out of state groups like grow pack and jobs for iowa pac are flooding the iowa airwaves telling you tovote rick perry at the ames straw poll. we they think they can buy your vote with their unlimited superpac money. >> but americans for a better tomorrow tomorrow ask what about our unlimited superpac money. we want you to vote for rick perry too. but not their rick perry, our rick perry. on august 13th write in rick perry, that's perry with an as q as for america, with an "a" for iowa,-- that's right. (cheers and applause) i'll join you. i'll join you. folks, i want every one in the iowa nation to go to the ames straw poll this saturday, going to be a beautiful day. there's food, there's booze. and write in rick perry with an "a" why "a" because there's no "e" in team. and this evening-- (laughter) >> and this evening at 1700 hours we struck again with our second ad in the greater des moines metropolitan area. jimmy? >> iowa, a land of good people who can make up their own minds. but outside groups like jobs for iowa superpac are trying to pander to iowans with pro perry ads featuring

and the voice of the iowa state cyclones john walters.n, i know you think the people have the right to know the full results of the straw poll. >> i've always said sunlight is the best disinfectant. >> kneeor spor in. but first what is the latest news from the gridiron. >> there's good news for football fans. the part owned by the iowa gop matthew strong got a new coach. >> mike honzy. >> isn't he the former coach the chicago rush where he took them to victory in arena bowl 20. >> the very same and he hopes to bring that championship attitude to the barn stormers. >> stephen: thanks, john. turning to our top story the iowa gop's refusal to release the straw poll ballots is causing a storm of controversy. speaking of storms let's check with chief meteorologist brad edwards certified in central iowa's most accurate meteorologist for five years and counting. brad, how is it looking for the weekend. >> i tell you what, stephen, it's stormy out there right now and i think will stay stormy through saturday. tomorrow night will be the opening ni

the iowa g.o.p. has refused to release the write-in resulted, so we don't know how many of those 718 votes were with an a. was it 717? as low as 716? anything is possible. so i turned to the cobail report's affiliate in iowa, woi abc 5 where des moines turns for des news. i'm talking about the entire news team. co-an cores amanda kranz and chief meteorologist brad edwards certified as central's most accurate meteorologist for five years and who's counting? let's not forget intrepid cup reporter katie eastman, whose proven track record garners all the plumb assignments. >> jessica, iowa state students have a long list of parking complaints, but next week there will be a new program that could make driving places more convenient. >> stephen: now if only iowa would come up with a place for people to go. [laughter] well,, i was away... i was away for two weeks, but i am confident woi was hard at work tearing the lid off this scandal because they sent me an update in the form of an e-mail today from woi s

. >> really working the christian right in iowa, the people who vote in the church bus. >> right. >> he's going for the people super israeli because of old testament thinking and the end of days and all the that stuff and the revelation. i shouldn't say old testament. >> rick perry's whole strategy is i'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow. >> right. >> and he's going straight after evangelical christian votes in iowa which are extremely important. the mega churches in the suburbs of des moines and elsewhere -- >> the palin bus. >> that carry a huge amount of weight, and, yes, the idea that israel needs to flourish, needs to thrive, needs to have the end gathering of the jews to the holy land. >> and to be a larger israel, too. >> before the rapture is a big one in evangelical christianity, and also defensive israel and a hard line on israel is a big thing for certain conservative jews who are -- conservative jews as well. >> i agree. >> that's not a factor in iowa,

he sends this e-mail into iowa. he has said quietly that he might sneak back into iowa.in iowa, at some point we'll invest more. does he need now to eninvestigate some in iowa to make sure governor perry doesn't get a big bounce? >> i think governor romney needs to play somewhere else than new hampshire. they're running in two different places. if he gets a big win in iowa, he will have lots of momentum. he will go in south carolina. historically, our party, whoever wins two out of the first three nominating contests twins nomination. and he knows it doesn't look good for him. he kneads to slow governor perry down. >> do you go in there and say, all right, you hope bachmann wins. at this point you think romney will win. do you go in to take a lot of moderate republicans. we table about evangelicals and the tea party. but there are a lot of moderates. so does he say let me get that and at least deny perry some votes? >> to a degree, yes. he wants to kill his momentum. when you look at the calendar, the first four races are iowa, new hampshire, then to the nevada caucuses

