six minutes later, i see kent sorenson on stage endorses ron paul. sorenson and reasons why he may have done it. >> kent said to me yesterday that everyone sells out in iowa. why shouldn't i? then he told me that he would stay with our campaign. the ron paul campaign has to answer for its actions on these events. >> now, now kent sorenson told me last night that claim is absurd and incorrect. the campaign chairman went even further, he said that she doesn't have a clue, he also said that her campaign is floundering. and a that's the why she would making these allegations. >> unbelievable. anthony,ç thank you for stayin on top of it. >>> newt gingrich's campaign has been a roller-coaster ride, where does he think he stands now? let's go back to chuck in des moines, what else did gingrich tell you, fascinating interview on the bus, what else came of it that's worth our time. >> well, look, there's a lot in there. you should hear his back and forth, for instance, on what we could have do prevent north korea from getting nuclear weapons. but we talked a

but bachmann's other claim is less debatable. >> we had kent sorenson's former campaign manager who told me that kent is getting money. we saw incredible momentum, including the fact that last night we had 150 new people calling us, saying they want to stand up for me in the caucuses, we had thousands over the last ten days and that caused the ron paul campaign to be very nervous, because they saw the momentum shifting here in iowa to my campaign. so then they came up with this plan apparently to offer a lot of money to kent sorenson. >> paul has 22% of the vote in the latest poll. that's up 5% from the start of the month. let's get into the raw politics in des moines iowa. candy crowley, host of cnn's state of the union. and democratic strategist for president obama's re-election campaign and also a pollster for the president's 2008 campaign. cornell, bachmann says ron paul is losing steam in iowa, is he? >> i don't think he's losing steam at all and i quite frankly don't understand why bachmann is pushing the story. because this is a story that gets in the way of everything she wants t

no one else knows about that conversation other than kent sorenson and myself and i know what he said to me about that. >> what does sorenson say? stick around. in just a few minutes he will join me live to explain himself. it is his first tv interview since he changed camps. don't miss it. >>> poll numbers have not been especially encouraging to president obama but the pew hispanic center finds by more than a margin 2-1 they favor the president over mitt romney or rick perry, despite the fact they don't approve of increased deportations on the president's watch. hispanics are the fastest population group in the country and a major voting bloc. >>> arab league monitors on the ground in syria have failed to stop deadly clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters. opposition activists say more than 30 protesters were killed across the country today. in the damascus suburb of douma, security forces fired at demonstrators gathering in the grand mosque as the monitors arrived in the city killing at least 13. the monitors came in after president assad agreed to the monito

bachmann's other claim is less debatable. >> we have had kent sorenson's former campaign manager say kent told me flat out he was getting money. we saw incredible momentum, including the fact that last night we had 150 new people call us saying they want to stand up for me in the caucuses. we literally had thousands the last ten days and that caused the ron paul campaign to be very nervous because they saw the momentum shifting here in iowa to my campaign and so then they came up with this plan apparently to offer a lot of money to kent sorenson. >> paul has 22% in the vote in the latest poll. it's up 5% from the start of the month. let's get to des moines, iowa. candy crowley, rich gayland and cornell belcher, a democratic strategist for president obama's re-election campaign, also a pollster for the president's 2008 campaign. cornell, bachmann says paul is losing steam in iowa, is he? >> i don't think he is. i don't understand why bachmann is pushing this story. this is a story that gets in the way of everything she wants to do. we are talking about people leaving her campaign. it's

why am i looking at kent sorenson on my tv this morning?mething tells me we're going to forget the name kent sorenson within a matter of days. >> days? >> within hours. >> what a classy guy. who wouldn't want him in their corner? obviously this is a huge joke. and he's transparent about it, too. michelle wasn't going to win. >> i want to go with the guy who is at least going to be number two. >> plus they threw in some cash. >> i'm going to try -- bachmann is famous for throwing out statements that actually make no sense whatsoever upon close skr scrutiny. >> forget kent sorenson and let's talk about where ron paul is. he's right there at the top with romney. a lot of these independents who can switch at the door could go to ron paul. where does he fit in here? >> he's got a great platform right now for iowa. he is just devoted followers. a lot of them are college kids. these kids are instate kids, they're going to be in iowa. he has a built-in base that no other candidate can match. but the thing is, the expectation is he has nowhere else

