we continue to talk with political science professor dennis goldford. couple of minutes left, a few months out from the caucuses, who do you think on republican and democratic sides are best positioned to win the iowa caucuses? dennis: you have always heard they say that if i could predict, i would be at prairie meadows. steve: a wealthy man. dennis: i would. but the operative phrase is two months out. you have to take this into consideration. it's come down to the dynamics among four candidates. carson, who seems to be weakening, trump, rubio, and crews. that's a big change from where they started off with 16 or 17 candidates. remember, rick santorum two weeks out was in the low to mid single digits and he finished in a virtual tie for the lead. that's why we emphasized two months out. hillary clinton looks to be in pretty good shape. the question is whether bear -- bernie sanders has peaked or the enthusiasm of supporters will bring new people into the process and make it a more competitive race. still, if he holds her down to close to 50%, in a sense

rose: kcci political analyst dennis goldford says these remarks are just part of the trump factor. dennis: his supporters say, yeah, he's telling it like it is. and he's being honest. and none of this political babble you hear from regular candidates. on the other hand, what he said was rather astounding. right now, he probably did himself at least as much damage if not more than he did himself good. rose: but trump's supporters say they like that he's tough. curtis: he's open. and he will tell what he thinks, not just what people want to hear. rose: iowans say they don't expect trump to go anywhere any time soon. >> i don't think it's anywhere close to being over yet. i think we're going to see. >> and it is entertaining, i have to give him that. [laughter] rose political analyst dennis : goldford says it will be interesting to see how these comments impact trump in the coming days, calling it a "prime test." kevin? kevin: thanks, rose. it is quiet here, but it will be very busy. that does not mean the campaigns have not been busy, they are working very diligently right now. cynthi

our political analyst dennis goldford says the twitter component will add an interesting perspective to the dennis goldford: the extent to which the candidates really do think on their feet, and to the extent that they don't use any given question as license to launch into some piece of their regular stump speech. it'll benefit the audience, if we really do get an unscripted , spontaneous moment. eric: it will be interesting to see how that unfolds and the curveballs thrown at the candidates. it starts at 8:00 right here on kcci. because it is sponsored by kcci, we have a unique look. kevin will be there and we will have a look coming up. shaina: a developing story, u.s. officials are pretty certain a drone strike targeted jihadi john and he is dead. military officials are now confirming a drone strike targeted a vehicle in syria believed to be transporting the masked terrorist. he's the man seen in several videos showing the beheading of western hostages, including new hampshire journalist james foley and fellow american journalist steven sotloff. the u.s. military is still assessin

our political analyst dennis goldford says the twitter component will add an interesting perspective to the mix. dennis goldford: the extent to which the candidates really do think on their feet, and to the extent that they don't use any given question as license to launch into some piece of their regular stump speech. it'll benefit the audience, if we really do get an unscripted spontaneous moment. eric: those unscripted moments are the most interesting ones. we will see how it on. our night at 8:00 at drake university, we will be carrying it on kcci and coming up in a few minutes we will talk with stage, an unusual -- on his role, an unusual one. shaina: right now, back to the developing story -- we are still waiting to learn whether the man known as jihadi john is dead or alive. military officials are now confirming a drone strike targeted a vehicle in syria believed to be transporting the masked terrorist. he's the man seen in several videos showing the beheading of western hostages, including new hampshire journalist james foley and fellow american journalist steven sotloff. the

joined by drake political science professor and the harkin institute's first flansburg fellow, dennis goldford. but first, kevin, we will start with you. 10 days after this debate, you retire from kcci. >> thank you for reminding me. >> this is a pretty special way to wrap up a career. what does this debate mean to you ? >> hopefully it will be a good debate, we will wait a week to find out. stacey: tell me, how important is this debate? kathie: you mentioned only three candidates left and they should situation in iowa, it will be not that much time left for candidates to talk. people, maybe very well using this debate to make up their mind. i think it is important for candidates to articulate what they are for, but how they are different from other candidates. i think we will see that. stacey: few debates, so maybe this debate is more important? >> a handful of opportunities for these candidates, said to make up their minds, it is important for those in iowa. you have to wonder, what is hindsight is 20-20, but we will know more after. but there is a certain thing that draws out a candidate mo

drake university political science professor dennis goldford has watched from the front lines for years. how do you win iowa? professor goldford: for the iowa caucuses, it's organization, organization, organization. the caucuses typically occur at 7:00 on a monday evening in a wintertime period. you have to hope the babysitter shows up. you hope there isn't a blizzard. you hope you don't have a flat tire. and you have to prepare to spend at least an hour or sometimes more at the caucuses, so it requires a lot more determination and interest and energy on the part of the participants. if you are a candidate, you need a strong organization to get these people to these events. fernando: how do you lose iowa, in other words? when you look at candidates and sometimes you shake your head, they're doing it completely backwards, what would be those signs? professor goldford: interesting question. i've never been asked that before -- how do you lose iowa? you lose the caucuses by simply not, in a way, capturing lightning in a bottle. you've got to have that sudden zing, that there's no way of ex

here with the big comb moderators, kevin cooney, kathie obradovich, and our political analyst dennis goldford. republicans were largely left out of that conversation last night. >> i think that overall one of the things you have to look at is that this is a primary debate. as dennis was saying, this is hard to pick out an individual republican other than donald trump. because there are so many and if democrat, who is going to end up on the winning end farther down the street, so to speak. in a primary situation like this i think they would want to emphasize their own differences, you know, portray a sense of unity is a democrat or republican. but stay away from too much inner conflict and just kind of point out the differences and -- in a general way. kathie: there are wide differences between the democrats and republicans and i thought your question was added in an interesting national security sense. are they willing to give up on immigration reform? kevin: this was one of those things where we had to compress a lot of stuff and that was going to be the national -- natural follow-up, equati

