newt gingrich rallies his supporters in mason city. a recent poll shows gingrich, ron paul and mitt romney in a virtual tie for the lead. >>> what happened to newt gingrich nice guy? he vowed not to go negative in response to the other candidates' attack ads, but that didn't stop gingrich from blasting ron paul. in an interview with cnn's wolf blitzer he said he wouldn't vote for paul. gingrich pointed to incendiary newsletters distributed under paul's name in the '80s and '90s. >> you look at his newsletters and then you look at his ads, his ads are about as accurate as his newsletters. >> now if he were to get the republican nomination. >> he won't. >> let's say he were. could you vote for him? >> no. >>> amateur video out of syria is said to show defectors trying to ambush security forces in daraa. cnn cannot independently confirm this claim. observers from the arab league are now in the country for a second day to determine if the government has kept its promise to stop the bloody crackdown on its citizens. a league official tells

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we begin with peter in mason city. peter, good evening. >> reporter: harry, good evening to you. one sign that mitt romney's campaign is gaining confidence and looking forward to the opportunity to win here in iowa next week is the fact that today they announced they will host a party after next tuesday night's caucuses and then stay overnight to do tv interviews before heading to new hampshire where romney is heavily favored. before a large crowd in this iowa city that inspired the broadway play "the music man" -- >> i feel like breaking into "76 trombones" but i will not do that right now. >> reporter: -- frontrunner mitt romney focused his closing argument on patriotic values. >> o beautiful for patriot dream, that sees beyond the years. >> reporter: but while many iowa republicans are still searching -- >> it's nice to see how they interact with the crowd. are they presidential? >> reporter: caroline erickson said she's leaning toward romney because he can win even though her political heart lies elsewhere. >> even though i love michele bachmann and would like to see her mayb

we'll take you live back to mason city.ch making his way into the shopping mall for a town hall meeting. the first of 3 live events for the candidates today here on c- span. >> thank you for your help. >> you know josh. >> great to see you this morning. >> why do we have someone -- here. ed will do it. ok. here we go. good. thank you. >> thanks. >> joe and robin. >> r-o-b-i-n? >> first edition. >> get them early. 16 years. thank you so much. we need your help. >> ready? >> there you go. good to see you guys. >> california convention. >> good morning. >> hello. >> how are you? >> good morning. if you have a few minutes. to --'s do it when we get >> perfect. >> thank you, sir. how are you, sir? >> this way, ma'am. >> my wife, elizabeth. thank you. thank you. >> good morning. good morning. how are you? good morning. >> how are you? very good. how are you? how are you? >> a great idea. >> here we go. allri right. here we go. how are you? good to see you? we need your help in the caucus . >> thank you. >> thank you for being her

and the former speaker was asked about this at a media event in mason city. here's what the former speaker had to say. >> i would discourage them from sending out that nextive information. i think that's wrong. >> reporter: so there you go. he said he would discourage that organization from putting out that kind of information. he didn't condemn it, something he challenged mitt romney to do about his own super pac about ace week ago. so it's interesting to see the former speaker try to have it both ways. candy, he's in a box right now because he would like, i would imagine, to go after mitt romney and go after ron paul but that would mean going back on his pledge to stay positive. so i asked the former speaker at that same media veil, why don't you put that aside and go after your rivals? >> why not come out fighting for this nomination? >> i think if you saw the crowd here, i know this is hard for some of you to cover, you can fight in a positive way. you can be very strong in a positive way. >> reporter: and so now newt gingrich finds himself in a box with

mitt romney's bus has taken him to mason city. he's about to speak about the economy there.see people are gathered. rick santorum is holding a town hall near davenport and newt gingrich is about to speak in storm lake at the local restaurant. and ron paul's republican rivals are going after him on his foreign policy positions, describing them as dangerous and naive. charles is a national politics editor with politico and joins us from des moines. hey, charles. first of all, iran, that's front and center, israel, i mean basically is ron paul too isolationist in his fundamental positions to end up as the republican uñnominee? >> well, shaping up as a real problem. in many ways the party has grown closer to ron paul and ron paul has run more mainstream marked by campaign atd ads and robust ground ç5uá the one sticking point when you talk to voters in iowa is the discomfort or unease over the foreign policy positions, whether talking about iran or iraq or 9/11 or various sorts of national security positions and that right now is a big stumbling block for him in iowa. and certai

one of the more light hearted moments on the campaign trail came in mason city, when an 8- year-old boyed mitt romney a question many had wondered, but only a child could ask. >> is it hard running for the president? >> thank you. and that's a good question and the answer is yes and no. sounds like a politician. >> romney seems to have little else to apologize for. on top of the latest poll, he is trying to focus his criticism on president obama and not the other republican can republican contenders. >> iran is warning the u.s. to back off. the islamic government released proof that the u.s. is spying. heather tells us, iran is also making a threat that would affect bay area gas prices. >> iran says this is a u.s. air craft carrier spying. the iranian military is carrying out a ten-day exercise. >> iranian state television quotes the senior commander saying that the u.s. is not in a position to tell iran what to do. people in tehran say they approve of their military's actions. this man says you will know how strong our country is by watching the latest military drill. iran threatened t

