last chance to win caucus-goers and we talalto e candidate needing a big boost in the polls. welcome to iowa in focus -- where we're giving context to what happens in the headlines and on the campaign trail. traiaithat starts with the barnstorm. democrats had their last chance to be in front of the national media all in one spot this week. week.it was at a last-minute town hall event hosted by c-n-n.with caucus night actly a wewe away -- long shot martinn o'malley tried to convince iowans to be part of his hail mary pass -- while hillary clinton tied herself closely to president obama's policies and bernie sanders reminded everyone of hihi broader visions for a united states under his watch. "the beauty of the people of iowa is they're not intimidated by polls, they're not intimidated by pundits and they have this birthright, they feel, to upset the applecart.""i believe that after the workingfamilies of this country bailed out wall street, maybe it's @heir turn to help,out the working class

do everything we possibly can not to let the republicans rip away the progress and push us backwards. that would be such a loss @or our country." in a 2016 race thth's had plenty of excitement and unpredictability -- another billionare from new york is shaking things up. up.former new york mayor michael bloomberg said that he's thinking over an independent run for the white house -- and would be willing to spend plenty of his own money to do it.he would likely be fiscally conservative -- but has been very outspoken on issues like gun control and fighting obesity in the united states. tuesday -- donald trump came through iowa city for an event at the university of iowa -- but the buzz right before and during the event was all about his announcement just about an hour before. before.his campaigngnannounced that he would *not be participating in the fox news debate which was just two days later -- after battling with fox anchor and debate modetor megyn kelley.instead -- he'd be holding a separate event at the same time --

him speak -- or watch a debate that didn't havone of the two top candidates. "well that megyn kelly, you can tell right off when she talks, she's against him. you can tell that on tv.i have full faith and trust in mr. donald trump totoo the right thing and it's that's the decision he's made, i'm behind him 110%. the next day -- trump still wasn't done.he tweeted this. this.i refuse to call megyn kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. instead i will only call her a lightweight reporter! once he actually took the stage -- trump spent a lot of time talking about poll numbers where he was doing well and the recent dust up with iran -- where they captured american sailors right around the time that the nuclear agreement went into place.but in between a handful of protestors at different points in his speech -- hehe also aimed his attention at the democrats who just had a town hall discussion the night before.

back three different times. i couldn't watch it. you have a communist. you have hillary, i mean you have hillary, who is a disaster. disaster.then he had to stop because protestors in the back of the room were making noise and were escorted out.he was distrupted like that rrghly 10 times through the night just two days later -- trump delivered on the hype -- skipping the g-o-p debate and holding his own event just a few miles away at drdke university. university.mike huckabee and rick santorum showed up after ththr early debate.they say they were there *not for trump -- but for the veterans who the event was supposed to honoand financially pport. "we ahd no idea a d we went out we set up the website, i called some friends. the sign was just put up. we cracked

million. we have a list of the organizations that are going to get the money. we're going to split it up and everyonene gonnnnget a lot of money." at the same time -- republicans were having what many said was their most substantive debate of the cycle. cycle.with donald trump not in the picture -- there were still some tense moments -- but ted cruz got to explain a nuanced position on renewable fuel standards -- and the senators on the stage presented their ideas for immigration reform. , "you changed your position, you did tooa&" tooa&","the bottom line is this, we can't solve immigration" immigration"- "we can solve immigrationa&what is mimsing is the political will.", "ted is the king of saying other people for amnesty. it's not true."

bull and get to things done." the ratings show us that the fox news debate still had more viewers than trump's event -- but it was the second lowed rated debate of the cycle. after it was over -- we had a chance to catch up with both republican candidate dr. ben carson and republican party of iowa chair jeff kauffman. kauffman. how different was it tonigig without donald trump. trump. when he is there he tends to get the most questioso without him i think weweach got one extra question. question.chairman kaufmann said he was proud of the candidates. is this the kind of campaign that

had? i'm glad that we did get one like this and maybe it will be informative. i think it's time for the r-n-c and the d-n-c to reevaluate these debate. what we're e tyring to do is train people to do 30 and 60 second soundbites rather than discuss incredibly important issues that affect the lifeblood of this nation. nation.smart phones don't lend themselves to indepth discussion, how does politics compare? compare?it seems like people always do the same thing. they

famous a theyself distruct. you would hope we could learn from that. that. i was impressed with teh candndate totoght. they could have taken shots at donald trump at every question. they didn't do that after everyone got it out of their systems. they used this time to talk about sisues. they used this chance to let epople know what their positions were. we got a deeper glimpse at t what they would be like as preredents.