she's got five months to basically win the iowa caucus. she is the best retail politician of all the candidates in this, and i think to a certain extent, day by day, anyone that's followed her or day by day when she meets voters. there's a long way to go before we pick a nominee. >> does she have to prove herself as electable? >> no question. i think you do that by getting votes. there's a path out of iowa. she has to raise money to go beyond that. i think those are the focus is now debate, fund-raising and iowa. >> ed rollins, former campaign manager, former adviser, sort of now volunteer, i guess. is that the best way to describe you? >> i'm always at the end of a telephone for anybody in that campaign. they are my people and i care very deeply about her. >> ed, thank you. >>> coming up, republican primary calendar chaos. just about everyone wants to be a key early voting state. once again. that's not new. some states are moving up their date dates. it has a big impact on campaign spending, campaign momentum and most importantly, whether

and in places like iowa tools like facebook proved very important. the ability for an organizer to roll into a small town and already have half a dozen, a dozen volunteers makes a huge difference to them on the ground organization. many operators will tell you that it is much harder to get the first dozen volunteers then it is to get the next hundred. so in that sense we see big evidence. i would go further. john mccain would most likely not have been the republican nominee but for the internet. in the summer of 2007 when things were looking pretty bleak for the mccain candidacy in everyone is expecting three guliani to square off against hillary clinton, mccain went to ground, cut almost all his campaign staff except for a few senior folks and the web team. that is what sustained him all the way up to iowa and in hampshire and made him -- and kept him alive as a viable. the possibility the the early part of the campaign. >> conservative and liberal viewpoint websites. >> there is a big gap between conservatives and liberals online. in fact, the traf

that's why i'm here in iowa today. we did a buffalo rally in des moines. i won the iowa straw poll. we had a wonderful response with that then, of course governor perry came into the race and there was an assumption that he was going to walk away with the nomination. now there is a relook at that people are looking after the debate and they are saying that they think now they need to look for their champion and i am the constitutional conservative in this race. and i'm running to be the people's champion and their voice in the white house. >> bill: perry took some of your support. but you are indicating here and correct me if i am wrong, you say you are going to get it back. why, is perry not performing well? is he a charlton? why? >> i think that, again, i think people are looking at the candidates on stage in the debates. they are taking the full measure of the candidates. people are giving a sond look and seeing who we are, what we stand for. what we're about to do to turn this economy around and people are saying now that they don't want to settle. because every four years peopl

debra villalon. >>> more details now about the uss iowa. the iowa saw many battles in the pacific. 1985 it served as a flag ship in the surrender ceremony. in 1990 the uss iowa was decommissioned. >>> city officials in san pablo said they can't afford another 300,000 emergency grant to keep an elementary school open. lake elementary school is part of the west contra costa school district. the school board is set to vote tomorrow night on closing the school at the end of the year. parents say the school is a focal point for progress. >> it's right in our community. why shut down something in our community when we need help in our community? >> reporter: shannon elementary in pinol is also threatened with closures. state officials say they could use the money to improve instruction at other campuses. >>> the state gave final approval to a bill that would vanish male circumcision. ab768 has already passed the senate. it now heads to governor brown's desk. >>> a bill to protect shark fins was sent to governor brown's desk today. that bill has divided asian members of the legislature. w

debra villalon. >>> more details now about the uss iowa. the iowa saw many battles in the pacific.in 1985 it served as a flag ship in the surrender ceremony. in 1990 the uss iowa was decommissioned. >>> city officials in san pablo said they can't afford another 300,000 emergency grant to keep an elementary school open. lake elementary school is part of the west contra costa school district. the school board is set to vote tomorrow night on closing the school at the end of the year. parents say the school is a focal point for progress. >> it's right in our community. why shut down something in our community when we need help in our community? >> reporter: shannon elementary in pinol is also threatened with closures. state officials say they could use the money to improve instruction at other campuses. >>> the state gave final approval to a bill that would vanish male circumcision. ab768 has already passed the senate. it now heads to governor brown's desk. >>> a bill to protect shark fins was sent to governor brown's desk today. that bill has divided asian members of the legislature.

