congress respond i am joined by rick mays congressional editor, lauren thompson of the lexington institutetodd harrison center for strategic and budgetary assessment and tom shanker new york times welcome to the program. >> tom i would like to start off with you the overall question is a lot of us expected deeper cuts there was a lot of discussion the navy would go from 11 carriers down to 10 or 9, talk large portions of the air bomber fleet would be retired, that the joint strike fighter program was in deep jeopardy, what were the surprises here, decisions made were they the right decisions and were they hard choices end of the day >> right, vago if there is one word to describe this budget proposal it is deliberate it will be up to your viewers to decide if that means wise or political. they did everything they had to do but in a very careful way. one third of the budget that is growing is personnel costs they are going to slow the rate of pay raises but not cut back. they are going to increase fees for health insurance for retirees but not make it even more than in the private sector. a

quickly before we get to linda so, developing news out of des moines, iowa, we are learning that rick santorum may have won the iowa caucus. this according to cnn and cnn.com. the des moines register says rick santorum may have won by more than 30 votes in the iowa caucuses and an official announcement is scheduled for 9:15. we will hear more about the virginia teen found dead in baltimore three years ago. linda so is standing by with what's happening and what's expected later today. lenda. >> reporter: the parents of the anne mccann will have a press conference at one at the national press club in dc. they say there's new investigative lead. their daughter was found dead behind a dumpster in november of 2008 and she was 16 and had run away from home in fairfax connie, virginia. an autopsy revealed she died from poison aing and police ruled the death a suicide but her parents never accepted that. police found her car a few blocks away and caught up with the people who stole it. then a new twist just a couple months ago. one of the suspects who stole anne's car confessed to killing another woman an

he may be down a couple of points, and 41% is a commanding lead. rick santorum not very high in that poll, but i think the real showdown will be south carolina where romney does not have the home field advantage in new hampshire. >> we saw senator john mccain endorsing romney. john huntsman saying it didn't matter. you have the dnc out with a web ad and cataloging the instances where senator mccain criticized romney. let me play a bit of that web ad. you see it here. does this help at all with mitt romney getting this endorsement from mccain? >> it's tough to gauge. in new hampshire and nationally mccain is not beloved by republicans. there were a lot of republicans never really were crazy about him and disappointed about the way the 2008 campaign turned out. new hampshire has been a place that warmed him and rewarded him in his presidential campaigns. in new hampshire, it helps him and nationally i'm not so sure. the point i think that romney is trying to convey is that the establish cemetery coalescing around him and the powers that be. the machine is

rick santorum may finish in the lower half. the next stop, south carolina. that primary is set for january 21st. >>> 9:00 a.m. is the deadline to file for candidacy in the 2012 presidential primary election. the filing location depends on the office you're seeking. all candidates should file at the state board of elections at annapolis. the 2012 presidential primary election will be tuesday, april 3rd. the general election, again, tuesday, november 6th. >>> newstime 4:34. robert richardson iii in court this afternoon for a bond hearing after accused of killing his father. the 16-year-old is accused of shooting his father to death and leading police on a chase in bel air yesterday. the hearing will be in harford county district court. more on that coming up on abc2 news and abc2news.com. >>> opening statements will begin today in the murder trial of lee steven, charged with killing a corrections officer in 2006 at the now closed maryland house of correction in jessup. the case will be heard at 9:00 a.m. at the circuit courthouse in anne arundel county. the st

i think rick santorum may have a bigger electability argument because he speaks with this populist message of this time and place. he understands what people are going through. if this general election is going to be about the 99% versus the 1% and the income disparity -- disparity, he is the better vessel for that but has some other shortcomings. gwen: what strikes me is that with the exit of rick perry, someone who can say legitimately i am an outside -- a washington outsider. >> romney has the best argument. >> he had probably the strong esterline last night when he jumped in between santorum and gingrich. >> i think ron paul is still going to win the anti- washington crowd. gwen: he's a doctor. after we leave here, florida, nevada, michigan. are those the next big three tests and who's strongest in those places? >> romney has some advantages. florida is a big, expensive state. he has the most money and organization. nevada has a lot of more months. his father was the governor. so he ought to have some big built-in advantages. >> didn't he win both nevada and michigan last time? >> his

