very own joy ann reed. one of the biggest questions primary voters have been asking is who is a conservative in this race. let's listen to rick santorum why he gave that title to mitt romney in 2008. >> so romney will stand up for the conservative principles that we hold dear. you didn't say compared to. >> of course i'm not going to say compared to. i'm trying to advocate for his candidacy. >> so you didn't mean that then? >> i was saying it relative to john mccain. and that's what i meant then. >> joining us now from iowa, john heilemann, national fairs editor at new york magazine and an msnbc political analyst, the oracle of des moines, john, thank you as always for being on the show. >> good day, alexandre. how are you out there? >> we are doing okay. we have many questions for you. the first is, we have heard a lot about this proverbial heat in the kitchen and whether or not it's too hot. and i wonder, rick santorum is coming up in the polls as we're seeing from numbers that are out

yesterday and polling that we had from the des moines registry yesterday. he now seems to be the subject of some scrutiny. how well do you think he is equipped to stand up to in tht ? what do you make of his appearance on "meet the press" yesterday? >> i thought he looked a little nervous yesterday. it's a strange position for a candidate like rick santorum who has been flying not just below the radar but almost subterranean as he's been making his way across iowa, doing the old fashioned way and getting no scrutiny and press attention. suddenly he's in the eye of the hurricane. he is still although getting some tough questions yesterday from david gregory, he's still not the focus of a lot of attacks out here. and there's a reason for that. the romney forces, which would be the moefrts equipped to attack rick santorum, they want to kind of prop him up. they like the idea of rick santorum being the conservative who emerges from iowa. they don't think there's any way

he can be the nominee. they wouldn't mind him beating mitt romney all that much. they are not deploying their capacity to rip rick santorum down. with this little time left before the caucuses, the place where he's going to have worry more about the scrutiny and hammering is going to be after iowa if he rolls out of here with a lot of momentum when he heads into new hampshire and south carolina. >> i think it's worth doing a deeper dive into the des moines register numbers. >> over the four days the poll was conducted, this is santorum's support went from 10 to 22%. paul's support plummeted from 29 to 16%. meanwhile, how much of that is a deciding factor? >> it's iowa. it's the caucuses. so the point is you've got to show up and convince your buddies to show up. if santorum is the one out there doing that, then that gives him major momentum. he is the only i suppose true

candidate that's actually running in iowa, in my opinion. >> you mean in terms of actually showing up in all 99 counties. >> you don't give it to michele bachmann either. >> no, i don't. i think these plouffe and puff. she's been camped out in iowa and she's at 5%. so rick santorum has done shoe leather campaigning. it's old school and it's right. >> so has ron paul. you have to give him credit, too. he's embedded in iowa. the other thing with rick santorum, the evangelical wing of the party, they have -- they're accustomed to having great influence over who the nominee is, particularly in iowa. rick is their kind of candidate. they haven't had a say because the business wing of the party that likes romney or the sort of talk radio wing that's liked various candidates from herman cain to gingrich have had a bigger say. this is their chance. >> if you look at mike huckabee

as the prototypical what should a conservative look like to win iowa, he's as close as it gets this time to mike huckabee. >> the question is staying power. these ads presumably have to go compete in new hampshire which is not going to be necessarily favorable to a conservative as south carolina is. and then florida, john, we've been -- we have not mentioned the angry teddy bear. newt gingrich. i know you have a piece on this on new york magazine and in politic. gingrich seems to be revealing his strategy for the weeks ahead. i wonder if you could speak to that a little bit. >> yeah, i'd say it was kind of an extraordinary moment yesterday. some of us were up with newt in the marshalltown. he had an unscheduled media availability. got kind of goaded into doing a press conference. and our colleague chris matthews here on msnbc sort of took over the proceedings.