might be in iowa, maybe she'll go to new hampshire next, maybe it will be there. to be. >> it's fascinating to watch this tease go on as long as it has and watch people continue to fall for it.

state/iowa game this weekend.our team? >> well, i was born in waterloo, iowa, and i love being back in my state. as a matter of fact, i'll be there later tonight. a woman, john, you will love this, offered to sew a shirt for me. she's taking half of one team's shirt and half of the other and sewing it together. so that's what i'll be wearing tomorrow at the game. >> splitting the difference. safe politics in iowa i would guess. congresswoman michele bachmann, thank you. >> i can't wait to be there. john, thanks so much. great to be with you. >> see you monday in tampa. >>> when rick perry said that, calling social security a ponzi scheme, is he right? nuts? or both? [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] you won't find the toughness of a ram 1500 combined with the legendary power of a hemi v8 in any other truck. it's a beautiful thing. guts. glory. ram. >>> anderson cooper coming up at the top of the hour. anderson joins was a preview from ground zero. >> john, a remarkable scene here at ground zero. not only is th

she dominated the iowa debate. people forget that pawlenty was viewed by the washingtonians as the alternative to romney. she knocked him on his tail. >> bill: do you think he endorsed him because they're both from minnesota? >> i think there was a conservative moderate battle over the years. she was the conservative leader in the assembly. >> bill: bad blood between them? >> i don't think bad blood. i think there is an ideological. at the end of the day, she was the conservative leader in the assembly and the congress. >> bill: does the congresswoman still call you for advice? >> she does. talked a little while ago. >> bill: you take the calls? >> absolutely. i love her. at the end of the day, i quit because i'm 68 years old. i've been doing this since 1968 was my first presidential campaign. i'm an old man. i don't need to basically be working 14 hour days. i helped put her campaign together. great people in her campaign. she is a wonderful campaigner. i love her dearly. >> bill: thank you very much. nice to see

it's the iowa straw poll. i won the iowa straw poll.as a stunning victory, even more than people realize because i had been in that race a shorter period of time than anyone who had ever participated in the iowa straw poll. i'm the first woman who have won that straw poll. we're very confident with that. >> reporter: and one other thing, things change in politics, no doubt about it. four years ago at this time, rudy guiliani, the former new york city mayor and former senator fred thompson, were near the top of the poll in the battle for the republican nomination. >> let's talk about perry and romney. they seem to be duking it out as if they were only a two-person race. what's going on? >> reporter: yeah, we saw that wednesday night for the first time rick perry taking part in one of those republican presidential debate at the reagan library in california. he stood by his comments that social security was a ponzi scheme. that started a fight between he and romney. we've seen it play out in the days since then and i have a feeling it will

won the iowa straw poll, jumped in the polls, and now has dwindled away. we had governor perry come in and jump to a commanding lead, and now in the fox poll he's fallen back into second place. i suspect we're likely to see the same thing for herman cain, because he had a really good debate performance, won the will be three weeks, between the we'll turn our attention to two different things. wins what everybody reports in terms of money, that's going to be a major how well they're doing, and second of all whether or not anybody gives a substantive policy speech between now and the next debate that draws attention. back-and-forth of the day and day, and the only way that herman cain can affect his mistake, which i'm sure he won't make. >> greta: meanwhile while the attention is on the bad performance by governor perry and the surge by mr. herman cain, it seems like one of the people that has avoided the noise is governor romney, but house press secretary, embraced him on the idea of the mandate, going governor romney has saying the mandate was a conservati

live for us in iowa. meanwhile, the republican presidential candidates will soon face off here on cnn. take the stage the at the cnn tea party republican debate, paid pour -- tropical storm lee already dumping heavy rain on louisiana and mississippi. but the worst is yet to come. we're tracking lee in the cnn hurricane center next. launch my watchlist -- a popping stock catches my eye. pull up the price chart. see what the analysts say. as i jump back, streaming video news confirms what i thought. pull the trigger -- done. i can even do most of this on my smartphone. really, it's incredible. like nothing i've ever experienced. unleash your investing and trade free for 60 days with e-trade. that's how it is with alzheimer's disease. she needs help from me. and her medication. the exelon patch -- it releases medication continuously for twenty-four hours. she uses one exelon patch daily for the treatment of mild to moderate alzheimer's symptoms. [ female announcer ] it cannot change the course of the disease

