michele bachmann's campaign is in urbandale, iowa. that event is scheduled to get under way momentarily. one of the big stories out of iowa this week, michele bachmann's iowa campaign chairman defects and endorses ron paul. bachmann reacted by saying it was all about money. >> he quit and we've had the former campaign manager come out and say kent flat out told me he was getting money opinion he also said eric wolson, he told a lot of people. a people a mile long that he told he was getting money and all of those people are coming out of the wood work making themselves available. so kent sorenson and i had the conversation on phone. kent came out the our stop in indianaola, iowa and left with me yesterday. he left our event and went to the ron paul event. this is about money. this is about money. is this about the ron paul campaign seeing the floor is coming out. >> in fact, kent sorenson just attended a bachmann event four hours before announcing his departure to a crowd of ron paul supporters. >> tonight is four me. i've been servin

shannon travis, i think, is joining us from urbandale, iowa.hat in fact -- that was bachmann's last scheduled stop of the day. how did you find her? >> reporter: she was upbeat. that was one of the key questions that i talked to her about -- how are you feeling right now? she was positive, upbeat saying, we're going on to win. of course that defies what a lot of the polls are saying. her poll standing has dropped dramatically, as we all know, since her ames straw poll win in the summer. her iowa state director leaving, defecting over to the ron paul campaign. there have been some distractions in these final few days. but she was pretty upbeat. right behind me, you have some of her key, loyal supporters, phone banking for her. a coordinator said, we need everybody to go on their facebook and make phone calls for michele bachmann. they're hoping they can squeeze out 500,000 of them before caucus. but earlier, i spoke with michele bachmann herself when she was here at the headquarters. and we talked about the mood and the days ahead. take a listen

. >>> this comes to us from who channel 13 in des moines, iowa where in nearby urbandale, two cute kittens are alive because of one dog. reagan whined until an owner he opened he dragged home. it contained a litter of kittens, most dead, tossed by someone on a rural highway like garbage. all but two had been crushed by traffic. that's horrible. but now those two have been nursed back to health. they're up for adoption and ready to start a new life all thanks to their new bud reagan. >>> i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. we're starting out this tuesday with some rain. mild temperatures. we're in the 50's. we have some light rain, enough to affect the drive time. off and on rain showers will stay with us through this afternoon. cloudy skies and mild temperatures with a high near 62. we will come back and check the forecast for the rest of the week. >> 4:57. the trial of an alleged child abuse case comes to a close. >> it is inauguration day for the

. >> politics have been the special of the day in urbandale, iowa for weeks. there's less than a week to go and republican president republican candidates are trying to persuade undecided voters. >> i'm 61, i have heard it all before. >> with no clear front runner, those casting the first vote in the presidential race are looking for someone to stand out. >> every candidate has a great point. just haven't decided on one yet. >> the person getting his vote must understand those who share his status. >> whoever convinces me they will help unemployment, get people back to work, and cut government spending. >> mitt romney spent much of the day campaigning as if he were the nominee. aiming his comments at president obama, barely mentioning his gop rivals. >> you don't have to settle for wall street and obama care individual mandate. >> rick perry is taking his case directly to his opponent. some of whom who have just about seen it all. >> i have shaken all of their hands. >> danielle nottingham, cbs news, des moines, iowa. >>> today, the nebraska senator announced

i'm here at the iowa headquarters for michele bachmann here in urbandale.y look a little bit empty right now. but a lot of the volunteers and staffers just webt out and took a group picture in front of the michele bachmann bus. but for most of the afternoon, the room has been abuse with activity. a lot of the supporters and volunteers are calling various people across iowa saying, hey, are you coming out on caucus night? will you caucus for michele bachmann or would you even be willing to speak on her behalf, be a caucus captain? michele bachmann showed up here a short while ago, candy, and she actually worked the phone herself. take a look at this -- >> hi this is michele bachmann calling. is this bob johnson? hey, bob. i'm doing great. what are you doing today? hanging out at home. that's exactly what you should do on new year's eve. it sounds good. i'm here in the des moines office just making calls to ask people to get out on tuesday night. and i'm calling to ask for your vote on tuesday night. awesome. can you bring more people with you? good. well, li

