and torture. they adamantly called for his impeachment and i believe rightly so. since the obama administration has come in and has been carrying out the same policies and even more so, the african- american president and africans in libya, and the anti-war movement will not apply the same standard of calling for impeachment. if applying double standards based on race, that is racism. >> thanks so much. in connecticut. >> what a nail biter. i cannot believe how many time

flipped.y have rick santorum does not have the money or the legs to go past south carolina. ron paul stays steady at 21%, i do not see him going beyond that. mitt romney, he might have a chance to pull this one out. here is the only one i see with any sort of business experience. everyone else is a politician. newt gingrich, that speech, that was a slam on mitt romney. he seems desperate. he got hammered with negative ads but he seems desperate in his speech. the surprise to me is preparing -- rick perry. he got his lunch eaten. i was really shocked.

michele bachmann , as well concede. what a nail biter in iowa. it is exciting. >> you are looking at the crowd scene at the candid it -- candidates' headquarters. that caller mentioned ric k perry. michele bachmann is speaking to the crowd. >> once again, this wonderful republic that we are privileged to live in has worked, the

process worked. it is the people of iowa who chose tonight. it was not the pundits. it was not the media. well this has been a tough campaign, we should never forget that this crucible will make the eventual nominee try for even the tougher battle that is yet to come against barack obama. i am so proud of the people who have run our campaign in iowa. i will be forever grateful to this wonderful state and to the wonderful people of iowa for launching us on our path to victory in the iowa straw poll. this state has given voice to people all over our country that barack obama's liberal policies are finished. in 2012, there will be another occupant in the white house. who knows? maybe another michele in the white house. [applause] once again it is the people's voice that will be heard. make no mistake.

as i have said often and early, on this campaign, barack obama will be a one-term president. did you hear that, america? you heard it here from iowa? i am a real person. i am not a politician, nor do i ever hope or aspire to be a politician. i saw what the government was doing to all of us. i was going to fight not only for our five children and our 23 foster children but also for your children. they deserve it. we deserve to give them a better and more hopeful future. it is true. i am sorry to say. we have strayed from the vision of our founders' view of government and the 2012 election might very well be our last opportunity to reclaim our liberty from a government that somehow seems bent on taking more and more of it away from us every day. since day one of barack obama's

presidency, i have led the fight in washington against his liberal socialist policies. when the president wanted a $1 trillion stimulus package, i said no. when he pushed to take over your health care and replace it with socialized medicine i bled 40,000 people to washington, d.c. to let the president now the american people are against it. we are not going to keep socialized medicine. socializedma's medicine will be repealed. [cheers and applause] when the president said last summer he wanted to raise the debt limit to an unbelievable $16 trillion, i said no. the american people have tragically been deprived in their president a leader as he routinely withers when he is

confronted with a paramount challenge of our generation. president obama is guarded and hardened his hea ideology. he replaces his own reelection plans above the interests of the american people. look no further than his denial of building the keystone 2 pipeline. that was about his reelection. nothing to do with energy independence for the american people. his liberal reign will end and the american people will be free. what we need as a candidate in the likeness -- is a candidate in the likeness and image of ronald reagan. what we need is a fearless conservative. one was no compromises on their record. -- with no compromises on their record. on defending america.

>> that is michele bachmann. a disappointing night for the woman who won the straw poll. she won 5% of the boat. >> no indication she has any plans to plow right now. we want to check the latest numbers as they are coming in. 93% of the boats are in. rick santorum is leading. -- 93% of the votes are in. second tier, newt gingrich is holding on. bachmann at 5%. one of the things we have heard is we have heard from the assistant news director over at the tabulation center. 73% have not reported. half of the uncounted numbers

are from story counting. some problem in reporting the number is. >> does that give you any idea what to expect? >> i have some slightly more recent numbers. about a 68-boad gap between mitt romney and rick santorum. 44% have not reported yet from story county. story county or a small county, crawford is not in yet, they could make the difference in bragging rights. >> we have talked about this before. it is who does not win. >> it is about who does not. what we have seen with congresswoman bachmann. it is about exceeding

expectations. the story has to be rick santorum. he sat there in the mid- to high single numbers. working i was the old-fashioned way. meeting people in small circumstances on that person to person basis. that is what iowans like about iowa. it indicates the iowa way. rick santorum coming out to be a close first or second. whichever way that goes. it is inching forward literally here. he is the story coming out of iowa. >> thank you. >> we're going to take a break. we will find out what it is like to go to your first caucus as a reporter. >> thanks to kcti for sharing their coverage. rick perry is coming out to

