hawkeye state could mean for the 2016 caucus winners.and we have one local community organizer looking to make history in linn county -- and he's talking about it first right here. welcome to iowa in focus -- where we're giving context to what happens in the headlines and on the campaign trail. trail.that starts with the barnstorm. both political parties had a tight race between at least two front runners who were trying to pull away from the rest of the field in the iowa caucus caucusfor the democrats -- the final figures changed after a late week recount -- but it was the closest race in state party history.but it didn't stop hillary clinton from claiming victory. "i am honored to stand in the long line of american reformers who make up our minds that the status quo is not good enough, that standing still is not an option and that brings people together that finds ways forward that will improve the lives of

republicans came into the night knowing it would be tight between donald trump and ted cruz. cruz.those two lived up to the hype -- and ted cruz overcame iowa governor terry branstad telling iowans to *not caucus for cruz because of the texas senator's stand on the rewable fuel standard -- and ethanol. "when the media in one voice said a conservative cannot win, nationside over 800- thousand donations poured in to ted cruz.com saying yes we can. but the big story of the night was the surge marco rubio made. he turned a distant third place in the polls to nearly bumping donald trump out of the number two spot.montana senator steve daines was pushing for the florida senator. senator. "marco is that kind of leader and his story. the son of a bartender, mom's a hotel maid,

how hard it is for american families to make ends meet. that's been marco's life and that's going to make a great president." both major political parties in iowa say problems with this year's caucus were caused by record turn out -- that's hardly a bad problem to have. but steffi lee takes a look at how iowa set the tone now for the rest of the nation. nation. months of groundwork - eating iowa's delicacies and getting swarmed by cameras boils down to one day of caucus chaos.linn county democrats and republicans showed up to caucus in the masses.that standing-room only response - caused delays and confusion. confusion. "trying to accomodate those people who were showing up, who needed to registered to vote, we say we've closed the doors, but that's for people who haven't arrived in time." time." "there were a lot of

was like an election, where you go in and sign up, sign in, and not understanding it's a caucus"experts say youth turnout and first-time caucusgoers set the stage. stage.sanders soared in corridor counties, but hillary clinton squeaked by - claiming a narrow statewide victory. victory. "i don't think that this is very detremental to clinton, i think she still comes out of this as the perceived frontrunner - overwhelmingly more endorsed by democrats within the party." senator ted cruz trumped the man who's topped iowa's polls - but experts say marco rubio is who to watch as his policies align closer with others. others. "rubio has been in the position where he's been sharing, he's been vying to be the consensus candidate with about four other individuals." individuals." "i think that the biggest thing for him is building off of this victory." we've also been tracking some of the actions by the cruz campaign right before the caucuses that's gotten some negative attention -- especially with how close the

were.first -- the iowa secretary of state paul pate scolded the cruz campaign after sending out mailers to voters saying that their neighbors were finding out how often they voted -- and that participating in the caucus would improve their "voting grade."secretary pate said that's a false representation of an official act and that there is no such thing as any kind of voting violation -- and that voting frequency isn't tracked.then -- after the caucus -- the campaign had to clarify a misleading email telling supporters to get ben carson voters to caucus for cruz by seeming to imply that carson was dropping out of the race.they came up short of appologizing but did admit that staffers should have made it clear that carson was *not dropping out. there are some canidates who didn't even wait that long. this week -- the iowa caucuses also played their role winnowing the field of potential candidates. candidates.after a tough showing monday night -- democrat martin o'malley ended his run for the white house.on the republican side -- 2008

ended his run. run.and a few days later -- rand paul called it quits too. paul actually came in 5th in the iowa caucuses -- ahead of most of the field -- and got a delegate.then -- wednesday -- rick santorum dropped out -- meaning that both previous iowa caucus winners were gone from the race.santorum quickly turned around and endorsed marco rubio. iowans are finished with the caucus process for another four years -- and with it goes one of the more light-hearted moments of the election season. caucus! the musical comes around every four years to poke a little fun and teach a lesson or two while iowans are living up to their first in the nation status. status. this mix of politics and performance was born on the iowa state campus in the 1980's when three different presidential candidates were all braving the cold to talk

at that point it just really struck me that this is something only we iowan's experience and it's so theatrical in its own way and this should be a theater play in its own form. it took the better part of 20 years to put pen to paper -- but once he did... did... i wrote it in less than 10 days and it was up in a work shop in less than two weeks. it was a very easy process because it had been brewing in my head for so long and j knew what i wanted to present on stage. the goal: entertain and educate everyone about the process that it so uniquely iowa. all the surrounding states have no idea what we experience being first in the nation that means from 2004-2012 there were small changes with characters and their parties - but this year

media is just such a part of this whole process now so we have to include that. that.but there are changes to reflect just how unpredictable 2016 has been. it just had to be that way because this year feels so different than any previous year. but at the end - robert includes the moment of charity that he says voters in iowa eventually find themselves. themselves. throughout the process they get caught up in the campaigns and candidates but by caucus night iowan's get to the heart of the matter and make informed decisions. caucus! the musical ran through this weekend.you can find more information about the history of the play through a link on our website -- at cbs 2 iowa dot com. now that the caucus is over -- candidates only have a few days before new hampshire voters head to their first in the nation primary.hillary clinton and bernie sanders

talk about their differences. clinton is still dealing with problems getting voters to trust her -- while sanders is pushing ambitious programs that he admits he would need help to get passed. passed. how we make change." change."i know that i have to really demonstrate as clearly as i can who i am...i've always been guided by the same values. i have always listened to ppl and always worked as hard as i could. the next night -- the pair squared off in a debate -- on stage at the same time.it got extremely tense when sanders brought up clinton's large speaking fees that she's

