you'd be a good president. >> and jon karl joins us now from iowa. jon, stick with us here, because there was something else that happened on the campaign trail today. look at this video from new hampshire. one of mitt romney's sons was asked if his father would release his tax returns. he said he didn't know, but he heard somebody suggest if president obama released his birth certificate and grades, maybe then his father would reveal his tax return. we all know that birth certificate has been made public. so, matt romney tweeted an apology, saying, "i repeated a dumb joke, my bad." jon, no surprise tonight, the obama team quickly jumped on this. >> reporter: no doubt about it. this was a rare misstep for a romney campaign that has been carefully choreographed. the obama team fired out with a fund-raising letter, accusing romney of, quote, pandering to the dead-ender fringe of extremists. but make this clear, david. romney doesn't, has never questioned the president's birth certificate and certainly not going to start now. >> all right, jon karl, see

>>> as ever, thank you, jon karl. in a little bit more a week the deciders finally start deciding in the eye way what caucuses. let's bring in our roundtable. george will, cokie roberts, ed gillespie and jon karl. republicans al rally around a top candidate early on. it seemed like every month there was a new top candidate, what's been going on. >> an astonishingly resistant to mitt romney. at the end of the day, they may settle on mitt romney. they're going to shop around. >> let me ask you, ed, that broad-based resistance has brought us now to newt gingrich being at the top of the pack, is that something that gives you confidence, should he be the nominee, your party will be able to regain the white house? >> they'll be the odds-on favorite to win the white house in 2012. obama's approval rating, the right direction, wrong track, whomever emerges as our nominee as a very tough primary process, is likely to be the next president. >> you know that there are republicans up there, nervous, if gingrich wins, they're goin

jon karl is live in des moines this morning. hey, jon. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, dan. this race is as unsettled as it's ever been, with newt gingrich trying to regain momentum. dark horse candidates moving up. and mitt romney hoping for a big win. newt gingrich is famous for his confidence and bravado. but at a town hall meeting with iowa moms yesterday, he showed another side when a republican pollster, frank luntz, asked about his mother who suffered from depression. >> it comes directly from dealing -- you know, something, the feeling -- dealing with the real problems of real people. >> reporter: when we met up with gingrich earlier in the day, he was all-smiles, despite a pummeling of tv advertising that's caused him to sink to fifth place in the most recent poll. >> i am committed to running a positive campaign. and we have to find a way -- >> reporter: why? >> because i just think politics has become a really nasty, vicious negative business. and i think it's disgusting. and i think it's dishonest. and i think

let's bring in our round table, george will, cokie roberts, ed gillespie and jon karl. let me start with you, george, republicans often rally around a top candidate early on. this time it seemed like at least every month there was a new top candidate. what's been going on? >> what's been going on is an astonnishly resistantens to mitt romney. at the end of the day, they may settle on mitt romney. they're going to shop around for a while yet. >> let me ask you, ed, that broad-based resistance has brought us now to newt gingrich being at the top of the pack. is that something that gives you confidence, should he be the nominee, your party will be able to regain the white house? >> i think whoever eemerges as the nominee will win the white house in 2012. when you look at president obama's numbers, his approval rating, the right direction, wrong track, whom ever emerges as our nominee from a tough, competitive primary processes think is likely to be the next president. >> you know there are republicans up there, if gingrich wins they're going to lose everything. i talked to

jon karl, thank you. >>> and one more political note. our new abc news poll shows the republican race for the white house is now a dead heat. newt gingrich, the latest in a series of front-runners, has fallen fast and hard, now even with mitt romney, which may be why gingrich said today that it was a mistake to say this to abc's jake tapper a couple weeks ago. >> i'm going to be the nominee. i mean, it's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high i'm going to be the nominee. >> and we got reports from iowa today that the new front-runner there is ron paul. just about everybody's been in front there one time or another. >>> overseas to north korea, where tonight, an 11-day period of mourning is under way for kim jong-il, the dictator that died saturday. and we were struck by images showing koreans in despair, wailing uncontrollably. but is all that emotion real, forced or a bit of both? abc's david wright reports from south korea tonight. >> reporter: today, kim jong-il lay in state. news of his death,