might be in iowa, maybe she'll go to new hampshire next, maybe it will be there. be. i

might be in iowa, maybe she'll go to new hampshire next, maybe it will be there.ing to be. >> it's fascinating to watch this tease go on as lo a

iowa, you are good people thank you. it is an honor to be in the heartland during this -- sharing this labor day weekend with you. i thank you for the invitation. the organizers put so much work into this. it is great to see you here today. last night was fine, but -- fun, getting to run into some of you at the response. to see so many demographics represented and so many different states all across our great nation, we got to gather together last night. different political parties represented. todd reminded me as we walked out of that room last night, "we are not celebrating read america or blue america, we are celebrating red white and blue america. [applause] what brought us here today out in this field? why are we not watching the hawkeyes or grilling up some of venison or corn on the cob on this labor day weekend? what brought us together is a love of country. we see that america is hurting. we are not willing to sit back and watch the demise through some fundamental transformation of the greatest country on earth,

with a big of parents in iowa yesterday, obviously, with the timing -- the appearance in iowa yesterday, we have all these debates from the declared candidates coming in september. this is the weekend that she can sort of: that spotlight, a test drive this message that she had yesterday. we have seen some pretty strategic use of the media. it is testing that message before she goes into that last three weeks of making her final decision. host: the fall campaign beginning to take shape. this morning, at writing about a series of events in september. a month that will shape the presidential race. from your perspective, how will the next three or four weeks shape the race in iowa? guest: a lot of people will be watching these debates. they will be watching to see if rick perry has the chops to go after mitt romney. rick perry gets into the race and shows some promise in fund- raising efforts, and now we have to see if he can stand up under the hot light of the debate. sarah palin is going to be watching that. from the standpoint of iowa, i think that mitt romney is going to be watching per

it's cost taxpayers in iowa and across this country. if it cost massachusetts 18,000 jobs, think about what obamacare is going to do to this country. >> well, it's on. rick perry clearly, you could tell -- those were new talking points, new stump speech, new hits on romney. he talked about also why he believes it is better to have a clear contrast, saying that romney in particular, because of the health care mandate in massachusetts, will not offer the same contrast with president obama. bottom line, after being on defense, frankly, for the last two weeks, it's clear they're telegraphing they want to get more aggressive, go on more offense, and put romney on defense. >>> moving on. michele bachmann, not exactly dialing back her rhetoric on hpv. but she is inching it back. talking to reporters yesterday, after a california fund-raiser, bachmann refused to say whether she regrets saying hpv may cause mental retardation. but for the first time in describing her debate encounter, she never used that phrase. take a listen. >> during the deba

. >> perry's wife anita is opening his iowa headquarters there. she fielded questions on immigration and had a more ready and frankly persuasive response than her husband. >> congressman santorum attacked him on the immigration and said what we're saying, governor, is we don't think it's fair you give the illegal immigrants a break on their tuition. we don't. that child sitting next to my child is paying the same amount. he's not getting a tuition break. he is paying the same amount of tuition my child is paying. >> anita perry also admitted the recent debate hadn't gone well for her husband and had a little advice. >> he realizes the last debate. he realized that from the look on his face. he knew that. so he's going to be better prepared this time. in fact, our son is 28 and he said mom when they prep for the next debate, i want to be there. this is his opportunity to show up. i want him to say -- maybe i shouldn't say that. i don't want to give strategy. >> what's interesting here, this is a case where the family is basically telling the paid a