"thre is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system and in my opinion it is undermining american democracy.you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivitives in 2000 which contributed to the overleveraging of lehman brothers which is one of the culprits who brought down the economy. so i don't know i'm not impuning your movtives because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivitives people make mistakes and i'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. it was the republicans turn late saturday night. night.by that time -- the field of 12 that came through iowa was down to nine after three candidates dropped out -- and there was no undercard debate.carly fiorina lobbied the r-n-c to make sure she was included -- especially after doing well enough to pick up a delegate in iowa. she was left out -- so the group of men wanting to be president were asked about how they'd handle a situation unfolding right

north korea was accused of launching a long-range missle. "the fact that we're seeing hte launch and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear north korea is the direct result of the first clinton administration.what they're trying to do is they're tyring to proliferate this very dangerous material along with the technology and instruments that can be used for mass destruction. destruction.other candidates suggested that the united states should work with china to use their influence to keep north korea in check. every week -- we'll be going inside iowa politics -- talking about the people not trying to move into the white house. in the middle of the week -- there was big news in linn county local politics -- when long-time linn county supervisor... supervisor...linda langston announced that she wouldn't be seeking re-election when her current term expires.she has served on the board for nearly 14-years and will now keep working to improve public health and mental health services. she's been a part of our news

issues relating to health care. care.she was a key part of the linn county community partnership that led the way in the state and nation integrating the affordable care act for people who needed health coverage.that work was so successful that president obama called himself and thanked the group for their work. "if often times very surprised when i'm in the national arena, we're like "oh i'm doing this or that thing," and people are often like, "really? you should tell us more about that" so this is just one more opportunity to profile the things we're doing here in linn county. still to come...we talk to one community organizer first about how he wants to step in for supervisor langston -- and why he'd be making history if

sorry, no closed captioning. you can see the full interview online at

up next...we know the iowa caucus winners -- so we take to the history books to see how much it actually helps to own the first in the nation

welcome back.this is the real story -- we're going to take the time to give context 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

even years that are still relevant. relevant.today -- we take a look back at exactly what happened to caucus winners in past years. the shift to what's now an iowa tradition started in the early 1970's. realignment of the primary process put iowa at the front of the pack packin 1976 -- jimmy carter decided to focus on iowa -- and see what happened.it helped land him in the white house.since then -- iowa's been a necessary stop for any serious presidential candidate. but iowa's value -- for both major political parties -- seems to come in getting a message out and as an early test. test.in 1992 -- bill clinton won the presidency -- but tom harkin was in the race early on -- chasing nearly all the democratic candidates from iowa from the start.harkin won with 76-percent of the vote. then -- al gore and john kerry -- both caucus winners -- both lost to george w. bush before president obama edged out john

since carter won iowa -- the democratic nomination and eventually the white house -- the only other non-incumbent democrat to ride success in the hawkeye state all the way to pennsylvania avenue has been barack obama. "they said our sights were set too high. they said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come togtehr around a common purpose. but on this january night, at this defining moment in hisotyr, you have done what the cinics said we couldn't do. iowa republicans have had an even worse time than the democrats.the democratic caucus winner generally becomes the eventual nominee for their party. party.republicans have only done that in two non-incumbent elections over the last fourty years.after picking the winner -- george w. bush -- in 2000 -- iowa republicans caucused

rick santorum in 2012. "this is how you energize your base, this is how you get your caucus captains, you get your grassroots team together and you get people talking about you. here in iowa, there's no substitute for this. the problem is that you can't replicate this in every other state." in 2016 -- voters bucked the trend in two ways.first -- turnout for both parties was higher than normal -- creating long lines at cacucus locations but also creating an extremely close race. race.it was *the closest race in iowa democratic party history -- and on the republican side -- marco rubio was just about two-thousand votes behind donald trump's second place spot.but winning might not be as important as narrowing the field. "it looks like it's going to be those three tickets. it doesn't look like anyone is close enough to that number three spot that it looks like rubio is going to get to really be considered viable coming forward. on the other hand, maybe someone does better in new hampshire so maybe they pick up some

didn't have here." sure ted cruz gets to claim iowa -- but marco rubio exceeded expectations and in a race where just a few thousand votes separated first from third. after the break...we take to social media to see what you think about the caucus outcomes -- and which front

welcome back -- we'll close the show each week taking a look at what happened on social media... media...we posted that ted cruz won iowa on facebook -- there wasn't a whole lot of love for cruz that followed. followed.lori says: we're all lucky that it has been proven that lowa doesn't matter anyway. he can be happy over nothing at all. all.tom says: not much to brag about there. he'll never get to the wh though. he's not eligible. now -- we look at their voice -- what the candidates and their campaigns are posting on social media. media.one of the biggest consequences from the iowa caucuses was that donald trump had to admit that he didn't win -- after making his

issue throughout his campaign so far.after a few hours off twitter -- he let loose. loose.first he said: my experience in iowa was a great one. i started out with all of the experts saying i couldn't do well there and ended up in 2nd place. nice nicethen he finished with: i don't believe i have been the only onei will kee in but not worth it!could that be every week we'll end with the week ahead... ahead...it's a chance for you to see what the campaigns are up to. to.iowan's get a break from the campaigns while they all head east.new hampshire's first in the nation *primary is tuesday.all the campaigns are already out of iowa -- so the next day to watch for is saturday february 20th.that's when nevada democrats and south carolina republicans head to their polling sites. thanks for watchingbe sure to tune in next week to get the

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