. >> reporter: politics has been the special of the day at the machine shed restaurant in urbandale, iowa, for weeks. there is less than a week to go before the caucuses and republican presidential candidates are canvassing the state to dissuade undecided voters like janet kelly. >> i'm 61. i've heard it all before. they all say the same thing. >> reporter: with no clear front-runner, those casting the first votes in the 2012 presidential race are looking for someone to stand out. >> every candidate has a great point. i have you haven't decided on one yet. >> reporter: chuck wilson has j one yet. >> reporter: chuck wilson hauha one yet. >> reporter: chuck wilson hashan one yet. >> reporter: chuck wilson hatha been unemployed about a year.& the person getting his votes must be one that shares his status. >> whoever convinces me they are going to help unemployment and get people back to work and cut government spending. >> reporter: mitt romney spent much of the day campaigning as if he were the nominee, aiming his comments at president obama, barely mentioning his gop rivals. >> you d

. >> the machine shed restaurant in urbandale has been a popular stop. still, many voters aren't sure who they will support. >> whoever convinces me that they will help unemployment, get people back to work and cut government spending. >> i think a lot of it is hard finding out what they truly stand for. there are so many negative ads out there. >> mailers, phone calls, and tv ads, hoping their campaigns can pick up those undecided voters and gain some steam heading into next tuesday. they are also making as many face to face pitches as they can. newt gingrich, and rick perry kicked off bus tours across the state to win over voters. >> this is an election where you got a choice. and i'm the limited government conservative in this campaign that will give washington a complete overhaul. >> voters in iowa are listening. and candidates have one week to do that before the nation's leadoff caucuses. danielle nottingham, des moines, iowa. >> ron paul will be back on the campaign trail in iowa tomorrow. >>> time to move on. that's why nebraska senator says he's

. >>> this comes to us from who channel 13 in des moines, iowa where in nearby urbandale, two cute kittenslive because of one dog. reagan whined until an owner he opened he dragged home. it contained a litter of kittens, most dead, tossed by someone on a rural highway like garbage. all but two had been crushed by traffic. that's horrible. but now those two have been nursed back to health. they're up for adoption and ready to start a new life all thanks to their new bud reagan. >>> i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >>> 4:28 is our time right now. it is warm out there. 59 degrees. kind of oddly balmy this time of year. we have a lot of clouds overhead. probably holding the heat in from overnight. good morning to you. i'm joe krebs >> and i'm eun yang. it is tuesday, december 6th, 2011. >>> right now shut down in both directions at route 250. we'll have more on this story in just a moment. apparently, authorities say a gas tanker and at least two other vehicles collided on route 3 at route 50 around 9:30 last night. route 3 wa

. >>> urbandale, iowa, february 25th, 2007.pounds the midwest with high winds, bitter cold, and more than a foot of ice and snow. >> we already have up to ten inches of snow. >> at least nine people die in traffic accidents across the plains as a result of the storm. nearly 500,000 lose power. in urbandale, just outside des moines, the state's capital, the conditions are particularly dangerous. >> the ice storm started the day before followed by snow which led to building up on the high wires. >> the entire town is coated in ice and heavy snow. the fire department is busy responding to a variety of calls, including a report that a tree has fallen onto a section of residential power lines. >> when we arrived, it was basically just arcing. the limbs were smoldering a little bit, there was heavy snow on the limb that was touching the wire. so not a major deal thought to be at that time. >> it's routine work they've all done before, and soon a tv news crew shows up. >> power was out all over the city. and our job was just to go aro

. >> this comes to us from des moines, iowa, where in nearby urbandale, two cute kittens are alive because of a life-saving heroics because of one dog. reagan whined nonstop until his owner opened a bag he dragged home it contained a litter of kittens, most of them dead. tossed by someone on to a rural highway like garbage, just horrible. all but two of the kittens had been crushed by traffic. but now those two have been nursed back to health. they're up for adoption and ready to start a new life. all of this thanks to reagan. >>> i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. >>> well, forget the sleigh and reindeer. nearly 250 people dressed as santa claus strapped on their skis and snow boards for the 12th annual santa sunday at the sunday river resort. the charity event drew crowds of onlookers that watched the skiing st. nicks take to the slope. >>> in norway one group takes table tennis to a place it's never been before by moving the intensity of the sport from the table to the dance floor. one director created an interesting act

in the upscale suburb of urbandale where the need is skyrocketing. families coming here is up 80% over last year. to food bank director elizabeth ballstat, it means more and more in iowa's middle class are falling into the underclass. what is the new face of hunger here in des moines? >> the new face of hunger is, you know, people who are my friends, my neighbors, people who literally are living paycheck to paycheck. >> reporter: the need has grown so much that today's food stocks won't keep up with demand. which means less food for people like elizabeth slicener. every month, she can get one allotment of food, and with the cutbacks, that means one can of beans instead of two. she stretches the food for her 14-year-old son keaton by going hungry herself. >> i'm just trying to do the best i can and a lot of people are in the same position that i'm in. >> reporter: she's been struggling since she lost her well paying sales position three years ago and in october, lost her most recent job. that's when she put her pride aside and went to the food bank fo