yearn for a campaign without donald trumpl trumplthere's room for all that. trump gets people interested. it akes two to tengo. if you're going to have a fight, you need someone else. you justapose what you heard tonight to the democrats limiting the amount of debates and having them on saturday evening. we showed we're not afraid to strut our

iowans.now people have four days to mull this over, did needles move tongiht. tongiht.i didn't see anything tonight that it was so significant that needles moved. here's how i looka t the e wa cuacuse. for every day in late january, it's about a week. we have four days left but that's an eternity in politics. you better believe trump will be out on the campaign trail - minds can be changed all the way up until that vote is taken in that caucus.

sitdown with one of the up and coming democrats -- who's could be a potential vice

(phone ringing) you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social seserity. americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (elephant noise) (donkey noise)

welcome back to iowa in focus, this week we're joined by senator cory booker from new jerseywhat's it like to be back - yoururvent felt h hh energy. do you see yourself that way? way?im pumped to be here and that poeple know me already but we have such a great candidate. thaenergy was for her. what got you what got you behind hillary? hillary?i've been int he senate for over two years. i

became sobering and clear to me that hillary is the most ququified to help our economy. i like other candidates -- i'm friends with a lot of the repubcicans, but shes the most qualified non incumbent since george washininon. washington.how is newark a

personally?i always tell i always tell peope to picka measure. from the start to the end of my time, we turned around the ecnomy. look at education, it's getting better. crime wentown. it was the first time in 60 years that people are moving inot the city. it has a way to go, but the reality is that it's always been a great city and now it's moving forward. forward.why move to the senate? senate?we need more people in washqngton who know about meeting the needs of people

that. knowing chris christie intimately, are you surprized he hasn't caught on more. more. he's been underestimated a lot, we'll see how he'll do. i've b bn focused on clinon to drive her to the polls. the republican message fails, especially with t t venom and divisiveness. divisiveness.what's it like to work with mike lee and rand paul in one of the ost

times marco rubio, ted cruz, rand paul - as much as some want to bash the other side, we have to work gether. thatat one fo the reasons i jumped on hillary's team so quick because i didn't hear her wanted to bash and dstroy. this is what america needs. we veed each other and we're at our best when we're not insulting each ohter. we pledge to each other that we are going to be one nation and that is what i yearn for in our leaders. still to come...renewable

one of the biggest issues for one republican front runner. with hours until iowan's caucus -- we take a look at what those standards are -- and how they were created in the first place. one of the areas that i've been particularly interested in is the area of children. all of us have a a sponsibility, to ourselves, to our children, to each other. and evy ildin this state

by the values of their parents d the policies of their nation. it's time to protect the next generation, fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope, open up the doors so t tt every child has a chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. i've spent my life fighting for children, families and our country, and i'm not stopping now. (crowd cheers) i'm hillary clinton,

welcome back.this is the real story -- we're gogog to take the time to giveveontext to some of the events that will go on during the 2016 race for the white house.sometimes we'll have to go back a few days -- weeks or months -- or even years that are still relevant. relevant.as we figure out the nuances to the renewable fufu standard that ted cruz is catching so much criticism for. first -- we'll start by defining exactly what we're talking about.the r-f-s stands for the renewable fuel standard. standard.it's set by the e-a and it's the minimum ount of renewable fuels produced with renewable resources -- like ethanol from corn -- or vegetable oil -- that must be mixed in with transportation fuel.it was first set up by legislation in 2005 a a was expandededn 2007. plain and simple -- the e-p-a says congress created the renewable fuel stndard to reduce greenhouse emissions and expand the renewable fuel sector -- while reducing dependence on foreign oil. oil.for iowa -- that meant more demand for corn to create the ethanol -- helping to increase prices over the next few years.farmers say it wasn't the only reason prices