and kind of goading -- >> chris matthews took over the proceedings? i can't imagine that. >> hard to believe. hard to believe given that chris is such a wall flower. but he with the reporter's notebook in hand, he proceeded to kind of product gingrich into his political consultant mode. most candidates don't take about their strategy, just talk about their mess and and voters. gingrich got into a process heavy conversation in which he more or less said i made a mistake. although i still want to run a positive campaign in iowa and still hope that voters repudiate the awful negativity of the romney campaign, i am going to going negative at mitt romney on romney care, on abortion, on planned parenthood. traditional conservative cultural conservative kind of issues. he's going to use new hampshire to try to set up south carolina where gingrich is still right now polling 10 or 15 points ahead of romney. gingrich and rick perry, they're going to go straight i think

down to south carolina. perry is at least going to go straight to south carolina as is back man and try to make south carolina the place where the conservative movement tries to stop mitt romney from getting the nomination. gingrich is going to take to the air and to the debate is taken and he's going to do something that nothing republican has yet done, which is offer a full frontal assault on mitt romney. that is something romney has escaped for all of 2011, and apparently according to ging rip he's about to get it now. >> newt gingrich and the words full frontal not things i thought we would be hearing on this show. romney is pivoted to the right hard in a way that i think a lot of folks did not expect, even then weekend, he said he would have vetoed the d.r.e.a.m. act. he's talking about in an appeal to i would assume christian voters talking about how he reads scripture every day, a lot of his sort of faith has come to the forefront in recent days. i wonder how effective you guys think that's going to be among iowa voters, but also, if that

doesn't hurt romney when he has to go into, you know, new hampshire or even florida and then presumably if he wins this thing into the general election. >> you know what, the problem for mitt romney is almost everything he does unfortunately seems inauthentic. that is going to seem equally n inauthentic. what do i have to say, write me a script, i'll say it. if he tries to go hard right, which is not the way he was as governor of massachusetts, it isn't going to seem real. >> it's like when your parents or grandparents try to dress up and look cool, it doesn't work. that's kind of how it is. it's inauthenticity. >> you think they don't buy any of it, the being faithful stuff? >> i do think there is a threshold of doableability that romney has to exceed or meet. that's what he's trying to do, to be minimally acceptable to conservatives. you're minimal lly acceptable.

>> to me the d.r.e.a.m. act was a significant step forward in terms of being a hard care conservative. >> it's also a contrast against gingrich and rick perry who have much more sensible immigration policies than mitt romney now has. >> what is the mood in romneyville right now? it sounds like from what they're saying to politico, they think they're going to be in the top in the caucus and they seem rather optimistic. >> yes, well, look, i've been reporting for the past several weeks that the romney campaign is extraordinarily confident about mitt's chances to get the nomination. they think there are only two candidates who can beat him here in iowa. either ron paul or rick santorum who they don't believe can be the run nominee. the two people they thought would be real challengers, gingrich and perry look like they're going to get their hands handed to them in iowa. there is a consensus emerging not just in the romney campaign

but the governor bran stead talked to me about this we're going to have a very big turnout tomorrow. people are predicting turnout of maybe 140,000, which could be the biggest iowa caucus, republican turnout ever. if that is the case, it works to romney's advantage extraordinarily well because in a big field like that, it means a lot more train stream conservatives are coming in. romney will do well if turnout is high. >> we will be talking more about the ins and outs of caucus night after the break. ahead on "andrea mitchell reports," she sits down with rick santorum. first the variables that will impact santorum and the rest of the field of candidates tomorrow. one being the weather forecast. that is next on "now." when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief? try bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream fast and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before.

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how big a role will mother nature play in picking the iowa caucus winner? right now, the forecast for tomorrow is tomorrow night is chilly but with no signs of rain or snow. that's the first time i've actually done a weather forecast on camera wearing my bill karins hat. maybe if he goes out sick. the point is there are a lot of variables as we know. good weather seems to favor who? >> romney. >> romney. mitt romney, right? because the notion is that he has the least sort of passionate base, but if it's not so terrible outside, they'll go ahead and go to the community centers and wherever and caucus. let's talk about another variable and ari, you have a piece about this in the nation. the evangelical vote. we have stats from last week's cnn/time ploelt that break down the evangelical born again vote. the results are somewhat interesting in who these folks

are getting behind. one of the most interesting ones was which candidate agrees with you on issues that matter most among born again christians. you see, rick santorum is getting 23%. ron paul is getting 17%. >> that's right. and you know, i talk about this in my article at the nation.com. there is a media narrative that ron paul has the libertarian vote and the other candidates have the born again vote and there's the split. rick santorum yesterday on "meet the press" said basically there's three races, an establishment race for romney and gingrich, a conservative race for him and those guys and bachmann and there's the libertarian race. i think rick santorum has it wrong. if you put the chart up again, when asked who agrees with you most on the issues, santorum comes in first among conservatives and first among born agains. that's what we might expect. but ron paul comes in second among born denies for who they agree with most.