we saw that rick perry may be dropping out of the race last night here in des moines. he said he was gonna go back to texas and reassess his campaign. now we're hearing it looks like he will be going on to new hampshire and south carolina. >> it looked like his campaign was up in the air but he's been tweeting he's gonna stay in south carolina. >> a very disappointing finish for hill, considering how much time, effort and money he put into campaigning in iowa. but he feels that maybe in south carolina he did have -- he can have some magic the so maybe he stays through the plirm. of course, new hampshire is next. six days from the day. that really appears to be homefield advantage. >> i want to talk about the two winners. rick santorum and mitt romney. evenly split and they really represent two different polls for the republican party. is the gop gonna be able to co el es-- coalesce to one party? >> reporter: romney -- he -- he won here in iowa, just barely, eight votes. that was it. that's how many votes he edged out santorum with. rick santorum is really conservatism

rick santorum may be saying some controversial comments, making a comment about race possibly yesterdayor damage does this have on their campaigns when the race is this tight? >> that is i very good question. it could have some impact when the get inside the caucuses. i think it is also while many people have been very hesitant about stating who they really want to support going into these caucuses. this republican field is still one of the most unsettled fields that many people have seen in recent years when it comes to iowa. iowa will stand to serve as a winnowing effect. it will winnow away those who aren't the right kind of candidate for the republican party. you have the democrats saying we welcome anyone because they feel that they're all interchangeable and they are all speaking of extremes getting to the point of what you were saying about the race situation. there is also rick santorum making the statement that he would blow up iran if they continue to move forward with the closure of the strait of hormuz and other things like that. >> all right. we'll talk to you again soon. a

may lose a percent or two in tight race simply due to his placement on the ballot. >> neil: on this ballot to show people what we are talking about. it's hard to read. rick santorum and i'm last, that may not be such a negative thing. if you are gingrich, that might be confused, but it relies on your die-hard supporters. if you are mitt romney, what does it mean? >> romney is near the end, you have buddy roemer back-to-back. i imagine it won't be as big for romney because he is best known of the candidates. if somebody is a definite romney voter they will get down to him and voted for him. bigger problem, the people that are not decided, they are not behind one of these candidates hundred percent. so when they are coming down and looking down the long list of names, they might say, newt gingrich, first major name, i'll stop reading here and pick gingrich. it's what the psychologists satisfying choosing the first name that is okay with you. >> neil: so if you are mitt romney and not the first recognizable name, does it potentially put you at a disadvantage? >> there is some research that could cause you a couple percentage points. it's hard to say with th

they may have settled on rick perry.find out where nay will go next. >> reporter: voters here relish the fact that since 1980, they have picked the republican nominee. they love it here. this year no exception. somewhere between 450 and 500,000 primary voters. that's what they expect to have on saturday. if that happens, that would be record turnout. what's different is what's motivating a lot of those voters. in the past here, especially republican primaries, you heard a lot of talk about social issues, abortion, gay rights. this time right at 10%. it hasn't dropped below 10% in the past three years. those pocketbook issues are now front and center. voters not talking about social issues as much. they are tired of those ads. >> how we're going to do anything in i've heard nothing but rhetoric. there's nobody who have said anything specific that's really resonated with me as a voter. >> reporter: he says he's going to be listening very carefully at the debate tonight to hear what candidates say specific about what they w

rick santorum may be able to gather some strength if he were to pull off a surprise victory.e the hot candidate but he has very little infrastructure, very little money and perhaps a ceiling on the kind of appeal he could put together. >> let me play quick santorum put an ad up recently that speaks to the biggest thing that weighs him down. take a listen. >> who has the best chance to beat obama? rick santorum, a trusted conservative, who gives us the best chance to take back america. >> who has the best chance to beat obama, rick santorum. seems to me they know their biggest problem is people look and go, yeah, that's nice but rick santorum just doesn't have the wherewithal. does this -- i asked both our iowa politicians, do you think this race comes down -- this race in iowa right now comes down to caucusgoers wanting the most electable or caucusgoers wanting the person that most defines who they are. >> that's the big struggle. for the moment the polls suggested there's a sort of practicing testamegmatism pragmatism, a lot of evangelical voters moved by a core set of issue