we are here in mason city. this is the town that inspired the broadway musical, "the music man."mitt romney with another large crowd today. and the consistent theme of the visits he's had along the stump throughout the last several days has been family values. his wife, ann romney speaking at every stop about the 42 years the two of them have been married. and patriotic values. really trying to be above the fray to position himself as the front-runner here. he has 25% of the republican vote right now, according to this latest poll from cnn. significant because that's the percentage he had just four years ago, where he was badly defeated by mike huckabee. the difference this time around is that there is no one conservative that all of this support has coalesced behind right now, and this has been great divisions between michele bachmann, newt gingrich, rick santorum, and rick perry so far. mitt romney very confident now. already putting out an ambitious plan for his next several days, including a return to new hampshire. then coming back here for caucus day and caucus night. the a

even at romney's own rallies, i went around the room on thursday in mason city. he had a nice crowd. but it's really hard to find someone, someone who may have a romney sticker or what thenot, but hard to find someone who's so passionate or committed for him. but it's ok, a is a vote. even if someone is not entirely into him. i think there's a growing sense that he's the strongest nominee of the republican party to accomplish their ultimate goal. gwen: christina? >> do we think it might be a little different this year as opposed to 2008 that some of these candidates may not actually drop out if they don't come in the top three in iowa? for example, bachmann says she's going to go do that debate in new hampshire and then she's going to go straight to south carolina to sort of make her evangelical pitch there. she could drop out after that. unless santorum, he said if he finished last he would drop out. do you think anybody will drop out tuesday night? >> i think it will be -- michelle bachmann if she does really badly is going to be sort of hard pressed to mick a

mason city, by the way, i want to do other cultural references from the 1940s and '50s for you.ty, music man is where they sort of lay claim to the music man and all of those 76 trombones, chris. but no, i think what we're watching over the next six days is, it's clear that everybody's tracking polls, shows ron paul ahead, and the only candidate that likes that is mitt romney. mitt romney's got two ways to win iowa. he either finishes first or finishes second of ron paul. and now all of a sudden you're seeing all of these other candidates start attacking ron paul. the problem they have, though, is that paul's support that's with them, it's not going anywhere. he's attracting sort of nontraditional republicans, nontraditional conservatives. so one wonders why they're spending a lot of effort doing that while the effort is really, one, can they consolidate the evangelical vote and call themselves the alternative to mitt romney. or two, somehow expand the number of people that show up to the caucuses, try to get more conservatives to show up to make that little part of the pie they

i told him yesterday as he was getting on his bus in mason city, he's going to have to break into song can't just recite the lyrics. he's doing a rex harrison thing rather than singing them. >> it loses something in the spoken word poetry of it all. matt lewis, i have a bone to pick with you because you've exposed us here. you've written a piece for "the daily caller." a confession, we can't predict who will win iowa. you talked about ron predicting games on espn and saying that a and anybody who didn't listen to the radio show on espn should and every friday he has a segment where the great former eagles quarterback, great analyst who watches hours and hours of game film and looks through, calls through these statistics goes on the radio and predicts who's going to win on sunday and then they have reginald the monkey down at the d.c. zoo who predicts who is going to win. and the monkey is vastly outperforming ron jaworski, and my point is that experts on the ground, folks who go through and watch the debates and blog and tweet, we all think we know what's going to happen. we all think

the governor is on the campaign bus traveling to cedar falls, mason city and ames.e romney campaign, he joins us on the phone from des moines. what is the focus of the new romney ad in iowa now? >> you are seeing this ad they filled out with the first 60 second ad, a closing argument. this has no negative attacks and he is talking about patriotism and the track is listed from romney's announcements to determine way back. you are seeing an effort to come full circle as we get back to the closing moments. parra are nbc's garrett haage is recovering the campaign. the campaign trail from iowa. ron paul has been a consistent second in iowa polls. he started the day with the radio interview before three town halls late last night. the paul campaign scored something when they gave the endorsement of michele bachmann's iowa state chairman. we have the nbc campaign covering live from des moines. nice to see you. did this come as a surprise to the paul campaign? >> it çdid. the paul campaign said they didn't know until he arrived. i witnessed him and e-mails the event that c