speak to his supporters. you are seeing the crowd in that room right now, watching videos as they're waiting for the candidate himself. we will bring you coverage of that live when he speaks to the crowd and in the interim we will take your telephone calls. jim in california. the evening. >> thanks for taking my call. -- good evening. >> thanks for taking my call. i would like to thank c-span for their wonderful coverage. it has been an educational experience for my wife and myself. out here in the desert in southern california. >> thank you. >> thank you again. i have heard a lot of folks talk about how weak the republican field is. i think is contrary. the field is very strong. that is why so many folks have a difficult time deciding.

it is interesting. here is history that may be repeating itself. you have a little known senator from the heartland appears to be surprising everybody and winning the iowa caucus. when was the last time that happened? it was president obama a few years ago. i think senator rick santorum was strong because he stayed positive. i think he spent the least amount of money. i am not sure. he did it the old-fashioned way. he went out and met people. shook hands, and that will carry him very far. we have many of registered republicans out here. we can vote in the republican

primaries. right now we're back toward in- between rick santorum and speaker gingrich. the most important factor is balancing the budget. so we do not pass along the debt to our children and grandchildren. that is where we have a problem in deciding. >> thank you. let's go -- and your comments are appreciated. chirsris is next. >> thanks for having me. >> you're on the air. >> i want to talk about [unintelligible] i have not had any interest in

politics because it seems like they're right wing-left-wing paradigm is an illusion. you pick a party and you think you're making a difference. it is the same party. we need to wake up and smell the coffee. we're 15 trillion dollars in debt. we make nothing no longer in this country. i would like to see my candidates talk about china and how they manipulate their currency for the last 20 years so they can become the world's factory. when you have the largest employer, walmart, we need jobs. everyone wants -- wants to get picked over pro-life and pro- choice. we created to al qaeda. we are getting ready to go with iran. the currency dropped because of

the sanctions posed by the -- imposed by the law that obama signed today. we're all americans and we need to come together as one. the one who will represent that is definitely ron paul. >> let me return to some results. i will use the results from the "des moine register." mitt romney on top to santorum's 26%. you can see the difference here. it should be the other way around. santorum.ck santoru for rick they are so very close as they have been for the last couple of hours. let's hear from. haji -- the imag minnesota.

>> i am a christian and confused about how american christian support the pro-war candidates. rick santorum called himself a pro-life candidate. however, he is very adamant about iran. i think as far as israel goes, they have nothing to be afraid of. they have 300 nuclear weapons on their own. if iran ended up with a nuclear weapon, i do not think they're going to try to do anything to iran -- israel with one nuclear weapon. israel can take care of herself. policy toward israel

is probably the best. he said what is best for israel is for her to not be depended on the united states for protection. she can take care of herself. netanyahu's book in front of the congress and he said exactly that. america, stay out of our business, we can take care of ourselves. -- netanyahu spoke in front of the congress and he said exactly that. thank you for airtime. >> thank you for your call. we are waiting for rick perry. go ahead. >> think you for taking my call. -- thank you for taking my call. i am a democrat and i have been listening to the vitriol of these republican islands. take this country back, they have been saying. i wonder where they want to take it back to. i cannot believe these people

take it at face value what any of these candidates say. this makes them the most ignorant electric ever who would collect hitler as their leader to get obama out of office. i cannot believe these republicans. i won republicans are -- that makes them dangerous. the gop brand has ruined forever with this motley crew of candidates. had kain stayed in the race, it would have elected a sexual deviant. what does that say for iowans? thank you. >> romney in the lead now. 29017.k santorum's --

you can see tha tmargin is so close. we are going to continue to watch that. we are waiting for rick perry to see what he will say. most of the candidates are moving on to new hampshire tomorrow. we understand dr. ron paul will be taking a break for a day or so and on to new hampshire on thursday of this week but most of the other candidates making their way to new hampshire. we are one week out from their boat. we will be televising the town hall meeting at 4:00 p.m. eastern and tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., rick santorum's town hall meeting where he will pick up from the momentum of his results in iowa tonight. let's go back to the phones. good evening. what do you think as you watch

