and let us know what you thought about tonight's news show. gretawire to blog >> good morning, everyone, today is tuesday, january 3rdrd. yep, we're back! and we're up early. i'm gretchen carlson. polls in iowa about to open. that's why we're here and newt gingrich not exactly sure where he stands. >> i don't think i'm gonna win. >> pull off one of the great upsets in the history of the iowa caucuses. >> kind of the way the whole campaign has been going for every candidate, right? who is the frontrunner. what is the former speaker's strategy going into the first of the nation vote. we'll hear from him and the candidates on this early edition of "fox & friends." >> with all eyes trained on the state of iowa today, president obama is doing his very best not to be ignored in the hawkeye state. wait until you hear what he's

doing to stay in the spotlight in iowa. >> i can't wait. the four day nightmare may be over but this morning, we're getting a good look inside the mind of a madman accused of setting 52 fires. his alleged motive will make you shake your head in disgust. "fox & friends" makes you happy because we're on right now. >> ♪ oh ♪ everybody's dreaming >> welcome, everybody. it is exactly 14 hours until they start caucusing and joining us today, gretchen is back. >> i'm so excited to be here bright and early. 5:00 a.m. what day is it by the way? >> caucus day. hawkeye cauceye. >> i thought it was very interesting, we found out we were on at 5:00 a.m.ment we can't wait for this.

we've been talking about it for over a year directly and it will be a 10 month marathon starts today. we saw the promo. what a nice promo. we're thinking ok. >> excited because you saw a promo or said you were on at 5:00 a.m. >> either one is great. it's like getting a things to do list from a skywriter. look in the sky, i have to find out what i'm doing tomorrow. >> exactly. that's how i found out. we're here and it's fantastic and great to be back. let's take a look at who we are going to thrill you with for the next four hours. congressman jason chavits will be here. he's endorsed mitt romney and he's going to be here in our 5:00 hour to tell us what he thinks will happen in iowa. >> michelle bachmann has not endorsed mitt romney. she'd like to be the winner tonight as would rick santorum. they're going to join us today. >> laura ingraham will give us her insight as she talked to the candidates up close and personal and will be sharing that with us as she always does on this day and anita perry, wife of rick

p perry and the motivator behind rick perry and the impetus behind the restructuring of the campaign that gives him a shot in the arm going into iowa and new hampshire. >> mitt romney will be here. looks like he's leading the pack in iowa. 41% remains undecided. senator rand paul, the son of the other senior paul who wants to become president. in the meantime, let's get to your headlines this morning much getting a first glimpse inside the mind of the man accused of setting 52 fires and terrorizing communities in california. police arrested 24-year-old harry burkheart, a german citizen. he was motivated by his mother's deportation battle. he's resembling the man seen in surveillance video caught by a reserve deputy who only works a couple hours a week. that deputy stopped the suspect's van because it matched one seen by witnesses. >> we had a test to run and this urban evil of what good there is in greater los angeles when people work together and

cooperate together when we were terrorized for four straight nights. >> damage from the fires estimated at $3 million. investigators in washington state say they have found the body of an iraq war veteran suspected in the shooting death of a national park ranger. 24-year-old benjamin barnes' body was found in an icy, snowy mountain creek. investigators suspect he likely froze to death. they think he fled to the park and killed the ranger after shooting four people at a house party. and just take a hook at this video. talk about a frightening ride for dozens of drivers on i-75. this is grant county, kentucky. at least 41 cars, 41 cars part of this nasty pile-up caused by a massive storm that brought close to a foot of snow and ice. eight people hurt. but they're all expected to be ok. and that same storm system is moving out east now this morning as much as two feet of snow is expected to pummel upstate new york. you may not recognize him by name but his sword fighting moves are unmistakable. bob anderson who fought as darth

vader while battling luke skywalker in the original "star wars" has passed away at the age of 89. he helped to choreograph sword fights in other films like the princess bride" "the mask of zorro" and "the three musketeers." those are your early headlines today. >> there's so much to talk about. let's begin with what's going on in iowa today. iowa since 1971 or 1972 has been the first caucus state. the chance where you got a chance to find out what candidates will survive. and they say that even though it might not pick the eventual nominee, it will get rid of other nominees and maybe give you just four tickets out of iowa to new hampshire, south carolina and then florida. >> it does indeed. and we know the field. whoever does win tonight is going to wind up with a burst of momentum going into new hampshire which is one week from today. we'll be up early one week from today. for some, it could be the end of the road. look at tim pawlenty jumped out

