will on the streets. journalists get a look at the violence syria doesn t want you to see. it is amazing to me how this guy has been shot this many times. i mean, he s superman. i have been shot three times. my fingers have bullet holes. did you hear had a? part man, part terminator. shot three times in a robbery. a marine pulls out the bullets with his own hands. and now he s talking about it from his hospital bed on this american morning. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, december 29. this is american morning. a lot going on today. let s get right to it. that s right. good morning, everybody. glad you are with us. i m alina cho. up first, dramatic shift in the political landscape with five days to go before the iowa caucuses. just look at this brand-new c cnn/ time poll. mitt romney on top in iowa now. followed closely by ron paul. newt gingrich plunging and rick santorum suddenly rolling right to the top three. gingrich now 11 points behind romney. he s
next hour. egyptian officers raid the they may have made some powerful enemies in the process. one group is chaired by madeleine albright. the other is chaired by john mccain. i m wolf blitzer. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room . captions by vitac www.vitac.com the clock is ticking. we re only five days away from the iowa caucuses. the focus has now turned to a certain degree, to rick santorum. an extraordinary surge in his poll. can rick santorum keep on climbing? joe johns has been following santorum in iowa on the campaign trial. joe, how did it go? well, wolf, good news and bad news for rick santorum. he s doing better in the polls. the bad news is he s the latest target on the campaign trial. what on earth took this guy so long to get traction in iowa any way? what s going on right now in iowa and i see it with the crowds getting bigger. i think they d be bigger in any circumstance. people are focused. here s a guy who spent more time in the sta
outfront tonight. newt sinking and santorum surging a brand-new poll out of iowa and it has stunning, new numbers. the former front-runner, newt gingrich, plunging from his top slot, down to fourth place. former pennsylvania senator rick santorum doing the opposite, he surged from single digits into third place. mitt romney now leads the pack with 25%, and there s another new poll out of new hampshire where the nation s second contest in the race for the gop nominee will be held one week later on january the 10th. mitt romney dominating his opposition there. he s at 44%. rivals ron paul and newt gingrich trailing 17% and 16%, respectively. let s go right to political correspondent joe johns. he s on the ground in iowa. joe, this is a bit of a shocker. santorum rising as much as he has. he was out there with representative steve king on the hunting trip. king did not endorse him on that trip. it made people wonder, we re so close, this is a guy to every county in the state.
gingrich is down. let s go outfront. good evening, i m ali velshi sitting in for erin burnett outfront tonight. newt sinking and santorum rising. newt gingrich plunging from his top spot down to fourth place. former governor rick santorum doing just the open sits. he surged from single digits into third place. mitt romney now leads the pack with 25% and there s another new poll out of new hampshire where the nation s second contest in the race for the gop nominee will be held one week later on january the 10th. mitt romney dominating his opposition there. he s at 44%. rivals ron paul and newt gingrich trailing 17% and 16% respectively. let s go right to political correspondent joe johns. he s on the ground in iowa. joe, this is a bit of a shocker. santorumizi santorumize santorum rising as much as he has. this is a guy that s been to every county in the state and he still couldn t get that endorsement. what has done that this for rick santorum? reporter: ali, i ve got to
good evening upon. i m ali velshi sitting in for erin burnett tonight. out in front, campaign is kicking into high gear. candidates are criss-crossing the state, trying to pick up last-minute support for the first contest in the race for the gop nomination. let s go straight to the political correspondt. jim acosta is on the ground in iowa. good to see you. lots of campaign events and everybody is back in the game. a recent poll shows 12% of voters in iowa, still undecided. you spoke with the iowa gop chair about the race. what did he have to say? reporter: ali, basically he said this is a caucus race in iowa that he has never seen before. basically, this is the most unsettled field of candidates that a lot of republican operatives have seen in the state in a long time. if you look at the polling you have three candidates at the top right now. mitt romney, newt gingrich and ron paul, and below them is a medium tier, the other three candidates campaigning in the state, rick