jon karl is in the spin room. where the campaigns will be watching their candidates very closely in this debate. jon, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, david. newt gingrich goes into this debate as the clear front-runner. it's a stunning turnaround for someone considered politically dead just a few weeks ago. the gingrich campaign had one of the most disastrous starts we have ever seen in presidential politics. within weeks of announcing his candidacy, gingrich was off on a cruise of the greek islands and facing questions about his $500,000 line of credit at tiffany's for his wife calista. his staff revolted, resigning en masse, and making his campaign a punchline. >> he's not even president and he's already raising the unemployment rate. >> reporter: everybody thought gingrich was dead, except gingrich. >> we'll find out over the next year who's right. >> reporter: in august came the first big test in iowa, the ames straw poll. of the candidates on stage tonight, gingrich came in dead last. ♪ oh say can you

abc east john jon karl has news for everyone tonight. >> reporter: the government has been sitting on more than a billion unused and unwanted dollar coins. so what have they been doing about it? they've been making more of them. as we found when we visited the u.s. mint over the summer. about a million and a half every day, at a cost of 32 cents a pop. now treasury secretary timothy geithner says enough is enough. >> we shouldn't be wasting money on money. >> reporter: because virtually nobody uses the coin, they go right to storage. a boondoggle that's cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars since 2005. here at the federal reserve in baltimore, the coins are stacked into bags all the way up and down this aisle, several aisles of them, millions and millions of dollars in presidential coins. so far, they've made coins of every president from george washington to james garfield. but as of today, that's going to stop. savings to taxpayers? $50 million a year. but, diane, if you were really counting on getting a president chester arthur coin, don't despair. the mint will resume pro

here's abc's jon karl. >> reporter: on the surface, it looks like a feel-good campaign ad portrayingitt romney, husband and family man. >> i've been married to the same woman for 25 -- excuse me, i'll get in trouble -- for 42 years. >> reporter: except in this case, romney's main opponent is newt gingrich, a man who has been married three times and has admitted to infidelity. >> romney is not trying to remind voters about his marriage. he's trying to remind voters about newt gingrich's three marriages. >> reporter: in the ad which is filled with pictures of his wife and family, romney closes with a promise. >> if i'm president of the united states, i will be true to my family, to my faith and to our country. >> reporter: true to his family? presidential candidates don't usually feel a need to make that promise. gingrich today was asked whether moral behavior is a legitimate issue in the campaign. >> i think everything about a candidate has to be held into account. i suspect everybody who runs for office at this level has had some flaws at some point. i don't think, other than christ,

jon karl, see new iowa soon. i want to bring in jake tapper tonight. jake, you see the romney team encouraged by their numbers. president obama's approval rating inches up ever so slightly. 47%, but the white house isn't celebrating this number. >> reporter: no, the numbers are going in the right direction, david, and that's key in polling. where are the numbers going? but still, president obama is under 50% approval rating. it's very tough to get re-elected when your approval rating is under 50%. in fact, the only way to do so is to make your opponent so outlandishly unacceptable, there's no choice that voters have but to pull the lever for you. that's what george w. bush did to john kerry in 2004 and that's what barack obama is probably going to have to try to do to whoever is republican nominee is in 2012, david. >> could be an ugly race. and you saw the headline that caught our eye today, robert reich who says it's going to be hill little clinton for vice president this go around. but this didn't get past the tapper truth squad today? >> reporter:

>> jon karl, thank you. and all of this to be continued at the republican debate, again, this saturday night in iowa. diane sawyer, george stephanopoulos, moderating. and we hope you tune in, 9:00 p.m. eastern/6:00 pacific. >>> and jobs in this country now. just how to bring america back. and so tonight here, another abc news exclusive. this time, with the ceo of ford, who revived that auto giant, invifting me for a tour of one of ford's factories and revealing his plan for thousands of new jobs. ♪ have you driven a ford >> reporter: that iconic question asked by ford for decades. just a couple of years ago, ford was an american auto giant fighting for survival. but unlike its american competitors, ford would not file for bankruptcy and no taxpayer bailout, borrowing $23.5 billion on its own to get back on track. how much of that $23.5 billion do you still have to pay back? >> we have repaid over $21 billion of the original 23.5. >> reporter: almost there? >> we're almost there. >> reporter: you were able to