how many months ago because he thought he couldn't do it and you listen to newt gingrich who just two weeks ago was in the lead. >> and said i'm the eventual nominee. >> he did. maybe that was a mistake. anyway, yesterday, he did a little back tracking. what we're going to do is play you a little snippet from newt earlier in the day. and then he's going to immediately clarify later when somebody asked him and he said that was a misunderstanding. listen. >> i don't think i'm gonna win. i think you look at the numbers, i think that volume of negativity has done enough damage. >> i answered a question inaccurately this morning because i made the amateur mistake of having two compound sentences. i want to explain to my friends in the media and cut the compound sentences in half and drop the qualifier so i'm here to tell you when you have 41% undecided in the des moines register poll, if each of you in the next 24 hours will talk to every one of your friends and if each of you will go to the

caucus and will make the best possible argument for nominating an experienced conservative with a national record of achieving things, we may pull up one of the great upsets in the history of the iowa caucuses. >> so you don't know. you don't know. why? because 41% as he just said are undecided and they're going to go vote tonight. and also, number two, i don't buy into traditional thinking on iowa being this decider state where people are going to drop out after tonight. i don't buy into that anymore. because this race with republicans is different than anything we've ever seen in decades. so what do you think about that? do you think -- look at rick santorum. if he would have listened to conventional wisdom, he would have been gone months ago. look at tim pawlenty, he's probably wondering why he's gone at this point. who knows where he would have been if he would have stayed in the race. >> he said he had no money left. mitt romney came out yesterday, you had a day of predictions and newt gingrich saying i'm not going to win and said he got yelled at by a precinct captain

who said i'm working hard for you and a lot of people haven't made up their mind, as you just heard and there's governor mitt romney who is always tamping down expectations in iowa. didn't do much until the last 2 1/2 weeks. didn't buy many ads until the last two weeks and came out yesterday and said something he later would walk back to a degree. listen. >> we're gonna win this thing with all of our passion and strength and do everything we can to get this campaign on the right track to go across the nation. and to pick up other states and to get the ballots i need, the votes i need to become our nominee. that's what we're gonna get. >> so he didn't say that he's gonna win iowa. what he was talking about is he's gonna wind up with the party's nomination. >> sounds like rex ryan there. unlike mitt romney who is usually so reserved. >> i think this is kind of what people are frustrated about is parsing all the words about what every candidate says. i said i was gonna win. no, i said i meant the whole thing. i said i was gonna win iowa. no, i meant new hampshire. you know what people want to know, where do you stand on the issues? that's what people want to know

about, not whether or not you're claiming victory or you did three weeks ago and now you're not. that's sometimes frustrating to me. what do you think about that? >> regarding iowa, whoever does win, they'll wind up with a lot of momentum and while iowa does have, you know, is outside it's been described as an outside role in the u.s. election, when you look at who iowa has picked historically they haven't always gone on to win the election. however, it's all about south carolina because there's an interesting fact that no republican has ever become president without winning south carolina. and since 1980, no republican has won south carolina without first winning iowa or new hampshire. so in other words, you either have to win iowa tonight or new hampshire next week to wind up winning south carolina because if you win south carolina, that road leads to the white house. >> do you think that's the way it's gonna happen this year, though? do you think it will be -- >> if history is any indicator. >> that's my question this morning and tomorrow and moving

forward. do you think this election cycle will resemble what we've seen in the past or will it be completely different? will it be completely different from what we've witnessed? >> newt gingrich has southern roots and mitt romney does not. you have a situation where mitt romney is one or two that most polls indicate he will be this time. then he goes to new hampshire and has a 22 point lead according to the average of all the polls together. you say to yourself, wait a second, if newt gingrich is up big in south carolina but 0-2 to start. will that change momentum wise who like rudy giuliani said i'll meet you in florida, i'll have a huge lead. by the time it got to him, they thought he was sideline rudy. >> there's a good possibility that rick santorum could win tonight. he came out of nowhere. how many times did we say if the election was held today, so and so would win. two weeks ago, if the election were held, he probably would have been in last place. now he's got the momentum but going forward, he does not have the organization either in new hampshire or south carolina. >> but his fundraising has gone up 400%.