drake university political science professor dennis goldford has watched from the front lines for years. how do you win iowa? professor goldford: for the iowa caucuses, it' s organization, organization, organization. the caucuses typically occur at 7:00 on a monday evening in a wintertime period. you have to hope the babysitter shows up. you hope there isn' t a blizzard. you hope you don' t have a flat tire. and you have to prepare to spend at least an hour or sometimes more at the caucuses, so it requires a lot more determination and interest and energy on the part of the participants. if you are a candidate, you need a strong organization to get these people to these events. fernando: how do you lose iowa, in other words? when you look at candidates and they' re doing it completely backwards, what would be those signs? professor goldford: interesting question. i' ve never been asked that before -- how do you lose iowa? you lose the caucuses by simply not, in a way, capturing you' zing, that there' explaining really well. iowans and new hampshireites share a common premise. which is do

political analyst dennis goldford says the engaged crowd on saturday definitely isn't a bad sign. >> it's good to have a warm reception, but the question is how long that in fact will persist. jason r.: goldford says from here on out for cruz and rubio , it is about maintaining their momentum. >> they could well catch up in the polls cruz has a pretty good organization and iowa. rubio is still building one they -- still building one. they need to capitalize on that or else this can be the latest flash in the pan among the republican candidates. eric: goldford says take saturday's warm reception with a grain of salt the gop event had -- grain of salt. the gop event had roughly one-third the crowd of the democrat's jefferson-jackson dinner while he says trump and carson missing of the iowa event will likely be forgiven by their strong supporters. elizabeth: democratic candidate bernie sanders unveiled a new television ad sunday. it shows off his goals as well as pictures from his past campaigns in vermont. working families and for principle, opposing the iraq war , supporting veterans.

runners ben carson and donald trump because both declined to speak at kcci's political analyst dennis goldford also attended the event yesterday. he says iowa voters might not have been swayed. dennis: cruz and rubio have the warmest responses but a lot of people here are not yet committed, and are still shopping for their best candidate. alyx: the republicans weren't the only ones out campaigning yesterday. hillary clinton spoke at a grassroots event in south carolina. clinton discussed the aftermath of gun-related tragedies and the importance of gun control. ms. clinton: i've been hunting. but my father would have no more left a loaded gun lying around in our house he would've jumped than off empire state building. and we have toddlers, picking up loading guns across america killing each other, wounding a parent or a grandparent . there is something deeply wrong when there has been such an alyx: clinton will be back campaigning in iowa on tuesday. and coming up later this morning, another presidential candidate stops by kcci. the former maryland governor sits down with steve karlin to discus

political analyist dennis goldford says the engaged crowd on saturday definitely isn't a bad sign. >> it's good to have a warm reception but the question is how long that in fact will persist. jason r: goldford says from here on out, for cruz and rubio, it's about maintaining their momentum. >> they could well catch up in the polls, cruz has a pretty good organization in iowa, rubio is still building one, they need to capitalize on that, or else this can be the latest flash in the pan among the republican candidates. jason r: goldford says take saturday's warm reception with a grain of salt. the gop event had roughly one-third the crowd of the democrat's jefferson-jackson dinner. while he says trump and carson missing of the iowa event will likely be forgiven by their strong supporters. live in the studio, jason news leader. laura: democratic candidate bernie sanders unveiled a new television ad today. it shows off his goals as well as pictures from his past campaigns in vermont. >> in congress, he stood up for working families and for principle, opposing the iraq war, supporting vete

kcci political analyst dennis goldford says ben carson and donald trump are still leading in iowa so we don't know the impact rubio and cruz's strong performances will have on the polls just yet. three months out from the caucuses, and a whole lot can change in that amount of time. >> they could well catch up in the polls. cruz has a pretty good organization in iowa, rubio is still building one. they need to capitalize on that, or else this can be the latest flash in the pan among the republican candidates. eric: goldford says keep in mind , the growth and opportunity event had roughly one-third the crowd of the democrat's jefferson-jackson dinner. he says trump and carson missing the iowa event will likely be forgiven by their strong supporters. the next gop debate is november 10th in milwaukee hosted by the fox business channel. we're also gearing up for the next democratic debate, to be held here in des moines. kcci is cosponsoring that one, november 14 at drake university. saturday,it is now playoff time. nine big playoff matches are happening tonight. elizabeth: when the winning

analyst denis goldford says that's when clinton proved her toughness. dennis: the sharp elbows enable hillary clinton to show that she's tough, that she could take a punch as well as give one, so while they went after her in various ways that actually helped her. kevin: the intensity of all three of these people and how they care passionately about their issues and how they care passionately about how they feel. that's what comes across i think when you see them in person. alyx: coming up next, what kevin thought about this experience. what he wishes he could have done. that story in 30 minutes. eric: we have a lot of people in town for that debate and it has been beautiful weather-wise. frank: folks not from iowa are probably not used to these temperatures they probably expected cooler for this weekend. 47 here, 43 for ames, 45 for fort dodge. our average high temperature is 48 degrees. when you wake up in the mid to upper 40's you think things are probably heading in the right direction for the afternoon. just a few high clouds, mainly clear skies across the