, who had just about written off iowa, won by a nose with the recently surging rick santorum right on his tail and iowa may have claimed a political casualty. rick perry, following a fifth place finish, he says he is reassessing his campaign. here are the numbers. a record 122,255 straw poll ballots were cast last night. in a truly amazing finish, mitt romney beat rick santorum by just eight votes. ron paul finished third, followed by newt gingrich. susan mcginnis is in des moines with more on this race. some people were surprised at rick santorum. >> reporter: yes, absolutely. that was unexpected really. this was quite a nail-biter and really something to watch throughout the night. the closest vote, like you said, in iowa caucus history. in the end, mitt romney wins to be the challenger to president obama, at least so far, and he has won by the slimmest margin ever. mitt romney barely squeezed out a win in iowa, with rick santorum trailing just eight votes behind. >> we are going to change the white house and get america back on track. >> reporter: the former massachusetts governor is pledging to keep th

. >> while it may rick perry bypassed new hampshire and go straight to south carolina after the iowa caucuses. he will also be very important state for rick santorum and newt gingrich. rick santorum of course hoping he would have the better showing here in new hampshire and in order to stay past south carolina he will have to do well in the premiere there. that romney may run into some problems in south carolina. he is considered more of the moderate to the voters there, so he will be hitting the ground running tomorrow and trying to keep his momentum from south carolina into florida. >> all right. thank you. >>> for second and third grade teacher are under arrest at san jose school church of sexual assault on child. kiet do is paired with the police were not talking about many details. >> detectives want to get the word out quickly in case there were other victims. san jose said that police have been here on campus in east saint josi sometime between august and october of last year. police aren't for releasing any details about the child but craig richard kendall, chandler teaches u

now, rick santorum, first time he was in the middle of the fight and i think he fanned. i think he mayet his feet back under him as the days go on. but i think it's because this race has been so topsy-turvy, they have to sit still and they have to move on. >> jake tapper, i want to talk about jon huntsman for a little .he staked his entire campaign here. his most memorable attack against mitt romney was actually in chinese. >> i think it's important to note, as they would say in china -- >> it doesn't quite understand the situation. >> i don't know if we got the translation there. he doesn't understand the situation. huntsman has to jump ahead of paul and or santorum. >> voters in new hampshire speak cantonese to go with mandarin is a big mistake tactically. huntsman's campaign, he didn't do anything. he staked everything here. it was an odd performance here. you opened the door for him to talk about some differences. they need to draw the contrasts. lot of campaigns were spin after the debate. we did talk about it. it's true. if you go through the transcript, you can find little bits

rick perry may drop out of the gop race. we will have complete coverage. new details on the murder three mr. rate following the discovery of a dead body. dr. oz will share a special diet plan. we will get donald trump's take the results in iowa and he will unveil the contestants for the new season of "celebrity apprentice." that and much more when we get started this morning. >> 14 degrees on tv hill. >> coming up, we'll take a last look at weather and traffic before you head out to start ou >> it is not too bad once you thaw out in your car. >> we have a crash at perring parkway. that has been moved off to the right shoulder. we have a crash at joppa and falls road. some fluid has built on the road. at the patuxent range, we have a crash. another in laurel. this is the beltway. this is the harrisburg expressway at warrant road. southbound traffic is heavier at this time of the morning. -- the harrisburg expressway at warren road. the inner and the outer loops are picking up in volume but no delays to report. >> it will get warmer later this week. this is