>> before we went away for christmas break, he was at 3%. that's what i'm saying about this whole thing, folks. is this real? i mean, is this real that somebody -- can somebody go from 3% 10 days ago to 22%. >> they've all surged. he was the last guy -- >> that's what i'm saying. number one, is it real? and is this different than any other thing we've seen before? >> well, one thing that he said fascinating last night with sean hannity is i think it's going to get bigger. i think my lead will get bigger and my momentum is going to grow. here he is hoping. not really. people who supported me said i like you, rick, but you have no chance and the reason five days ago when he started going to double figures and got some key endorsements from evangelicals who mean a lot to the people of iowa, all of a sudden, they said wait, not only do i like rick, i think he has a chance. i'll go for him and a lot of people think he has the turbo speed to walk away number one. >> isn't this election about electability and who can beat barack obama and if anybody is going to beat him, it's going to be on the economy.

and when you look at people's various records, newt gingrich says he along with ronald reagan helped create 11 million jobs. mitt romney says look, i created all these jobs. how many jobs can rick santorum claim he did create? >> good point. >> when was a u.s. senator. >> when we get back to the issues. when that will happen. when the personalities go out of it and newt gingrich deciding to take aim at mitt romney from here on in, that looked a little personal yesterday. >> as we told you already, close to half of all voters haven't made up their mind. that's the amazing fact this morning. next, a closer look at who stands to win that undecided support. idle the buses but you can't idle big labor. tight budgets cut these drivers' routes and now they're getting paid to play a game. >> come on, ralph, back to work! >> i oughta, alice!

>> welcome back. later on tonight, it will be in the hand of the voters in iowa. but when the ballots are finally tabulated, the iowa caucuses could be full of surprises because of the gigantic number of undecideds. joining us right now from des moines, iowa, is fox news contributor and author of "muzzled" juan williams and standing outside there in des moines is former communications

director for the republican national committee, doug high. how cold is it right now? >> you know, the temperature is dropping but we know things are heating up right now and i hope they continue to heat up. i'm an icicle right now. >> you're right. things are going to heat up because if you look at the polls, and they are fluid right now, juan williams, the one that's leading right now is undecided. undecided hasn't decided yet and probably won't until they wind up in that room tonight, right? >> well, you know, up decided is kind of a term, steve, it's not that they don't have a candidate. i think it's open to being persuaded so once they get in a caucus where they're gonna hear friends, neighbors and even the minister possibly stand up and say here's why i'm supporting this candidate and won't you join me? they're open to that argument. and that means that we are in a very, very fluid situation. >> that's absolutely perfectly framed. the soundbite we're gonna play

right now, here's the mayor of polk city, iowa, reflecting that sentiment. >> i don't think there's any candidate out there that you'll support 100%. so you kind of look on which most represents your own feelings and what you think is good for this country. >> you know for sure what way you're going? >> no. >> so he, doug, i would consider to be persuadible. what happens in the room tonight where people are persuaded? >> well, what happens is every candidate has the opportunity to have a representative in the caucus site to give some short remarks about five minutes of why that candidate, whether it's rick perry, mitt romney, michelle bachmann, ron paul, the opportunity to say this is the candidate to vote for. but that's why organization is so important. those campaigns that have the best organizations on the ground and we really see that from the three campaigns that have been leading the polls in the past week or so are those that are going to have that best opportunity to make that closing argument. that closing sale.

if your campaign is not in that room and the 1,774 different precincts throughout the state, it means you're losing an opportunity and that's where undecided voters or those persuadible voters move into those other categories. >> exactly right. so juan, somebody who doesn't have as many supporters in the room, you know, the people who were for that person, they suddenly hear all the loud voices for some of the other people at the top of the heap, they might be going, i don't want to be stuck with a loser. lrlt. -- all right. i'm gonna go with so and so. >> i think that's right. the other point to be made here if you look at the high number of people who are not republicans, i mean, they refuse to self-identify as republicans going into these caucuses tonight, it was about 13% in 2008. it's now going to be closer to 25% according to the latest polling, that's 25% of people who i think are there, looking for someone who is just gonna represent their passionate anger at washington, steve.