what's going to happen now is if she wants to play beyond iowa, she better play heavy in iowa and hope that gives her a bump coming out of iowa. >> laura: so many people e-mail into my radio show tomorrow if i don't ask. what is it with you and rick perry? is this some old animosity? is this some texas thing? is there something there? let's get it all out in the open. is it the old bush crowd and perry, they don't like each other? >> you're asking the wrong guy. look, rick perry has been nothing but very kind to me and look, that was one of the two guys that sat in a room in 1989 and convinced him to be a republican. and run for office, statewide office. i handled his campaigns in '90 and '91. >> laura: do you think he's ungrateful to president bush? >> no, no. well, look, here is the deal, all i have seen between the two men is graciousness. but look, here is the time magazine story. in it, it quotes lots of perry people and it says perry served as bush lieutenant governor before succeeding him, but they've never been close. i know that not to be true. they're very close. you saw last

not in michigan or iowa city, where, for the first time ever, lightning and rain delayed iowa's home opener against tennessee tech. another historic first? at notre dame, three hours of storm delays, two evacuations of the 80,000-seat stadium. >> and they announced an evacuation of the ststium just as the teams headed to the locker room at halftime. >> reporter: ironically, moments earlieie the parents of declan sullivan were honored at saturday's game. the notre dame junior died last year when a wind storm toppled a lift he stood on videotaping football practice. with his death fresh in mind, along with seven others killed last month when storms toppled this indiana stage, clearing the stands in the interest of safety may now be considered a good call. barbara pinto, abc news, chicago. >>> turning overseas tonight, thousands of rebels have converged on one of moammar gadhafi's last remaining strongholds. negotiations for a surrender have collapsed, and now rebels are waiting for the order to attack. but is gadhafi even there? abc's jeffrey kofman is in libya. jeffrey? >> reporter: g

the republican national committee was hoping for iowa to kick off the primary season.here is what will likely happen instead. iowa will move to early january, new hampshire and nevada midmonth, south carolina later in the month and florida january 31st. here is why this matters. after the florida condition test it's about another four weeks until the next major primary in arizona and michigan and mitt romney is expected to do well in those. that makes florida especially critical for this guy, rick perry. if he doesn't do well in florida it's another four weeks before he has a good chance to pick up a win. don't forget there are three candidates who are said to still be seriously considering a run. chris christy, sarah palin and rudy giuliani. with the primary season kicking off after the new year it's just three months, that's not a lot of time to build a campaign. >> a source said that iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, nevada are all going to announce their dates tomorrow at the earliest. >> what about possible penalties that florida could face. could they loose de

you can't just show up at iowa because it's a caucus.have to have organization and have people organizing. that's a whole movement. he's running even farther behind. i don't think that chris christie will run. if i advise him, you're a young guy, sit back and wait this out. what's the rush? however, he's an opportunist. he's taken advantage of this opportunity given to him by what is a ridiculously weak republican field of candidates right now. >> is it a ridiculously weak field of candidates as our democrat friend here says? >> every field looks weak two years out, democrat or republican. at the end of the day, i think whoever emerges will be a very strong candidate to have an excellent opportunity of winning this presidency. but we've got a year to go. we've got five or six months before voters get to actually cast ballots. a tough organization, having just tried to put a campaign together in a very short period of time. it is tough to put the money, put the people, do all the kinds of things. to do it this late, fred thompson was the

i heard it in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, where i'm spending time.ished fourth i n the straw poll in florida, which was a big help to us. our fundraising has jumped up as a result of thexúggynek i wish i'd hear from some of the other candidates. so i think there's a dissatisfaction with the choices that have been presented to the american public, which all the papers are saying it's a two-candidate race. you're starting to tee a to see a rebound to that. >> greta: you think that's a big reason behind the surge for hermanmr nxsoox &ú .?k jwgxt%t&c3id;w'm> we've gotten a bump. herman certainly has. when people are looking at other places, then the top two that's an opportunity for us. we're going to exploit that, spend a lot of time in those early primaries. >> greta: big controversy right now over the primary schedule. you like the primary schedule, the caucus in iowa followed by new hampshire and south carolina. >> absolutely. >> greta: florida is stirring up trouble. what's the problem? >> i don't understand what florida