right? now, does that mean that born denies care about more than just the single issue that the media says they do? i think possibly. does it also mean that ron paul is getting a second look here because of his views on life, because of his views as a principled conservative. >> he's been so idea logically consistent, right, matt? isn't that the appeal of ron paul? because at the end of the day, if you -- as a christian conservative, i don't think of ron paul as being a great champion of christian conservative ideals. >> but he is, and in terms of the pro-life movement which is a defining issue, the defining is issue, paul has been very solid on that. i also think you can't discount the whole war thing. the fact is that there are a lot of conservatives out there who are grown war weary. i think, by the way, i think if you were to to do this poll this week instead of last week the numbers wouldn't be quite as good for paul now that people know about some of those newsletters.

yeah, it is simplistic for the media to say that will christian conservatives and evangelicals only care about these issues. i think that they probably discount the fact about the war weariness, about iraq and afghanistan. >> certainly ron paul, i mean there was a "new york times" story breaking down his support just in terms of donations among active and retired service members and ron paul leads the pac. >> huge among young people and veterans. >> you know what's ironic abouting that if you look back at the bush years? it was evangelical christians the most in favor of invading iraq. it was evangelical christians the must gung ho for the bush policy in iraq. now that will obama is commander in chief, they've changed their mind. >> the nation has, as well. >> it has more to do with a decade of war. >> ten years of wars. >> in addition and, of course, the military is heavily christian. when i look at the numbers and ron paul who is very pro-life, this says to me that the republican party is the absolutely captured by the abortion lobby, the

anti-abortion lobby because the top two candidates for christians and conservatives are the most strongly pro-life. >> that is a defining issue. gary johnson is a classic example. you know, he's very similar to ron paul. he doesn't -- you know, that's like a deal breaker for a lot of people is the abortion issue. >> john, you've written about ron paul calling him a crank but beloved by supporters. yet we have the polling information that shows him to be slipping in the last few days. what accounts for that? is that people waking up and learning about the newsletters? is it increasing ar door around rick santorum? what's going on in paul world? >> let me just say first, alex, the important way to think about the abortion issue in the republican party, i think it's a litmus test issue which is to say you can't become the republican nominee unless you are anti-abortion. but you have to pass a certain threshold of credibility on that issue and then after that, it

ceases to be all that important. we republicans have never nominated the most pro-life candidate in their field. they always nominate someone pro-life enough and appeals to a broader base of conservative i bes. on ron paul, i think some of the criticism he's taking for things like the newsletters has sunk here. it's more on foreign policy he's lost ground. he's been hard for not taking the threat from iran seriously and foreign policy conservati conservativism spans all of the differenten conservative factions in the iowa electorate. although some of his rhetoric of his anti-war rhetoric is appealing, he seems a little bit naive to conservatives on the question of whether the america faces real threats in the world. he says over and over again in speeches that no one is going to bomb us or invade us, forgetting that 9/11 happened ten years ago. we weren't bombed or invaded but we did suffer of 3,000 lives lost in a terrorist act here, and people remember that.

that's a scarring event and ron paul doesn't seem to take that seriously enough for a lot of conservatives out here in the iowa electorate. >> what remains still shocking to me is in that same poll, 41% of respondents say they could change their mind. 7% have no first choice, meaning that 50% of this thing is still up for grabs. we'll talk about iowa more after the break and whether the state creates even more confusion for the gop. that and so much more coming up next on "now." i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin.

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by tomorrow night, we should know who the winner of the iowa caucus is, but will we be any closer to knowing who will emerge as the republican party's eventual nominee? we were talking on the break about the role of iowa, and there's been a lot of discussion in the last few days about just what a small segment of the population it is. john heilemann saying that there

may be a record turnout of 140. what were you saying, 140,000 people? >> 140,000, about three independent estimates that say 140,000. obviously those are guesstimates. that would be a record. >> even when we talk about that being a record, that's a relatively small slice of not only the state population but the national population and whether this sort of small very, very far right you know, largely christian evangelical audience should have an outsized role in shaping the republican field. and matt lewis, you seem to say less. >> look, first put it in context. the republican needs 1,144 delegates to win the nomination. if romney wins iowa and new hampshire, he will have 12 delegates out of 1,144. so the media makes iowa more important than not. we are sort of guilty. but i do think there's an argument to be said for having a protracted and drawn out primary process because if you had a national primary, somebody like