i think these are people that are sick of what's going on with the government. they really want things changed. and they are looking for somebody to represent. now, i don't think those are romney persuadeable people. i think these are people that are look at the anti-romney crowd and i think that's where you get energy for, you know, a lot of those people will go for ron paul but you're also potentially looking at the santorum surge. >> at the back of everybody's head, they have to be thinking which of these people can beat barack obama because that's why they're showing up tonight. >> absolutely. and iowa, you know, is the state that really launched barack obama in 2008. maybe the state that takes him out in 2012. the republican party in iowa led by chairman matt straun has had 33 months of registration gains over the democrats. 1 in 10 democrats since barack obama was elected in iowa have left the party. this is the battleground state where the election will be in part decided in 2012 on election day. >> well, the two of you were both persuadeable and we were

able to get you on tv at 4:19 in the morning des moines time. >> i was promised hot chocolate! >> ok. ovaltine, i know the romney camp is back on that. we'll see if we can get you some. >> i hope my guys are persuadeable on that point. >> i bet you are. thank you, juan. see you later as well. meanwhile, 20 minutes after 5:00 a.m. new york city time. coming up, we'll take you on to the battlefield for something rarely seen before. the cameras roll as the taliban launches an ambush on our troops. we got the video. and then it's only happened once since 1976, a candidate winning both iowa and new hampshire. but our next guest, congressman jason chavits says mitt romney could change all that.

>> welcome back. we've got some quick tuesday morning headlines for you. iran threatening a u.s. warship. it's warning the u.s. asked john c. cinnis not to return to the base in the persian gulf or else. it passed through a major oil shipping lane that iran is threatening to shut down over u.s.-led sanctions. and a gas line explosion lighting up parts of the sky in kentucky last night, it happened south of irving causing nearby woods to catch on fire. 30 houses were evacuated. luckily, no one was hurt. all right, coming up next, brian, and gretch, you're going to be talking to a guy on the front page of the "new york times" who is on the bus with mitt and ann romney. >> right. you're talking about congressman jason chaffetz and in 2008, mitt romney came to iowa you may remember and lost to governor mike huckabee. many people were stunned by this

to be dealt by another blow by senator john mccain in new hampshire. >> some say this year we could be back-to-back wins now. utah congressman jason chaffetz joins us live in des moines. he endorsed mitt romney a few months ago even though he worked as top aide to jon huntsman when huntsman was governor of utah. thanks for getting up officially early in iowa. so now, it looks as if the guy who you like, who you're on the bus with, mitt romney may actually pull out a win here. are you surprised based on the fact that 40% to 50% of the caucus voters in iowa are evangelicals, are you surprised they will vote for mitt romney who is a mormon? >> i hope that people aren't making a decision based on that. i think they're voting for him because they want to beat barack obama. they know he's got a solid business background and this economy needs a turn around. i see a lot of excitement out there and yesterday on the trail, the fourth spot, i heard the romneys'comment, it's amazing how many people who supported them last time and how

many new people joined on to that. so the fact that he went through this process before and now he's come back again has added to the strength that mitt romney brings to this ticket. >> we know that governor romney has some money and some support. he definitely has the experience and he also now has another frontrunner to deal with or somebody near the top and that's senator rick santorum. what do you think separates rick santorum and mitt romney? >> well, i think mitt romney is just making a very positive case for mitt romney. and that's what he talked about. he talked about the need to be tough on iran. he needed to -- and he talked a lot about the need to beat barack obama, that he's the impediment to the economy. so i didn't hear any discussion, certainly no negative talk, it was all about let's get out. let's make sure the caucus, you're talking about 120,000, 130,000 people, they're going to have a pretty big impact on the future of this nation. so from the romney camp, i think as long as they finish in the top three, that's going to be considered a win and then going into new hampshire, he's essentially got to pull strong there.

