we are joined now by craig robinson who's behind the iowa republican blog. he's been a guest here on our show before, several times actually. thanks for joining us again. >>craig: great to be here. >>amanda: good to have ya. >>sabrina: so craig, we kinda talked about it in our break. we have quite a few topics that we laid out in the beginning of the show. we'd like to touch on as many as possible. so first off, let's talk about governor branstad. were you surprised by his comments about ted cruz at the renewable fuel summit? >>craig: absolutely. you know, he made about ted cruz. and if you play it out, you know, what's it mean in a general election should the senator become the republican nominee? so i was surprised at the personal nature of the comments, but not necessarily the position he has taken out. >>sabrina: i was just gonna say there's not really any surprise because of hihi relationship with obviouslslthe iowa renewable fuels. >>craig: well, of course. i mean, you know, his son works for them, but again, terry branstad has been a strong defender of

( craig robinson / think it hurt him at all. his nearest competitor, kind of bloodied: i think the headline of the des moines register, which says, 'rough night for ted cruz,' says it all." in iowa today, senator ted cruz said he's not worried about the headlines. he says his focus is on talking to voters directly. nevada democrats are planning caucus sites at six las vegas strip casinos to accommodate voters who work on caucus day. nevada democratic caucuses take place at 11 a-m on saturday, february 20th. the party announced shift workers can weigh in on their favorite democratic presidential candidate at the one of the designated properties. voters hoping to use the strip caucus sites instead of the site in their neighborhood have to declare they work nearby and can't make it home because of their shift. the strip voting sites are part of a broader effort to ramp up caucus participation. these are the properties on or near the strip where workers from these and other locations .. can caucus.. new york-new york.. caesars palac

craig robinson, the editor of the "iowa republican," joins us now from des moines. greg, welcome to the program. as you know, many people question the role of iowa in the election process. why should it go first? it' s not the most diverse state in the country. perhaps not representative of the whole of america. what' s the argument? what do you see that iowa' s role is? craig: i think the role of iowa is really to winnow down a field and to really make, promote certain candidates forward from iowa. i don' t think anyone in iowa believes that we pick who' s party. i think we understand that we start the process and we help winnow it down so that other people in states that follow can make informed choices. fernando: you' re very much and have been involved in the ground game. just give us your impression. who' s doing the best at getting people motivated and ready to caucus? craig: i saw the top three candidates all yesterday on the campaign trail in eastern iowa. and it was interesting. the ted cruz crowds are very passionate. the donald trump crowds are very kind

craig robinson, the editor of the "iowa republican," joins us now from des moines. greg, welcome to the program. as you know, many people question the role of iowa in the election process. why should it go first? it' s not the most diverse state in the country. perhaps not representative of the whole of america. what' s the argument? what do you see that iowa' s role is? craig: i think the role of iowa is really to winnow down a field and to really make, promote certain candidates forward from iowa. i don' t think anyone in iowa believes that we pick who' s going to be the nominee for each party. i think we understand that we winnow it down so that other people in states that follow can make informed choices. fernando: you' re very much and have been involved in the ground game. just give us your impression. who' s doing the best at getting people motivated and ready to caucus? craig: i saw the top three candidates all yesterday on the campaign trail in eastern iowa. and it was interesting. the ted cruz crowds are very passionate. the donald trump crowds are very ki

craig robinson coordinated the republican caucuses in 2008. >> how important is the ground game to winning iowa? >> really important, because it's a caucus, not a primary. it's a low-turnout affair. so you've got to tell your people how to do it. >> the ground game is all about signing up voters who submit to signing up your candidate in an hours-long process in a cold iowa night. only about a fifth of registered voters ever participate. more than half could change their minds, so the campaigns use smartphone apps and data mining to identify every possible supporter. >> digitally everybody leaves a footprint so you're able to identify those people who are most likely to support and ultimately caucus from jeb bush from that list you go out and call them, door-knock and follow up. bush made news because he diverted money to the ground game. he plans to triple his staff here. whose got the game to beat. brand anderson ran iowa. >> fen who is plugged in will say ted cruz. >> cruz leads the polls, his campaign boasts 9,000 volunteers including hundreds from out of state he's putting up in camp

ground game, cnn political reporter sarah murphy and editor in chief of the iowa republican -- craig robinson2 when 21,000 voters showed up. 121,000. not exactly a lot. in 2008118,000 voters showed up to caucus. i think mike huckabee got about 40,000, which is a high water mark for any republican candidate ever. you are of iowa and here watching. who has the best ground game? >> i don't know if anyone has a top notch ground game. there is plenty of excitement out there. ted cruz has a lot of ground game. he has a lot of volunteers knocking on a lot of doors and making phone calls. i think that matters. i think the trump campaign is better organized than people think. it's a little unorthodoxed maybe so to speak. he knows all the tricks and the things to look for. i think that kind of experience really matters. then, you know, from there i think it really tail offs. i was talking to a ben carson person last night. they still think they have the ground troops to really make a showing on monday night. >> i have heard people saying we have the best. trump has something out there. you have been wi

different kind of game they may have growing up in hawaii, it sounds like people talk about what craig robinsonsaid to me. his game is a lot like lenny wilkens, kind of calm, brings order to the situation. even harvard law school, the player people would describe me whereas the player that chris maclachlan had in hawaii sounded anything but that. i think what ended up happening when he moved to chicago he was in the company of arne duncan and john rogers who shared his inoculation committee is as the captain of princeton and marty nesbitt and eric whitaker worked at division iii players. these guys are in his circle and they are organized players. his game changed. he became more domesticated. so while he hasn't somebody who would take over a game, he is somebody who could hit two or three shots in a row with certainly find a teammate hitting two or three shots in a row. i heard that from a number of people. people who played with him at the university of chicago said he's someone you wanted on your team. he wasn't going to be the linchpin. he wasn't going to be a michael jordan or scottie pipp

craig robinson... founder of the iowa-republican-dot com... thank you for being here... and.. laurie belin.. founder of bleedingheartland-dot-com.. thank you as well... we'll check in with both of them throughout the newscast.. but first... what could be a very good sign for donald trump.... the final iowa poll has him in the lead... trump is at 28-percent support.. up from 22-in the past three weeks. texas senator ted cruz is in second... five points behind trump. and if there are the traditional three tickets out of iowa.. the third goes to florida senator marco rubio. doctor ben carson.. kentucky senator rand paul.. and new jersey governor chris christie round out the top six. and we begin with a couple of jerry crawford and republican insider mike mahaffey... thank you both for being with us this morning. now to the democratic side where on to the slightest of leads... the final iowa poll has her up three up first on this special iowa caucus edition of the up first on this special iowa democratic frontrunner... hillary clinton is winning iowa.. and hoping it leads to a sur

. >> okay, craig robinson, thank you very much. editor of the iowarepublican.com. appreciate it. just a reminder to all of you watching, tune in opportunity. donald trump on erin burnett 7:00 right here on cnn. >>> republican rising star telling donald trump to turn the volume down. but now governor nikki haley considered maybe a vice president candidate getting heat from the far right. we'll discuss >> plus, fascinating new details about el chapo. hear what they are doing behind bars to keep him from escaping again. >>> as we are all snapping up our powerball tickets, imagine if you were this group of bar tenders thinking they've got it. one quit his job. hang on a second. because all this celebrating was for knot. they had the wrong numbers. it was the wrong day. punch in the gut. we will talk to the guys in charge of all of this. i'm brooke balanced kin. we'll be right back. janet? cough if you can hear me. don't even think about it. i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. yeah...but what about mike? it works on his cough too. cough! it works on his cough too. mucinex dm relie