barack obama or rick santorum would have no shot. so by having iowa, it's sort of a fight and i believe in creative destruction and i like when people fight it out. >> creative destruction. >> the cream rises to the top. >> ari, it sounded like you would agree too based on the grassroots element. >> when i first went to iowa, i was working as a field org flieser for john kerry. you go down there, and what you see is in our case, we were out of money and the national media, folks like us sitting at had table were talking about when is kerry going to drop out and who is he going to endorse. the national narrative was over here. we had no cash. we had a ground game and a candidate able to make the case. if you go to last cycle, all the indications are if you had a one-day or national primary, barack obama would have never gotten a start. so i do think that the grassroots elements open it up. i think you have to remember, what are the alternatives, a front loaded or national primary gives more power to people like

us. >> it doesn't have to be iowa. >> you were there in 2008 and documented in a little book called "game change." >> yeah, i think ari is right. i mean, look, i mean barack obama is a bad example though because he raised a ton of money in 2007 as much as hillary clinton. he actually unusually could have been someone who could have competed in a national primary or competed in a system that started with actually diverse states like california or new york or texas or florida. but i think the argument for iowa starting or for new hampshire starting the system is set up so you have geographic diversity by having iowa new hampshire, south carolina and nevada go first and all those states being small enough that candidates who can't raise a lot of money can get a hearing. it would be better if we had moraysal and ethnic diversity but it's a better system than a system where you would have to raise $150 million to be

competitive. that would prohibit a ton of candidates from forever getting a hearing. this system is -- has a lot of flaws but it's hard to design one that is better. >> just to throw a footnote in real quick, barack obama was actually trailing among african-american voters going foo iowa. there was no indication he was going to have that support till he proved himself in a state with the grassroots vote. >> and the legacy of america's first, quote unquote, first black president. when we come back, hoping for a miracle. does michele bachmann have a shot in iowa. we will talk to alice stewart from the campaign next on "now." we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities

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♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. michele bachmann and rick perry both enjoyed moments in the sun early on. now they're pulling dead last and second to last respectively. what happened? from des moines, alice stewart, press secretary for michele bachmann's campaign. thanks for taking time to join

us today. >> great to be with you, alex. thank you. >> so, alice, i wonder, the latest des moines register poll shows bachmann on par at 20% with santorum and perry in terms of relating to ordinary iowans but dead last in terms of electability. at what point do you think this race started getting away from you guys? >> keep in mind the only true poll is the iowa straw poll and michele bachmann won that after getting in the race late and having will less time and resources than any of the other candidates. that's important to note. since that time, we built on the organization that we had prior to the straw poll. we've added county chairmen all across the state and precinct captains that will help prepare us for tomorrow night. so the i wat straw poll was a great gauge for us to determine the ground game that we had and support we had. we built on that and not only built on what we have here in iowa, in the past week, we brought in hundreds of volunteers from across the country that helped to make tens

of thousands of phone calls and id voters that support michele and drive them to the caucus and speak for her at the caucus tomorrow night. so we're encouraged that you know, the one true test there has been to date, she came out on top. we're encouraged how the next true test, the caucuses tomorrow night will turn out. >> alice, surely you guys must be looking at this polling and i would assume in some wayses have refashioned your strategy. i'm just wondering in what ways you have sort of recalibrated. >> well, what's key in this race is to remember that you need a broad spectrum of support and michele from the beginning mentioned the three-legged stool, the fiscal conservatives, tea partiers and brings in the independents. as we've traveled across the state, we just completed a 99-county tour, we solidified support from folks that have already supported michele but also independents said they certainly stood for michele. the key thing to note here with the people of iowa, they take

great pride in their vote and take it very seriously. and they oftentimes wait till the very last minute. many of them go to the caucuses still undecided because they don't let the polls, they don't let the pundits or the press make up their minds for them. they look at the candidates, had he vet them. they are blessed with the opportunity that the candidates come into their hometowns and many times, their own homes and visit with them. and they get to learn how they stand on the issues. and also the debates have been a great opportunity for the candidates to show the contrast between themselves and the other candidates. and what michele has done is shown that sheets stands consistent and steadfast on the true conservative values that the people of iowa want in their leader and certainly the republican nominee and to go against barack obama, and that's something that we have stressed over the past several months and many people are beginning to recognize that, and certainly tomorrow night, we expect all of them to come out to the caucuses tomorrow and support michele. >> if the showing is not as