. >> reporter: politics has been the special of the day at the machine shed restaurant in urbandale, iowa for weeks. there is now less than a week to go before the caucuses and republican presidential candidates are canvassing the state to sway undecided voters like janet kelly. >> i'm 61. i've heard it all before. they all say the same thing. >> reporter: with no clear front-runner, though casting the vote in the 2012 presidential race are looking for someone to stand out. >> every candidate has a great point, just haven't decide on one yet. >> chuck wilson has been unemployed for about a year. the person getting his vote must understand those who share his status. >> whoever convinces me they're going to help unemployment, get people back to work and cut government spending. >> mitt romney spent much of the day campaigning as if he were the nominee. aiming his comments at president obama, barely mentioning his g.o.p. rivals. >> you don't have to settle for washington and wall street insiders who supported the wall street bailout and the obama care individual mandate. >> reporter: r

. >> reporter: the machine shed restaurant in urbandale has been a popular stop for the candidates. still, many voters here aren't sure who they will support. >> whoever convinces me that they are going to help unemployment, get people back to work, and cut government spending. >> i think a lot of it it's just really hard finding out what they actually truly stand for. there's so many negative ads out there. >> reporter: the republican candidates are flooding residents with mailers, phone calls and tv ads hoping their campaigns can pick up those undecided voters and gain some steam heading into next tuesday. they are also making as many face-to-face pitches as they can. newt gingrich, michele bachmann and rick perry kicked off bus tours across the state to win over voters. >> this is an election where you got a choice, and i'm the limited government conservative in this campaign that's going to give washington a complete overhaul. >> reporter: voters in iowa say they're listening. >> state your claim as to why you think you should be the next president and why you think i should vot

the surprise is here in the upscale suburb of urbandale, where the need is skyrocketing. number of families coming here is up 80% over last year. to food bank director elizabeth ballstadt it means more and more in iowa's middle-class are falling into the underclass. what is the new face of hunger here in des moines. >> the new face of hunger is people are who are my friends, my neighbors-- people who literally are living paycheck to paycheck. >> reporter: the need has grown so much that today's food stocks won't keep up with demand which means less food for people like elizabeth schleisman. every month she can get one allotment of food, and with the cutbacks that means one can of beans instead of two. she stretches the food for her 14-year-old son keaton by going hungry herself. >> i'm just trying to do the best that i can and a lot of people are in the same position that i'm in. >> reporter: she's been struggling since she lost her well-paying sales position three years ago, and in october lost her most recent job. that's when she put her pride aside and went to the food

at the machine shed restaurant in urbandale today, iowans chewed over eggs, bacon and last night's debate. >> very, very eloquent on how he answered the holt questions. >> reporter: this gingrich buzz is no small thing, given that last night, he was the primary target of attacks. >> well, he's been on different positions on so many issues. >> for 20 years he's been advocating -- the individual mandate in health care. >> if you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partner. >> reporter: he tried to swat away the salvos like flies. >> the real difference is our backgrounds. >> the only reason you didn't become a career politician is because you lost to teddy kennedy in 199 1994. >> he's the most intelligent and he's the best debater. i think he can debate with barack obama. >> reporter: though gingrich is not everyone's cup of tea. >> he's got too much arrogance and i just -- i just don't care for his personality. >> reporter: governor rick perry today was swarmed in ames, iowa, proof of life for his struggling campaign. >> ready to retire, no matter what that age. >> reporter:

. >> reporter: the restaurant in urbandale has been a popular stop for candidates. still many voters here aren't sure who they'll support. >> whoever convinces me they'll help unemployment, get people back to work and cut government spending. >> a lot is just really hard finding out what they actually truly stand for. >> reporter: the republican candidates have been flooding residents with mail, phone calls and tv ads hoping their campaigns will pick up the undecided voters and gain some steam heading into next tuesday. they are also making as many face-to-face pitches as they can. three candidates kicked off bus tours across the state to win over voters. >> this is an election where you got a choice. i'm the limited government conservative in that campaign that will give washington a complete overhaul. >> reporter: voters in iowa say they are listening. >> state your claim as to why i should vote for you. >> reporter: candidates have one week do that before the nation lead off caucuses. in washington danielle notingham notingham. >> mitt romney will be in iowa late

the surprise is here in the upscale suburb of urbandale where the need is skyrocketing. number of families coming here is up 80% over last year. to food bank director elizabeth ballstadt it means more and more in iowa's middle-class are falling into the underclass. what is the new face of hunger here in des moines. >> the new face of hunger is people are who are my friend, my neighbors, people who literally are living paycheck to paycheck. >> reporter: the need has grown so much that today's food stocks won't keep up with demand which means less food for people like elizabeth schleisman. every month she can get one allotment of food and with the cutbacks that means one can of beans instead of two. she stretch it is food for her 14-year-old son keaton by going hungry herself. >> i'm just trying to do the best that i can and a lot of people are in the same position that i'm in. >> reporter: she's been struggling since she lost her well-paying sales position three years ago and in october lost her most recent job. that's when she put her pride aside and went to the food ban