it may include plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops and invest more in air and sea power. >>> it is 5:10 now. ricktorum's campaign may be picking up steam but mitt romney is the republican to beat with the new hampshire presidential primary five days way. next tuesday. now, romney's fresh off that narrow victory in iowa, eight votes. yesterday, new hampshire got the endorsement from john mccain for mitt romney the gop nominee in 2008. romney heavily favored in the granite state which of course borders his home state of massachusetts. he owns a home in the granite state, as well. santorum's campaign got another million dollars in donations after his close second place finish in iowa. >> we can move up and show momentum here, too. >> rick perry decided to stay in the race expected to do well in south carolina later this month. he is not campaigning in new hampshire. michele bachmann though who finished sixth in iowa got out of the race yesterday. >>> members of the san jose city council will consider downsizing their own pension plans. this is an ongoing effort to reduce the overall budget deficit.

but this may be it for rick perry who is returning to texas to rethink his campaign.michelle bachmann is staying in the race. linta so abc2 news. >> it's the place to go for the latest information on the rate for the white house in 2012. click on news and political tabs to find the latest. >>> more news on a string of break-ins in east baltimore park where several homes have been broke in. sherrie johnson is live with the latest details. >> reporter: we are here at the intersection of eastern andlynwood avenue in the patterson park area. police are tying to phyt figure out she responsible for the break-in. we have seen a number of officers patrolling the area. people who live in the patterson park area are on the lookout after they say they had a dozen break-ins since just before christmas. one block of lakewood has been hit with four burglaries and police say 16 cases have been reported in the past 248 2/8 days on lucerne clinton and east baltimore streets. people are aware right now and they say they are keeping an eye out for suspicious activity. and folks are work

. >>> coming up, rick perry may not be in new hampshire, but you can get he's in today's top lines. >ck into iraq. >> yes! about time. let's get our tr]ops back into iraq. we've been out for almost two weeks now. plenty of time for them to get wes of mass destruction. ♪ s fish box. i opened the first sammy's back in 1966. my employees are like family. and, i want people that work for me to feel that they're sharing in my success. we purchase as much as we can on the american express open gold card. so we can accumulate as many points as possible. i pass on these points to my employees to go on trips with their families. when my employees are happy, my customers are happy. vo: earn points for the things you're already buying. call 1-800-now-open to find out how the gold card can serve your business. but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromise on taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. on my journey across america, fat free milk. i've learned that when you

rick perry may win the batting of some evangelical leaders but like santorum, perry may have talked hishat leaves mitt romney. what a quandary for voters in south carolina. this is to say nothing of the tea party big business background. jackson phillips is the founder of the tea party nation. thank you both for joining us. now that he's in south carolina, mitt romney is trying to assure voters that he's working along the tea party line on the economy while he's defending his switch from favoring a woman's right to choose. now saying he's pro-life. watch this. >> this is a time when people care about the economy and the scale of government. it's the message of the tea party. it's the message of the republican party. and i have spent my life learning how to balance budgets, to cut back where cuts are necessary. it was highly publicized in new england and the boston papers and the boston stations that i became pro-life, described why i became pro-life. i'm proud of that fact and continue to make that message. >> do tea party voters care about a candidate's religious believ believes? or ar

it may seem impossible for some to believe, pat, but you mentioned that rick santorum was in single digits in iowa and you look at the clear politics average in new hampshire. rick santorum is 4%. mitt romney is over 40 -- >> he'll be well into the high double digits by the morning. but the question is: how much he gets there? and as i said, he will be challenged -- he doesn't have the resources. but he is a new face. three weeks ago, two -- three weeks ago, newt gingrich was at 38%. as i have said to you before, we have this huge group of very -- people looking for something and they keep landing somewhere. they just landed -- rick santorum's lucky, they landed on him last. but he will have a tough problem. this is a man who lost a senate race by more than almost any incumbent in history in a re-election. it's going to have a hard argument on the winning. he's very sincere. but the social issue problem, we'll see how it works. i don't think in a general election, he has a prayer. the question is whether voters will see that -- >> but he has pointed out several times. i asked him about thi