strong as you would like, if michele bachmann is in the same position tomorrow as she is today which is at the very bottom if not last, what is your game plan for going forward in new hampshire and south carolina and florida? >> we are optimistic how we will finish tomorrow. keep in mind john mccain came out of iowa in fourth place. i was with governor huckabee. we shot out of here like a rocket ship. the governor is fantastic. what we had in south carolina wasn't enough to keep the momentum going. michele bachmann has a strong ground game in south carolina. we have great volunteers, a fantastic staff in south carolina. wednesday morning we head straight to the south carolina and begin campaigning for a few days there. that's key because the people of south carolina share many of the similar views the people of iowa do. they're concerned with the issues like life and faith and

family and manwe're expected to carry on the momentum in south carolina. >> i just wanted to ask you why is michele bachmann a better candidate than rick santorum and what are you telling voters in iowa to that point? >> well, they're very similar on many of the issues but there's a stark contrast on some key issues that people that of, i guess you would call them the faith community and the strong social conservatives. first and foremost, mr. santorum has supported pro abortion candidate in arlen specter. that's something that michelle would certainly never consider doing. he is pro union and he's supported many ear marks when he was a member of congress. that's something that tea party members and people that want to see government be fiscally responsible, they won't put up with that. what michelle in contrast to that, she has stood up to washington as usual and stood up

against the overwhelming spending in washington. she is a vong supporter, obviously, of the tea party. she brought 40,000 people to washington to fight against obama care. and while santorum lost his last election, she's been in washington fighting against big government spending. those are some key contrasts she has with mr. santorum and people as they begin to peel back the layers are starting to notice that. >> this is roy reid from the grio.com. one of the images that stands out for me of michele bachmann was her pouring water for the other candidates during one of the debates. the vote that's available to her is evangelical christians. iowa has never elected a woman statewide. how much do you feel that her being a woman is holding her back with the evangelical votes. >> i want to piggy back on that. this is alex wagner. you have a new campaign comparing her to margaret thatcher, the iron lady. i wonder to joy's point how successful you think that tact

will be among iowa voters? >> we're excited about our new add we launch this had morning. you can find it at michele back man.com. to joy's point in terms of pouring the water, that was a spur of the moment thing that she did. and it just goes to show that michelle is a compassionate person, she is a servant leader. certainly any of you that have children if you can help serve others, you do that. it was just a natural reaction for her to help, you know, the others get water at that event. >> but in terms of evangelical christians vote for a woman as not a help mate but the president? >> that's a great question. we have brought on many pastors and faith leaders from across iowa and added more than 30 in the past few days, bringing our total list to over 200 pastors and faith leaders. that's very important because pastors have a way obviously of speaking to their congregation

who they support. we were at a church yesterday where she gave her faith testimony and the pastor encouraged members of his congregation not necessarily to support michelle but he encouraged people to use their voice and support candidates that share share views and values. and people in the faith community understand above all else that she stands for the key issues that are important to them that of faith, life, family, and marriage. she's been married to the same man for 33 years. not all the other candidates can say they've been married to the same person for any length -- for that length of time. but it's important to note that she has got the faith community because they understand she doesn't just talk the talk. she walks the walk. and she is -- she shares her values in word as well as indeed. >> it will be interesting to see how the faith community caucuses tomorrow evening. thanks again, alice stewart, for coming on the show. press secretary for michele bachmann's campaign. we enjoyed having you here and hope to have you on again soon.