tonight? >> nahayan? >> you are. >> i have talked to you be fore. my caucus andto a. those other years i did go and i supported mike huckabee four years ago. this year i was going to support hermann kaine but that fell through. the other people did not fit what i wanted out of the president. i wanted somebody that represented my values and my position and i could not find that person. i did not participate this year and i was sad about that. >> what do you anticipate doing as the election goes forward? >> i will end up going to a

third party. last time i voted for chuck: baldwin. if there is a choice. >> what are the issues most important to you? >> has been so many debates, have been too many of them. i have shaken five out of the six hands of candidates. there could individuals but they have been beat up in the debate and they are so flawed, i could not pull the trigger for any one of them. >> i want to interrupt you at that point. rick perry is about to get underway. mark is undecided about his direction. >> all right. hey, brother. i thank you. any betternk of

people to work in iowa for us. they did a fabulous job. i want to take a moment and just say thanks to the people of iowa. they welcomed us into their homes. these were communities that reminded us of places where we grew up and where i as an agricultural commissioner crumbled across the state of texas -- traveled across the state of texas. that reminded me of that race in 1990 where we travelled across the state of texas and nobody thought we had a chance to win. we surprised a lot of people and the fact is, we had the same feeling here. people who love america. who love the values that this country is based upon. all of you folks who traveled from 30 plus states to work and

caucus and put up signs, i want to share with you a letter that was handed to me earlier. this is, he said, words cannot express how thankful i am for being able to serve you this past week. my name is colt smith. right there. he said, i am 24 and i graduated from tarleton state university. b.s. degreegot his in ag and graduated in the top 10 in his class. of 13, just like i did, right? and he said, i drove here, i broke down in kansas. i spent $2,000 to get it fixed. i got a loan.

still made it. this has been the best experience of my life. today i saw you for the first time in perry, iowa, and i know you are a good man but i never realized what a great many were. -- man you were. [applause] it brought me to tears to see a man who feared the lord and when you told that soldier, you called him your christian brother, it blew me away. he said i want so much for me to know about -- i want you to know

that i got to know your son and i got to me your wife, anita. your family is wonderful. i have enjoyed my visits with your staff. they're great people. basically i want you to know the matter and are making a difference. i visited 1000 homes today. and you better -- you matter to them also. this has to be the greatest honor of my life. and you need more volunteers to help you in south carolina, count me in. colton smith from texas. i wanted to read that to you. and he p.s.'d it. it is 1:30 a.m. and i have been

up putting out science. that is what it is all about, folks. that is what this is all been about. i just want to say thank you to everyone who has come and volunteered and worked and made the most incredible experience for myself and for the woman i have been so blessed to have by my side all these many years. for 30 years of my life. there is not anybody who has fought any harder, who has been a greater partner that my wife, anita. stand on thesed to stage and represent the state of texas in america. the values that are so important to our country. to be here with my children, when i began this campaign for months ago, i did not do it

because it was a lifelong ambition to be the president. i did it because our country is in trouble. many of you have heard this story of us talking and saying this was not my purpose in life but our country was in trouble. it was my duty to serve my country one more time. this campaign has never been about me. it is about the movement of american who see our country that is not on the track that most of us want it to be on. $15 trillion of debt. 50 million americans on food stamps. fellowlion of us, our citizens out of work. they do not see the washington that is willing to make hard decisions to help them to get them back on their feet again. toy're looking for people

make some right decisions. they're looking for someone who will stand up and give them hope, that we can get this country back on track again. with the voters' decision tonight in iowa, i decided to return to texas and resultassese results and determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race. i believe this is the greatest nation on the face of the years. a nation that i was blessed to serve as a pilot in the united states air force. a nation that has been and will continue to be a beacon for freedom around the world and dan moran, you -- marines like yourself, soldiers that are serving and airman, sailors

around the world, you have made every minute of this. worth it for ourselves and with a little prayer and reflection, i am going to decide the best path forward. i want to tell you, there has been no greater joy in my life then to be able to share with the people of iowa and this country, there is a model to take this country forward and it is in the great state of texas. god bless you for being with us tonight. [cheers and applause] ♪ >> rick perry with his

supporters. you heard the hint that he is going to reflect on the best way forward. his showing at 10% of those voting in iowa. 12,000 cast their preferential ballot for him tonight. let's watch for a little bit if we can. ♪ we are all american, and we work real hard ♪ like to barbeque every to live for and hot apple pie, based on reader who argue every fourth of july, hot apple pie, and

