steve brown tells white house is actually going to take part in the caucuses. we begin with chief political correspondent carl cameron following texas congressman ron paul today. good evening, carl. >> reporter: hi, shannon. front-runners have come and gone in the race. for months we said in the end it would come down to photo finish at the wire. now the polls suggest about 30 to 40% of iowa caucus goers are undecided and now comes the final sprint to find those who may still change their minds. iowa speedway, ron paul marveled as all the attention he got as front runner heading to the finish line in the presidential caucus. >> i am pleased to be here. this does look like there are more cameras than there used to be. >> reporter: the volatility of the iowa battle between paul and mitt romney is net today's poll. democratic leaning public policy poll has paul leading by 4%. cnn survey says romney leads. paul is second. rick santorum moved to third ahead of newt gingrich. santorum trashed ron paul for

>> shannon: steve brown live for us tonight. thank you, steve.08, senator barack obama iowa victory over john edwards and hillary clinton energized his presidential campaign. this time he is running unopposed and spending time in hawaii, not iowa. we report that the president still has politics on his mind. >> president obama spending time with the family in hawaii. he may be having fun but he has been on vacation. imagine how many issues swirling around in his mind? how many existing or potential flash points there are heading to 2012. here is what could be the five most important. one, this is a no-brainer. the economy. the country ends the year with signs of a resurgence in consumer spending. that is good news. but if this chart that the white house is watching closely. the unemployment rate. it's trending down to 8.6%. but that is still uncomfortably high. if many americans given up looking for work, flood back in the job market next year, that rate could go up. overseas there is still concern about a european mel meltdown. two global hot spo

you never know. >> in sioux city, steve brown, fox news. >> bret: wisconsin voters are trying to kickscott walker. trying to kick him out of office. they say they are close to having enough signatures to force a recall election there. they are angry at the republican governor over limiting collective bar ganning rightser public workers. we have follow that one. take a live look at tonight debate stage as we leave you before the debate. we'll have a preview of the debate. with a special all-star panel when we return to sioux city after a quick time-out. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. ♪ with your help, we can reach 20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. [ female announcer ] get 0 percent apr financing on select models for thirty-six months and we'll donate two-hundred and fifty dollars to your choice of five charities. now through january 3rd. the droid that wirelessly pulls files, music and movie

>> harris: steve brown, thank you very much. do you ever wonder how the presidential candidates can crisscross the entire nation? nearly all of them have a bus. here is the minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann campaign with hers. she is wrapping up a 99 county tour of iowa making as many as 10 stops per day. former speaker newt gingrich just kicking off his own iowa bus tour on tuesday. the texas governor rick perry has two buses, but not all the candidates roll the same way. former senator rick santorum sometimes travels by himself in his dodge ram pickup truck like the one you see here. texas congressman ron paul uses suvs to get around. former governor of utah jon huntsman the only candidate not campaigning in iowa. is he touring all 10 of new hampshire's counties in suvs and/or minivans. and then there is the former massachusetts governor mitt romney. he often uses a 30 seat charter plane his wife calls it hair force one. well, shep will be back on monday to host "studio b" and "the fox report" live from des moines and o

steve brown. >> bret: later, james rose within a key foreign policy taken to debate. the capitol hill lawmakers let it go to the wire before working out a budget compromise. mike emanuel has details on the deal. >> the house members race to get out of town after voting 296-121 to pass the $1 trillion government funding compromise package. the measure passed with 149 democratic votes. after finishing the work, the house leadership decided it would not wait for the senate to act in case there is a delay. >> the senate isn't expected to vote until tomorrow, technically, after the government runs out of money, widely believed that it should matter. >> the administration takes the view if it passes one house there won't be a government shutdown. i think everybody should be reassured. that is not going to happen. >> it doesn't mean that everybody is happy. dick durbin criticized them on the commodity trading commission, the $205 million, $103 million less than requested. >> the underfunding of the commodity futures trading commission is a serious mistake. serious. the notio

steve brown is live in des moines. steve, a lot of people are talking about mitt romney in last night's debate but not in a good way. how bad was it? >> reporter: bad enough because people here in iowa are talking about. exchange was between him and perry. they have been going at hit about healthcare and individual mandates for healthcare. it appears that mitt romney wanted to put a stop to it by offering a wager. >> you have raised that before, rick. it was true then, it was true now. >> rick, i tell you what, $10,000, $10,000 bet. >> i'm not in the betting business. >> reporter: romney spokesman says this is something that people do sometimes when they are convinced they are absolutely correct on a particular issue but it is not playing well here in iowa. political observers saying this is not helpful especially in the context of just 23 days for caucus time. >> gregg: you have so many people unemployed and $10,000 means a lot to them. on fox news, they were taken aback by what you just aired there, the bet by romney.