i want to talk a little bit about rick perry, another man down at the bottom of the polls when he was once riding on angel's wings. there is an article in politico talking about inside the perry camp and perhaps how dysfunctional it has been from word go. i do want to bring in john heilemann here if we still have him. i know, john, you're out in iowa. what is the general talk on the perry campaign and how badly or how badly it's been mismanaged or whether that's an unfair allegation or set of rumors? >> well, there's certainly a lot of infighting inside perry world and there has been since he had his very difficult days back in late september and october, the ones that kind of crippled his campaign. and there's now breaking out kind of into the open in a politico story a few days ago, you had the various camps kind of taking shots at each other trying to kind of set up -- to get out in front of who's going to take the blame if perry does not do well here and doesn't do

well in south carolina. i there that the bottom line is, it's hard to run for president, and rick perry arrived in this race and he was not that well prepared. he made some mistakes that hurt him enormously. i don't think he was physically necessarily in the best condition to run for president. his back was really bothering him. he's a much better candidate than he was back in september and october. if he had been as good a candidate as he is today back then, he would probably could have been the candidate people thought he might be. >> it is staggering when you read these accounts that there were no polling, there were no focus groups. there was a sense they cos kind of waltz in and run a presidential campaign and the way they ran a successful gubernatorial campaigns. that has not quite turned out to be the case so far. when we come back, while the republicans pick a candidate, the obama campaign is gearing up for 2012. what is their strategy? we will tell you after the break. this is an rc robotic claw.

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welcome back. we were talking before the break about as we have been every day for the last few weeks about the republican presidential field. we haven't looked at the other side of that field which of course is obama and the white house strategy for winning in 2012. and i think it's worth mentioning that the white house or the re-election campaign, the president has eight offices in iowa, which is more than any other republican candidate. he has made more than 350,000 calls to iowa supporters. held 4,000 one-on-one conversations with voters. this is going to be a formidable campaign organization, not that we didn't know that, but it's worth noting. simultaneously, the white house over the holiday announced that it's sort of strategy for the president would be to run against the do nothing congress in 2012 and the only must do,

must pass piece of legislation is an extension of the payroll tax cut. what do you guys make of this? is that going to resonate with voters? is that a winning strategy for the next year? >> worst kept secret in the world is they're going to run against the to do nothing congress. i don't know how the story that wrote out as like some revelation, we've got his secret. we know he's going to run against congress. a couple problems with that. harry truman had republicans to run against. barack obama still has a democratic-controlled senate. does he run against congress in general, there be angering democrats or does he go after republicans, there be appearing to be partisan? that is going to be a very interesting question, and to watch. does he treeing a ing atieing a >> i think the entire architecture of the obama campaign does box him in a little bit. people remember that he's talked about being this nonpartisan

figure. >> if i would advising him, i would tell him triangulate, run against congress and let the chips fall where they may. but there are other factors. >> i think a very obvious counter point is what clinton did in '96 where he had time on his side. he was an incumbent but had a very low approval after all the showdowns and like obama had been wrestling with what he considered a very unreasonable republican congress. newt who is back in the headlines now for other reasons ran add after add tying dole to newt gingrich. they said dole is very likable. and he was a war hero, far more likable than mitt romney. they said he's just like gingrich which is this failed extreme republican congress. i basically agree with matt's political point here. >> keep in mind the other thing obama has in his favor, which you could argue some of the republicans do as well is money. there was a great piece this weekend in the "new york times" detailing the role of the super

pacs and effectively that romney's super pac dismantled gingrich's candidacy in the iowa through flooding the airwaves. that's a taste of what to come. worth noting president obama has his own superpac. jimmy, i know money and politics is one of your -- i wonder what you make of this, whether there's any chance we one day get rid of superpacs as some candidates have said. >> it would be nice if we could except the supreme court won't allow it. i hate to break the news to folks in america, the democratic super pacs are not raising any money. there's no coke brothers, george soros is not playing as much as the coke brothers are if you want to compare the two sides. so barack obama is going to raise a billion bucks and going to spend a billion bucks reminding the countries we're better off than we were when he took office. okay? that's debatable, fine, whatever. and you know, he's done a lot for the country, blah, blah, blah. that's all great. if he's got eight offices in

iowa, what are his poll numbers in iowa? if he's made 350,000 phone calls, what are his poll numbers in iowa. john, we know the president is set tote address the democratic caucus tomorrow night. what is the chatter about what's happening on the left in iowa? >> none. no one's chattering about that. >> right. >> i want to say look, jimmy is right. the president's going to have a billion dollars. the republican side could also have a billion dollars. the candidate won't necessarily have it but between the republicans and various superpacs we'll have basically financial parity on both sides. the story in the "new york times" i think is grossly overblown in the sense that it's obvious the president is going to run against congress. the truth is the president is going to run against whoever the republican nominee is and they're going to spend a large portion of that billion dollars trying to destroy that person. if that person is romney, they're going to run against him as a gordon gekko wall street