baseball ♪ there is a farmer and a teacher, one raising kids and the other raising crops in the melting pot ♪ there was a boy, now he is an after not, and we are all american -- now he is an astronaut, and we are all american, and we work real hard ♪ hot apple pie, baseball ♪

and we are all american and ♪ land of the free, home of the brave ♪ and we stand together, that is why it is called the usa ♪ and we are all american, and in god we trust, living the dream on what weiving talkup believed in ♪ we like to barbeque every july and hot apple pie and baseball ♪ american ♪e all

we are all american ♪ i can smell apple pie right now o♪ may give a blood -- make it a bud, that is red and white and blue. ♪ ♪

>> rick perry with supporters in io was telling folks he is going home to texas to decide the way forward with his campaign with his showing coming in at 07% of the votes cast. it is now past midnight, and we're showing you the votes. most of the returns are in, but a few counties are waiting to report, and the race has the

candidates just 113 votes apart. and we are going to take a few telephone calls, and you are on the air. good evening. >> i feel like we spend so much time searching the character of the candidates and ignore the policies of everybody, and the policy of ron paul merval around the fire that you as an individual should be able to act as you please the spend your fit and theu'd see government has no place in interfering in any of the period 85% of americans think corruption is a problem, and that is because some know we no longer live in a republic.

we live in a corporate oligarchy. what interests me the most is that the veterans and current military personnel and give more paul than any' other candidate. i know you need to do go further and not just support the troops and but support the candidate the troops support. >> tell me how you see the next couple months regressing. >> this is a war. it is not just about all to be fought.

i see the grass roots campaign continued to grow not just in iowa but across the country, and i think the biggest reason he is gaining such a following goes right to the 99% movement, and that is the fire -- the fact the people want a candidate who will stand up for them and not just not pander to the businesses. >> next is simon. >> i cannot believe i got on. i have a few things are want to say about the idea of ron paul as a pro-liberty candidates. a few things i want to touch on. if you go to the government

website, paul wants to build a fence along the mexican border. he wants the supreme court and allow the return of sodomy laws, which were annulled. that basically means if you are a gay person and you are having sex with a partner of the same gender in your own home, you can be arrested in your own home for doing that. ron paulson the furs on issues like state rights, but i think they are -- supports issues like state rides, but i think the government should spend in. if one wal-mart in the country says black people should not be

allowed in here, that should not be ok. ron paul may appear to be a libertarian, but i think there is a cult of personality around him and not the people see him as a real candidate. >> rick santorum is to the right to end the headquarters for mitt romney on the left. we are awaiting word as to when the candidates are going to speak. let's listen to a call from iowa. what a part of the state is mount vernon hiin? >> the news media should be reporting all the time.

>> mary, i am going to ask you to hold on. -- larry, i am going to ask you to hold on. >> map schulz, -- matt schulz, and he is going to bring rick up. we are taking iowa, and it is on to new hampshire. god bless you. >> the announcement we missed was but senator santorum is going to be out in just a few minutes. i am sorry i interrupted you. you have the platform. >> there is roughly 1 million eligible voters in iowa. the caucuses represents 7% of total of voters, and that is a tiny results. [inaudible]

we lost him.e lo let's go on to cynthia. taking my call.for i would like to tell people in the other states that iowans are just like they are we just happen to be first, and the only reason they know about it is because the news media thinks it is unworthy. we function in a system that would exist whether no one was watching or not. we think it is a great process, and we hand off the baton to decide on the future of the presidency to those i trust to look as carefully as they can at

the candidates and make their own decision. >> who did you vote for today? >> ron paul because of the constitutional conservative he is. my parents taught me when our constitution is controversial we will have a problem in the united states, and i think it has gotten to be that way. it is a wonderful document for our economic future, and i think we need to follow it. >> what do you think about the outcome? >> it is always interesting. democrats also met. i understand they are not as fractured as the republicans. supporters waiting for him to come in at the last moment, and that protected him politically,

and gingrich really got the negative advertising, and i am proud to say the people in the republican party blessed our party tonight even though we were deeply divided. >> you have rest for the next few months. the fall will bring everything back. >> we will still be here enjoying iowa. >> john is in agusta, georgia. >> i want to say what a fabulous job you end c-span due to represent our nation to the ears, hearts, and hopes of freethinkers in other countries. you are definitely the title of how it should be, and i am so proud to speak with you and to