that was steve brown reporting.ntial candidates will participate in another debate in iowa. >> they have the top contender for the nomination. and his campaign is on damage control. we have incompetence vented palestinian people and they are part of the arab community. >> he paid the remarks during an interview on the jewish channel. he said they were invented because they were part of the at monday empire. >> they are call -- ottoman empire. >> he said he does support a negotiate td peace agreement between israel and the palestinians over the board borders. new york university plans to offer two under graduate classes about the subject next semester. pro toast tories marched around the school's greenwich village campus next year. and the professor plans to bring in guest people espeakers who is behind the protest. >> they are helping hundreds of students to unite. they met in the city yesterday. they worked on everything from health and bullying. >> this is an issue that many of the participants say they know too w

>> shannon: all right, steve brown live in des moines. o of the gop frontrunners butting heads at the debate. who came out on top? joining us to sort it all out, debbie dingle and karen. thank you both for coming in today. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> ime. >> shannon: i'm sure you watched at least parts of the debate. the moment sticking out is when mitt romney offered a $10,000 bet to rick perry. it is not playing well in iowa. do you think it is a make or break? >> i don't think it is make or break. i think it is a continuation of is he one of us. and people in iowa who are earning on average probably around $50,000 a year don't go around betting $10,000. so i think it just further alienates him from a lot of the core gop voters whoing go are to turn out just in a few weeks and makes them wonder is this someone i can relate to. >> shannon: he took a lot of heat, newt gingrich is the presumed frontrunner. democrats when they have gone after someone in the field it has been mitt romney. do you think they will start ramping up more

>> steve brown reporting from des moines.nk you for that. >>> iran's navy chief says one of the country's surveillance planes got close enough to a u.s. aircraft carrier to photograph it. he says it proves that they have control over the area and conducting war games this week. senior white house foreign affairs correspondent wendell goler has the latest on tension between the nations. >> a day after they shrug off the threat to close the strait of hormuz, iran released video of u.s. carrier in patrol boat and the u.s. announced sale of fighter jets to saudi arabia. >> the saudis are concerned about not only what iran is doing in iran and the environment, but what they are doing in iraq and yemen. >> each country move escalates the battle over iran's refusal to stop the nuclear program or prove it's aimed to make weapons. iranian military official says the u.s. is in no position to tell the country what to do in this race. the state department officials say sanctions must be starting to hurt. >> one can only guess if the inte

steve brown, thank you very much. and in case you are planning this will help you. this coming thursday night the fox news debate, don't miss it live from sue city, iowa at 9:00 p.m. eastern. you can go to foxnews.com/debate by the way at any time and enter questions that you would like to have asd. this is a really good place to visit on the web to read up on all of the races. gingrich has put himself in the middle of the date debate of the palestinian state. >> i believe the commitments that were made there was no palestine as a state. it was part of the empire. i think that we have invented palestinian people who were historically part of the arab community. >> he made that comment during an interview with the american cable network the jewish channel. gingrich saying it's delusional to call it a peace process saying hamas and fatah run authority representing a desire to kidestroy israel. the president as you may know urged both sides to negotiate to take a two-state solution. the efforts to deal evenhandedly with the israelis and palestinians is quote favoring t

steve brown is live in winterset, iowa. steve?et a 120-person turnout for the republican caucuses which would be a record here, that's still 4% of the state's entire population that will have the opportunity to make a very important decision as to who the winner is of the republican caucuses here come tuesday night. much of a political caucus is pretty dry organizational stuff. it's just that every four years, they toss in a presidential preference. who is it that shows up? the most passionate activists. >> it's your everyday iowan. middle aged, senior citizen, married, church going, social economic conservative. >> newcomers at caucuses are rare, but ron paul may provide some. long-time caucus watchers point to paul's fans among younger voters as a likely source of new caucus goers. now, security at the nearly 1800 caucus sites will be a concern, especially after today's arrest at mitt romney's iowa headquarters. ten occupy protesters were arrested and there are lingering concerns that occupiers may attempt to disrupt the republi

