he is focused on taking back the white house for the gop. >> effective in bringing our case to the american people. >> at an event for young caucus goers, ron paul fired up his supporters. >> ron paul has been the same. he is the same view. he is preaching the same thing and that's really important. he has an ideal america that he sees. >> polls show paul and rick santorum are romney's biggest threat in iowa. >> you need to focus in on who is that candidate who has the vision for america. >> republicans across the state are meeting in churches, schools, and community centers. many will hear one last speech on each candidate before they cast their vote. rick perry rallied his volunteers comparing the caucuses to war. >> this is going up the hill. the battle is worth winning.

>> perry, michele bachmann, and newt gingrich flipped to the back of the pack. the former house speaker hammered romney today calling him a liar. >> i just think he aught to be honest to the american people and try to win as the real mitt romney, not try to invent a poll driven consultant guided version. >> all the candidates have vowed to fight on regardless of tonight's outcome. but there are usually casualties after this first test. almost 120,000 iowa republicans attended the caucuses in 2008. local republican leaders are expecting the turnout to be even higher tonight. live in des moines, iowa, danielle nottingham, now back to you. >> all right, thanks danielle. joining me now is the former maryland governor. he is author of a new book, called turn this car around. he's also chairman of mitt romney's maryland campaign and man who may know a thing or two about balancing an agenda. good to see you. >> good to see you, too.

>> i have a book for you, by the way. >> in the meantime, mitt romney has been campaigning for four or five years in iowa. he can't get above 25%. what does that tell you about how they feel about him? >> he's probably going to win tonight. he is viewed as the nonconservative, even though he is a conservative. a lot of pretty hard conservatives running in iowa. a win, close second for mitt tonight would be just fine for us. >> new hampshire is next, you say he's a conservative, but is he a conservative who views have evolved since he was governor of massachusetts, or is he a closet moderate who is playing a conservative so he can get elected? >> if you look at the work, look at the lifetime. look at what he has done, by and large, it's a fair judgment that he is at rick santorum, michele bachmann, no. is he a conservative, a businessman, a probusiness candidate, of course. >> has he dug himself in a corner by having to play to the

right wing of the party to get himself this nomination, if he gets it, how does he run back to the center to win the purple state when and if he wins this nomination? >> i haven't seen one issue since he has changed since four years ago. so i think that's not going to be a problem. >> he has run hard through immigration. >> there are positive and negative impacts of it. i think is the right answer. states are experimental. he tried it. give him credit for trying at least, right? >> right. moderates would give him credit. it's those on the right that don't like him. >> i think conservatives that are in his camp. members of congress as well. i think, look, this is primary season. we are talking off camera, flavor of the day. bachmann, cain, newt. now santorum. the bottom line here is, nobody

dislikes mitt romney and by the way, with regard to electability, almost to a person, man, woman, people see him as the most electable. >> is there a scenario in your head where president obama doesn't win maryland? >> that's a tough one. you had to ask me that, didn't you? it's going be a thing for the president, but bottom line, if you look at 42 states, you and i could go down to that map and say 42 states are pretty much know who the winner is going to be. same every time. >> we will see how the 50/50 nation votes. how your man does in iowa. >> fairly confident and pretty confident tonight. by the way, bought ads today, going to new hampshire, good looking. south carolina. >> governor, your book is called turn this car around. >> thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> good to see you as well. >> all right, if you are outside today, you just may have seen some white stuff. i know i did on my car and was

shocked about it, top, what's going on out there? >> a couple snow showers, snow flurries, and winds and windchills. let's start with live doppler. a couple snow showers. one pretty strong one. tracking it last hours. moved across 66 and headed south of woodbridge. that will cross 95 in the next 30 minutes. that will lay down a coating because temperatures are in the 20s. look at the wind. still gusting to 25 out of the northwest at national. 22-mile per hour wind gusts in leesburg. winds will die down after midnight. bad news, windchills are in the teens. feels like it's 16 downtown. feels like it's 11 in manassas. 12 in gaithersburg and 12 in leesburg. so windchills are still going to be a factor here. so here's the deal. early flurries possible, then partly cloudy, very cold. from a temperature standpoint, colder tonight. lows 14 to 24. we'll come back and tell you the winds will kick back up tomorrow and added a few snow flakes in the seven-day. we will explain. >> thank you top. caught on tape, a pretty

unusual robber, we'll call this guy the bandage bandit. he struck most recently at a cvs pharmacy. this is video taken christmas eve. a tall man wrapped in bandages like a mummy. he threatened the pharmacist saying he had a gun and he wanted drugs. >> i think that's very scary and crazy. >> i think that's shocking and very scary. >> police think the bandaged bandit is a white man about 6'3". perhaps weighing as much as 230- pounds and they are hoping the photos and video will result in a tip that puts that man behind bars. a new ad campaign targeting childhood obesity in georgia is drawing criticism from all across the country. the ad showed which you chubby kids talking about their bodies. a little girl talks about how she is bullied and how that hurts her feelings. she is also pictured in a billboard saying it's hard to be a little girl if you're not.