jim acosta in mason city. let's get to the other candidate on the upswing, rick santorum.ewed him yesterday in dubuque and i suspect even he's surprised by how well he's doing now. santorum is now about to get a whole lot more scrutiny. lisa sylvester is taking a closer look into his personal and political history. >> that's right, wolf. rick santorum is a devout catholic opposed to gay marriage and abortion and e he represented pennsylvania in congress, but he was defeated in 2006 by bob casey. now, he's back on the campaign trial running for president and for the moment, he's the gop's latest rising star. rick santorum has a gaggle of news cameras following him around these days, a packed room of eager listeners and rising poll numbers. the former pennsylvania senator describes himself as steady eddie. the guy you would take home to meet mom or dad. he has visited all of iowa's 99 counties. >> we got a game plan in place. we believe it will work, we believe we have the strongest message out there. >> that message is firmly rooted in faith and family. his political convic

and mitt romney is in mason city, iowa.rtainly learning all the names of the towns in iowa as well. we'll monitor all these events and bring you clips from them as we hear from the candidates. >>> speaking of iowa -- i hope you are sitting down when you hear the latest numbers from iowa, you may be shocked. this be brand-new cnn/"time"/orc poll for choice for nominee. newt gingrich has faded, mitt romney is on top. followed closely by ron paul. rick santorum has surged into the top three. with just five days to go before the caucuses, it is looking like a brand-new ball game and it is all fair game today right here. let me bring in republican strategist ron bonjean and cnn political analyst roland martin. rick santorum's climb in the polls was described yesterday to wolf blitzer. >> it is like any small business person, if the money's not coming in, you just have to work hearder. we're up in the morning doing radio shows at 6:00 in the morning here, going until 9:00, 10:00 at night, town meeting after town meeting. 357 town

he has campaign stops in waterloo, mason city.> the most recent ad campaign targets a particular opponent, but not the front runner. he's taking aim at rick santorum, who is a fellow candidate who is trying to go for the ultraconservative vote. the ad labeling him as an earmarker. the strategy behind this is he's trying to compete for that very conservative vote. right? >> well, that's right. and polls have shown santorum surging, which is tough news for perry. they are competing for the same block of social conservatives. there's not a lot of difference on social issues between the two candidates, but where's there a difference is on their record. his record of spending. let's take a listen to what he said yesterday. >> rick santorum is a friend. i've got great respect for him. but what he talks about fiscal conservatism, it leaves me scratching my head. because he was a prolific earmarker. i love iowa pork. but i hate washington pork. and senator santorum, he loaded up his bills with pennsylvania pork. and he even voted for the

earlier today, covering newt gingrich in mason city. just a report from the scene. from "the washington post" -- mitt romney draws a big crowd outside of the bakery. 10 minutes before he arrives. "the politico" writes this morning, after advertising for more than one month, romney's camp has increased its spending in the quad cities area, increasing mailers, positive about romney and negative on newt gingrich. the polls in iowa show that ron paul is still leading the pack, according to the public policy poll, with 24%. mitt romney, a close second, with 20%. newt gingrich with 13%. we are waiting for mitt romney here, in clinton, iowa. live on c-span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> it looks as if it would be a few minutes before we hear from mitt romney. we want to let you know about our coverage later today. we have ron paul tonight at 8:00 eastern at his salute to veterans campaign. also at 8:00 tonight, a look back at previous caucuses on "american history tv" on c-span 3. then, 2

and i was in mason city today, seeing mitt romney. had a fairly good crowd.ded voters saying, yeah win narrowed it down to probably two or three. but even in his crowds, even in romney's own crowds, you don't find a lot of people who are as gung ho for a mike huckabee as they were four years ago. or on the other side, a barack obama. >> are they picking a president or are they picking a person who appeals to their gut or their heart? are they into the president-picking business yet, or is this about feeling good about the candidate? >> i think we're almost to the full stage of picking a president. not everyone is going to do that, of course. some people, you know, are -- want to give rick santorum some love for coming here so much. some people want to send a message with ron paul. but most of the romney people are getting close to the stage of picking a president. they're fed up with president obama. i talked to two obama voters in this mitt romney audience today and said they're doneç with hi they're shopping around for a republican. so, that's sort of the

eastern, newt gingrich hosting a town hall meeting at southbridge mall in mason city. then in the afternoon, mitt romney told a meet and greet in clinton to discuss jobs and the economy. and that 8:00 p.m., ron paul attends a salute to veterans campaign rally at the iowa state fair grounds. in 45 minutes, bob vander plaats of the

chuck joins me live from mason city. hello, chuck. >> reporter: mr. cillizza, doing double duty.ow are you doing, sir? >> well, sir. tell me what newt had to say. >> reporter: we're going two parts of it now. the first part i want to talk about is what you were just talking about, which is this idea of negative campaigning and as you know overnight there's actually some anti-romney, pro-gingrich direct mail pieces that are hitting mailboxes, and i actually asked speaker gingrich about one of them because one of them used some really tough language. here is what he had to say about it. >> i wouldn't call him the second most dangerous man in america. i'm happy to publicly urge them not to repeat that line in future mailings. on the other hand, if they have a factual bily accurate mailingo says he's for this and for this, i think the question is whether or not he's for it. i think beingç factually accure and explaining somebody's position is legitimate. it's when you are factually wrong or when you are factually distorting things or you're taking something and you're turning it int