>> steve brown live for us in des moines, iowa. steve, thank you. now new video out of north korea. ahead of the state funeral for the late dear leader kim jong il. this video from north korean state television apparently showing a stream of people wailing as they pay their respects to the former dictator. as we reported before it is very difficult to make out any actual tears and everything in north korea is very tightly controlled. the funeral starts just minutes from now at 8:00 eastern time. well, new orleans saints quarterback drew brees has broken the nfl's all time single season passing records. >> touchdown and there is a record. that's unbelievable. drew brees. >> trace: happened last night with his final pass of the game as the saints routed the atlanta falcons 5084 yards. topping the record set by dan marino back in 1984. marino tweeted congrats great job by such a special player. breeze has one more regular season game to pad his record. thanks to last night's win the saints have clinched the nfc south. he was a great charger as well. no

steve brown watched the action to see who scored and who missed. steve? >> reporter: chris, there were plenty of attempts to knock down newt gingrich the frontrunner a peg or two but the efforts came up short. >> we could start with his idea to have a lunar colony that would mine minerals from the moon. i'm not in favor of spending that kind of money to do that. eeoc said that he would like to eliminate in some cases the child labor laws so that kids could clean schools. i don't agree with that idea. we have differences of view point on some issues. >> the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> now, wait a second. wait a second. that is -- that was -- >> if a clean shot was delivered on gingrich it may have been by ron paul over gingrich's consulting gig with freddie mac. >> while he was earning a lot of money from freddie mac i was fighting over a decade to try to ex-be plane to people where the housing bubble has come from. freddie mac was bailed out by the taxpayers so in a way newt i think you probab

steve brown watched the action to see who scored and who missed. steve?> reporter: chris, there were plenty of attempts to knock down newt gingrich the frontrunner a peg or two but the efforts came up short. >> we could start with his idea to have a lunar colony that would mine minerals from the moon. i'm not in favor of spending that kind of money to do that. eeoc said that he would like to eliminate in some cases the child labor laws so that kids could clean schools. i don't agree with that idea. we have differences of view point on some issues. >> the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> now, wait a second. wait a second. that is -- that was -- >> if a clean shot was delivered on gingrich it may have been by ron paul over gingrich's consulting gig with freddie mac. >> while he was earning a lot of money from freddie mac i was fighting over a decade to try to ex-be plane to people where the housing bubble has come from. freddie mac was bailed out by the taxpayers so in a way newt i think you probably

steve brown is in western iowa. sux city tonight. uch less attention steve >> some say a third of the visits happened in 2007. consider the visit by rick santorum the only visit in sioux city over the course of the last three weeks. no one here can remember when that happened last. far less attention than republicans out here are used to having. >> four years ago it just seemed like there was candidate all the time at a coffee shop. hotel room. want to talk about what they have done, what they want to do. this year it's, for some it's polar opposite. >> now, there still are a lot of republicans out here. they are wondering where the visits went. shep? >> shepard: i bet they are. if the republic vote has grown in other parts of iowa. what's wrong with candidates spending more time elsewhere? >> that does make sense but the state parties republic chair says that there are some candidates that may be facing some peril by not spending time out here in western iowa. have a listen. >> that may be a mistake. one thing that we know, the repub

>> shannon: steve brown live for us from iowa tonight. thanks, steve.k perry is challenging the rules for getting on to the virginia primary ballot. the republic presidential candidate failed to meet the qualification standards which are among the toughest in the nation. now we have word perry has filed suit in federal court. lawyers for five suspects in the september 11th attacks say the commander at guantanamo bay prison is trying to violate the attorney/client privilege. new rules require legal mail to be submitted to a security review. there has been no response yet from the commander. the united nations general assembly has approved its next budget which approves a 5% spending cut. the ambassador says the budget will save the american taxpayers millions of dollars. one week to go until the iowa caucuses. we will talk about that with the fox all stars when we come back. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer. >> from there is a huge difference between the supply side conservative and