>> it's interesting. if you look back at 2008, rick santorum endorsed mitt romney and now many people see rick santorum as the more conservative alternative to mitt romney but here's my next question for you. that 41% undecided, where do you think that is going to fall tonight and have you ever seen anything like that in the past where so many people do not know who they're gonna vote for on the day of the caucus? >> well, it's interesting here in iowa because there's not much happening on the democratic side of the ticket. we know who that nominee is going to be. you have a lot of people who are even independents or democrats who say i'm going to caucus this time with republicans. who knows what's gonna happen with that? so with just 120,000 and 130,000 people and a big portion of those people potentially coming over to caucus with the republicans, who knows what that's going to be. you'll have a lot of viewers tonight watching and seeing how the results flow in. >> congressman, yesterday, newt gingrich who was quite ticked at the man you're supporting, governor mitt romney said he's going to focus all his attacks on mitt romney, nobody else. he also went on to say that mitt

can't win the nomination because as soon as people understand the record, it becomes not him. meaning the nomination is not him. does his record and anything about his record go against your conservative values? >> no, unfortunately, you know, speaker gingrich is a good man but sounded like an awful lot of whining. there's a lot to talk about with mitt romney and his success, the turn around that he had in the olympics. success he's had personally in business. i mean, he's only -- he was governor for four years and he's, what is he 64 or 65 years old? i think he brings the outside perspective that's attracting so many people from here in iowa to new hampshire to south carolina to florida, i think he's gonna be on a good roll. >> do you agree with governor mitt romney's attack ads against the other candidates? because as we all know, newt gingrich has said i'm going to run a positive campaign. he may get a little more negative when we get to new hampshire if he loses in iowa but do you agree with the tactics of the man you're endorsing? >> i can't say that i've seen all the ads. i know some of those happened

with a super pac that does not have coordination with the candidates. i can tell you out here on the trail and talking to people, it was a very, very positive message and it was contrasted deeply with barack obama. there was no mention of even any other candidate so at least here on the ground in iowa, it's all about contrasting mitt romney and being the best candidate to beat barack obama and that was firing up a lot of people yesterday. >> and it fired you up enough to get up with us this morning on this special hour as we are finally on caucus day. congressman jason chaffetz, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> ok. 29 minutes now after the hour. let me remind you that coming up at 8:30 eastern time, i'm sorry, his name again? >> governor mitt romney. >> governor mitt romney, there you go, he's gonna be live with us. >> actually willard, right? >> that's what his real name is. >> with all eyes trained on iowa, president obama is doing his best not to go ignored. we'll tell you what he's doing to stay in the spotlight.

>> and more evidence you can -- you can't idle big labor. why bus drivers are getting paid to play chess and not much else. >> checkmate! >> i guess so.

>> live from new york, it's "fox & friends" up an hour early because of the caucuses in iowa and good news, guys, i talked to h.r. this morning, we get an extra hour of o.t. >> when do we get that, though? after taxes? >> thursday night. full automatically deposited. >> that's good news, steve. at 27 minutes before the top of the hour, more news coming your way and then we get some interesting analysis and advice for all the candidates from here on in despite whatever happens in the iowa caucus. >> all right. well put. in the meantime, let's take a look at the news at this hour. a mystery playing out this morning on queen elizabeth's

escape in eastern england. human remains were found there. the area has been sealed off since a dog walker made the discovery. no details are being released. whether or not the body was a man or a woman. don't know at this point. the palace says it's a matter for the police and there you can see some file of the queen's castle. >> and check out this new video caught on a helmet camera. u.s. marines fighting off a taliban ambush in afghanistan. >> go, go, go, go! go! >> this video just posted on you tube shows troops from the 37 company, first marine division weapons platoon. they deployed from california last fall to one of the most dangerous areas in southwest afghanistan. no americans were hurt in that ambush. >> i wonder how the americans feel because they know the taliban is not our enemy so yeah, i wonder how that video got there. thanks. the nypd is offering a $12,000 reward for the arrest of the guy you see in this surveillance

video. he's suspected in a wave of fire bombings in queens. the suspect caught on camera throwing a molotov cocktail on to the lot of a home that's also used as a hindu temple. police say he's the same guy who firebombed a mosque, a grocery store and another home. go get em! >> new york city's cash strapped mta cut service over the holidays. the good news is it saved on fuel and maintenance costs. the bad news is there were lots of bored drivers like these guys seen on the cover of this morning's ""new york post" so instead of driving around buses for public transportation and stuff, they spent the week playing chess and not much less apparently. rules say drivers get five full shifts a week. that left many drivers on the clock. the mta says there's little that the agency can do because of those union rules. wow, so they're probably pretty good at chess by this time. >> checkmate although very embarrassed today. all right. time for -- let's talk fiesta bowl, mr. kilmeade.

