i want to bring in jim acosta and joe johns.we're going to talk any number of things there's iowa polls, santorum surge. but really the man of the hour and the surprising thing about this has been that romney, who has not exactly played hard in iowa, now looks as though he's the guy to beat. i want to play a little bit from romney in lamars, iowa, yesterday. >> i must admit that family's the best part of life, the people you love, the people you care for, that's really the richness of life, and i was lucky enough to grow up with an extraordinary mom and dad. my dad was born in mexico of american parents living there. when he was 5 or 6 they moves back to from the states and went to los angeles, utah, his dad was in the construction business and anyone here in construction knows that goes up and down and his dad went broke more than once. my dad was never able to finish college, couldn't get the time or money together to do that. believed in america. and knew that in this country you could accomplish whatever you set your heart t

i want to bring joe johns back in.ning to rick perry say, listen, i have a chance, we're on the mover that's what all of the candidates are saying now. the truth is one of the figures in the poll that paul mentions earlier this hour, 41% that's correct how many caucusgoers say they can change their minds or they haven't made up their minds and there's a big uncertainty that people like newt gingrich and rick perry sort of look at and say, how do i convince those folks, either once they get into the caucuses or before they go, and that's what these final days are about. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. i mean the one thing i don't think we've seen a lot of yet is the second hard look at the same candidate. and that's a problem. i mean you look at rick perry, i think rick perry is going to be one of those guys whose early days in the campaign will be the subject of things in campaign management textbooks, political science textbooks because there is a real issue there about preparedness before you decide to get into a ca

joe johns, cnn, warrenville, south carolina." straight ahead... have a cocktail... in the air.aiiline offering them for free... and where you have to fly to get it. it.and more legal problems for former football star, o-j simpson...whose foreclosing on his house...and how much they say...he owes. ((break 3)) [ male announcer ] at green giant we know nature gives us the most nutritious of gifts. but only when they are ready to be given. that's why green giant picks vegetables at their peak. ...and freezes them fast, locking in nutrients ...for you to unwrap. ♪ ho, ho, ho. green giant those five food groups sound a whole lot better when you put them in a taco shell instead of a pyramid. old el paso. when you gotta have mexican. there could be another global recession in the making... o.j. simpson may not have a house to live in when he gets out of prison. and as shelby lin reports... one airline is saying "have a drink on us." us." --reporter pkg-as follows -- stocks posted strong gains on wednesday. the dow picked up 96 points to close at 12,578. the nasdaq and s and p 500 also

joe johns, i appreciate it, with me in tampa, florida.ext on reporter roulette i want to take you to washington where we have senior correspondent dana bash standing by on capitol hill. the senate is considering this bill where it would make it illegal for staff to make insider trades. this is something we talk about on the show, but i think a lot of americans are actually sitting there thinking, hello, how is this not illegal already? >> exactly. and you talk to some members of congress, they will tell you they believe it actually is technically illegal already, but the problem is there is a perception that members of congress are exempt from this insider trading law. what this effectively is is trying to make sure members of congress who get information that is not available to the public because they're in hearings, because they get briefings and that they don't take that information and personally buy and sell stock for profit for themselves. i talked to someone who was involved in writing this legislation who said the issue really is

. >>> joe johns following newt gingrich in iowa 250u day. how's he feeling? >> reporter: newt gingrich lowered expectations to go along with his lower polling numbers but said that he was not going to win after a supporter told him that kind of language is not helpful. is he actually sharpened his language when it comes to mitt romney calling him a liar. expect more of that kind of talk as the gingrich campaign moves to new hampshire, south carolina, and beyond. but for today, the gung rich campaign is expected to wrap up the day at a big caucus site in the cedar falls area and then coming here to des moines to await results. brooke, back to you. >> joe, thank you so much. live 2012 coverage of the iowa caucus is the big show that begins tonight. 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. >>> still ahead, chuck grassley has yet to make an endorsement so i'll put him on the spot hours before the caucuses. we'll hear what the senator has to say live coming up. >>> also a bizarre murder mystery after a body is found on queen elizabeth's estate. >>> also, iran, delivering a

