just hours from now iowa residents will cast ballots in the ames straw poll, and when the results are in, wheel see whose campaign is on fire, and whose message is falling flat. most of the major candidates are on the ballot, and not all of them are courting the iowa voters. nbc news capitol hill distribute kelly o'donnell is live are for us in ames, iowa with a good saturday morning to you, kelly. today's results will not win the nomination for any one condoleezza riced, but they could mean big problems for people who end up at the bottom of the heap, right? >> this is really a perception game, alex, and when you called it a big test, it's kind of like an olympic book test because these campaigns spend big money to bring supporters to ames to cast their ballots. the actual straw poll is a fundraiser for the republican party here, and each ticket is $30. campaigns typically buy those tickets for their supporters to attend. there's food and entertainment. it's sort of a carnival summer fair atmosphere. to make it an event that people want to attend for kind of a