at least part of a few reasons that made iowa farmers more profitable. someone who is not for the rfs. if the state that primary benefits from the rfs because they're the biggest ethanol producer in the country& let me tell you this, if iowa is not going to stand for the rfs why do you think the rest of the country is going to?" past events have shownat sometimes -- iowa does have to stand up for the r-f-s. r-f-s.back in 2014 -- the e-p-a floated the idea that they may reduce the amount of ethanol required in gasoline. th could have been disasterous -- decreasing the price of corn -- which was alalady on the way down. "if this rule is adopted, it would be a devesitating set back to the agriculture sector of iowa's economy.i talked to some epa officials last week.k. theyeyreminded me that comments matter. that this is a

rule."the e-p-a eventually backed off -- but it left iowans weary. this issue was part of the presidential conversation in iowa from the start -- especially since many people say iowa is the state that benefits the most om the from ethanol. ethanol.it quickly became one of the most important issues on the trail when governor branstad -- who had been staying out of the presidential politics -- said that iowans should not caucus for ted cruz -- because of his stance on the renewable fuel standard.that rocked the boat with just weeks ununl the caucuses -- and supporters of the r-f-s say that's the point. "the oil has really poured a lot of money into these superpacs that have influenced the presidential race andnd candidates. so we thought t with the iowa caucuses, it was a chance for us to have a level playing field politicallywith the deep pocket oil industry. when you have to come to iia, you have to answer these questions. obviously, ag's important, renewable fuel is important so we want iowa to

fuels message out of iowa. now -- there's even more reason to be afraid.farmers say changes to the r-f-s can't be held soley responsible for any change in t souc reality is that t e price of corn is so low that it's often below the cost of production. that means that anything that would likely decrease the need for corn even more -- ike deeasing the renewable fuel standard -- would probably have bad outcomes for iowa farmers. just ahead...we check in on social media to see what the candidates are saying with just hours before caucus goers

welcome back -- we'll close the show each week taking a look at what happened on social media... media...this week -- we got word that planned parenthood was not only cleared of any wrongdoing after those heavily edited undercover videos were shot earlier this cycle -- but that the people who put those videos together actually got charged.we posted that story

we got back. back.colleen is critical -- she says: "got the whistle blower inststd of the crooks. par for the course" course"but grant says: "got the lier who falsified evidence." evidence."and linda says: "it's a great day in america! let freedom ri!" now -- we look at their voice -- what the candidates and their campaiais are posting on social media. media.just when you think 2016 can't get more bizzare.we a kn rick santorum was goin to try to repeat the 2012 magic -- when he won the iowa caucus.now -- he's bringing back the look too. too.early monday -- he tweeted out that he is bringing back that sweater vest look he sported back them when he appeared at the hamburg inn. we're not sure how much longer we'll see it for -- he said he'll re-evaluate his campaign after the iowa caucus. caucus.this next one was put together by the independent journal -- they've made a few viral videos in during the cycle.a few months ago -- marco rubio threw a football to a kid in iowa -- it hit the kid in the face and he fell over -- this is rubio's chance

he finally complete the pass to a k k in the u-s cellular center in cedar rapids -- but he also throws footballs all over d-c too.nothing serious -- but some fun at the enof a long countdown to the iowa caucus. you can followowlong on twitter and facebook all week long.see our interviews as we do them -- chime in with what you think -- send us your favorite pictures from events you go to. every week we'll end with the week ahead... ahead...it's a chance for you to see what the e campaigns arar up to. to.tonight -- rand paul is getting in as much campaigning as possible -- heading to the i-m-u at the university of iowa.that was also the first stop he made in the hawkeye state after he officially announced his candidacy back in april.finally -- tomorrow night -- iowans go to their caucus locations to hash it out.you can see all of our coverage right here -- live tomorrow night -- and on our website -- cbs 2 iowa dot com. then -- iowans don't have to deal with the politicians in person until the general election. they hit the road for primaries in new hampshire and south carolina and many

come back to fight it out all over again. thanks for watchingbe sure to tune in next week to get the clear facts on iowa in focus. fos. the american people can't afford to wait for ideas that sound good on papar... t will never make it in the real world. the grandmother who has to choose between paying for medicine and paying rent... can't wait. the single mom who desperately needs s raise... can't wait.

we can make real progress, right now. i'm caucusing... i'm caucucing... i'm caucusing for hillary clinton.