cnn's joe johns is following the day's developments from manchester. joe. >> hey, gary. call new hampshire ornery, perhaps. stoic, certainly very independent thinking, that pinch-hit for voting against the front-runner has been well established, but that will be tested here in new hampshire this time. it's because of mitt room me. not only is he the productive favorite in this race, the front-runner in the poll, he has a house in new hampshire and perhaps most importantly of all, he's the governor of the neighboring state. he's a within well known smodty here in new hampshire pep has been running very hard, trying to avoid any suggestion that he actually might be taking this state for granted or the voters. let's listen to something he said very recently here on the campaign trail. if we have leaders who will tell the truth and who will live with integrity, and who know how to lead, have had the experience of leadership and know how to lead, if they will draw on the patriotism of the american people, that we can overcome any challenge we have. and i intend to be one of t

i want to bring joe johns back in.ning to rick perry say, listen, i have a chance, we're on the mover that's what all of the candidates are saying now. the truth is one of the figures in the poll that paul mentions earlier this hour, 41% that's correct how many caucusgoers say they can change their minds or they haven't made up their minds and there's a big uncertainty that people like newt gingrich and rick perry sort of look at and say, how do i convince those folks, either once they get into the caucuses or before they go, and that's what these final days are about. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. i mean the one thing i don't think we've seen a lot of yet is the second hard look at the same candidate. and that's a problem. i mean you look at rick perry, i think rick perry is going to be one of those guys whose early days in the campaign will be the subject of things in campaign management textbooks, political science textbooks because there is a real issue there about preparedness before you decide to get into a ca

let's start with joe johns with the gingrich campaign in orlando. last week i saw you face to face in south carolina and we talked about the momentum newt gingrich had. he won the south carolina primary by a big margin. things have changed quite a bit over the last week, right? >> they certainly have. it doesn't look like newt gingrich is doing that well at all here, gary, quite frankly. a lot of that probably has to do with organization on ground. romney has been working hard for years. also the air war, the television ads are so critical here in florida because, frankly, it is just such a big state. it's been accepted pretty much that romney has been winning the air war here in florida but it has gotten very nasty. i can give you a little example of that. the romney campaign put out an ad just today essentially talking about the ethics troubles of newt gingrich while he was in congress. the ad was quickly denounced by tom brokaw who happens to be a newsman who used to anchor for nbc. his appearance and likeness appears in that ad. nbc also denounc

we have joe johns available as well in atlantic, iowa, with romney.ect in this coming hour is two live events. one a press availability with newt gingrich, those are always interesting. and a press availability with mitt romney. another interesting event. so we're going to bring you both of those live, provided they don't all begin at the same time. but right now what we want to do is while you're watching rick santorum, newt gingrich was talking and we want to bring you some of what he had to say to his audience. >> and try to get them to turn out. i thought it was very revealing in the des moines poll this morning that 41% of the voters are still undecided and i think the final argument is going to make a big difference. the only two points i would make when you get to that discussion point is that iowa has an opportunity to really change american politics by proving that negative ads don't work. and i think to the degree -- [ applause ] to the degree you can convince your friends and neighbors not to vote for the people who have been running the ne

who knows what comes to jon huntsman down the road, kyra. >> joe johns in myrtle beach for us. can join wolf blitzer and the best political team on television for live coverage of jon huntsman's announcement. it's scheduled for the top of the hour, 11:00 eastern. you can see it right here in the "cnn newsroom." well, clearly, huntsman was never a game-changer when he was in the race, but will his departure make a difference? political editor paul steinhauser with us. let's talk about the bottom line here -- does the political landscape shift at all, paul? >> kyra, i don't want to rain on jon huntsman's parade, but not so much. look, take a look at this. this was our poll from friday, cnn/orc. this is a national poll of republicans. and while the left side, that's with huntsman. the right side, without huntsman. there's not much change there. look, other than romney going up a slight two points within the sampling error, not a lot of difference there. he had a third-place finish in new hampshire, probably as good as it got, probably not polling very good in south carolina. not a

caucuses because that could be some indicator of who's going to turn out for whom tomorrow night. >> joe johns. joe, thank you very much. we want to remind everyone, tomorrow night the big night, the country's first real votes, the iowa caucuses, watch what happens from all sides, special live america's choice 2012 co r coverage starting right here at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> now, firmly in second place in the most recent cnn poll, who we saw live a moment ago, ron paul. coming up in about ten minutes, we'll speak live with ron paul's national campaign chairman. we want know if they're worried about this last-minute surge by santorum. we also want to know how ron paul is being treated by the other candidates on the trail. >>> in other news, homes, look at this, businesses, cars torched. we are talking about someone setting dozens of fires in california. coming up after this quick break, we'll bring you the latest on the investigation and the new information about a man now detained by police. >>> also, a park ranger is dead after a shooting at a national park in washington state. later this