cnn political reporter peter hamby in iowa this morning for us.in, they hear speech and is this the time she's going to make it official? any indications about what she's going to say today? >> lots of indications about what she's going to say, but we know for a fact that sarah palin will not announce her presidential bid here in iowa today even though a couple thousand people have trekked in from all over the country, people from as far as san diego and dallas have bussed in here, flown in to see sarah palin. i think the attention that this rally, this tea party rally, is getting is based on two things, one as you said it's in iowa, the first state of the presidential nominating contecontest. she's been here a couple times in the last few weeks. she has said she's going to announce a bid or come to a decision about whether to enter a race at the end of september. we're watching to see what kind of message she puts out today, how she tries to define herself with the spotlight of the political world on her and as she approaches the decision about t

and make a splash and just live in iowa.head to head with perry and bachmann and convince conservative iowans that she's the candidate for them. >> do we know -- do we have any inkling what's happening this weekend? do we expect an announcement? do we not expect an announcement. do we have any timetable on when she will say yes i'm in or no i'm out? >> i think the legal timetable, she would have to file papers by tend of the october. that's the only timetable that makes sense. she's hinted that she would decide by the end of september. >> we'll see. we will stay tuned. end of september we'll be back talking about this again. >>> don't miss the nbc politico republican debate at the reagan library. it's next wednesday september 7th at 8:00 p.m. eastern moderated by nbc's brian williams and politico's john harris. >>> up next, mitt romney's florida strategy. why using rick perry's recent attack on social security may pay off for romney. >>> on the gulf coast, residents watch and wait. will the storm make this labor day a wash o

it's a difficult to imagine obama winning the democratic race without winning a iowa and in some place like aucilla tools like facebook proved important. the the the for an organizer to roll into a small town in iowa and already have half a dozen or a dozen volunteers makes a huge difference for the on the ground organization. many operatives will tell you that it's much harder to get the first dozen volunteers and to get the next hundred, so in that sense we do see pretty good evidence of the internal matters and i would even go further to say that this is not quite so well known but john mccain what almost not likely have been the republican nominee, not for the internet. in the summer of 2007 when things were looking pretty bleak for the mccain candidacy everyone was expecting rudy giuliani to go against him the real clinton. mccain went to ground and cut almost all of his campaign staff except a few senior folks and the ret team and that is what sustained him all the way it to iowa and new hampshire and kept him alive as a viable candidate or at least as a possibility through the e

a lot of people out here in iowa hadn't heard of it. a lot of tea party kind of legislators out here and activists told me they're kind of like a fringy group they hadn't heard of. it kind of seems like the rally was created just to host sarah palin, to be totally honest. and there have been some organizational issues. christine o'donnell, the former delaware senate candidate of the "i am not a witch" fame, which palin actually endorsed, was disinvited twice at the request of the palin people. so there has been a little bit of drama around the event. but sarah palin is the main attraction today, t.j.. >> peter hamby there for us in iowa. i know you like your heavy metal. enjoy the rest of that concert. >>> well, we turn to new hampshire now. it's one of the early voting states and both rick perry and john huntsman there today. the texas governor is holding a couple of meet and greets this weekend. huntsman, meanwhile, going to be attending a gun show. former massachusetts governor, mitt romney, he'll be in new hampshire tomorrow. he'll

the iowa caucuses. you are smiling what. do you want to do in iowa. t tom -- >> the end of days. old testament. >> the strategy is, i will worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. he is going straight after evangelical votes, the suburbs of desmoins. >> the palin bus. >> yes. and the idea that israel needs to flourish, needs to thrive. needs to have the in gathering of the jews to the holly land before rapture is a big one in evangelical christianity. and a hard line on israel is a big thing for certain, conservative jews as well. >> that is not a factor in iowa. he will take whatever benefit that brings him later on. >> into the geo-politics. it seems, rick perry is doing in an infantile way, jump up and down practically with a bull horn and take sides with those who want to annex the west bank, and create a larger israel for the the end of days so the christian rite will have what they have, the end of the world on their terms. it is incredible. >> at some point, sadly the jews go away. >> depending on the choice we make. yes. >> sorry. i don't expect this. anyway. >> politics as we kno

