our latest polls on the republican race, they are just coming out this minute andy sho stunning change in fortune for two of the republican hopefuls. mitt romney still plead leads in iowa with 21%. ron paul is right behind at 22%. but look at this. rick santorum has jumped into third place with 16%. tripling his shows just three weeks ago. meantime, newt gingrich has fallen off a cliff. at least it seems like it now. he's at only 14% down from 33% in our last poll. rick perry is at 11%. michele bachmann, still in single digits, followed by jon huntsm huntsman, who has written off campaigning here in iowa. there's less drama in romney's backyard of new hampshire. he's at 44% there, followed by paul at 17%, gingrich at 16%. the rest of the poll in single digits. joining us now from des moines, candy crowley. candy, i guess the headline here is not necessarily that mitt romney is number one in iowa, although he is even though he really hasn't spent a lot of time here. but all of a sudden, newt gingrich is fourth and rick santorum is third. >> right. newt gingrich dropping 19 points in less than a month, which people say why do people do negative advertising, this may be part of the reason. he has been blasted. sitting here in des moines just watching the commercials come up, time after time after time, whether it's a pro romney group or whether it's a ron paul just blasting gingrich and it may well have taken some effect here. he's also had some very pointed interviews, which may have caused people second thought. number one, when you say who's got the best chance of beating barack obama, mitt romney wins by a large margin among the republican contestants, so one of the things you always know, when we get down to the last moments and people talk about who they're going to vote for, they vote for the person who's going to defeat the democrat and in that figure, romney wins by a larnl margin. to me, that's pretty fundamental. rick santorum has always said i think i'm doing better here. he has basically set up camp here. if he cannot do well here, it's over. he has said that. so, if he should come in third coming out of here, then obviously, he has a ticket to go on to new hampshire. which he would not have if he finishes later than that, so it's great news for rick santorum. >> i'm going to be speaking with him live here this hour. sure he's going to be a happy guy, but how do you explain rick santorum moving up so impressively over these past few weeks? >> well, it does seem that the fall of newt gingrich, we've been up and down with everybody from michele bachmann to rick perry. now to newt gingrich, who is now seeing a fall in the polls. perhaps it's rick santorum's time, but he would tell you, i've been here working for more than a year. he has been to all these counties. he has set up precinct captains who will speak for him. has always said i'm doing better than these polls show and what we know is that voters who sort of have gone back and forth through all of these conservative wing of the party have first settled on one candidate. that candidate didn't prove to be who they wanted. he needs to take advantage of that, but he has run this campaign on a shoe string, so the question is, can he get them out to vote? they're very confident in the santorum camp that he has going to do very well here and have one of those three tickets. i think it is the fall of newt gingrich, some of that support has gone to santorum. some has gone back to romney. and it's the sheer amount of time that rick santorum has spent here in this state and boy, if you're going to start an upward movement, now is the time to do it. with the week away, now is the time you should be showing some life in the polls and that goes for santorum. >> yeah, we're going to be digesting these numbers a lot more. thanks very much. candy crowley on the scene for us in des moines. ron paul is going after his closest rivals in a new campaign ad which accuses newt gingrich of serial hypocrisy. yesterday, gingrich told me that ron paul is not a mainstream candidate. said he wouldn't be able to vote for him. today, i sat down with mitt romney. watch this. if ron paul were to be the republican nominee, it's a big if, but let's say he wins the republican nomination, could you vote for him? >> i've already crossed that river, if you will, by saying on the stage a number of times as i believe speaker gingrich has, that all the people on the stage would be superior to the president we have, so yes. >> if he said iran had a nuclear bomb -- >> i don't agree with a lot of things ron paul says and i would oppose many of his initiatives and i believe wed be able to move him in a direction that's more productive, but i can tell you that this president in my view, is taking america in the wrong direction in iran, israel and with regards to our policies internationally and here at home. >> so, you think ron paul would be a better president than barack obama? >> i have said that and i think newt gingrich has said the same thing on the stage when we've spoken about our republican contenders. but look, this is not a race about people on the stage i don't think should become the nominee. it's about me becoming the nominee and taking the republican banner and making sure we get america back on track. >> the interview is coming up in our next hour. we're only just getting started. meanwhile, newt gingrich has slumped in our new iowa poll. comes after he tried to distance himself from some of the nastier aspects of this campaign. he's walking a very fine line here. jim acosta, will this mean no more nice guy for the former speaker? >> wolf, i think it's pretty clear newt gingrich's vow to stay positive may have cost him dearly in this state according to our new cnn poll. support for him in iowa has tanked and so now, the former speaker has a new strategy which can be summed up as having it both ways. at a mall in northern iowa, newt gingrich was shopping for voters, trying to sell a positive message. >> you're going to see ads from us for the next six days and they're going to be positive. you're going to see ads from so-called super pack that favors me and they're going to be positive. >> but not so fast. yes, the gingrich campaign is running a new ad -- >> we can create millions of jobs right now -- >> and winning future points out the former speaker is the subject of a slew of attack ads. >> outspent newt gingrich 20-1 -- >> but then there's this negative mailer distributed by strong america now and obtained by catholic online. it refers to romney as the second most dangerous man in america as president obama. >> i would discourage them for sending out that kind of negative information. >> the former speaker is all too eager to slam ron paul. just hit gingrich with a new attack ad. >> the question's a very direct question. do you feel comfortable in terms of my two grandchildren and everybody in the city with somebody who believes that an iranian nuclear weapon is ir rell rant? >> why not just coming out fighting for this nomination? >> i know this is hard for some