and of course, our man jon karl was there. to take us through the highs and the lows. >> reporter: newt begin said that he would stay positive. but when mitt romney said that he was a career politician. >> let's be candid. the only reason you didn't become a career politician is because you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> gingrich took fire from everyone on the stage. >> if you look at newt romney, they were for the $700 billion bailout. you just heard that newt romney is also with obama on the issue of payroll extension. >> we're not clones. i promise. that is not the case. >> the oddest moment of the day. >> you were for individual mandates of the moment. >> you have said that before? $10,000 bet. >> i'm not in a betting business. >> who bets $10,000? >> even before the debate, this was the week that gingrich became target number one. ron paul's blistering attack of accusing newt of serial hypocrisy. from the romney soup pac. >> flip flopping on issues. >> reporter: and from romney myself. >> i have been married to the sam

let's go to washington now and check in quickly with abc's jon karl with more on how this deal got done. and jon, the house republicans were real holdouts here, but with christmas coming, the pressure got so intense. >> reporter: it sure did. house republicans took a firm position. they said no way would they accept a temporary extension of the payroll tax cut. but they were utterly alone on this. speaker boehner and his republicans said that they would hold this position, but they had support of nobody in the senate, really. senate republicans overwhelmingly supported the temporary extension. and ultimately, they came out today and had to give in entirely. george, this is a significant moment in the history of this tea party congress. this is the first time that they have dug in on a major issue with the president and given in virtually completely to the president's position. >> that's right. they had to completely back off. but what this means now, just to underscore it, two months extension of the tax cut. they'll go back and negotiate the full year extension. >> reporter: that's rig

they will only now make enough to meet the demands of coin collectors who preorder them. >> jon karl getting their attention in washington. thank you, jon. >>> and still ahead on "world news," the real running mates. many of you watched our abc news debate and wanted to know more about these two women. and that's coming up. >>> a revolutionary change in the real modern family in america. why are laundry commercials now marketing to dad? >>> and how a photographer of some of america's biggest celebrities is bringing help and hope to so many children for the holidays. [ knock on door ] cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage online and arranged a free pickup. and i'm gonna track them online, too. nice. between those boxes and this place, i'm totally staying sane this year. do i smell snickerdoodles? maybe. [ timer dings ] got to go. priority mail flat rate shipping at usps.com. a simpler way to ship. but my nose is st

our jon karl goes one-on-one with the candidates. >>> and raise your glass. the new year has already started in some parts of the world. you can kick it off right here, right now, with us. we're live in times square, where the ball will drop, gaga will sing, and 1 million people will pile in for the biggest new year's party on the planet. >>> there are a lot of people celebrating, already, prematurely already here in new york, on the way to work coming through times square. but what you're looking at is live, where it is 2012, in sydney, australia. >> the party -- they never cease to not disappoint. we got the right order of words here. i was going to say, though, the biggest party on the planet will be right here in new york city tonight. we're going to be live in the center of it all morning. look at this. a live shot of times square. people are already showing up to save their spot. ginger zee is right in the thick of it. right next to the ball where everyone's going to watch drop tonight. >>> another thing that everybody's going to be watching tonight --

our jon karl goes one-on-one with the candidates. >>> and raise your glass. the new year has started in some parts of the world. you can kick it off right now, with us. we're live in times square, where the ball will drop, gaga will sing, and 1 million people will pile in for the biggest new year's party on the planet. >>> i saw a lot of people this morning on the way to work already celebrating new year's already. it's new york city. >> we celebrate new year's pretty much every night in new york. >> let's get to the actual celebrations. these are pictures from just moments ago in new zealand, where it is already 2012. they are ringing in the new year with an amazing display in auckland. >> not to brag, though. but the biggest party will be here in new york city. check out this shot of times square. people are lining up to save their spots. and our ginger zee is right next to the ball that everybody's going to be watching. there she is. hi, ginger. another thing that everybody will be watching, will a pregnant beyonce show up? or has she already delivered? sh