kent sorenson has now defected to one of her biggest rivals ron paul. >> in 2010 i was running for thete senate congressman paul came and did three separate events for me and i felt like he was by my side and i had a tough break. now it's my duty to be by my side. >> kent sorenson told me he was paid a lot of money to go to the ron paul campaign. >> once they cast their ballots tuesday night, they're all tallied up in the room and the reports given to the gop. it's announced a couple hours after the process begins. >>> new at 11:00, an attorney is taking it upon himself to try to get newt gingrich on the ballot in march. he failed to get the necessary 10,000 signatures to make the list of republicans running for president. jonathan moseley has contended that many signatures were improperly thrown out. he is acting independently of the newt gingrich campaign. >>> meanwhile, rick perry has lost his bid. they declined perry's request for an emergency order requesting his name appear on the ballot. the ballot requirements are overly burdensome and unconstitutional. the judge will hear more

so kent sorenson and i had the conversation on the phone and yesterday, kent even came out to our stop in iowa and he was there with me yesterday. he left our event and then went to the ron paul event. this is about money. >> well, let's see if it is about money. i want to bring in john avalon, senior columnist for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." gentlemen, is someone lying here? john avalon, i'll begin with you because you're sitting right here. why would the poll camp pay? is there any sense in that. >> what michele bachmann has set up is a he said/she said. the tie-breaking vote is her political director in iowa said, look, i'm sticking with michelic -- michelle bachmann, but kent sorenson is telling the truth he was not offered money and he was summarily dismissed. michelle bachmann has a truth telling problem. >> there's a pinocchio potential here and someone is not telling the truth. >> do you think the senator is a big enough player to be bought? >> if true, this is a story. it violates state law. it also takes a little bit of the lid off the way iowa operates and a lot of peo

>> the only conversation was between kent sorenson and myself. i know what i was told in that conversation. clearly that reflected the nervousness on the part of the ron paul campaign they were losing steam in iowa. they were losing momentum in iowa, because iowans eyes were opening up. gregg: that state senator, kent sorenson says, money had nothing at all to do with leaving the bachmann campaign. bachmann's former political director is siding with him, not her. heather: coming up we will get an update on all the candidates. we will be talking with ron paul's senior campaign advisor, newt gingrich's daughter will also join us live and michele bachmann's communications director will talk to us about the latest shake-up as gregg just mentioned in her campaign. gregg: and remember fox news is america's election headquarters and your front row seat to politics. all you have to do is tune in for complete coverage of the iowa caucuses on january 3rd beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. you can also log on to foxnews.com/politics to get all the latest

so kent sorenson and i had the conversation on the phone and yesterday, kent even came out to our stop in iowa and he was there with me yesterday. he left our event and then went to the ron paul event. this is about money. >> well, let's see if it is about money. i want to bring in john avalon, senior columnist for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." gentlemen, is someone lying here? john avalon, i'll begin with you because you're sitting right here. why would the poll camp pay? is there any sense in that. >> what michele bachmann has set up is a he said/she said. the tie-breaking vote is her political director in iowa said, look, i'm sticking with michelic -- michelle bachmann, but kent sorenson is telling the truth he was not offered money and he was summarily dismissed. michelle bachmann has a truth telling problem. >> there's a pinocchio potential here and someone is not telling the truth. >> do you think the senator is a big enough player to be bought? >> if true, this is a story. it violates state law. it also takes a little bit of the lid off the way iowa operates and a lot of peo

so kent sorenson and i had the conversation on phone. kent came out the our stop in indianaola, iowa and left with me yesterday. he left our event and went to the ron paul event. this is about money. this is about money. is this about the ron paul campaign seeing the floor is coming out. >> in fact, kent sorenson just attended a bachmann event four hours before announcing his departure to a crowd of ron paul supporters. >> tonight is four me. i've been serving as michele bachmann's state chair over the last year and while michele has fought tremendously for my conservative values i believe we're in a turning point in this campaign. when the republican establishment is going to be coming against him in the next few days i thought it was my duty to come to his aid. >> sorenson also said he feels loyalty to paul because paul campaigned for him in a contentious senate bid. bachmann is working to drum up support in urbandale, iowa. she's second to last in iowa drawing just 9% support. only jon huntsman polls lower. shannon travis is trailing b

