molly hennenberg gives us a look in the hawkeye state and who wound up staying in washington. >> reporterabout 1,000 of iowa's most active gop volunteers and donors heard speeches from five candidates last night. rick santorum and others explained to likely caucusgoers what they would do as president and why they should get the republican nomination. >> i'm the only candidate in this race who has balanced the budget four consecutive years and led an effort across the system for the first tax cuts in 16 years, led an effort which led unemployment to drop from 5.6 to 4.2%. >> cut taxes and take out the loopholes. cut the federal spinnings, balance the budget by 2020 and the spending cuts and pro- growth policies and a balanced budget amendment. >> reporter: mitt romney and herman cain didn't participate and both gave economic speeches in washington. providing their political visions and in some cases, going after the president. >> his fundamental error is he believes that government creates jobs. he's wrong. he puts his faith in government of the i put my faith in people. >> i'm a business

molly hennenberg tracking all of that for us live in washington. ine tonight? >> hi, jamie. that's really the first deadline in order to have a vote on wednesday, that's in compliance with the law. lawmakers would have to get the agreed upon deal to the congressional budget office or cbo by midnight tonight so the number crunchers can do the math and estimate the deal on the deficit and the cbo would get it back to the super committee by late monday and those lawmakers would have the required 48 hours, that's required by law, to go over it before they vote on wednesday. jamie? >> jamie: what about the mood of the super committee members. now they've come out and talk on some of these sunday morning shows, do you get the mood that they're going to compromise or given up on coming up with a deal today? >> they haven't given up. working on some last minute compromise, if possible. as the republican co-chair of the super committee said, reality is starting to overtake hope. >> talks have taken place over the weekend, they'll continue to take place. but

>> molly hennenberg with the very latest. thank you, molly. republican senator of idaho is no stranger to budget negotiations. as a member of the bipartisan gang of six, he is urging members of the deadlocked super committee to go big on their plans to reduce the deficit. senator is kind enough to join us in studio today. thanks for coming in. >> good to be with you, shannon. >> so you're urging go big. something more in the neighborhood of $4 trillion in cuts. but it sounds like this group has almost given up getting to the bare minimum of cuts. what do you think is going to happen? >> it appears from what we're seeing there will not be an agreement in time. that does not mean that the debt ceiling agreement will not be met. in other words, there is a sequestration that will generate savings. that will be really messy. >> what do you make of the talk on capitol hill that they want to go around what you've agreed to as far as cuts, average american thought that's motivation for getting to bigger cuts and to better agreement if you can just go