how long is a shift for your crew? >> my guys are iron men. stop. until last night, i slept for four hours and i went 36 hours before that. if somebody has never done a snowplow, top three things they should know about running a plow. >> for the idiots, know your surroundings and watch out for the idiots. >> does it get in the way of doing your job? >> no, the traffic in des moines is even like a day like today would be dead for a star mike this but it has been modest.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: we are previewing the iowa caucuses with galen bacharier, a reporter with the des moines register. welcome to the program. guest: thanks for having me. host: let's start with a review of how the iowa caucuses work and who can participate and what will be going on on monday. thee first state on the primary calendar for the republicans.

republicans, this will be the first permit contest. candidates include former president trump, ron desantis, nikki haley. 7:00 p.m. monday night across the state, registered re will go to their decimated precinct -- designated precinct and submit their ballot with their candidate of course -- candidate ofthe end of the ne will know how those results turn delegates are then assigned depending on a proportion of votes. is the first contest on the republican primary, under it it is a big deal for people involved. things are really revving up. host: how many delegates are up for grabs? guest: i believe it is an 80i-30's. i feel bad that i do not know -- in the high 30's, i feel bad

that i do not know. host: the hill says tr evangelical vote as key to iowa. all the polls are indicating he is considerably ahead in iowa and expected to carry that. what are your thoughts on the event are vote and where that is going in iowa? this historically has been an important base of voters for republicans to tap into. and influence over the policymaking and political discourse. we see a lot of courting of pastors, evangelical leaders of politicians%)■ who are in touch with the database. we have seen a couple of candidates make a run and tapping into that vote. this time around the candidate who is still in the race who has made any appeal to those votes is governor desantis. the cap endorsement of the ceo of the family leader which is

the most prominent evangelical organization in the state. shows evangelical voters in iowa are still far and away supp trump. he remains the forefront candidate those voters are supporting and that in part plays a role with how he is continuing to perform in bokos and expecting -- to perform in polls andxphost: if you have a r comment, you could give us a call on our lines. democrats, 202-748-8000republic. independents, 202-748-8002. you can also text and send us posts on social media. as far as the race for second place between ron desantis and nikki haley, what are you seeing? you nt endorsements

governor desantis has been getting. has that shown in people copes. -- in theñ polls? as the ground game indicate support for ron desantis? guest: the main problem for ron samassed the top political class support. the endorsements on paper that you would li to have if you are campaigning here. he has governor kim reynolds, arguably the most powerful republican in the state who said she was going to stay neutral and ended up endorsing him and has been on the trail. he has a powerful evangelical voice. yes prominent radio rsonalities that are in touch with conservative voters. the base has not responded to him in the same way. in our polls, he has not seen much movement. he remained second place in our second poll. has struggled to tap into that.

his campaign has a super pac that has done a lot of the work for him. they have put in a lot of money and resources and volunteers. it has not necessarily shown out in the polls. when look at the nikki haley, that is a campaign that has gotten be the last few weeks in terms of national attention and in t■ erms of the high-profe donors to look her way. we have seen polling indicated she has some momentum. while her own ground game was not as robust as the super pac and ron desantis organization had endorsed by a network that does have the robust ground game and they have been doing some for her. certainly that is a campaign that has ramped up. opz2le close in terms of the,

debate between desantis and nikki haley? guest: it might be too early to tell. we might get a couple of more polls before the end of the carcass. that was a big moment. the stakes are high for both of them. this really is the final push. i think you saw them going after each other prettyg each other ld mealymouthed, touching a for the website that tells each other's lies. it remains to be seen if either of themwá can show above that gp and start to separate themselves. be a simple copes that have -- we have seen polls that have hit the up desantis and second-place. it would be hard to tell which one of those is the case. host: we will start with gary in

ohio, democrat. caller: good morning. i wanted to point out the fact that i hear a lot of republican callers call in with the very same sentence this week about biden crime family and how is the -- and how he is the head of this crime syndicate or something. ey also say when he is speaking he doesn't know where he is going and he does not know what he is speaking about. host:g this back to the iowa caucuses? caller: i thought this was open for open forum -- open forum. i actually don't have anything to comment about that. host: we will go to judy,

republican. caller: how are you doing? host: good. caller: i wanted to make sure i heard it right. on monday it starts at 7:00 p.me end of the night. is that the actual voting in iowa? if so, is this all in person would theye mail in ballots? guest: everyg the state republiy really touts this. p.m., they receive a paper0 ballot, they writes down their choice and submit it. every precinct.