>> right. could play speed chess, pick up on the negotiations. let's talk a little college. the college kids don't have to study. they can focus on football for a change. the fiesta bowl a reminder of why it's called football. the stanford field goal kicker only had three field goals all season long. he missed three more of them last night including a possible game-winner in overtime. next possession, miss. >> that one is no good! >> next possession. oklahoma gets a chance for the win. oklahoma state wins 41-38 and able to convert the chip shot. let's talk about the rose bowl, the granddaddy of them all they say. oregon ducks have waited 95 years to win another rose bowl. i remember chris chula was in the third grade. last three second stretch for an eternity. with two seconds left, the wisconsin badgers are down by a touchdown. 25 yards to tying the game but the quarterback spikes the ball hoping to set up a hail mary pass to the end zone. the clock is at zero while he did it. oregon wins 45-38. they also get uniform of the

year awards. now to the winter classic known as hockey played outdoors on a baseball field. why? because they're allowed to. the philadelphia flyers hosting the new york rangers. flyers took a 2-0 lead but the rangers stormed back. and there you go. look at the dramatic entrances there. as they come out of the dugout. this is a place where, you know, you get in baseball, you get thrown out for fighting. here, it's allowed. you just get three minutes and in the end, the rangers would win, final score was 3-2. coming up on radio in about nine hours, i'm only kidding, between 9:00 and noon, jennifer griffin will be joining us, andrea tantaros and some surprises on x.m. sirrius 126. >> you just had a surprise. i didn't realize they gave out uniform of the year awards. >> i did personally so i got to give each player on the team $100. >> what are the surprises that are going to happen on radio? >> i'm not really sure. >> that's why it's a sfriez. >> coffee for all? >> that would be an interesting surprise. i would welcome that. >> i would welcome it, too. in the meantime, let's talk about what happens after iowa. >> could be a surprise! >> it could be. frank luntz who is frequently on

this show, the man of words and the man who does those focus groups with the dials when the people watch the ads, well he was on the hannity program last night. here is his analysis of each of the candidates moving forward. >> let's start with mitt romney. i think that he needs to show that passion, that intensity, that's what voters are looking from him. if you're rick perry, we haven't talked about him tonight, he needs to do more of those one on ones. he's not as good in the debates. with rick santorum, i'd tell him go to new hampshire, let them see you and go to south carolina. race to south carolina as fast as you can get there and gingrich, i would tell him, don't even go to new hampshire. go to south carolina. he needs to challenge the other kanld dates -- candidates. we're not the opponents here. it's barack obama. don't do anything that weakens anybody. >> i don't think that's possible, though. if you could possibly -- seen how effective the ads were for mitt romney through his super

pac or whatever it is, is it possible for them to stay positive? >> at this point? >> i like the theory behind it. i've talked it a lot of people who liked that underlying theory of -->> the idea. >> of not going negative. is that a gender thing, by the way? do more women like that than men? what do you think? >> i think everybody would like to keep it positive and on the up and up. but we saw mitt romney last night on the hannity show also talking about all those ads and the negative ads. look, when barack obama and his billion dollars come rolling out, you got to figure they're not all going to be positive. >> listen, you two kids living in a bubble, i know boxing and i know one thing. >> thank you, john travolta. >> there's nothing better than a pre-fight fight at the press conference before the fight. you have a -- you can't wait for the fight. >> no, i don't know about that. >> a 30 second ad where newt gingrich has taken on mitt romney. you can't wait to see mitt romney respond. >> i'm one of the most competitive people that you'll find on the planet. hi, honey but the bottom line is that i think it's different when republicans are fighting