joe johns is in des moines for us this morning. joe, we're actually hearing rumbles that this might be the end of rick perry's bid. what do you know and is he heading back to texas? >> well, you know, he hasn't said that. the thing about him was, it is pretty remarkable what happened with rick perry. he went from flying so high to flying so low. actually just a fall from grace in the polls that was almost epic for the texas governor now that 10%, fifth place finish is just not good news for him. but, still, he is not saying he's dropping out of the race, at least not yet. let's listen to a little bit of rick perry here and talk about in a moment. >> with the voter's decision tonight in iowa, i decided to return to texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race. >> rick perry was supposed to be in south carolina today and so far we don't think he's going. so, it doesn't sound like good news for rick perry, but he hasn't said anything other than he's reassessing at leas

joe johns is seeing it first hand and he had a one-on-one interview with newt gingrich earlier in the day and we'll see that at the bottom of the hour. mean time, joe, 15 hours until the polls open. what's the latest? >> well, wolf, it has been a very hectic 24 hours for the gingrich campaign and a very different picture of the races starting to emerge since gingrich took the palmetto state by storm. this was a far cry from his big chilling in south carolina where former georgia congressman, newt gingrich, got the favorite "son of the south" treatment. in florida his campaign came under attack from every direction imaginable. starting with a massive television advertising campaign that gingrich referred to in military terms. >> he has a basic policy of carpet bombing his opponent. he doesn't try to build up mitt romney he just tries to tear down whoever he's running against. >> and the ads we only the beginning. the surrogates starting to show up at gingrich events responding to his speeches almost many real time. >> they've gone to the point where the former speak's secretary had no

joe johns is live with the bus. in manchester, joe, most of the new hampshire polls showing mitt romney leading by more than 20 points. what are his rivals doing to try to make up some ground? >> well, the question is how much are they trying to make up ground on mitt romney and whether they are fighting amongst themselves for second place. it looks like a contest for the runner up position. mitt romney appears to be running so strong in the polls. that means people like ron paul, newt gingrich, rick santorum moving around the state. a couple more events before the real gauntlet begins, tonight and tomorrow. two debates in the space of 24 hours. they will certainly fire away at mitt romney but also try to get some votes for themselves. it could be a reasonably close race between those three individuals for second place, fred. >> okay. which candidates have the most at stake, the most to lose here? we know newt gingrich is still trying as best he can to try and gain some ground. jon huntsman as well. where are they? w

cnn senior correspondent joe johns, it appears newt gingrich energy is down. the wear and tear of the campaign beginning to show here? >> reporter: i think so, john. he looked tired today. everybody associated with the campaign did on that schlep from jacksonville after the debate here to the south florida area. not only that, he's up against organizations issues here. romney's been organizing in florida especially south florida for years, quite frankly. he's up against a money deficit, he's up against an ad war that is far superior being waged on the romney side. and generally it's just a tough row to hoe here for newt gingrich. even if he hadn't lost his debate mojo, if you will. a lot of challenges for newt gingrich who's going to try to pick up the pace with his travel schedule over the weekend, john. >> joe, as you know, speaker gingrich runs his own campaign. he's the top strategist, scheduler and so forth. two very energetic, passionate debates in south carolina. how do they explain two definitely flatter and less combative performances that may have hu

joe johns is in conway, south carolina. joe, you were at a romney event this morning. what kind of reception did he get? >> i got to tell you, a lot of energy here. this is conway, south carolina. very healthy size crowd. it's clear he's bringing everything he's got. the governor of south carolina, nikki haley was here, john mccain, the guy who won the primary here four yeerb years a here. very well received. somebody in the crowd called john mccain a hero and he responded, essentially, that he was not. but i have to tell you, this is a real contrast to an event last night out in the charleston landing area where it was much more subdued. so, he's basically, you know, trying to get ahead of the game, romney knows he's doing well in the polls up in new hampshire. so he decided to come down here to south carolina where, frankly, he needed a little bit of work and i can tell you, just from watching this very well received. it's interesting, too, sort of gave a stump speech and hit president obama very hard and then the interesting part, i think, was last night and, again,

