>> that's right. one of the big questions in this day before the iowa caucuses is whether the man in the sweater vest can make mitt romney sweat. rick santorum is in the enviable position of being the final surging non-romney conservative to do well. before these iowa caucuses so we are chasing him from stop to stop to stop today. he is chasing the undecided caucus goers. and you get the sense looking at the poll that came out over the weekend that showed rick santorum in third place. if you look at the last two days that that poll was taken, he is surging into second place into a statistical tie with mitt romney. so it's no surprise that the former massachusetts governor went after rick santorum, talking about the fact that santorum was a senator in washington, trying to tie him to those other politicians, those other washington politicians, who are in the race. and rick santorum had a response for that. let's play that for you. >> senator santorum was kind enough to endorse me last time around. i appreciate that. and we have been friends. i can tell you that our backgrounds are quite different. like speaker gingrich, senator santorum has spent his career in government, in washington. nothing wrong with that. but it's a very different background than i have. >> with respect to the issue about -- i get a kick out of this with governor romney. newt said this at the debate. governor romney is not like he hasn't tried to be a career politician. he just hasn't been successful. >> so this is a real study in contrast in terms of how each of the two candidates have gone after caucus goers in this state. rick santorum has been the marathon man. he would make any political road warrior envious with the travel schedule he's had. he's visited all 99 counties in the state. held nearly 360 town halls. contrast that with mitt romney, who is only on his ninth trip to the state. he's had a much lighter footprint than in '08 when he invested heavily in iowa and lost. >> well, newt gingrich has seen his support fade in the last few weeks. what do you think, jim? is he planning anything bold? >> you know, newt gingrich is definitely changing course. you know, for the last several weeks, he has put himself in this box by saying, look, i'm going to wage a positive campaign. i'm not going negative against the other candidates. the problem was, mitt romney did not have the same game plan. romney and his pro romney superpac out there have been relentless, seeing newt gingrich as basically the only threat to romney's candidacy. and so those ads that have been hitting newt gingrich have brought down his poll numbers. it's so surprise that's happened. so what newt gingrich said yesterday, we were with him up in marshalltown, iowa. i asked him, do you feel swift boated here in this state? and he said, no, i feel romney boated. he signalled he's going to be taking a much tougher approach when it comes to going after mitt romney. he's going to be laying into the former massachusetts governor's record, and it will be interesting to watch, kyra. >> jump, thanks a lot. now another candidate who has developed a love-hate relationship with voters and the very party he wants to represent on a presidential ticket, dana bash has a closer look at ron paul. paul has surged at just the right time. what's pushing him to the near top of the polls? >> well, you know, kyra, he is somebody that wants to abolish the federal next tax, abolish the irs, legalize drugs, and on foreign policy he wants to bring all troops back home. that obviously makes him incredibly different than any every other candidate in this republican race. every other candidate in general. and that is what makes his supporters so fervent. but it's what makes the republican establishment say he's nothing more than a fringe candidate. go to a ron paul rally, and his appeal is apparent. >> different strokes for different folks as the old saying goes. >> reporter: especially on the economy. anti-tax, anti-debt. tea party mantras paul talked about well before they were cool. >> i want to cut $1 trillion out of our spending in one year. >> reporter: liber >> reporter: libertarians love it. >> the government should be to protect your liberties. >> reporter: isolationists eat it up. >> we are in way too many wars. it's time to bring our military home to protect this country. >> anecdotally, people have come up to me that are self-described democrats who will caucus for ron paul. >> reporter: iowa's republican chairman says that paul has an organization to behold. in 2008, he finished fifth with just 10% of the vote. but his supporters never left. they have been building a paul infrastructure all over iowa for four years. campaign offices in tiny towns like here, population under 6,000. >> i think it's an incredible example of the way he is organized around the state. i can't imagine that any campaign, either in the current caucuses or the past caucus would have had an office in that small of a community. >> but paul's power in iowa appalls many in the gop establishment. exhibit a, about the bush administration. >> just think of what happened after 9/11. immediately, before there was any assessment, there was glee in the administration because now we have invade iraq. >> reporter: on foreign policy, this makes many republicans go beserk. >> why does israel need our help? we need to get out of their way. >> reporter: so does his hands-off attitude towards a nuclear armed iran. >> that makes him a very dangerous person to be our next president. >> reporter: paul opposes sanctioning iran. >> i think we should not put on sanctions. they are an act of war. >> ron paul wants to abandon the war. i often think if ron paul was around at the time of the american revolution, would he have told the french to stick their nose out of our affairs and stay home and we would have lost the revolution. >> but even worried republicans who call paul dangerous say they get it. for caucus goers who want to send washington a message this is hard to pass up. >> $1 trillion year one. that's trillion with a t. department of education, gone. interior, energy, hud, commerce, gone. later, bureaucrats. that's how ron paul rolls. >> in fact, kyra, in the des moines register poll that just came out it showed that iowans who really want to reduce spending and limit the role of government say still that ron paul is their first