. >> reporter: the machine shed restaurant in urbandale is a popular stop for the candidates. still, many are not sure who they will support. >> it will help the unemployment, get people back to work, and cut the government spending. >> i think a lot of it is just really hard finding out what they actually truly stand for. there are so many negative ads on out there. >> reporter: they are flooding the residents with mailers, phone calls, and tv ads. hoping their campaigns could pick up the undecided voters and gain some steam heading into next tuesday. now, they are also making as many face-to-face pitches as they can. newt gingrich, michele bachmann, rick perry kicked off bus tours to win over voters. >> this is an election where you got a choice. i'm the limited government conservative in this campaign that will be giving washington a complete overall. >> reporter: the voters in iowa say that they are listening. >> and what is your claim as to why i should vote for you. >> reporter: candidates have just one week to do that before they lead off the caucuses. ron paul is emerg

. >> reporter: the machine shed restaurant in urbandale is a popular stop for the candidates. still many voters here aren't sure who they will support. >> whoever convinces me that they'll help unemployment, get people back to work and cut government spending. >> i think a lot of it is it is just really hard finding out what they truly stand for. there are so many negative ads out there. >> reporter: the republican candidates are flooding residents with mailers, phone calls and tv ads hoping their campaigns can pick up those undecided voters and gain some speed heading into next tuesday. they are also making as many face-to-face pitches as they can. newt gingrich, michelle bachmann and rick perry kicked off bus tours across the state to winner voters. >> this is an election where you have a choice. and i'm the limited government conservative in this campaign that will give washington a complete overhaul. >> reporter: voters in iowa say they are listening. >> state your claim as to why you think you should be president and why i should vote for you. >> reporter: and candidates

shannon travis, i think, is joining us from urbandale, iowa.shannon, that in fact -- that was bachmann's last scheduled stop of the day. how did you find her? >> reporter: she was upbeat. that was one of the key questions that i talked to her about -- how are you feeling right now? she was positive, upbeat saying, we're going on to win. of course that defies what a lot of theolls are saying. her poll standing has dropped dramatically, as we all know, since her ames straw poll win in the summer. her iowa state director leaving, defecting over to the ron paul campaign. there have been some distractions in these final few days. but she was pretty upbeat. right behind me, you have some of her key, loyal supporters, phone banking for her. a coordinator said, we need everybody to go on their facebook and make phone calls for michele bachmann. they're hoping they can squeeze out 500,000 of them before caucus. but earlier, i spoke with michele bachmann herself when she was here at the headquarters. and we talked about the mood and the days ahead. take

you do something with the epa to call them off -- >> congresswoman bachmann, we're here at your urbandale, iowa headquarters. how are you feeling? >> wonderful. fantastic. we just completed our 99 county tour. no other candidate has attempted that period we saw verbal enthusiasm. we had thousands of people flip and go my way so we're looking forward to tuesday night. >> why the choice to race through the 99 counties at the end. >> we did. probably no other candidate spent more time going through all of iowa last summer and that's why i won the iowa straw poll. we wanted to make sure we went back a second time and so we went to all 99 counties to make sure every iowan when they make their final decision had a chance to be able to come back. i could listen to them. they could ask me questions and that's why we literally saw thousands of people flipping and they are very excited and now they are going to tell their friends at church, their co-workers, sending out e-mail list, facebooking. so they are our best recruiters. they will bring their friend out and we're very excited about what we s

. >> what about this new office in urbandale, iowa, and how does this differ from the headquarters in opening -- officially opening headquarters. urbandale is just outside of des moines and him and callista will be there before the debate to open the office. this is his first office opening in the state of iowa. they are running what they call an unconventional campaign but the campaign has eight staffers, other volunteers and they're very positive that they're going to be able to do well in the iowa caucuses and heading to tampa even with the small staff and office in iowa. >> so they have one office that's empty and another office they're opening up. staffing that would be a little bit of an issue. >> reporter: right. well, like i said, it's just going to be the one office. they're positive this is going to be able to help them, you know, do very well here in the iowa caucuses. >> we shall see. alex moe, good to see you. >>> in the season of goodwill, the discovery of a gold ring in a salvation army kettle shows the true spirit of generosity. a volunteer in spokane, washington, foun