tell you i really appreciate all that c-span has done through the years and decades. >> what do you think about the results in iowa? >> it is a sad commentary on the fact that a man wants to be the president of the united states and launch such a scandalous attack on another candidate that wants to be a republican, newt gingrich through the slander job mitt romney did, and i think this is going to come and buy it mitt romney in south carolina. ians do not likeen what he did. i feel karl rove is the background guy behind the slander a tax -- attacks on

herman cain. that is what we believe in the state of georgia, so need to be rich -- newt gingrich said an interesting thing to night when he was staying above the fray and trying to be a candidate of character. he said mitt romney is a pig of the republican party to manage the continued decay of our nation. that is true. mitt romney does not have the capability to hit the ground running, to root out the sinners

of insider trading that is getting our nation, and senators and congressmen are there. >> thanks for your call. let's listen in.

♪ >> my friend, rick santorum. [applause] >> thank you, thank you. game on. [applause]

as all of you know, i do not speak from notes, but there are a couple of things i want to st. say that are more and emotional. c.s. lewis says a friend is someone who knows the notes in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. my best friend, my life mate who sings that song when i forget the words is my wife, karen. [applause] people have me how i have done this sitting apples and not

getting a lot of -- sitting at the polls and not getting a lot of people paying attention. 381 town hall meetings and speeches. every morning when i was getting up in the morning to take on that challenge, are required the strength of another particular friendship, one that is sacred. i have survived the challenges so far by the daily breeze that comes from god -- daily grace that comes from god. [applause] for loving mate, warts and all, i offer a public thanks to god. [applause] third, thank you so much, iowa.

by standing up and not compromising, by being bold and leading, pleading with that burden and responsibility you have to be first. you have taken the first step of taking back this country. [applause] this journey started officially just a few months ago in june when i stood on the steps of the county courthouse in pennsylvania. i decided to go there, not the

typical to place someone goes when running for president, but it is where my grandfather came from. he came by himself even though he was married with two children, and one being my father. he came after having fought in world war roman one because mussolini had been in power three years, and he had figured out that fascism was something that would crush his freedom and give his children something less than he wanted, so he made a sacrifice. he worked in the mine at a company, but paid with coupons, lived in a shack. eventually, he started taking

money so he could start to save , and he did. he got his citizenship and brought my father over. he ended up continuing to work in those mines until he was 72 years old, digging coal. i can never forget the first time i saw someone died. it was my grandfather, and i knelt next to his coffin, and all i could do was look at his hands. they were an enormous, and all i could think of is stayed the freedom for me. regent -- is they dug freedom for me. i went there, because i believe while our country is in horrible condition, our country is not as safe as it was, and 12 threats

are rising around the world -- and while threats are rising around the world, and the values are unlike the values and build this country, but the essential issue in this race is freedom. whether we will be a country that believes government can do thing for us better than we can do for ourselves or whether we believe the rights come to us from god and when he gave us those rights he gave us the freedom to live those rights to build a just society not from the top down from the bottom up. [applause]

my grandfather taught me basic things my dad taught me over and over again. work hard, work hard, and work hard, and i think about that today as there are so many men and women who would love to work hard, are they do not have the opportunity, and we have two parties talking about how they are going to solve those problems. one wants to talk about raising taxes on people who have been successful and redistributing money, increasing dependence, promoting more medicaid and food stamps and all sorts of social welfare programs and passing obamacare, to provide more government subsidies, more dependency, and exactly what my grandfather left in 1925. andn there is another

vision, the republican vision which is, let's just cut taxes. let's reduce spending and everyone will be fine. i believe in balancing budgets. i propose cutting 5 trillion dollars over the next five years. i support of balance and amendment that puts a cap at 18% of gdp as a guarantee of freedom for this country. [applause] i also believe we as republicans have to look at those who are not doing well in our society by just cutting taxes and balancing budgets, and that is why i put forth a plan that i once responded soup. it is a plan that says let's

give rid of the tax. lex create 10 and 28. why 28? it is good enough for ronald reagan. is now not good enough for me. cut the corporate tax, because it is the highest in the world and we need to be competitive, but when i travelled through small towns i find a lot of them are just like the ones i've traveled corinthian pennsylvania. those jobs bill those towns, and those jobs -- built those towns, and those jobs, we found those jobs and leaving iowa because our workers did not want to work? because they were not competitive? no, it is because government