choice. the problem he has as you have been talking about it is the rick santorum surge, as santorum has surged it looks like paul has diminished. and a senior adviser i talked to in the paul campaign admitted that the issue has been the scrutiny to some of the more controversial things that paul has said, both on foreign policy and domestic policy. that has taken a toll on his popularity here, and that is not what you want just a day before the iowa caucuses. kyra? >> we'll be talking a lot more. and by the way, this is the first chance i have been able to see you and talk to you. welcome back to work, mommy. i saw -- john showed me the baby. absolutely beautiful. >> thank you. you told me it was going to change everything. and it's the best thing in the world. and boy, you were right, kyra. >> amen. great to see, you dana. for weeks, we have been talking about the iowa caucuses so let's explain exactly what happens tomorrow. there's going to be nearly 1800 separate meeting places. one for each voting precinct. and then gatherings will mostly be in schools, libraries, and churches. only two will be held in homes. representatives from each campaign are given time to speak on behalf of their candidate. the caucus results don't have a direct effect on choosing the party's nominee, but can be critical in building a candidate's momentum. now, tomorrow night, the country's first real vote, the candidates' first true test, will take place in the iowa caucuses and you can watch what happens from all sides. a special live coverage of the iowa caucuses all begins tomorrow night, 7:00 eastern, right here on cnn. well, los angeles police have detained a man in a suspected arson spree. at least eight more fires were set this morning, making a total of 47 fires in just the past few days. police also released the surveillance video of an individual that they want to question about those fires. cnn's casey wyans is joining us now. what do we know about the man that police have detained, and is there any possible -- well, any possible connection, we should say, to those fires? >> reporter: well, we don't know a lot, kyra, at this point. what i can tell you is that he does bear a similarity to that surveillance video that was released, taken not far from where i am standing at the command post in hollywood over the weekend of a white male emerging from a parking structure as you mentioned. someone police wanted to speak with. let me back up a little bit. we arrived here at the command center about 1:00 in the morning local time. so a little more than five hours ago. and we spoke to an arson investigator who said all was quiet overnight. it was just trying to get a lot of work done. then over the next two hours, there were reports of a dozen different fires in vehicles throughout the hollywood area and throughout the san fernando valley. bringing the total number of fires according to the los angeles fire department since early friday morning to 55. and then came word we were monitoring the fire department's scanner. came word of a detention of a man that they wanted to speak with. and that was also near here for those familiar with the los angeles area near the corner of sunset and fairfax in west hollywood, where two vehicle fires were set earlier tonight. and what's interesting, even though the fire department nor police will say why they are questioning this man, why he was detained, we have been monitoring that scanner traffic all morning, and there have been no fires reported since that man was detained for questioning. kyra? >> all right. so police think one person is -- or do police think that it's one person responsible for setting all these fires? because there has been talk out there, casey, that there might be more than one individual. >> there have been those reports. they will not tell us whether they believe it is one person or multiple people. they have been looking into both those possibilities. what i can tell you is they have been very concerned about copycats in the area. and they have released very few details about how these car fires were set, other than to say that some type of incendiary device was used. they were also urging the public to keep their cars locked, to remain vigilant, and to report any suspicious activity and any sightings of the person who they -- that was in that surveillance video. i can tell you from all of the reports on twitter and the people we have spoken with, this is a city very much on edge over the last couple of days. in fact, if this is a significant break in the case, a lot of folks are going to be relieved, kyra. >> casey, we'll follow it. thank you so much. heavy snowfall and winter storm warnings may cause major travel delays for a lot of people. rob marciano has the latest forecast. >> good morning. winter has finally arrived after a long, long wait. december certainly was mild. now we have lake effect snows going across parts of u.p. of michigan, chicago seeing some snow. some of the areas will see a decent amount, maybe 10 to 20 inches plus. and it does include parts of upstate new york between syracuse and watertown especially. we do expect to see maybe 10 or 20 inches of snow with the potential snow rates happening. even with the blizzard ratings still posted in the u.p. of michigan with visibility dropping down to zero at times, dangerous driving conditions, no doubt about that, and it will be windy across parts of western p.a. and upstate new york with 40 mile an hour plus winds potentialee potentially right through the rest of the day. places like new york city, if you're traveling out of those airports, we'll see delays throughout the afternoon. cleveland to say the least with the snow will see some of that also. some chillier air all the way down to west palm beach, with wind-chill advisories there. it is cold in iowa. not snowing but cold. and tomorrow we expect high temperatures in the mid 30s, which by iowa standards is pretty nice. good election weather. kyra, back to you. well, it's 2012. and the november election doesn't seem so far off right now. we're going to take you back to the center of the political universe, if you don't mind, right after the break. a lot of iowans haven't made up their minds about who to vote for tomorrow. but that could change now that the self-described conservative blow torch has made his choice. we're going to talk live to him. also, we're going to tell you about a manhunt going on right now in washington state. authorities think a killer could be hiding somewhere in the shadow of mt. rainier. my name is jill strange, i'm forty-nine years-old, i love gardening, and i love volleyball. i've been taking osteo bi-flex for several years now. i really can't see myself not taking it. osteo bi-flex is a great product. i can go back and do gardening with comfort. 