sounds as though rick perry may be whittling in the field. you don't believe the playing field when there is still time left on the clock there. is a clear sign this may be the end of the road for them. it's worth voting he started late in the game and his aide said that he said then, they said then they had to figure out how to raise money, build the organization, and get the governor of texas ready for national debate. there is a rhetoric. there is an issue set z there is rival that's have you to know. know their moves and how to play against them. four months isn't a lot of time to learn that. clearly mr. perry is doubting he has the opportunity to learn it fast enough for remaining states. so there is iowa leading for rick perry. and where does that leave bachmann? then newt gingrich we know is going to go to new hampshire owe to take on mitt romney tomorrow. and this is a two-person race. the conservative majority of the republican party now has to take a look at mitt romney and his record and measure that against rick santorum who will

rick santorum may have surge and he's got momentum.gly strong showing in new hampshire and generate more free media and more sense that he has the ability to take romney down. they see the numbers in south carolina move. i will say this does suggest that there is a rallying and that the establishment is pushing for the nominee. >> you want to wonder if mitt romney is able to with stand the evangelical presence in the state like south carolina, you have to wonder whether there is another state and another primary that will be able to stop him. >> who knows what will happen. we had a big surprise in new hampshire, but if romney will win and doesn't stumble, if he wins that, train has a lot of momentum. i would not want to be standing in front of it. south carolina has been a place where the nominee soiledified and george w. bush knocked out general and bob dole knocked it out. there is a history of the establishment. >> no republican candidate has gone on to get the nomination since 1960. thank you, sir. appreciate your time. >> thank yo

. >> reporter: but the real comeback kid in the heartland may be senator rick santorum, who didn't register on polls but has seen a last-minute surge. his last day was clearly aimed on romney. >> money doesn't buy iowa. >> rick santorum has a strong message that can reach out to evangelicals. he's one of the few candidates in this race that can speak their language. >> reporter: there's a serious challenge from libertarian darling, ron paul. he draws huge, passionate crowds here. >> are we sick and tire of the expansion of government? doing the things they weren't supposed to do? and forgetting about doing the things they should be doing. >> reporter: despite his popularity in iowa, many believe paul has little chance at the nomi admission a stunning admission the candidate himself made last night on abc's "nightline." >> so, when you lay your head down on the pillow at night, do you see yourself in the oval office? >> not really. >> reporter: along with santorum, vying for iowa's large block of christian conservatives, michele bachmann, rick perry, and newt gingrich. >> we may pull off one

. >> rick santorum may be the come from behind conservative with a wave of last minute support from christian conservatives make up the votes and could be missed by half of the population polls. >> do what is right for this country and in the next few days fight for it. >> he went to church in iowa but is looking ahead and dismissing other's success as short lived. >> we are going to be able to go forward when some of the other candidates may do okay in iowa when it comes to running a national campaign they are going to falter. >> newt gingrich who led the polls a month ago and michelle back m bachmann are struggling to not be dead last in the caucus. the record will be if they break 118,000. it's also true that there are a large number of undecideds. in the caucus four years ago one of every four caucus goers were undecided. 40 percent are likely to change their minds. exactly what are they and how do they work? answers to this question is shannon breen in iowa tonight. >> across the state there are 800 spots that will become caucus parties on tuesday night. this is a church in iowa that sea

and so rick santorum may get to float abovehis for another week while newt and huntsman concentrate all their fire on mitt romney. santorum may get this free ride for another week while he sees if he can raise the money, take this momentum and see if it transfers. another thing to watch for, the movement conservatives, will these social conservatives represented by the phyllis schlafly, mike huckabees, things like that, will they see santorum has the last conservative train leaving the station to stop mitt romney or will they still decide to stay on the surveillanidelines. they would would jumped on a perry bandwagon. they didn't make an indication whether they will jump on the santorum bandwagon. if they do, it may mean -- give santorum a fighting chance in florida. if they stay on the sidelines worried that they would get marginalized because they might endorse santorum only to see romney and the aircraft carrier that is the mitt romney campaign just crush him down in florida and end the nomination, then this little santorum boom could be short-lived. >> chuck todd, i understand. you'