made workers and competitive by driving up the cost of doing business here. it is 20% more expensive to do manufacturing jobs in this country than in the top nine trading partners and we have to compete with. that is why we are losing our jobs, so when republican purists say, why are you treating manufacturing different from retail, i say because wal-mart is not moving to china and taking their jobs with them. and we eliminate the corporate taxes so we can compete. we take every regulation over $100 million and repeal those regulations, repeal them all, and there is a lot of them. the average 60 over $100 million a year. this administration hit 150 last year. you do not want to know what is

crushing business. this administration is crushing the business. [applause] people have asked me, why do you think you can win, because we have been told by so many people there is another candidate running a rather close race with me tonight, that is a better person to choose because he can win. let me tell you. >> romneycare. >> what did you say? oh, i just did not hear you. one wins in america are bold ideas, sharp contrast, and a plan that includes everyone, a plan that includes people across the economic spectrum, a plan that says, we will work together

to get america to work. [applause] how did i win in pennsylvania? i won because i went out and worked in the communities like i grew opinion -- grew up in. how was i able to win as a republican in a 60% democratic district and then in a 70% democratic district of represented abandoned steel mills in pittsburgh? those bills were in my district, and i ran -- those mills were in my district, and i ran in a tough year by a landslide, and i got 60% of the vote, because i

share the values of the working people of that district. if we have someone who can go out to iowa and missouri and appeal to the voters that have been left behind that wants to make them dependent instead of valuing their work, we will win this election. [applause] those are the same people president obama talk about who cling to their guns and their bibles. thank god they do. they share our values about and family.

they understand when the family breaks down the economy struggles zero good -- the economy struggles. they understand when the family is not there to instill values of little league coaches, fathers and mothers being part of our community, that the neighborhood is not saved and they are not free. these are the basic values americans stand for, and those are the values we need if we are going to go up against a rock obama and win this election and restore the founding principle of -- against barack obama and win the election and restore the founding principle of freedom in america. [applause] i want to close by they gained

-- by they gained -- by thanking all of you. it has been an incredible journey. you will notice i am not buttoning my coat for a reason. i love iowa, but affair can be thickening. it has been of great journey. the three words i heard most often when i traveled around this state. welcome to iowa. [applause]

i want to thank those who stood p when no one else was standing up. folks who when i was sitting at single digits in the polls believed in the message, believed in the cause, and were willing to stand behind us and do what was not popular in the world today, lead. they lead, and to each of you, i want to thank you for leading, or doing what is necessary to promote the cause of liberty. thank you. [applause] i have to give a shout out to a guy who really helped us on the ground as a volunteer. he became a symbol of the

campaign. i do not often talk about the new york times, but i love that graphic about how the entourage is traveling around the state. there was a long row of as devious, and all the way of the bottom was a shock chirac -- was the chuck truck. [applause] i started with this. i am going to end with it. i have not written a lot of folks in my life. i have written just one. it is called "it takes the

family." i talked about my wife. i want to do end talking about the other people in my life. six of my kids are here. they have not seen much of their data over the last several months, and yet they have not -- of their father over the last several months, yet they have stood by me, encouraged and love me unconditionally. there is another little girl. she is our little angel. that is isabella maria. we do not take her out in crowds. she has a disability. she has a disability that has, according to statistics, of 1% chance of survival after one year. she is three and a half years old. [applause]

isabella is here with spirit and is deeply embedded in my heart. people ask what motivates me. i say the dignity of every human lives. -- life. god has given us this great country to allow his people to be free, has given of the dignity because we are a creation of his, and we need to honor about creation -- honor the creation, and whether it is sanctity of life in the womb or working to fulfill the potential, you will have a friend in rick's santorum. we are off to new hampshire.