they tallied the results, do it in front of the room, all the campaigns have a representative. threpublican party is very adamant that this is a transparent process. there is no way for this to be messed whthose are sent to the n party. this is a party runthis is not y election where the state is handling this, this is run by the republican party of iowa. the central party will receive all those results and that is how those are calculated. the aim is for them thathe nighy or in some occurrences with weather and whatever else, it could be early tuesday. that is the timeline we are looking at. host: speaking of the weather, how is it going out there and could that have any impact on turnout? gu absolutely.

we are getting the snow in iowa that people were wondering was. for the caucuses. there is expectation -- we republican party this week. he had been talking about potentially record turnout. it seems like maybe that will not be the case. he is still looking for robust turnout. we are looki at record low temperatures but looking at snow piling up to the weekend. i have no doubt there are folks o might ■be encouraged to stay home. all of these campaigns per measures in place to get folks in the polls. ing like that is always a factor. i think it is hard to say how about with specific impact the results. host: michael in idaho,

independent line. caller: this is michael. host: go ahead. caller:y. the thing out to say is -- the always believe with the iowa caucuses. no matter how nasty the weather, don't believe all of the garbage all these candidates are telling please research your facts. thank you. host: let's talk to■e al in bate creek, michigan. good morning. caller: i wanted to ask about two things. election fraud, what are the mechanics? the site and vote on a paper ballot? is there id, do you have to present id? do youavtopublican party?

i am really worried about fraud. the secondjh question i would he would be, what is a good turnout for an iowa caucus? is it one million or half a million? guest: to your first point, yes. this is designed -- these are paper ballots. when you come to your site, youm precinct, you need to be a registered republican. you will have a site assigned to you. ballot, you cast your ballot, you write in whoever your candidate is, you turn it in to the captain and they will the others and send that to the central party. the party is aransparent proces. all of this is done in person,

no mail in component. the fact that democrats here in il in plan with the subject of a lot of debate and frustration about keeping iowa first in the ■knation. that is a whole series of events. this is an impersonal process so that everyone at the caucuses site can see what is happening. as far as turnout goes record republican caucus turnout was in 2016. i wrote about this a couple of disco. about 186,000 people showed up. when you look at the entire the people who are going to caucus our people who are fairly dial into the political process, following an election this far out from the november general contest.

this is not necessarily indicative of the entire iowa publishing. -- i will population. certainly enough people show up to get a sense of what that looks like. host: will in wisconsin, democrat. good morning. caller: i have a question about evangelical vote in iowa. it is beyond robust for a man who has certainly lived in life doing the exact opposite of val. can you explain the angle of that? guest:utely. the evangelical support is something that has been noted by lot of people. there is not a decisive answer yet.

that is a complicated answer. a lot of this comes down what the end of the day what they want our policy results, folks who their top issue is abortion. they are antiabortion and what they see in the trump administration is he put the justices in that ended up overturning roe v. wade. folks opposed to running against trump, their hope is that that support is a partnership that is convenient instead of diehard loyalty and they're hoping folks are willing to back off and support someone like ron desantis. you talk to supporters and they will say even to supporters supported trump because he promised policy results they liked. folks like bob vander platt who

endorsed desantis will say trump is not the right person to lead evangelical voters in the right direction. he is not good for the party. definitely a couple different schools of thought. that is something we try to report a lot and something a lot of folks and journalists report on. host: jerry is in brooklyn, arkansas. caller:owng today? host: good. caller: thank you for trying to be honest it is a pleasure thate able to do that in the u.s. it is storming here so if i get disconnected, i apologize. i want to say thank you because sometimes you don't get that. thank you, too, ma'am. i think it is games. if people will get out and vote