thank you, joe johns. we'll be checking back with you. good reporting there. speaking of poverty, coming up in a little bit, we're going to talk about that with titus. trust the best political team on television for complete coverage of the new hampshire primary. join us for live coverage tuesday, 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. >>> here's something you thought you'd never hear. the united states may be talking peace with one of its biggest enemies, the taliban. that story in two minutes. >>> the white house believes victory in afghanistan won't come on the battlefield alone. and it seems shocking, but some believe the taliban could be a partner for peace. as jill dougherty explains, walks won't be easy. >> reporter: secretary of state hillary clinton meets with the foreign minister of qatar. it's major news, potentially a breakthrough. but there are a lot of questions about those talks. for example, the taliban are not monolithic. they have a lot of factions, including mullah omar and the kahani network. will they agree not to cross the red lines the united s

joe johns is joining us live now. joe, before, you know, talking to you about the residents there, let's talk more about the endorsement he got from herman cain and how hard did gingrich work for that endorsement? how important is it to him? >> reporter: well, i think it is important to him, fredricka, but, look, the bottom line is these are two men who have known each other for a long time. and, frankly, i was just a little surprised that herman cain didn't endorse him before now, you know. they both have ties to the state of georgia. and, in fact, first time i ever met herman cain, it was at the united states capital when newt gingrich was the speaker of the house. he introduced me to herman cain. so i always suspected this was going to happen. what does that mean as far as the people who have been so supportive? hard to say. it probably would have been a lot more valuable had it come a few weeks ago, if you will. nonethele nonetheless, there are a lot of people who think very highly of herman cain so it can help. >>

joe johns. thank you. >> that's just about right. >> that's exactly right, joe.nk you very much. good talking to you. you can also watch a replay of thursday night's debate tonight, 5:00 p.m. eastern. a great way to see the candidates one more time before the florida primary on tuesday and keep it here on cnn for the coverage of the primary tuesday night our special coverage begins at 6:00 eastern time. >>> too dangerous in serbia. outside observers call it quits in syria. the arab league shuts down the mission. we're live from damascus with fallout and where that leaves chances for a cease-fire. ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays] mathis team of guinea pigs to ty boanso to save some y, d inea pig: row...row. they genatectry, wch le me rf t. guinea pig: row...row.took one, 8 months to get the guin: ..row.ow...row. they genatectry, wch le me rf t. lile cbby one to yell row! guineaig: ro's kof strange. guinig: row...row. such a simple word... row. anncr: t an easierayof strange. save. g

let's bring in joe johns. he's been with mitt romney most of the day on the ground in charleston. you had john mccain stumping for mitt romney. and what's the feeling like? are you getting a sense of enthusiasm for mitt romney or no? >> i didn't really get a huge sense of enthusiasm. this was a polite audience. and there were a lot of big wigs there. the governor, of course, of south carolina was there. john mccain was there. and it looked like the kind of stop where mitt romney wanted to come to south carolina and say i'm not forgetting you. i'm here. look at me. i brought along the guy who won the south carolina primary four years ago. i hear he's making a few calls around the state. and i think they're putting their foot in their water and trying to figure out how they can get a leg up. they're also realizing, i mean i communicated with them today. they tell me they are under no illusions that in their view it's simply an uphill battle for romney. they certainly want to try to make as strong a showing as is possible, erin. >> so what do you think about how this is going to go, j

joe johns is standing by in orangeburg, south carolina, and we know that he said that colbert said thatcain is a vote for him or something like that. am i -- is that right? >> yes, i know. it is so confusing. okay. but the bottom line is that we do know that colbert is considering a run for president of the united states of south carolina. the problem is that he started to talk about this way too late. his name is not on the ballot. now, her man cain's name is on the ballot, so what colbert is basically saying is, hey, if you vote for herman cain, then you are actually voting for colbert. got it? it is that simple. i think. >> yes. >> and cain is not on the ballot, because he suspended -- >> but then cain came forward and said don't vote for me, but please vote for somebody else, because every vote counts. and seems that colbert is trying to make a bigger point. here is what he said. >> we must not go back to the dark days when we discriminated towards corporate persons based on the color of the skin or because they didn't have skin or a head or a face. and if you share that belief, the