[applause] the message i share with you is not an iota of message -- an iowa message. it is a message that will resonate across this land and in new hampshire. you think i have been in iowa a lot. i have done more evidence than jon huntsman, and he lives air -- he lives there. give we will spend our time there, and with your help, and we will have another fun night a week from now. god bless you. [applause]

" plays]ay's night [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪ >> now to mitt romney's

campaign. [applause] fax we love you, iowa. this has been such a great night. congratulations to rick santorum. we do not even know who has won yet, but here we are. [applause] this is the beginning of a journey, and i think all of you recognize how important this is, so i am pleased to recognize the next president of the united states. [applause] fax we do not know what the final vote tally is going to be,

but congratulations to rick santorum. he has work very hard in iowa. we also feel this has been a great victory for us. now i think it is great here in the heartland of america that a campaign begins. all three of us have been campaigning to make sure we restore the heart and soul of the entire nation, and thank you for the big sendoff you are giving a curio -- giving us. we are going to take a white house and get america back on track. [applause] i am proud to have been introduced by my sweetheart of 42 years. we have been married for 42 years, but we have been sweethearts longer than that. behind her four of our five sons. one of them is a resident at a

hospital so he could not be here tonight. we feel like family. you guys have been extraordinary. for those who do not know, this voluntary team has done an extraordinary work. and when i ran four years ago we had 52 members of our staff. this campaign we have had five, and you gaius have it -- you guys have been heroic. thank you for the work you have done. you are working together because of our concern is run by a president who may be a nice guy, but it is over his head. four years ago tonight he was given a victory celebration speech, and the gap between his

promises for years ago and his promises is as great as anything i have seen in my life. we face an extraordinary challenge, and that is iran is about to have nuclear weaponry, and this president, what has he done in that regard? he said he would have a policy of engagement. how has that worked out? we have no sanctions put in place. the president was silent when dissident voices so to the streets, and he has not prepared military options that would present our ability to take out the threat that would be presented, by iran, and how about with regards to the economy? he borrowed $787 billion, and his administration said they would hold unemployment below 8%. we have people who are out of

work and unable to get the job said would meet their needs. whoseare real people lives i've been impacted severely. they sometimes lose their marriages, lose their faith, become a surprise. there is one more aspect. he was critical of president bush for not balancing the budget. his deficit have been three times larger or more. he is on track by the end of his first term, his only term, by the way. [applause]

he is on track to put almost as much public debt in place of all the other presidents combined. this has been a failed presidency, and i am convinced if we want jobs in this country it is important to have someone who has had a job in the private sector to create a job in the private sector. he said after being inaugurated, if i cannot get this economy turned around in three years i will be looking at a one term proposition, and we are here to collect. i will go to work to get america back to work and by making american the most attractive place in the world for job creators and innovators, and the jobs will begin to flow. i will keep the tax rates competitive, to get regulators

to see their job is to encourage enterprises, and finally taken bentons of american resources we have here. -- take advantage of american resources we have here, and i will also do the work of finally getting ourselves to cut federal spending and balance our budget. i think it is immoral to continue to spend our kids' future, knowing we cannot possibly pay it back. it is wrong, and under my administration, it will end. [applause] i have been asked how are you going to cut programs. i will look out the programs and ask with each of them, is that programs so critical is worth

borrowing money from china to pay for it? we will have a lot of programs we will get rid of it, and no. 1 will be obamacare. [applause] this election is bigger than jobs and a strong economy. it is bigger than of budget that is balanced and deficits and debt that begins to be produced. it is an election about the soul of america. the question is are we going to continue to follow the vision of its founders meant? they said the creator endowed us with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that phrase, pursuit of happiness, deals with the opportunity associated with this great nation. we are an opportunity land. people came from all over the

world seeking freedom alecto early but also personally. -- freedom to select or all -- freedom electorally but also personally. the president has a different view. i think he takes his inspiration from the social welfare states of europe. and he wants to make a seventh title society were government takes from some to give to others in -- and entitlements society where government takes from some to give to others. the right way is to make america an opportunity nation. [applause] the right course for america is

for america to restore the principles. our freedom is the gift of god. where people are based on hard work, risk-taking, and lifts people and lift our entire nation. now that is what we need to restore in our nation. i love our country. i love the hymns of our country. the amber waves of grain. corn counts. another verse, heroes approved in directing strives those who more than life love -- do we have any veterans to ninth? raise your hands. [applause]

1 more verse. oh beautiful, a patriot and dream that season and beyond year as the patriots, the founders had a dream that was not just for their time, but was an enduring dream. i do not want to fundamentally transform america into something we might not recognize. i want to restore the principles made america the hope of the earth. i love our freedoms. i love our constitution. i love arent -- i love our people. let us restore the greatness of america. thank you for all your help. on to new hampshire. and we have some work ahead. thank you, guys. [applause]

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