disapproving constituents at town halls to republican congressman dan webster from florida and tim griffin from arkansas have been caught creating industry being watched lists these lists target constituents who asked the congressman tough questions about their policies at previous town halls. these watch lists feature of the names and faces of six floridians and offer a list of pointed questions directed at exposing their bias these flyers mainly containing pictures pulled from constituents personal facebook pages are then distributed to townhall participants and what appears to be an effort to intimidate others from asking similar tough questions as in if you ask the question a question the congressman doesn't like your suspect so watch as you say or you might end up on one of these wanted posters one person on the list was a cancer patient who asked congressman webster what might happen to people like her under the republican budget proposal seems like a fair question another person is a sixty six year old vietnam veteran who was who upon hearing that he was on the list said i think it'

griffin at the pentagon, breaking news on that. alisyn: let's talk politics, all eyes turning to iowa, where gop white house hopefuls, former governor timawlenty and representative michelle bachmann are taking jabs at president obama. >> doesn't smell good, got no focus and no direction. >> if you add to the debt, you're going to have more debt. what is it that standard & poor's didn't want to see any more of? debt. alisyn: meanwhile, ron paul, who of course has a history of finishing very strong in straw polls looks like he could be the frontrunner in ahead of this week's events in ames. carl cameron is live in mason city, iowa. so carl, the first big debate in iowa is tomorrow. tell us what's at stake. >> reporter: well, it's really going to set the statement for that straw poll and the debate itself comes at an absolutely critical time with the dow down some 300 points, the debt crisis growing, the debt downgrade continuing to perplex the country and the world for the united states. it really is particularly significant, and there's a tremendous amount of riding -- amount riding on it. ron paul is favored to do well in the straw poll

griffin will have a full report on what is going on here in a short bit. meantime the screen reads, quote, failed economy, failed leader, and failed direction. tim pawlenty releasing a new hard-hitting ad ahead of the iowa straw poll. take a look at this. >> leaders are going to lead. >> we've got 18,000 jobs last month, well below. >> we are moving in the right direction. >> a real disappointment. >> there are always going to be bumps. >> shovel ready was not as shovel ready as we expected. >> the stock market has come roaring back. >> is there a risk that the united states could lose its aaa credit rating, yes or no. >> no risk of that. >> the united states just lost its aaa credit rating. megyn: joining me now, monica crowley, and john gersteir, a democratic strategist. let me start with you, dan. do you think that ad is effective? >> i think the message is an effective critique. i think the execution of the ad frankly was mediocre. a much better visual and mood setter would be to have the empty podium with words flashing on the screen to magnify the message that president obama has been mia on the economy. mitt romney's ad where the ta with