kent sorenson says he supports ron paul now.w and ron paul. >> i believe that we're here in iowa at a crucial point. i believe two top-tier candidates running right now. i believe the race has come down to mitt romney or ron paul. >> michele bachmann says of money to work for ron paul. >> kent campaigned with us earlier this afternoon in iowa and then he went immediately afward to a ron paul event and announced he is changing teams. kent said to me yesterday that everyone sells out in iowa, why shouldn't i? then he told me he would stay with our campaign. the ron paul campaign had to answer for his actions on these events. >> paul's campaign said it was not paying sorenson and was puzzled why bachmann would make such a claim. >>> one candidate, jon huntsman, is not competing in iowa but is focusing on the new hampshire primary on january 10th. earlier, huntsman told jeff the results in new hampshire may surprise some people. >> the rap on me has always been we know he can win the general election but can he win the primary phase

nbc news is confirming that bachmann's political director, who defended kent sorenson yesterday, is alsoom her campaign. rick green, have we ever seen one unfold as fast as it is for michele bachmann?ç i mean, her campaign, what will her supporters do in these final days? what do you think? >> you know, it's amazing how quickly things can deteriorate. there's an expression out here in the midwest about iowa nice. i think what we've seen in the past 24 hours if not the past week and a half, two weeks or so, you can kind of throw that idea out the window. not a big surprise in terms of all the jockeying that's going on. we've seen a $10 million advertising blitz hit the airwaves out here. and i'll tell you, the majority of it has been very, very negative. it's not something that iowans see very often during these cycles. the candidates as well as the super pacs have put a totally different spin on this race. and i think we're starting to see the effects of it. there are candidates like former speaker gingrich that has really, really taken a big slide, and i'm convinced abig part of that i

ç kent sorenson, the iowa state chair for michele bachmann, endorsed ron paul last night hours aftert a campaign event with bachmann. bachmann accused sorenson of taking a large sum of money to work for ron paul. sorenson says her charge is absolutely false. >> the fact of the matter is i did not accept any money from the ron paul campaign. >> but you know, as you know, accept is different than offered. and i want to make clear you're also saying they never offered it? no one, not ron paul, not anyone affiliated with ron paul's campaign or supporting his campaign offered you any money to support ron paul? >> i was never offered a nickel from the ron paul campaign. >> during sorenson's interview it seemed like the bachmann campaign was keeping a close eye on him. take a look at the bachmann truck in the background, as well as the bachmann campaign bus, just happened to be rolling by. there's nothing like a do or die election to bring out the paranoia in politicians. more than interesting. let's turn to rick green. he is the vice president and editor of the "des moines register" newspa

but ron paul getting crucial support from state senator kent sorenson.ter he resigned as michele bachmann's campaign chairman. you know how to cause a controversy, don't you, sir. >> that was not my intention but i believe you have to do what's right. you were michele bachmann's campaign chair in iowa. ron paul's folks wanted you to support him and were trying to woo you away. you thought you belonged with bachmann until yesterday. you show up with an event with michele bachmann. then three hours later you walk onto the stage with ron paul. people are calling you disloyal. >> you got the facts a little wrong there. i was always in the ron paul camp before michelle came into the scene. i ran for the iowa house in 2008 when the republican establishment refused to help me. i lived in a district that could not be won by a republican. barack obama was marching across the state and they refused to come to my aid. the only people that came to my aid are the people running the ron paul campaign. megyn: i don't want to get too deep in the weeds. what they do care

thursday, she lost her political director a day after iowa campaign chairman kent sorenson defending joining ron paul's team. bachmann showed reporters her phone insisting sorenson told her about a -- she received from ron paul's camp. >> clearly, this is something that they generated and it shows, again, that we have powerful momentum. >> reporter: both sorenson and the poll campaign deny the allegation. according to a new poll, if there was a contest between mitt romney and president obama, mitt romney would win about 45% of the vote while president obama would only get about 39%. >> duarte geraldino in washington, thank you. >>> romney's fortunes are rising in iowa. newt gingrich who led a month ago has fallen back in the pact. campaigning yesterday gingrich said he wouldn't respond to the negative ads that have hurt his campaign. gingrich asked if he will continue if he finishes fourth or lower in iowa. >> considering that i'm 20 points ahead in some other states, it would be foolish for me not to stay in the race. >>> looking beyond iowa. a gingrich supporter is suing to have gi

state senator kent sorenson served as bachmann's iowa chairman. last night he announced he is now supporting ron paul, bachmann's rival. >> when i was running for the state senate, congressman paul came and actually did three separate events for me and i felt like that he was by my side. i had a tough race. now it's my duty to be by his side. >> ken sorenson personally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the ron paul campaign. >> the paul campaign and sorenson deny that any such offer was made. >>> not your typical banking experience. why this bay area branch is more like an internet cafe. >>> two things can't go in one can. the mixed drink banned in california come the new year. >>> hi, i'm meteorologist lawrence karnow in the cbs 5 weather center. plenty of clouds around the bay area and some fog too. another storm headed our way. will we see some rain before the end of the year? we'll talk about that coming up. that's what customers can order nk in san franci >>> coffee snack or check deposit? >> i'll take all three. t