pig and say that he's utterly n inauthentic and that he's soulless and coreless and -- >> that's what they've started to do that, have they not, bringing out testimony from former employees? >> yes. >> who have been laid off. it's worth mentioning that nbc and bane are both part owners of the weather channel but the white house is bringing out testimony from folks laid off during romney's tenure at bain. >> and but in the end, i have to say, you know, there are now, if you talk to people in the investment banking world who are doing forecasts for the macro economy in 2012, people are again starting to think the unemployment rate is going to rise back 0 over 9% and gdp growth under 2%. you can run $7 million worth of adses against romney but those will be a huge anvil around the president as he goes forward. it's going to be a very close and tough election even with all the president's political skills, his organization and his money. >> not only political soothsayer

but an economic swami. john heilemann wearing many hats for us in iowa. we look forward to hearing more from you tomorrow. after the break, what now? did celo green disrespect john lennon on new year's eve? that will be next on "now." >> i'm andrea mitchell, coming up next, live from ja vague joe's here in des moines, iowa. one day to go before the caucuses. the biggest wildcard, that undecided voter. we've got our interview with the man of the hour, rick santorum about his sudden surge in the plos. plus pollster ann seltzer and chrysalis sa take us behind the numbers. and ron paul appearing today with his son rand paul. we'll talk to his campaign manager.

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welcome back. it's time for what now. first up, how is occupy wall

street shaping up in 2012? this is a question we've bandied about a lot on the show. we know in the iowa 10, iowa caucus protests are were arrested and in 68 protesters were arrested in zuccotti park on new year's eve. in california, there are protests planned for the rose bowl parade in pasadena. what is your prognosis for this movement? >> you know, somewhere in the ocean a shark is being jumped. i have to say. i think the movement did a really great service by bringing the issues of inequality back, but i had i they are so disorganized and refuse to organize into a coherent narrative. after awhile, you're like okay, you're marching, getting arrested. what's your point? >> i thought they were doing interesting stuff around the foreclosure crisis with something that has been sorely underreported and got very little discussion in the national dialogue. but this seems to me a little bit skits phrenic at best. >> i think there's something they've got to do.

they've got to be for something. i used to, when i worked in the senate and the labor unions would talk to me and they were against this bill or against this bill, i said to them, what the hell are you for? now, you got to be for something because then that's a positive message. i don't know what they're for. >> because i love jimmy and you should see our rapport off camera. >> the green room extra -- >> i think he's wrong on this one and i'll tell you why. there are many important examples throughout history where just being against something was enough for years. moveon.org started out being against what they considered a politicized ridiculous impeachment of president clinton. now several years later, they became a group involved in peace issues and domestic politics. >> i want to talk about another -- quickly about celo green. he is for something and that is a religion, a world where we can all believe in what we wanted to say. i'm saying that terribly. i changed john lennon's line in

imagine nothing to kill or die for and no religion too to all religions true. and got a lot of tweets about it. are we entering into amoral universe where artists can no longer talk about -- >> as a true fan before you used to wear the funny wigs, i think he can be take poetic license with john lennon. he's celo. he does whom ands to the muppet show. >> i think it's a question of realness where there is a question of whether you are being true to your lyrics and reflect the reality that you're singing or rapping about or not. i mean, john lennon was a peace activist as well as a singer. celo if he's going to talk about religion must get into it. >> always a good show when we can enter into the realness. that's all for now. il see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern with full 100% coverage of the iowa caucus. you can follow us on twitter @ "now with alex."

hello, andrea. we hope you're staying warm out there. >> hi, well not quite warm but it's warm inside at least. thanks, alex. we're here in des moines at java vo's. the candidates are in full force. we caught up with rick santorum as he is surging in the polls and today newt gingrich seems to be signaling defeat only on msnbc. in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down.

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports" live from java joe's in des moines, iowa, the day before america starts voting. the most volatile primary in history could turn into a romney versus santorum face-off. almost anything could happen in this unpredictable race. will independents show up to caucus? and what about the ron paul brigade? this hour my interview with the unlikely rising star in the final poll, republican presidential candidate rick santorum. >> that's what we've been doing and we've done