abc's jon karl has been covered covering this from the capitol. and jon, i find it hard to believe that congress is going to let this tax cut expire, but is either side caving yet? >> reporter: no one's caving yet. speaker boehner did speak to the president today, but the impasse continues. though top republicans told me that they do not expect to see taxes go up on 160 million americans by january 1st, even if that means that ultimately, they have to accept a temporary extension of the payroll tax cut. but there is no guarantee that this will be resolved and, in fact, tonight, the two sides are as deeply divided as they have ever been, catching off a year where it seems congress hasn't been able to accomplish much of anything. though, there is one thing they have been able to do. and that's spending on pork barrel projects. amid all the dysfunction -- >> mr. speaker! >> reporter: there's one thing congress can still do. waste taxpayer money. senator tom coburn has just documented $6.5 billion in spending this year on what he says are frivolous or

abc's jon karl is here to tell us what happened to the gingrich surge. jon? >> reporter: diane, it has been a spectacular collapse. by my count, gingrich has lost nearly 20 points in 20 days. in a campaign of ups and downs, gingrich looks like he is in danger of being the shortest-lived front-runner of all. newt gingrich visited a little chocolate factory in iowa today, to poke fun at mitt romney who had compared his campaign to lucille ball's failed effort on a chocolate assembly line. >> want you guys now to report to governor romney, that we've taken his thought so seriously, and in the tradition of lucille ball, we're here in the chocolate factory. >> reporter: but gingrich, who less than a month ago confidently predicted victory -- >> i'm going to be the nominee. >> reporter: -- now trails not just romney in iowa but also ron paul and even rick santorum, with perry and bachmann not far behind. gingrich now looks like he's in a four-way race for third place. gingrich is trying to get things back on track with the biggest advertising blitz of his campaign.

so, abc's jon karl decided to break down what is fact and what is fiction. >> keep up the good work. >> reporter: a big crowd turned out for newt gingrich today in ft. dodge, iowa. on the airwaves, he's running a new ad touting his record as speaker of the house. >> when i was speaker, our budget was balanced, and 11 million jobs were created. >> reporter: but gingrich now finds himself under attack from the people who know him best. >> so help you god? >> i do. >> reporter: the republicans he led in congress. >> if you don't know him, you would actually think he could do a good job. but those that know him better know better. and if you knew newt then, you know he's going to lead us in all sorts of directions. he will be unfocused, undisciplined and self-centered. >> that's an enormous step in the right direction. >> reporter: gingrich helped sweep republicans into power in 1994 -- >> say if i could for a second, mr. president. >> reporter: and with bill clinton in the white house had real achievements, balanced budgets and welfare reform. but after less than four years, gingrich wa

and abc's jon karl reports on the candidates and their shadow forces, spending millions of scathing attacks. >> reporter: the christmas truce is over. new hampshire today, mitt romney said newt gingrich needs to get his act together, even comparing him to lucille ball, of all people, because he couldn't get enough signatures to get his name on the ballot in virginia. >> i think you compare that to, pearl harbor? more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. so, i mean -- you have to get it organized. >> reporter: gingrich fired up his campaign bus in iowa today while an outside group supporting his campaign, one of those so-called super pacs, unveiled a new ad hitting his opponent as liberal. >> don't let the liberal republican establishment pick our candidate. >> reporter: on the airwaves, we're seeing a dr. jekyll and mr. hide campaign. dr. jekyll romney plays nice by ads paid for his by own campaign. while mr. hyde romney savages newt gingrich by ads paid for the supposedly independent romney super pac. >> gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. >> reporter: any candidate w

and abc's jon karl explains. >> reporter: it was supposed to be the biggest change to lig lightbulbs since edison. beginning next year, the federal government had planned to start banning cheap, energy guzzling lightbulbs, requiring we all buy bulbs that save energy. it was a bipartisan idea, but conservatives came to hate it. it wasn't just that the new bulbs are funny looking, dimmer and more expensivexpensive. the question -- who's the government to tell me what kind of bulb to buy? >> this is about our fundamental rights as citizens to not have the government tell us how we have to live our lives every day. >> reporter: so today, congress said lights out on thelightbulb revolution, passing a provision, stopping the government ban. senator tom coburn is trilled. he so hates the new lightbulbs, he's been hoarding the old ones. >> i have 200 stores at my house. i do, because i can't see with the others. we've carried this so far, i mean, it's just crazy. >> reporter: no need to stock pile anymore. the old bulb lives to light another day. jonathan karl, abc news, washington. >>> and