in an official statement, bachmann wrote, "kent sorenson personally told me he was offered a large summoney to go to work for the paul campaign. kent said to me yesterday that "everyone sells out in iowa, why shouldn't i? then he told me he would stay with our campaign. the ron paul campaign has to answer for its actions." that's a statement from michele bachmann. sorenson denies he was lured away by cash. mark, is this significant to the race? >> well, it's significant in the sense that it's blotting out any other news. i was at the event last night where sorenson did that. pretty dramatic. he's obviously not a national figure. he's not even particularly well known broadly in iowa, but it does show that there are these efforts going on, lots of rumors and accusations, efforts going on to try to settle on a candidate to stop mitt romney. sorenson was very outspoken afterwards in his criticism of romney. people who want romney -- don't want romney to be the nominee are looking for a candidate who can beat him in iowa, and right now, you have to say paul's the best bet to do that. the cr

iowa campaign chair has went to ron paul pan iowa state senator kent sorenson told terror that the ronpaul campaign would pay him. >> out there with him yesterday it left went to the ron paul this is about money >> i love michele bock and a good family i think this is about money fact of the matter not going to win iowa >> michele bachmann says the campaign ron paul made the move down the latest developments in iowa chicago tribune reporter rick pearson live at the tribune tower tonight >> good evening let us start by setting up the iowa caucus and how important it is for republicans because normally it pretty low voter turnout. how big of a deal that they get a victory? >> certainly can be instrumental in propelling down the road giving out the field gathering support mitt romney seems to be all and spent $4 million of a loan him and his super pak largely attacking then leader newt gingrich support has faded another part of the caucus that is important not necessarily as much about winning as surviving entity caucus does a good job of that >> and mitt romney seems content with just su

white wednesday her former state chairman kent sorenson showed up on stage at an event for rival ronaul declaring he switched camps days before the caucus. she has slipped to the bottom of the polls since winning the iowa straw poll earlier this year. >> who will have live coverage from the iowa caucuses next week starting sunday through wednesday. >> this year had its memorable stories. >> wgn political analyst and host of cltv politics tonight paul lisnek is here with a year in review. >> starting at no. 10, appointed to the sex scandals of the year as being really critical. people like anthony weiner. and herman cain of course turned around a presidential campaign. >>#9 is the arab spring which gave momentum to our own occupy movement here. gabbro deferreds shooting#8 gabrielle giffords shooting. number seven is the fight over the unions in ohio. so far they didn't lead to much change so is on their no. 7 but it would have been higher had things turned around. >> #6 #6: the debt ceiling and agrees that. no. 5 is the t party. voters seem to be frustrated with it. number four is the

. >> biggest bomb throwing has been from iowa state senator kent sorenson, michelle bachmann's chairman. until he resigned and joined the ron paul campaign. >> the fact of the matter is that she wasn't going to win iowa. >> he is left to work for paul in, iowa but not talking with reporters. and especially not about the occupy protesters blockading hoiz campaign headquarters. they're unhappy about the pledge to shut down the environmental protection agency if he is elected. five of them were arrested. and tonight ron paul acknowledged a rise. >> it's great to see a nice crowd. the campaigning has been going well. have you noticed? yes. >> the man to beat is now mitt romney. just weeks ago looked like he intended to bypass iowa concentrating on new hampshire. and tonight it's all about iowa. >> sure. i want to win iowa. >> everybody wants to win iowa says rom nee. i want to keep up with ups and downs? the team put together a stock market with up to the second assessments of the political worth of each candidates. you can find it by going to abc 7 news.com and click on politics page and w

i was state senatori was state senator kent sorenson says he switched to the ron paul campaign becausehe believes paul is the right conservative for the white house. michele bachman said the jump was a deliberate move to discredit her campaign. >> the iowa caucuses drew a huge amount of media attention because i was considered the first real contest of the presidential nominating race but in terms of delegates it means at 0. iowa caucus goers will choose who gets to attend republican county conventions in march but the presidential preference vote is non-binding. that doesn't mean nothing is at stake. the winner and i what is almost certain to get a campaign funding boost and ride a wave of momentum into the primaries that follow. we will have live coverage from the iowa caucuses beginning sunday night. gramm of federal prosecutors are getting ready to file a first criminal charges in the nation's worst oil spill and maritime environmental disaster. prosecutors are focusing on engineers and at least one supervisor for u.s.-based bp. the stories of the workers may have provided false in