of you to cover. you can fight in a positive way. you can be very strong in a positive way. >> it's a talking point taylor made for undecided voter, aurelien roberts, who said she's sick of the negative attacks. you don't appreciate what you're seeing on tv right now. zpl no, we hate it. you learn nothing. >> the controversy surrounding that anti romney mailer is only getting bigger. as it turns out, the chairman of the iowa republican party was also the co-chair of strong america now, but we learned today from the iowa republican party that match strong has resigned now, wolf. >> i suspect though that in these final six days, if we think it's been rough and tumble so far, it's only just beginning. >> that's right and newt gingrich is caught in a box at this point and it may have something to do with his poll numbers. how do you square that with this insistence of his to stay positive in this campaign and it really fights against the newt gingrich branding. part of the reason why so many conservatives like the form rer speaker is because he comes out with the gloves off, with the brass knuckles at times and what gingrich is trying to do is say wait a minute, i'm going to wage a positive campaign, but at the same time, when i need to respond, i'm going to respond. and you heard this yesterday in your interview with the former speaker, he responds sharply. >> he certainly does. and the earlier, the last several weeks when he was not, that was not the newt gingrich that i have covered and known for years. thanks very much. back in the pack. rick perry will need the votes of social conservatives if he's to make a good showing here in the iowa caucuses. he says he's unz gone a transformation, that's a direct quote. a newly found very tough stance on abortion. lisa sylvester taking a look at this story for us. what happened? >> rick perry says he watched a documentary and was so moved by it that he actually changed his position on abortion and this is being well received by christian conservatives in the state. 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 signed a group by the group person hood u.s.a. that calls on candidates to support life from the moment of conception. newt gingrich, michele bachmann, rick santorum have also signed the pledge, but the advocate sees this as gop candidates attempting to outextreme each other. this is the first act. are these positions going to hurt them down the line? >> absolutely. these positions are so extreme and out of touch that moderate and independent voters are not going to vote for these kinds of candidates on that side of the aisle. >> and moral issues are very important in iowa. according to the latest poll, 54% of likely caucus particip t participants say issues like abortion and gay marriage are extremely or very important. only 19% are saying not that important. >> thank you. be sure to join us in the cnn election center for the first votes in the contest on january 3rd. next tuesday. anything could happen. our coverage of the iowa caucuses begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. you just saw it here in "the situation room." rick santorum now in third place in iowa. is he ready to handle a potential front-runner status? i'll ask him live in a few minutes. plus, an historic day in north korea. the so-called dear leader laid to rest in a ceremony that came with a very strong message. ♪ exercise, alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. let's fight fat with alli. ♪ let's fight fat with alli. what is it about taking a first step that we find so compelling? 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>> hey, wolf, you know, there's more bluster coming from iran today. the head of its navy, the commander, boasting that it would be easy for iran's naval forces to block the strait, but would they really do that? >> just 34 miles wide, the strait is one of the world's most important show points. one-third of all oil carried by sea the shipped through it. now, iran is threatening that not one drop of oil will pass through if the u.s. follows through on tough new sanctions aimed at stopping its nuclear program. but the u.s. is warning iran any disruption will not be tolerated. >> any miscalculation could mean we're drawn into conflict. that would be a tragedy for the region. >> oil prices are spiking. upping the tension, iranian naval vessels lurk nearby in the north iranian sea, holding a ten-day military exercise. >> it would be disastrous for the global economy. i don't think any u.s. president would stand. >> matthew crane served as special adviser on iran at the pentagon. he says any attempt to close the strit could mean war. >> i think the united states would be compelled to open the straits. it would mean attacking iranian navy, attacking rocket sites, so that's war. >> crane thinks it's likely iran is bluffing, trying to stop president obama from carrying out the new sanctions. the state department, too, so is down playing iran's threat, calling it an attempt to distract the world's attention from the nuclear program. but iran has been increasingly belligerent and unpredictable, including allegedly hatching a plot to kill a saudi diplomat on u.s. soil, but just their threat alone to shut the straight is making washington and the world nervous. but so far, the pentagon says there has been no hostile action, no hostile moves by iran. a u.s. aircraft carrier and guided missile got through the strait without incident. wolf? >> jill, we'll be watching together with you. thanks very much. in the world of politics though, a win here in iowa could add to mitt romney's heir of invincibility. just ahead, i'll speak with the republican presidential candidate about his run for the white house. my interview coming up in our next hour. while romney's campaign in iowa seems steady, newt gingrich's is flailing and a dark horse has emerged. we're taking a closer look at that, our new poll numbers. strategy sessions coming up. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, man: good job. where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life. so get the insurance responsible drivers like you deserve. looks really good. call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance. our new poll this reshape the race in trouble. mitt off. rick santorumld claim the conservative vote if he can little while. he's s get to our racratic do you make all of in this n new poll that we the cnn time orc here in he week deal to this ente and i gingrich, lasted a little bit then plumeted. primarily because of his command e has not had the organization that candidates have had and to quoth >> you know, jam newt gingrich in thee was at 33. 14%, santorum. he wasrecently only 60%.%. that's an p this prove ss that that physical lot of people in the newt, of people the negatives about newt a lot of t it hurt doing what you'reeen there going to dr people have the way you win inr and he's doing it. that. >> i think we've all been evangelical votei count gingricn it doesn't surprise me might be ko lesing easons jamal his career oken. s