. >> for instance, mitt romney had a telephone town hall meeting and one woman from mason city, iowa, made a point of thanking him for being married to the same woman for 42 years. >> reporter: this recent ad featuring mitt romney's wife ann entitled character, seems to be a not so subtle dig at newt gingrich's multiple marriages. >> if you really want to know how a person will operate, look at how they've lived their life. >> reporter: in this ad anita perry tells about her texas high school sweethearse, rick perry. >> i said up front openly i've made mistakes at times. i've had to go to god for forgiveness, seek reconciliation, but i'm also a 68-year-old grandfather and i think people have to measure who i am now and whether i'm a person they can trust. >> reporter: in a conservative state of iowa, political watchers say personal is political. >> the personal history does matter, at least in 2008, 60% of participants in the iowa caucus were evangelical christians. >> reporter: but a strong tenet for evangelical christians is forgiveness. making a direct appeal to them earlier this m

first, we go to national correspondent dean reynolds who is covering the gingrich campaign in mason city, iowa. >> reporter: newt gingrich began the last week on the caucuses intent on concentrating on the economy but he detoured along the way into a cat fight with mitt romney. gingrich is still steaming from his failure to round up enough signatures for qualify for the primary in his home state of virginia. gingrich aide said that felt as bad as pearl harbor. but when romney heard that, he pounced. >> i think you compared that to -- was it pearl harbor? i think it's more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. you got to get it organized. >> reporter: while it's been enough for gingrich that a romney super pact is spending millions to deflate him. >> newt has more baggage than the airlines. >> reporter: being mocked clearly got under his skin. >> i'd love to have him say that to my fans back up his negative ads and the things his staff has been putting out. if he wants to prove he can debate barack obama, he ought to have the courage on to stand on the same stage with me. >> reporte

newt gingrich is in mason city, iowa. at 1:20 p.m., mitt romney makes an appearance in clinton iowa, and at 8 p.m., ron paul holds a campaignrally in des moines. that's all live on c-span and c-span.org. >> c-span2 is the only network that takes you inside the world of nonfiction books every weekend on booktv. 48 hours of the best in authors, politics, current events, issues and trends. find out more online at booktv.org including video of a all of our featured programs and the latest from the world of publishing. booktv every weekend on c-span2 and online at booktv.org. ♪ ♪ >> with the iowa caucuses next week and the new hampshire, south carolina and florida primaries later in the month, c-span's series "the contenders" looks back at 14 candidates who ran for president and lost but had a long-lasting impact on american politics. tonight, barry goldwater. thursday, hubert humpfrey. and then on saturday, senator and congressman from south dakota george mcgovern followed by billionaire businessman, ross perot. the contender

the presidential candidate joins us live from mason city, iowa.essman, thanks so much for being back on the program. >> you're welcome, nice to be with you. megyn: here you are in the fox news poll, third in iowa. when we look at the "real clear politics" average, the national average for iowa, you are tied for second, sir. it shows newt gingrich at 29.8, you at 17.4. do you think you're going to win this state? >> we can, i can find some polls that show me doing a little bit better than that. we are doing very well, and like you mentioned the crowd are very good. you know last night at iowa state we had over 1300 young people came out. that was pretty exciting for me and for them. megyn: one ever the messages we talked about in the introduction. my apologies sir, you look cold, you look so cold. is it seven degrees in iowa, that's what i heard? >> it's a little bit chilly. i don't think we'll be playing any golf this afternoon. megyn: poor thing. i'll see you there next web. right here in the studio it's ao 75. i'm sleeveless. let's talk about yo

newt gingrich at 1130 am holding a town hall in mason city. then at 1:20 p.m.astern, mitt romney talking about jobs and the economy at a deli in clinton. and at 8:00 p.m. eastern, ron paul and a salute rally in des moines, iowa. justice department statistics show that 60% of american children have been exposed to crime, violence, or abuse. and 40% are direct victims of violence. the attorneys general's national tax force on exposure to violence is looking at the problem. at this forum in baltimore, the task force heard about the issue of mentoring kids and the impact of prosecuting children as adults. this is just over an hour. >> thank you. the impact on people and communities of children's exposure to violence, that is what this panel will be focused on. this panel will explore the effects of cev on the bodies and minds of young people, and on the social fabric they live within. panelists will discuss a wide range of questions about the impact of cev from brain development to juvenile justice contact. the panel will also explore collaborative approach to prot