i do think it's fascinating to note the campaign that has spent the most money is rick perry. he may finish fifth tonight. the campaign that has spent the least amount of money on tv ads is rick santorum, and he may finish first tonight. >> thank you so much, chuck. i do want to bring in politico's chief investigative reporter, ken vogel and neb martell, political reporter for "the washington post." we find ourselves, gentleman, at a point where poverty statistics are at or near records, at least as far as the census is concerned. unemployment levels are at an atrocious level. the capital of the world flows away from america, not to our country. do either of you see anyone in this presidential race that is discussing anything with the fact that money is being taken out of america as opposed to being invested into it. ken? >> ron paul certainly has more of an isolationist foreign policy and economic policy. so to the extent that that's what we're talking about, we're talking about free trade and, you know, sort of isolationism, more generally. you'll hear a little bit of an economic p

rick santorum may just have been the most bitter taste of all.s take on a woman's right to choose. >> i believe that life begins at conception, and that life should be guaranteed under the constitution. that is a person in my case. >> even in the case of a rape orb encrest. >> that will be taking a life. i believe any doctors -- i would advocate that any doctor that performs an abortion should be criminally charged for doing so. >> that opinion doesn't fit with nearly two thirds of americans who support a woman's right to choose, but he doesn't stop there. he says states should have the right to ban birth control. >> the dangers of contraception in this country. the whole sexual libber teen idea. many in the christian faith had said, well, that's okay, contraception is okay. it's not okay. it's a listen to do things in the sexual realm. >> americans really disagree with santorum on this one. they don't just support birth control. three quarters believe it should be fully covered by insurance companies. then there's his take on same-sex marriage.

. >> rick santorum may be the come from behind conservative with a wave of last minute support from christian conservatives make up the votes and could be missed by half of the population polls. >> do what is right for this country and in the next few days fight for it. >> he went to church in iowa but is looking ahead and dismissing other's success as short lived. >> we are going to be able to go forward when some of the other candidates may do okay in iowa when it comes to running a national campaign they are going to falter. >> newt gingrich who led the polls a month ago and michelle back m bachmann are struggling to not be dead last in the caucus. the record will be if they break 118,000. it's also true that there are a large number of undecideds. in the caucus four years ago one of every four caucus goers were undecided. 40 percent are likely to change their minds. exactly what are they and how do they work? answers to this question is shannon breen in iowa tonight. >> across the state there are 800 spots that will become caucus parties on tuesday night. this is a church in iowa that sea

this just in, rick perry may drop out of the republican race for good today.d press and cnn. sources close to perry have confirmed he'll make an announcement later today. we'll continue to follow this story throughout the day. tony? >>> thank you, allison. outreach aviation is a nonprofit organization designed to educate disadvantage youth in theory, mechanics and practical use of aircraft. this morning the two pilots behind this program join us to talk about their organization's mission. they are pilot jonathan neil and pilot wayne tonkins. gentlemen, thank you for joining us this morning. you know, when i heard about this, it's not something that jumps right to the front of your mind when you think about areas where youth, particularly african-american youth, you know, aren't getting guidance or aren't thinking about. but this is something that you all truly believe in. tell me why you started this. >> less than 1% of aviators today are african-american. so we thought we needed to create a program that will bring, or at least give aviation more exposure with

. >> rick santorum may be looking for votes right now in new hampshire, but he is also keeping an eye on south carolina. he's hoping a win in a republican primary there using old-fashioned retail politics. getting out, shaking hands, showing up at a lot of small events. the strategy almost won him iowa. he needs to talk up his foreign economic policies if he wants to be seen more than just a social conservative candidate. >> game on. >> reporter: rick santorum may have surged on a wave of evangelical support in iowa, but now he has to show south carolina conservatives he's not just a one-state sensation. they're looking for someone who can beat president obama. >> that's what they're saying, that's right. >> reporter: they're looking for a winner. >> that's exactly right. >> reporter: across the crowded republican field, conservative positions on social issues like gay marriage and abortion are a given. southern politics and reridge gone expert james guth says he can't win south carolina on faith alone. >> reporter: when it comes to values, he's in. >> i think he's in good stead with