>> shepard: steve brown live tonight. thanks.'s must watch only on fox as the candidates face off in the final debate before the caucuses begin. the action starts 9:00 eastern time. 8:00 in oxford. right here on fox news channel. christmas came early for a soldier serving overseas and especially for his family. the family had no idea he would be coming home in minnesota for the holidays. the cameras were rolling when he showed up in uniform and the look on his mom's face. wait until you see this. [ laughter ] [cheers] who is the happiest mom on the planet? she called this moment the greatest surprise of her life. he walked into the cafeteria where she worked and right into his mom's arms. we are told he will be home for two weeks before he heads balk to kuwait. space exclusive destination before too long. that's next. ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. forty years ago, he wasn't worried about retirement. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds,

steve brown with the news in des moines. e, do they even have commercial slots left to sell at the local tv stations in iowa. >> actually, some of the stations are actually running low on those spots for the upcoming new year's eve weekend. here in iowa, there is an estimated $10 million worth of tv advertising which will be aired by the time of month is all said and done. that is a record. most of the campaigns jumping in with their biggest ad buys in just the last few weeks. the rick perry campaign is blanketing the state with ads. it reportedly has bought the most air time nearly $3 million worth this month. not on the air right now michele bachmann although she says that will change soon. >> you will be seeing an ad closer to the caucus day. but we purposely have been making a decision about that because the ads that are on tv right now are ripping the candidates apart tooth and nail. >> and when it comes to slickly produced attack ads the ron paul camp appears to be in a class by itself. >> the paul ads overall look at t

. >> heather: steve brown, thank you very much. >> gregg: as the clock is ticking down to voters just ahead of the iowa causes of action, would it be a make or break state and how much influence will the evangelical vote have there? shane is editor of campaign and elections campaign. shane, good to see you. as a voting bloc in iowa the evangelicals are a force to be reckoned with. yet, they don't seem to have could less had around any candidates. why is that? >> i think there is couple reasons. first of all there is not a candidate like former governor mike huckabee that united in iowa last time. you've got a bunch of folks this time that have appeal to evangelical voters, santorum, bachmann and perry. not a single one of them unites the same sort of passion and engenders the same sort of support as mike huckabee did in 2008. >> gregg: romney is running an ad in iowa and we're going to put it up on the screen now. it very directly highlights his 42-year marriage. it is many say, not so subtle attack on newt gingrich. who has a history of inat the fi dealt, three marriages and so forth

steve brown tells us -- which candidates are best organized -- for the iowa caucuses. caucuses. -------------------------------- -------------------- -------------------------------- --------------------perry says: "if you have my back on january 3, i'll have yours in washington dc" ...building a political ground- game in iowa is...fishing. candidates are the bait. working the crowd...volunteers and staff...reeling in phone numbers and e-mail addresses... robinson says: "a"a&what i look for is are they actually signing people up?...and how do they actually do that?" craig robinson...founder of the political 'blog the-iowa- republican...says successful caucus campaigns run on contact data...robinson says: "a"a&as fast as you can you need to turn that overa"a&from the event stop you need to get it to your campaign officea"a&so they can have a staffer follow-up." ...then the barrage of contaat is on... ...at this stage...the caucus campaigns are expected to be making tens of thousands of phone calls per week...fischer says "if they'll share an e-mail and a phone with usa"

general steve brown thinks the country is the brink of civil rule. now you're going to see. people are very dissatisfied the way things are going they fought hard especially in britain guarded don't think they're being properly in this see the country just fall apart into areas of warlords just like in afghanistan i don't have any competency in t.c. those people in t c are all complicit in the dark it's crimes they're going to set things up so they're going to do very well again and they're probably going to try and emerge as the new rulers the new dictators of libya which is where it's going to be headed for example. who heads the n.t.s.c. was gadhafi justice minister that just made a joke of the whole council his response or for a lot of crimes and a gadhafi i don't blame these people been guys ever having no trust me in d.c. at all. moscow is accusing the e.u. of overstepping its powers by hindering a russian humanitarian aid convoy carrying food and supplies to serbs in kosovo twenty five russian trucks were stopped at a checkpoint on tuesday by e.u. controlled customs o

there is steve brown, he joins us live from sioux city, iowa, the night tonight's debate. from now, it may be time for those. but you're right. this debate coming up tonight will be the last opportunity for folks who are really undecided to take a look at the candidates and maybe decide that that is the one that they'll go to caucus night and go caucus for. but the folks at the debate tonight, if they're going to be aggressive, they might want to be careful about how they go about it. on tuesday night, we spoke with five undecided sioux area republicans who will be watching the debate, who will be going to the caucus. we asked them, i asked them, what the turn off, what will happen at the debate that will make you absolutely not vote for somebody? they said going negatively too hard. take a look at this. >> early on, i thought the way michelle bachmann -- the way tim pawlenty went after michelle bachmann out of the shoot was horrible. right off, i lost it. turned me off. couldn't even think about it. >> now, aggressive is expected at this particular debate 'cause it's the