abc's jon karl tells us about it. >> reporter: when we caught up with herman cain today in ohio, he sureidn't look like a candidate about to call it quits. are you going to drop out, mr. cain? >> we are reassessing. >> reporter: reassessing his campaign, but still liking his chances. >> supporters are -- it's been a groundswell of positive support. >> reporter: and the cain campaign is about to launch a brand new tv ad in iowa, his first. >> if you make me america's ceo, we, the people, will take this country back. we can do this. >> reporter: but on "good morning america," cain's former friend ginger white offered new details on what she says was a 13-year affair with cain. >> i've received gifts and money for the last two and a half years, consistently. >> did he ask for anything in return for that money? >> ah -- no. this was not sex for cash. >> reporter: cain acknowledges giving her money. >> i was doing this because of the job market. and so, this -- she's not the only person that i have helped. >> reporter: in ohio today, cain's supporters seemed to believe his denials. >> they wa

jon karl is here with the latest. did i tee that up for you? >> reporter: you did. beautifully. let me tell you, it is getting personal out there. the once high-flying gingrich campaign is trying to regain momentum. he's trying to run a positive campaign. but check out how he is lashing out at his opponent. with his bus rolling across iowa, newt gingrich is trying to get his campaign back on track. after taking a pummeling from his opponents. >> it's about serial hypocrisy. >> newt gingrich supports amnesty for millions of illegals. >> reporter: gingrich is firing back, hitting mitt romney with this. >> all i say, mitt, is if you want to run a negative campaign and you want to attack people, at least be man enough to own it. that's your staff. and that's your organization. those are your millionaire friends paying for it. >> reporter: gingrich is talking about these ads, run by a so-called superpack supporting romney. but supposedly independent of his campaign. they have spent $3.7 million, almost twice as much as romney's official campaign. and the ads are brutal. >> gingrich w

jon karl, thank you very much. >>> now, to your voice, you vote. the campaign's only slowing down a little for the holiday. christmas coming early for mitt romney on thursday. picking up the endorsement of former president george h.w. bush. abc's john berman is in new hampshire with much more on all of this. good morning, john. >> reporter: good morning, robin. well, there's some snow falling on mitt romney's bus this morning. he has a few events in new hampshire before heading home for the holidays with his family. all of the candidates will be with their families this weekend. and yet, they do have their political wish list. but we tried to get to the bottom of their family holiday secrets. for mitt romney, christmas came early. a sort of endorsement from former president george h.w. bush. >> i must admit, this is much more important to me personally than politically. >> reporter: bush told "the houston chronicle" he thinks romney is mature and reasonable. not a bomb-thrower. sounds like a dig at newt gingrich. though, bush denied that. as for ne

i'm jonathan karl. >> thank you, jon. >>> a big question this morning, where will all of those herman cain voters go, our headliner today, hope they flop straight to him? he's former pennsylvania senator, rick santorum. he spent more time in iowa than any other candidate. he's joins me now. talking about iowa, you're staking your campaign on that. yo must have seen the latest, "the des moines register" poll. it's not encouraging. 6%, tied for last. >> it's better than it was before. in every poll, we're moving up slowly. but we're within the margin of error of both rick perry and michele bachmann, both of whom had enormous attention by the media. i'm actually encouraged that the people of iowa, as they go down to the end here, start looking at all of the candidates, we think we're going to do very, very well. we have a very consistent conservative message that matches up better with iowans than anybody else. >> you talk about a strong, consistent, conserve sieve message. lot of people do say, yes, he does, however, we're very concerned, he lost his election in pennsylvania, by a lands

all-important iowa caucuses and here as always to guide us through the political jungle is our man jon karl, with "this week in politics." >> reporter: this was the week that it started to look like mitt romney could actually lose. just look at the coverover "time" magazine or ask newt gingrich. >> i'm going to be the nominee. it's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high that i'm going to be the nominee. >> reporter: maybe. maybe not. but romney's week started with this blast from the dnc. >> the story of two men trapped in one body. mitt versus mitt. >> reporter: on tuesday, he once again brushed off questions from reporters. >> romney has had only six press over the past six months. he's refused interviews from time magazine. he's even spent less time on fox news than any of the others. >> you're wrong. >> when he finally sat down on friday, it got ugly. >> your critics charge that you make your choices on exbead ensy, what can they trust what you hear from you today if you win the white house? >> your list is not accurate. one, we'll have to be bet