kent sorenson gave his endorsement to paul hours after appearing at an event with bachmann. sorensen says ron paul is the most conservative candidate. bachmann says politics have nothing to do with the move. she lashed out saying he only joined paul because paul is paying him more. >>> members of the movement say they don't want to do anything that would jeopardize iowa's status as the first state to go to the polls. despite no plans to cause problems on election day, protesters in iowa are ramping up demonstrations. police arrested 10 protesters outside of mitt romney's headquarters. they banged on windows as romney staffers locked the doors. >>> the occupy d.c. protesters who have been camping out at freedom plaza since october can now stay through the end of february. the national park service issued a new permit that runs from january 1st through february 28th. the old permit would have expired at the end of the year. >>> the union representing d.c. police says kriemp in the district is up at least in part because officers are being pulled from neighborhood patrols and r

she tells fox news the only conversation was between kent sorenson and myself. i know what i was told. what that reflected was the nervousness on the ron paul campaign. they were losing steam in iowa because iowans eyes were opening up. paul has 22% in the vote in the latest poll. it's up 5% from the start of the month. let's get to des moines, iowa. candy crowley, rich gayland and a democratic strategist for president obama's re-election campaign, also a pollster for the 2008 campaign. cornell, bachmann says paul is losing steam in iowa, is he? >> i don't think he is. i don't understand why bachmann is pushing this story. this is a story that gets in the way of everything she wants to do. we are talking about people leaving her campaign. it's bad campaigning going on. if you look at ron paul as well as santorum, they have a lot of momentum going into the closing here. as any professional will tell you, you want him hitting his or her stride and getting momentum at the end here. i think both of them have a better chance of winning than romney. >> you think ron p

the campaign manager and kent sorenson announcing he is now supporting ron paul.at do you make of this? >> it was a big blow to the bachmann campaign.ç he closely identified with bachmann's efforts and to have ron paul take him was a blow. one thing worth noting, part of sorenson's explanation is someone needs to beat mitt romney and ron paul when you look at the time cnn poll, she the person best poised to do that. you see that a lot of conservatives in the contest whether it's michele bachmann, newt gingrich, rick santorum and rick perry seem to be dividing up the conservative vote which is allowing mitt romney to win with just about 25% of the vote as peter mentioned earlier. that was the percentage he won in 2008 and according to the poll, he could come out on top with 25% when 25% four years ago got him second place. >> santorum, is he spiking or moving up at the right time. he has new ads closer to the caucus date. there is electability when it comes to santorum. what does he need to do? >> he needs to surge and ride this wave. we have seen over the last fo

no one else knows about that conversation other than kent sorenson and myself and i know what he said to me about that. >> have you spoken to michele bachmann, she said you personally told her you were offered money. >> that's not true. >> not true at all? >> no. >> were you offered any sum of money? >> absolutely not. >> iran on the strait of hormuz as the u.s. announces a sale to long fighter jets so saudi arabia. >>> no more mystery about mitt's hopes in iowa, he is all in. announcing he'll stay in des moines on caucus night and do the morning day after interviews in the hawkeye state not new hampshire. romney is launching a new ad today. >> generations of immigrants looked up and saw the statue of liberty for first time. one thing they knew beyond any doubt, they were coming to a place where anything was possible and in the campaign to come, the american ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear andç unapologetic defense and i intend to make it because i have lived it. >> but while the campaign's television ads are all soft and fuzzy, the pro-romney super pack conti

. >> kent sorenson personally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the ron paul campaign. >> reporter: paul's team insists it did not pay sorenson, accusing bachmann of slandering the state senator. >> bachmann already had her work cut out for her. a new cnn times poll showed only 9% would vote for her at next tuesday's caucus. the poll's biggest surprise, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum after struggling for months, he suddenly surged to third place with 16%. that's an 11-point gain since the beginning of december. one-time front-runner newt gingrich has plummeted to fourth place. ron paul is second with 22%. just 3 points behind the leader mitt romney. >> the president said he wants to fundamentally transform america. i kind of like america. >> last night, the former massachusetts governor drew one of his largest crowds yet at a town hall meeting in iowa. he's hoping for a bigger turnout at next week's caucuses. duarte geraldine another for cbs news. >>> still ahead, talking about her role in an upcoming film about margaret thatcher. it is called the i