this is decision day in iowa. just four hours from now, republicans will gather in caucuses across the state and cast the first votes in the 2012 campaign. the candidates have spent months of the trial paving the way with millions in campaign cash. much of that money has gone towards a barrage of negative advertising. now, in a final flurry of appearances, the rhetoric has reached a new peak or maybe a new low. you said mitt romney, somebody who will lie to you to get to be president will lie to you when they are president. i have to ask you, are you calling mitt romney a liar? yes. you re calling mitt romney a liar? you seem shocked by it. yes. why are you saying he s a liar? this is a man who s staff created the pack. his millionaire friends fund the pack. he pretends he has nothing to do with the pack. it s balogna. it s like his pretense that he s a conservative. wow. let s go live to our chief political correspondent, candy crowley. she s in des moines. you
kids to tell us why in a starting point exclusive. plus, get real. we have not found any skeletons in rick santorum s closets. a lot of sweater vests. like a lot. facebook twit irpicked up on his wardrobe. if you don t believe me, we re going to show you the music video of the sweater vest. not kidding. a very busy two hours. besides michele bachmann and family, newt gingrich and his two daughters joining us. senator rand paul pitching for his father, and members of occupy iowa will be occupying the diner right here. so starting point begins right now. captions by vitac www.vitac.com a lot of heavy rockmusic this morning. good morning, everybody. you re looking at the waveland cafe. inside is where we are in iowa. the caucuses finally here, first ever the nation s caucuses. this is a horse race it s mitt romney leading by a nose. ron paul trying to mike it a photo finish. it s rick santorum surging from the rear and newt gingrich hedging his bets, admitting he may
2012. we were getting you up to speed on the bizarre fires. look at this man with the ponytail. he s been arrested. this is the worst string of fires in that city since the riots of 92. get this. there may be annism grags beef allegedly involved with this arrest. lots more to tell yu about that. that s coming up. he looked like he was kind of smirking in that video. a man accused of killing a park ranger is found dead fats down in a waterfall. apparently the exposure to all the cold there. the mountain is shut down as the rangers regroup and mourn the loss of one of their own. we don t worry so much that the sniper is out there. they ve shut down the search. they pretty much figure they ve got the guy. also, did you feel it this morning when you woke up or did you have to shovel it? it has been a serious cold day in the midwest. it s basically slamming us this weather. it s actually moving into the east as well. a couple feet of snow in some places in the great lak
good evening, from cnn s election center because, yes, it has begun and it s an episode of survivor. at least that s how republican presidential candidate rick santorum described the iowa caucuses. here is the thing about iowa. no offense, iowa, you re really important but you re also small. only 2 million registered voters. 640,000 of them republicans. and if the 2008 caucuses were an indication of what s ahead for tomorrow, only about 100,000 of those republicans will actually go out on a cold january night to cast their votes. those who do, it only is a 50% success rate when it actually comes to picking the eventual nominee. so, what s all the hype about iowa? the bottom line is, it has a huge influence in who stays and doesn t stay in a presidential race. it may be small but it packs one big punch. listen to the candidates today. they know what s really at stake tomorrow. we are not looking for a chief executive officer. for this country. we re looking for a commander i
good evening, from cnn s election center because, yes, it has begun and it s an episode of survivor. at least that s how republican presidential candidate rick santorum described the iowa caucuses. here is the thing about iowa. no offense, iowa, you re really important but you re also small. only 2 million registered voters. 640,000 of them republicans. and if the 2008 caucuses were an indication of what s ahead for tomorrow, only about 100,000 of those republicans will actually go out on a cold january night to cast their votes. those who do, it only is a 50% success rate when it actually comes to picking the eventual nominee. so, what s all the hype about iowa? the bottom line is, it has a huge influence in who stays and doesn t stay in a presidential race. it may be small but it packs one big punch. listen to the candidates today. they know what s really at stake tomorrow. we are not looking for a chief executive officer. for this country. we re looking for a commander i