we heard from jon karl who said that, you know, he's been on the phone. he's been leading conference calls, he's sort of been professorial, things that front-runners don't often do. and some of those attacks have started taking their toll. on the other hand, people say, newt never expected to get this far, he's kind of got nothing to lose so he's having a good time. >> a lot of eyebrows were raised with his decision to take this weekend off from campaigning. all right, christiane, we appreciate your time. good to see you. >> thank you, bianna. >>> and be sure to join christiane later when abc's "this week" launch a series of debates, the great american debate. a series of debates on the key issues of the 2012 presidential campaign. dan? >> thanks, bianna. >>> now, we want to show you history being made right now. look at these pictures. the last american combat troops pulling out of iraq after nearly 9 year, $800 billion and 4,500 american lives, the war is officially over. abc's martha raddatz who has covered the war right from the start is just south of

abc's jon karl has the details. >> reporter: amidst all the dysfunction -- >> mr. speaker -- mr.-- there's one thing congress can still do. waste taxpayer money. senator tom coburn documented $6.5 billion in spending this year on what he says are frivolous or unnecessary projects. remember the bridge to nowhere? if you thought that alaska project was dead, you were wrong. we spent $15.3 million on it this year. this snazzy video, by the way, cost you almost $60,000. and there's more. $10 million spent on a remake of "sesame street" for pakistan. $100,000 to the international center for the history of electronic games in new york. $600,000 to study why chimpanzees throw their feces. and $150,000 for a magic museum in michigan. >> should we be doing these things? there's absolutely no common sense up here, jonathan. none. >> come on. this is peanuts. >> the way you get a billion dollars at a time is $500,000 at a time. so -- you know -- these are just a few. i only listed 100. i could give you 1,000. >> reporter: and get this. the u.s. government spent $17.8 million this year on ai

jon karl is here with more. first time this year, the house republicans didn't get what they wanted. >> reporter: this is a significant moment. time after time, house republicans have dug in. they have stared the president down. and they have essentially gotten what they wanted. or at least one major concession from the democrats. this time around, they said there was no way they would go along with a temporary extension of that payroll tax cut. they dug in, day after day after day. and in the end, got nothing to show for it, george, except for several days of really bad publicity, where it looked like they were the ones in the way of a tax cut. >> where it stands right now, for two months, worth about $1,000 on average to more than 100 million americans is going to be extended. they're going to go into negotiations to extend it for the full year. and almost certainly, at this point, they will not go down this road again. they will almost certainly extend it for the full year. >> reporter: it seems like they lea

. >>> now, let's go to jon karl in washington for more on this. jon, getting a little testy out there. looks like everyone needs a break. but the one thing they don't want to talk about is what you're doing down there in washington. deadlocked on capitol hill over the payroll tax cut. these candidates want to stay as far away from that as they can. >> reporter: that's right. mitt romney was asked over and over about it yesterday. and he simply didn't want to take a position on this. newt gingrich has warned the republicans that the president has a much bigger bully pulpit and a bigger microphone with the nation on this. they should be careful on this. but he hasn't directly weighed in, either. this is something they would rather let the mess in washington stay in washington. than be out on the campaign trail on their agenda. >> you're aware that newt gingrich is warning republicans they have to find a way to clean this thing up. and the house republicans are getting a lot of that same advice from other republicans, from their colleagues in the sena

jon karl is here with a story. >> reporter: by peaking now, gingrich has become target number one for all of the over candidates with just two weeks before the iowa caucuses. he's under fire from every direction. mitt romney made his first appearance on a sunday talk show in nearly two years, using the opportunity to take aim, once again, at newt gingrich. >> he sat down with nancy pelosi and spoke in favor of legislation with climate change. he's been unreliable. and zany. >> reporter: he's under assaults from all the candidates, especially in iowa, where the airwaves are filled with ads attacking him. >> the fact that he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations -- >> reporter: both michele bachmann and rick perry are touring iowa by bus. >> he may be the grandfather of ear earmarks. >> he was pocketing $1.6 million. >> reporter: she's upset about the way he speaks to her at debates. >> sometimes she doesn't get facts accurately. a lot of what you say isn't true. >> what he said sounded very con descending, like he was talking down to me, as though i was one of his students. >> repor