>> they are trying to do a public good, but what they are ultimately doing is shaming and blaming both kids and ultimately parents. shame and blame doesn't work. it just makes people feel bad. >> doctor scott, director of the weight and wellness center at johns hopkins says shame and blame approaches never work. what's really needed to address the country's obesity epidemic and a campaign of education, marketing, and price incentives. so, what do you think about this? are ads going too far or are they not going far enough? send your thoughts to mcginty's mail bag. that's mailbag@wusa9.com or post your comments to our facebook page. an update on the money found at a thrift store in maryland. a volunteer at the thrift shop found $1300 in cash in the pocket. it happened last week. it seems a maryland family donated the clothes when their loved one died and they didn't know about the cash until one of their friends saw the report

on the news. the thrift shop will now be returning that money. coming up after the break. >> one of the things you never think is going to happen to you. it's something you hear about. >> a young mom who just lost her husband on christmas day is forced to make a terrifying life or death decision. we'll have the story coming up. new sat requirements for local students causing controversy. we'll have that story in a minute. alright everybody, get your heads up.

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today, kwame brown introduced the college preparation act plan of 2012. this would require in part that every d.c. high school student take the sat or act before graduation and they apply to at least one college. as armando trull tells us, the big question is, who is going to pay for that? >> the proposed law would create a mandatory workshop that would teach students how to apply to post secondary institutions and how to get federal financial aid. for those that provide relevant materials so parents can help their kids go through that process. >> it's amazing how many young folks don't go because no one showed them how to fill out an application. >> law would require every high school student to take the sat or act test before graduation. and that every high school student apply to at least one

technical school, vocational school, college, or university before graduation. but the mandatory nature of a college preparation act of 2012 is not sitting well with some parents. >> it's a disadvantage because you are dictating to us what our child should be. >> the money could be better spent. >> chairman brown's office is still crunching the numbers, but it will affect between 3500 to 4,000d.c. high school students every year and it could cost anywhere between $200 to half a million dollars. armando trull, 9news now. >> coming up right after the break, we did see some snow flurries today, but could we be in for more of the white stuff along with the cold weather? topper shutt with your forecast after the break. but first, the man suspected of starting more than 50 fires is probably behind bars now. we may know a little bit more about why he was doing what we think he did coming up next.

the cops out in l.a. say the than they took into custody is their arson suspect. harry is the man responsible for starting more than 50 car fires in four day, causing $3 million in damage. investigators will not talk about why they think he did it, but neighbors say he was in a dispute with the feds over his mom's immigration status. an official working this mother's case recognized him on a surveillance tape. that is what led to the arrest.

in oklahoma, a young mother who was widowed made a split second decision to save the life of her baby and her own. >> you have to make a choice, you or him, and i chose my son over him. >> sarah says a man tried to break into her house and terrorized her and her newborn baby. finally he got in, and she fired and killed him. she was hoping her life would get better, not worse, since her husband just died on christmas day. >> it may be a new start. maybe something a little better than last year. one of the things you never think is going to happen to you. just something you hear about, you know. it can't really happen, but i guess it can. >> the man who tried to break into her house had been stalking her. he had a large hunting knife in his hand when he broke in. in less than one hour,

registered voters in iowa will head off to their neighborhood gathering all around the state participating in the republican democratic caucuses. now with the help of or colleagues, andrea mccarren hosted a newsroom caucus today to give us a demonstration on how this unusual political tradition actually works. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag. >> all caucuses begin with a pledge of allegiance. and then representatives for each candidate get a few minutes to make their pitch to win the hearts and votes of caucus goers. so not to cross the journalistic line into politics, our voting is for beverages. manny santis represents the coffee candidate. hopes voters quench their thirst with soda. elizabeth is here for milk. and renee, the purity of water. >> we can have it cold. we can have it warm.