. >> reporter: at machine shed in urbandale, iowans chewed over eggs, bacon and the debate. >> everybody is going towards newt. versed and eloquent how he answered. >> reporter: this gingrich buzz is no small thing. the primary target of attacks. >> he has been on different positions. >> for 20 years he has been advocating for individual mandate in health care. >> if you cheat on your wife you will cheat on your business partners. >> salvos he tried to swat away like flies. >> let's be candid. the only reason be you didn't become a career politician you lost to teddy ken dine 1994. >> he is the most intelligent. and, he is the best debater i think he can debate with barack obama. >> swarmed in aimes, iowa. proof of life for his struggling campaign. misquoted mitt romney on health care. i read your first book it said in there your mandate in massachusetts, which should be the model for the country. >> reporter: the ex-change ended up hurting romney because of this. >> you have raised that before, rick. and you are, i'll tell you what -- $10,000 -- $10,000 bet? >> $10 'tis more than two mo

rick perry in urbandale, iowa, jockeying for the top spot in next week's caucuses, but the competition so tight -- drew a new line in this position on abortion. p perry now says he opposes abortions in all cases, even rape and incest. what accounts for the change? this dvd called "the gift of life." >> my mom was raped. and i was -- my life was spared. >> when the lady who's in the dvd was looking me in the eye and saying you need to think this through. she said, i am the product of rape. and she said my life was worth -- it was a powerful moment for me. >> the powerful documentary was produced by the conservative group citizens united and narrated by former arkansas governor, mike huckabee. a collection of stories with a strict, pro-life message. gop candidates vying for iowa's evangelical vote attending perry, attended a viewing of the movie last week. conservative radio host steve day says he believes perry's shift boosted perry's standing. >> it did not sound rehearsed, contrived. it sounded very heartfelt and since sincere, which would indicate he has internalized that. >> he also

. >> is pick -- campaign headquarters is in -- who is in urbandale. santorum is. urbandale. gingrich and michele bachmann may be? bachmann, rick santorum, and gingrich's in urbandale. rick perry is in west des moines, jordan creek parkway area. mitt romney has a little suite on ingersoll and obama is right here in downtown des moines. thank you for mapping that. what we are going to do now is break into candidate preference groups. normally what happens is you break into the preference groups and you realign because if you have less than 15% attendees, you are not viable and have to go to another group. it will be a little different here. once we break into groups -- i have no idea how will go -- we will see what we have and maybe there are only five people who want to go visit rick perry and they can negotiate with of -- one of the other campaigns to get a few more people to make the group a little more viable. have the mitt's romney people over here, of the gingrich people over there -- ok. she is with the romney people, gingrich's over there. what? bachmann is all the way

all worked for southern california edison in urbandale. upset about not receiving a christmas bonus and days off. >>> aymann, have there been any more casualties? >> good morning. egyptian health officials have increased the number of those that have been killed as a result of the fighting to nine. but protesters in tahrir square say that number could go up to as many as 14 people injured. the number injured stands close to 1300 people. an occupy protest outside the government office here was interrupted and disrupted by the military in an attempt to break in. that led to at least 24 hours of fighting that continued the on saturday with the military attacking protesters and burning the tents in which they were encamped. back to you. >> thank you very much. >>> flash floods triggered by a tropical storm what killed near 200 people in the southern philippines. more than 150 others are missing. many may have drown in a rain swollen river. >>> defense secretary leon panetta is in tripoli to meet with members of the transitional government. he

rick santorum is its urbandale and the morning. rick perry hosting a town hall meeting in council bluffs and ron paul this is the new hampshire towns of and hers, hillsboro, and dairy. tonight michele bachmann joins new perry -- newt gingrich for an anti-abortion documentary that features mike huckabee. for more, go to our website. c-span.org/campaign2012. those of some of the latest updates on c-span radio. >> much more to the newly designed c-span.org. more videos making it easier to watch today's events live and recorded. more features with 83-schedule play out. even receive an e-mail alert when your program is scheduled to air. more access to our most popular series and programs like "washington journal," book tv and american history tv. more availability. user -- use your handy channel finder to find out where your networks are available on cable and satellite channels across the country. more at the all new c-span.org. >> which part of the u.s. constitution is important to you? that is our question in this year's studentcam c