with what their gut tells them, i think we will get the president we deserve. stop playing childish games and vote with your gut. i just want to see host: david in new york, democrat line. are you there? go right ahead. caller: i always just to hear donald trump say things are rigged, but what i am saying is this whole primary thing looks great -- without having to debate anyone. how are the votg properly when he never got challenged by anyone and purposely did this to keep chris from questioning him and putting it to him andd the

insurrection and thinks having to do with classified documents -- things having to do with classified documents and his indiment? it is the first time in history i have seen it, they allowed a candidate just because he was leaving leaving in the polls not to participate in the process. the whole thing seems to berate. -- seems to be rigged.you don'te truly is. i believe chris christie would cause it to unravel because he would not let up and you would havei] seeald trump for the schizophrenic he is. host: go ahead. guest: one thing important to advise -- to emphasize was his

decision to not engage in debatesis campaign's decision. a lot of people would have liked him to show up. runner to not show up is not helpful for voters. they like to see how he matches up to the people hunting him. hi campaign has taken a stance at the iowa and elsewhere. he has done to where candidates show up and make with voters and give their pitch. he went to a couple of this campaign has been adamant that their due campaign on their own terms. the gap between them and everyone else is such that they don't believe they have to engage on that level. they have campaigned on their own terms. they make love off the record stops and some smaller venues and shake hands and that he will fl he has been on the ground far less but it has not hurt his

bowling. his -- his polling. that has been his decision, you could talk to a lot of republicans that would have liked ton that stage. it has not been a factor. we see the dynamic. host: david mentioned chris christie, he has dropped out of the race. he didupport in iowa. i wonder what he did not have very much support and who his supporters might go to. guest: chris christie has not made iowa -- did not make iowa much of his early campaign strategy. he was entirely centralized on new hampshire which makes sense when you consider where he is from in the northeast. a lot more in the po -- a lot more independents and democrats

participating up there. he has not been on the ground in iowa whatsoever. there might be too chicken rack dynamic where he has not been on the ground so he is not have support. he was earning a few percentage points in polls. we crunched the numbers on our most recent poll to see if chris christie dropped out, we asked folks who their second or third choice was. it barely made any impact. maybe nikki haley went up one percentage point. everyone else was fairly uninfected. we saw folks supporting chris christie with the most adamant anti-trump voters in the republican coalition. it remains to be seen where that goes. you would hao haley might be thd with what they're looking for. it is difficult to see,

especiallyve a whole lot of sup. i did not see it a shattering revelation. host: wilson on the line for democrats. morning. caller: [indiscernible] -- iowa when it doesn't represent the democratic population of the country. thank you. guest:■y that has been the argument for democrats. there were a number of reasons republicans and it up bumping off iowa as first in the nation. that has been and argument for about the folks here and elsewhere that i will is not representative of the entire country. that is why democrats have gone to south carolina.

publicans to like iowa as a starting place because they think it is one of the best places you can get in on the ground and talk to voters and show retail politics. in the era of nationalist politicking, it has been lost. there is a lot of value there certainly, that is an understandable sentiment from a lot of folks. involve any process, but folks take that seriously. that has been an instinct dynamicnamic. we have carcasses focused on the republican side of things. host: george in illinois, independent. caller: because mday is a holiday and the weather is frightful, are people going to be showing up for that stuff or

is it good to be muted? -- going to be muted? guest: they said the holiday date well ahead of time and the hope was with folks off of work, it remains to be seen with the weather. we said earlier it is pretty natural to expect a dip in expected turnout now that we have seen how cold it is going to be. it is hard to project any real statistics or have any specific candidate is going to be impacted. i think a couple of these candidates have been preparing for this day. other factors good to be in place. if you talk to officials, there is no plan b. this is a plan a lot of time and money has been invested into. it is going to go forward. host: we will be watching on

monday. us. that is galen bacharier, a reporter with the des moines register. time we have got for today's "washington journal."