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[ male announcer ] learn more from your state farm agent today. enough plastic water bottles to stretch around the earth over 190 times. each brita filter can take up to 300 of those bottles out of the equation. in iowa, it's the last full day of campaigning before tomorrow evening's caucuses. live pictures now in davenport. mitt romney is about to host a grassroots rally for his presidential bid. we're following it. now romney might be in the lead a day before iowa votes, but he shouldn't feel too comfortable, and here's why. steve days is backing newt gingrich. he is a syndicated radio talk show host in des moines, and he has a lot of followers. as a matter of fact, he's been called the conservative blow torch of iowa. and his heat gets results. he endorsed mike huckabee in 2008, and huckabee won iowa. steve, you're backing gingrich. the polls haven't been so good to him lately. how is the conservative blow torch endorsement here going to help him? >> well, i don't know. we'll see. i kind of think that the media has overhyped my endorsement the last few months. if anything, i'm the reason mitt romney lost iowa. but mike huckabee had to win that campaign himself. candidates win elections, not talk show hosts. but i hope that the real positive and bold solutions that newt has for the country, i'm hoping if anything that my endorsement will open up the eyes of uncommitted voters to take a fresh look at those again between now and january 3. >> why did you wait so long to endorse him? and are youa, f afraid your supt comes a little too late now? >> i think it's possible. i really just had to wait until i was confident that, you know, i could back somebody. and as a christian, i think one day i'll look god in the eye and give an account for every decision i have made. i wanted to get to the point where i thought i had the right rationale and the right reason to back a candidate. and then i had to determine who that candidate was. and to me, i think there are only two candidates in this race who historically understand where we are at. as a people and what needs to be done and are offering solutions to go along with that. i think other candidates understand where we are at. but i think their solutions are anemic. to me, the two candidates offering solutions are ron paul and newt gingrich. but if you look at ron paul, you know, i'd like to live in the world from a foreign policy perspective that he thinks we live in, where the bad guys just want womant other things other than wmds, but that's not the case. >> we have seen the bump for santorum. why aren't you backing him? >> i think rick santorum is a fine man. and he would certainly be my second choice. my prediction is either rick santorum or ron paul will win the caucuses tomorrow. i think if rick santorum is the nominee, he would be one of the most conservative nominees we have ever had. but there's one issue that matters more than anything else. if you look at where the left has gotten its greatest victories it is through the courts, through edicts of unelected judges passing laws that the american people have to live by, even though they didn't vote them into office. there's nothing more un-american than being governed by people you did not elect. one candidate seems to understand that, and i think also has the talent and the ability to explain to the american people why that paradigm is so flawed. i wrote an entire chapter in my book about this. and to me, that candidate is newt gingrich. >> steve, appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you very much. >> you bet. authorities have cleared people out of mt. rainier national park looking for a man they think killed a park ranger. and it's not going to be easy. they have got more than 235,000 acres and five feet of snow to deal with. plus, it happened again. a flock of black birds fell out of the sky on new year's eve in the same arkansas town. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a $3 coupon. a quick look at news from across the country. deja vu in an arkansas town. about 200 birds were found dead for the second straight new year's eve. a wild life official says that someone might have set off fireworks nearby. last year, nearly 5,000 black birds dropped out of the sky in the same area. state leaders in ohio say that four fluid injection wells are being -- are staying closed indefinitely. that's after several small earthquakes hit the youngstown area. experts will try to find out if there's a link between the wells and the quakes. an active duty soldier is charged with trying to get on a plane with a military grade explosive. tsa agents in midland, texas, say that they found it when they screened trey atwater's carry-on. cops say there was nothing sinister about this, and there was no way to detonate the explosive. there's a manhunt going on at mt. rainier in washington. police are looking for a man wanted questioning in the fatal shooting of a park reasonable care. -- park ranger. they have evacuated everyone from the park. co-workers say that margaret anderson tried to stop the man before she was shot and killed. he took off on foot. anderson was 34 and had two young children. >> margaret anderson worked at mt. rainier for about four years. she is an excellent ranger, a very dedicated public servant, really committed to park visitors and was an excellent ranger. her husband also works in the park as a law enforcement ranger, and they have two small children. so it's a terrible loss. it's a great tragedy for the park service and all of us are grieving that loss. >> and barnes is also linked to a shooting yesterday near seattle that left four people hurt. the stock market is closed today, part of the three-day new year's weekend. investors will face a pretty important week of trading starting tomorrow, though. and allison kosik is in new york to explain. >> good morning, kyra. ask just about any