republicans. i mean, it's different when it's a republican fighting a democrat, yeah, then you take the gloves off but republicans infighting, that's my question here. >> when you said honey, were you talking to scott behind the camera? >> i like him but not that much! >> i like scott a lot, too, but my husband doesn't like me to be so competitive. >> he does not like scott. >> we heard at the end of the sound bite with frank luntz, he was talking about barack obama, keep in mind, he ultimately will be the fella that one of those men or women in iowa tonight is going to face off against and interestingly enough, even though all eyes are on the republican side, the democrats will be caucusing tonight as well and the president of the united states is going to have a live webcast to thousands of democrats in iowa trying to keep himself relevant and in the news because there he is leaving hawaii right there. because he's already opened eight offices in iowa, more than a number of republicans. >> they say that his campaign has decided to calm it down

which flies against what he's actually doing and not go on the campaign mode until he has one opponent. but in iowa, he feels confident and has to win iowa, they say, because he won 54-45 last time and shocked the world by beating hillary clinton in the primary last time and now he's got 24 million facebook friends. he's been working hard to revive his foot soldier army in the area. but is trying to keep his hand in the fray because he believes he's got to win iowa. it's one of 12 battleground states. >> that's my point, why would this president of the united states calm it down right now when a lot of people have argued that he's been campaigning for the last year? why? but why? because he's just sitting back and watching the republicans destroy each other. i mean, that could be one of the strategies is that now he's -- he's been campaigning forever and now suddenly he's going to sit back and not campaign? >> john mccain said he loved watching hillary clinton beat up barack obama. by the time he got that train, it was ready to run him over in june. so that theory didn't work out last year.

but at 19 minutes before the top of the hour, the president said he's not going to engage congress and the president said he's not going to get into the campaign mode. what is he going to be doing for the next year? charles krauthammer has an idea. what about focusing on iran? have you thought about that? >> the reason he's doing it now is because of a bill that passed the house and the senate. the president signed on new year's eve that compels the president to impose really harsh sanctions on iran. that's what they're worried about. the sanctions are that we will sanction the central bank of iran which means anybody who does business with iran cannot do any with the u.s. which means that it can't export any oil. the europeans will join us in a boycott of iranian oil. the economy would collapse. the president managed to weaken the bill at the last minute. and the bill includes a kind of waiver that gives the president

180 days, that means until july 1st to study how this will affect the oil market. in other words, the administration has worked to put loopholes in here and now it's entirely up to the president. is he strong enough to say we're now going to execute the single most important sanction that we can do because if he doesn't, there's only a single option left. and that is the -- >> the iranians then are trying to intimidate one man, not the senate, not the house. trying to intimidate the president. >> listen, there's no reason for the president to hurry. i mean, sure they just made their first atomic fuel rod and they're shooting off missiles out towards the straits but he's got plenty of time to do something about it, doesn't he? >> no, he doesn't. 55% of the country's income comes from oil. 80% of their foreign earnings come from oil. do you stop iran? if the president wants to get re-ele

re-elected, the best thing he can do is stop iran. tough point to counter. >> coming up on the show, will evangelical holders back romney if he wins iowa? does the former governor need those votes to win? pastor robert jeffers is here to share his thoughts next.

>> welcome back, everyone. bright and early. 5:46 on the east coast this morning. thanks for getting up with us. as we head into what some say will be a very contentious election year, there's a new voting law now to deal with.

>> and in fact, gretch, several states have complemented voter i.d. laws the critics say are simply efforts to suppress voter turnout. >> you two stay right here and i'm going to finish up. jim angle joins us this morning with more. jim? >> six additional states have now passed laws requiring voters to show voter i.d. in future elections bringing the total number of states to 15 and more are coming. >> you know, mississippi which has a very large african-american population just approved voter i.d. by referendum in their november election. >> now the state legislature is debating it. democrats, however, are using such practices discriminate against minorities and the poor. >> why are we making this a precondition to exercise the most basic right in this country. >> republicans say there's nothing burdensome about a photo i.d. that is required to get into any federal building including the justice department and to drive by liquor and