it will help him quite a bit in iowa. he will hope to compete hard in new hampshire but that of the placement romney has tried to keep in his pocket. for three years he has not been running -- but really has been. if you look down in south carolina and rick perry could rise again down there. but you have to consider michele bachmann is still in the race. whether she will last, we don't know, but she can peel off from rick perry's base and in some ways mitt romney's people are looking, if she stays in, ask iowa where the vote could fracture and maybe he could do some what well there. >> is there a role in this for jon huntsman warning -- the gingrich or ron paul? >> i think those people will go by the wayside. but remember, the first vote in this contest will not be cast until january. in iowa -- we have a lot of distance to go. knows what will happen in the next several debates? i think you will find romney will be on -- be receiving more attacks from the other members in the group, especially someone like not only huntsm

yet mitt romney's performances and debates picking up support even in iowa, a new gop field iowa poll shows him at 21% ahead of michele bauchmann by six points, rick perry by 7%, ron paul by 9%. those are a pretty stunning turn around for romney. >> a dramatic turn around, joe, and opens a door for romney to go in and shut this whole thing down if he can either win iowa or loses and runs second say lose to someone who cannot go the distance against him. i think he's in the seat, and the reason is, the tea party's been acting pretty much like that gal that's resissiting an arranged marriage. from palin to trump to michelle to perry and to cain now and chris christie. and they've been going -- but now, the road is wide open for mitt romney, i think not only to the nomination as of now, but straight to the white house. >> sam stein, what a difference a few weeks make. >> yeah. >> and specifically, let's put up that fox news poll again. what a difference a week makes, actually, for rick perry. have you ever seen a candidate other than michele bauchmann drop precipitously as perry? >> it's

alex moez in iowa. she joins me from the phone. the iowa or bust campaign seems to be pretty clear.w, walk me through the schedule of events today. >> that's right. she does have one event this morning. we are at the packing company. it's a family business that's been around since the late 1800s. we expect her to push again the differences between her and president obama wanting lower taxes and separating herself from the speech he gave yesterday. >> how many people are you seeing show up there? do you feel like it's turning into a nice size event? >> we don't really see anyone here at the moment, just some reporters. that isn't going to start for another hour and a half or so, but we do expect her to get a fairly good crowd. yesterday, we really only saw the employees of the two companies. it depends. we expect her to get a couple handfuls of people here. >> alex moe, we'll be watching you. thanks. >>> let me turn to the mitt romney campaign. he's turning his attention to florida. the republican candidates square off on thursday in orlando. garrett hake is covering the romney campa

. >> iowa, you've done it iowa, thank you. >> what a difference a m makes. in mid august, michele bachmann's energizing win in the ames straw poll created real buzz making her a top republican presidential contender. but rick perry jumped into the race the same day. >> it is time to get america working again. >> and for bachmann, it has been a steady decline since that. perry and bachmann are trailing caine, newt gingrich and slin, sarah palin who is not even in the race. a far field of right candidates led by perry absorbed bachmann's base. >> conservative populous, evangelicals, tea partiers. but rick perry has something important that michele bachmann doesn't. when you look at the president. executive experience. he has been able to come in and suck up all her oxygen. her campaign, in some degree, is in disarray. >> ed rollins stepped aside for an advisory role. politico covered michele bachmann in iowa and new hampshire. >> what happened in her campaign that you know of that led to this demise. >> i think have you seen over time that michele bachmann, as

she's in iowa again. last night, she surprised a group of people at a des moines restaurant and was greeted with chants of, "run, sarah, run." well, today, she'll give a major speech there where she could drop new hints about whether she'll run. john hendren has details. good morning, john. >> reportete good morning. that's right. first, sarah palin was on. then she was off. now we're told once again she's on for a big speech at a tea party rally in iowa. that, after she reportedly refused to speak if tea party rival christy o'donnell also appeared. the question is, will she or won't she? >> that is awesome. >> reporter: she's the master of the political tease. still undeclared. officially, just 2012 curious. >> i think it's early. it's too early. >> reporter: there are clues she's in it to win it. in 2012. the campaign-style bus tour. last night's meeting with grass roots iowa supporters and key speeches this weekend in iowa and new hampshire. there are clues that the mama grizzly is out. she's scheduled