host: mike glover, senior political writer at the associated press. we have a phone line for iowa residents. republicans can join us by calling -- as well as democrats -- and independents -- the des moines register came out with its endorsement on the weekend and got a lot of attention. guest:it endorse mitt romney. i tend to downplay newspaper endorsements. i will voters are traditionally very, very independent and make their own decisions. newspaper endorsements in this state don't have a lot of impact on the outcome of an election. the des moines register is a large newspaper, the largest in the state, but i don't think that endorsement will make a lot of difference in the election. host: why do you think it got so much attention? tell us how it went back in 2008 and how this is a shift? guest: i think it was more of a focus on issues. i think the newspaper does look at issues, does look at the candidates' stands on issues, and does make a decision based on what they think will be the best for the long-term good of the state. however, voters in the

mike glover.mocratic chairman sue dvorsky, to look at democratic strategy is in that battleground state. we have not suffered the steps of the recession that other parts of the country have. the economy is less worse than in other places because the farm economy is darned good this year. commodity prices are up. land prices are up, and that has helped drive the economy in the right direction. there is not a lot of uncertainty in iowa. host: what are the top issues? guest: it depends on what group you are talking to. on the republican side, and talking about social issues. that is increasingly driving republican policies in the state. they care a lot about social issues, those kinds of personal issues that drive voters, and that drives the republican electorate. the democratic side, the things that drive them are there is a desire to retain a democratic presence. it's more of a pragmatic issue on the democratic side. host: how many electoral votes this i'll have. guest: 6 and it went democratic. ho

host: mike glover, thank you so much. as a battleground. sue dvorsky, cbs news says all four major iowa newspapers back mitt romney. what does this mean for you and your efforts? guest: i know that my good friend, mike glover, just talked about this it really doesn't have any impact at all on the field organization on the ground. a lot of this is sound and fury, but it simply does not impact what's happening. as of last night, 157,000 lead in absentee ballots votes cast. so that is what we're doing. it really does not have an impact on these young people, these thousands of volunteers and staff. host: tell us more about the ground game that you are conducting in iowa. guest: we have always known that this was going to come to be a close election. we have been building this infrastructure for more than two years to withstand the weight of this. we have 67 field offices this is an unprecedented field organization. partnership between the president's campaign and the iowa democratic party. the key is, in each of those 67 fie

we'll look at the politics and history of the state with associated press senior political writer mike gloverthen the chairs will talk about how they're spending the final days before the election. democratic chairman sue dvorsky. live 7:00 and 58:00 58 -- 58:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> do you support an increase in the presence of national guard at the u.s. mexican border in light of this drug violence? >> this is a very complex issue. it takes cooperation between the united states and mexico. as you know, i'm sure there's an agreement back in 2008, i believe it was between the united states and mexico where we helped with technical support and boats and aircraft to help with the war on drugs and the cartels in mexico. this is something we have to get a handle on. i want to say this because we're stuck in stereotypes in the state. el paso and people of texas do not know this, look it up, el paso is the safest city in america. we have safe cities and communities all along your border. this is a great economic engine for our state. these are great communities. >> i've already stated, we shou

then a look at the issues in the battleground state of iowa with mike glover of the associated press. sue dvorksy and aj spiker. washington journal, at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> watch our coverage of the presidential candidates and debates from house, senate, and governor's races from around the country. next, a look at the issues in pennsylvania. after that, in a debate between the candidates in the u.s. senate race. and then a discussion on the effectiveness of the sanctions on i ron. >> would you support an increase in the presence of the national guard at the u.s.-mexico border? >> this is a complex issue. it takes cooperation between the united states and mexico. there was an agreement in 2008 between the united states and mexico where we help with technical support and aircraft to help with the war on

we will look at the politics and history of the state with mike glover, and then the chairs of the political parties will talk about how they are spending the days before the election. we have syw scieajt bs ,h, aoujwe,'this is live on c-span -- we have sue dvorsky and a.j. spiker. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] for a chance to win a grand prize of $5,000, with $50,000 in total prices, the c-span student cam video competition is open for grades 6 through 12, and the deadline is in 2013. find out more at studentcam.org. de