it's for summer, winter, spring, and fall. >> soda tickles your throat. it makes you smile. >> you want someone who cares about your health work for you day and night. milk is your winner. >> a vote for water is a vote to get back to the basics. the basics that have made our country strong. >> i don't need extra water. i don't need cream if i don't want it. and i definitely don't need that sugar drink that rots my kids brains and has them bouncing around the walls. >> i don't need coffee to make my breath stink. i don't need milk to give me gas. water, well let's face it, water is boring. >> milk gets yourself up in the morning by building consensus with wholesome cereal. not only does milk give you strong bones and teeth, it is also the most stylish mustache for both men and women. >> it will never let you down. water is always with you. >> a vote for water is a vote

for spiritual lensing that our country needs after the last four years that we've had. >> after the speeches, each of our caucus members is handed a blank sheet of paper to write down their beverage of choice. >> another for milk. >> the votes are tallied. the winner announced and called in to the state party. >> the winner was milk with 17 votes. >> andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> you know milk usually wins out in these sort of things. >> i'm a milk drinker. you don't like milk, do you? >> not really. i can't work with it. >> does it gross you out? >> my dad did work in the yard, he would come in and have butter milk with salt and pepper and chug it. i can't do butter milk, but i'll do milk. it is cold, it is windy. it moves out of here after tomorrow. let's start with live doppler. we have a good snow shower that held together pretty well about the last hour, hour and a

half. it's going to cross i-95 the next half an hour and this will lay down a coating. so keep that in mind if somebody downtown has to travel south of woodbridge. this is going to roll right inbetween them in the next half hour. for the most part, the snow showers and flurries are on the way. all right, let's talk about windchill. feels like it's 16 downtown. 10 in gaithersburg. 11 in leesburg and manassas. etch down in fredericksburg, it feels like it's 16. the winds will diminish tonight. may take a while. early flurries ending. not windy. so we get a break there, and chilly on thursday. temperatures by thursday should go back into the 40s, which is average. in fact, by the time we get to thursday, maybe above average. early flurries tonight, very cold. 14 to 24. those are straight temperatures. winds become northwesterly at 10 after midnight. so there will be some low 20s

in arlington and downtown and towards springfield, but for the most part we are talking teens tonight. 17 in rockville. 18 in college park. 18 in bowie. so the coldest night so far, 17 in reston and fairfax and 16 in sterling. only 15 in leesburg. the month of december downtown area, only got below freezing five times. maybe this is payback, we'll see. partly cloudy, very cold tomorrow morning. you'll need a coat, sunglasses. by afternoon, call it partly cloudy, still cold. a couple flurries are possible. high temperatures around 35. winds pick up a bit, but still southwesterly at 10 to 15. we can handle that. let's break it down for you. 6:00 a.m. 15 to 25. these are real temperatures now. 29 to 33 by noon. and even by evening, only 30 to 35 with some snow showers or snow flurries possible. next three days, we gain almost 10 degrees each day. 45 on thursday. 56 on friday.

with sunshine. all right, next seven days. over the weekend, we haven't changed anything. we beefed up the precipitation a little bit on sunday. more cold air available. might see light rain saturday night and end snow on sunday. don't see a huge storm right now, but we'll keep you posted. cold sunday and monday and derek we're back in the 60s on tuesday. >> sunday has good playoff watching weather. we'll be back. wement to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

in the mail bag tonight, the montgomery county bag tax that went into effect yesterday, not a fan. sure, why not charge 5 cents per bag? why not charge 10 cents now because you know it will go up in six months. where are we heading? a bag tax, more tolls on roads that were once free. higher federal income taxes after february. higher gasoline prices, postage stamps, increase and metro fares going up this year. what's next? sally says she is more worried about what happens to the cash after it leaves her pocket. another tax, another fee. we sure need to help keeping our environment clean. this takes money. do you trust the legislature will manage this money competently? they haven't been able to balance the existing budget.

actually, they have been balancing the budget because they have to. how far, you may not appreciate what they had to do to get there. and finally this on an entirely different subject. denver quarterback, tim tebow, whose displays of his faith endeared him to some and enraged others. and maryland is indeered. i am sick of hearing so much of hearing about tim tebow's kneeling in prayer. they do the same thing after a end zone. i would rather them neil in thanks, rather than beating him on the chest, see how great i am. as least tim does it quietly. i think they are jealous. i was with you until that last sentence. jealous of tebow's skills they are not. and finally there was this who says thank you for this past year of mcginty's mail bag. i will look forward to letting

you know what i think. i'm looking forward to hearing from all of you in the upcoming year. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. that's our report. i'll be back here along with anita brikman at 11:00. don't forget log on any time you like to wusa9.com. tonight the iowa caucus results. we'll have them for you then. see you later. bye bye. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

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