. >> let's go to joe johns. joe, what was it like today, when in that crowd. mccain, obviously stumping for mitt romney. and what's the feeling like? are you getting a sense of enthusiasm for mitt romney, or no? >> i didn't really get a huge sense of enthusiasm. this is a polite audience and a lot of big wigs there. the governor of course of south carolina was there. john mccain was there. and it looked like the kind of stop where mitt romney wanted to come to south carolina and say, i'm not forgetting you. i'm here. look at me. i brought along the guy who won the south carolina primary four years ago. i hear he is making a few calls around the state. and i think they are putting their foot in the water and trying to figure out how they can get a leg up. they are also realizing, communicated with tlem today, and they tell me that they are under no illusions that in their view it is an uphill battle but they will make a strong showing as possible sb erin. >> so what do you think about how this will go? because you can make the argument as they did. they don't n

joe johns is over in ron paul headquarters, getting ready for something over there as well, joe. >> reporter: that's for sure, wolf. unconventional candidate, unconventional campaign party site. this is a saloon, called jillian's, it's in downtown columbia. as you can see a lot of people here, many young people who fit the demographic of ron paul, the people who are his closest and most ardent followers, and it's a bar. it's also the place where he's going to end up on stage, hopefully, later this evening. ron paul had a huge rally here last night, hundreds of people so if that many people show up tonight, it should be quite an event. ron paul has been very realistic about the state of south carolina. he's been campaigning lightly here, even went up to washington, d.c., to do a vote in the house of representatives earlier this week. he is pushing hard, but looking sort of past florida, wolf, on to the caucus states in nevada and minnesota, has already made television ad buys there, and perhaps isn't going to spend a lot of money on tv ads in florida. wolf, back to you. >> we'll be hearing al

let's bring in joe johns. he's been with mitt romney most of the day on the ground in charleston. you had john mccain stumping for mitt romney. and what's the feeling like? are you getting a sense of enthusiasm for mitt romney or no? >> i didn't really get a huge sense of enthusiasm. this was a polite audience. and there were a lot of big wigs there. the governor, of course, of south carolina was there. john mccain was there. and it looked like the kind of stop where mitt romney wanted to come to south carolina and say i'm not forgetting you. i'm here. look at me. i brought along the guy who won the south carolina primary four years ago. i hear he's making a few calls around the state. and i think they're putting their foot in their water and trying to figure out how they can get a leg up. they're also realizing, i mean i communicated with them today. they tell me they are under no illusions that in their view it's simply an uphill battle for romney. they certainly want to try to make as strong a showing as is possible, erin. >> so what do you think about how this is going to go, j

let's go to cnn's joe johns right now. he's joining us from des moines. i think rick santorum believed in himself. not a whole lot of others, joe, did. but it's been quite amazing over these past few days how well he's done. >> reporter: that's true, wolf. you know, more than half of the republicans who participated in this process the last time around viewed themselves as evangelical christians. born again christians. so it might be a little risque to compare this process to a seduction, but rick santorum has gone a long way. he says the other candidates in the race are speed dating, and he says what he's been doing is a courtship. >> i have done literally 358 or 359 town hall meetings in the state of iowa. we've been to all 99 counties, and we weren't speed dating. >> reporter: rick santorum's polling numbers, his surge in the race for iowa, is starting to look like love. though the question is, what took so long for a staunch conservative who's been courting the state for months to finally get some traction? >> the crowds are bigger. but i think they'd

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joe johns, we keep hearing about this super pacs.ce with the help of the super pac. >> reporter: it's all about the money. when you have a guy like sheldon aidle son, the billionaire who's kicked in big money to the super pac, or the father of jon huntsman, who's also kicked in money to his pro-huntsman super pac. this money goes in and gets spent supposedly independently on television ads that go all over the place. they really keep the campaign running. donors then give to the campaign to support the candidate, so that's the bottom line. it's all about the ben mince, as they say. >> all about the ben mince, baby, but there is some gray work. as it happening, last night stephen colbert announced he'll run for office. so supposedly signing over his super pac to comedy central's jon stewart. here's the exchange they had with a former government lawyer. >> now that i have the super pac, can i run ads supporting stephen colbert, who i believe in very deeply, perhaps attacking his potential opponents? >> i don't believe in it at all -- >

cnn's joe johns is live in atlantic, iowa, with the latest for us right now. so we know that mitt romney and ron paul have to feel pretty galvanized by the latest poll. >> i think so. it is pretty clear that mitt romney is feeling confident. he's no the saying he's going to win here in iowa, but he's expecting to do pretty well. the ron paul campaign certainly very confident too, fred, simply because they know their supporters are very reliable. they expect them to show up. they think their supporters are very fervent and so that makes the difference for them as well. but rick santorum is probably most interesting story happening here in iowa right now. and that's because he's surging. if you look at that poll you referred to, he's in third place. it is all, you know, fairly tightly bunched, not within the statistical margin of error, fairly tightly bunched. if you look at just the last two days, he is closer to second, maybe one or two points out there. so this is a guy who has been all over this state, you know, he's been here about 100 different days in iow

joe johns. really? what's the deal.