cigarettes even to collect welfare in many states. rhode island's new law was sponsored by an african-american senator and passed by democratic legislature. >> what the democrat senator said was, you know, this is not a party issue. this is not left or right. this is not republican or democrat. this is good government. >> there would be one more new law in south carolina except that attorney general eric holder's justice department recently blocked it. state officials are challenging them in court noting the i.d.'s are free and that no voter is turned away. >> in our law, the person can show up to the polling place the day of the election. they can basically sign an affidavit stating they had a reasonable impediment while they didn't have a photo i.d. and presumptions against the state their vote will be counted. >> a provisional ballot means if someone comes to the polls and is challenged on the basis of not having a photo i.d., he or she is allowed to vote and is put in a separate pile. >> and in close elections, the votes can be examined more closely. the supreme court approved indiana's photo i.d. law in 2008

and other courts have given the green light in an effort to avoid voter fraud. >> and so long as provisions are reasonable in an attempt to do that, they'll be upheld. >> wisconsin also has a photo i.d. law and even though it allows provisional ballots, the aclu is suing to prevent the law from taking effect. even so, eight more states are now considering new photo i.d. laws. in washington, jim angle, fox news. >> thank you for getting up so early for us, jim. why not a driver's license? you need one to check out a video at blockbuster or book at the library? >> if you can find a blockbuster, good luck. >> if you can find a book at the library. >> jim angle looks great for this ad. mornings really appeal to him. >> he must have had the same coffee that we did. the pastor that called mormonism a cult said he could support mitt romney if he does in fact get the nomination. pastor jeffers here next. >> and then you remember these guys. occupy wall street protesters

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>> welcome back, everyone. the republican candidates all trying to appeal to christian voters in iowa. >> in the framework of god's greater plan. >> faith and virtue and morality. >> the evangelical vote out there. >> church, believe me, it would be a happier and more peaceful world. >> represents the views of the ee evangelicals. >> our heritage of religious faith and tolerance. >> evangelical leaders worry

that voters could be split now on the candidates. >> we're joined now live in our new york studio by pastor robert jeffress. he once stirred controversy by likening mitt romney's religion to a cult, mormonism. we should start with that. let's show folks what you said. you said romney is a member of a kul. romney is not a christian. most people don't want to admit that they have a problem with mormonism. you still stand by that? >> absolutely and i was very clear from the beginning of saying it's a theological cult, not a socialological cult. 75% of protestant pastors believe that mormons aren't christian so this is not some new idea but, of course, my problem with mitt romney is not just the mormon issue. it's a lack of consistency on those values that we as evangelicals hold as important ones. >> are you surprised, then, with so many evangelicals that will be going to the caucus tonight in iowa to vote, they may in

fact end up putting romney on top? >> no, i'm not surprised and i've said when november rolls around, those of us who are evangelicals christians may have to hold our nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. it's not november yet. there's plenty of shopping days left and i'm encouraging christians right now to choose the most competent, consistently conservative christian with character. we don't have to settle yet for the presumed frontrunners. >> in iowa today, doctor, they've got to settle on somebody. and the top three candidates of the value voters are rick santorum, michelle bachmann, and rick perry. you're from texas. rick perry is your favorite. >> i'm loyal to the very end. i personally endorsed governor perry when i introduced him in october and i'll stay loyal to the end. look, i don't try to tell people for whom to vote. that's an individual choice but i do believe that the santorum surge proves that anyone who is electable if they get enough votes and i'm just saying don't

settle right now. there are plenty of shopping days left until the november election. >> so if you say you don't tell people who vote for, you do advise them because you said this statement. i advise people that it is much better to vote for a nonchristian who embraces biblical values than to vote for a professing christian like barack obama who embraces unbiblical views and values. what do you mean by that? >> well, the context of that was somebody asked me, a reporter, would you support mitt romney? and i said if he is the nominee, yes, i would support him because even though he is a mormon, he's a good, moral person and he is embracing the biblical principles of life and the sanctity of marriage vs. barack obama, a professing christian, somebody who is the most pro abortion president in history and somebody who also is behind the scenes, i think, promoting same sex marriage and will after the next election if he's re-elected go full force for

that. so i think in these issues, nonchristian who supports biblical values is preferable. >> he is the pastor at first baptist church in dallas, texas, dr. robert jeffress, thank you very much for joining us live in the 5:00 a.m. hour here in new york. >> thank you.