This week, cspan was on the road in iowa and New Hampshire as candidates closed in on the final week before the first votes are cast in 2024s president ial election. We will take you to iowa where Florida Governor ron desantis was campaigning and Marjorie Taylor greene was stumping for former President Trump. We will see Chris Christie meeting with voters and nikki haley making her latest rounds through the Granite State, but first, a conversation with a politico reporter about the recent spate of endorsements for President Trump. Campaign 2024. Your headline in a recent piece is your headline is gops most trumpskeptical bloc falls in line. Three years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that Senate Republicans would start lining up behind President Trump after january 6, but what happened over the past year is he has had no real challengers, and President Trump has been putting in a ton of work behind the scenes to try to get support from republican senators. We are seeing someone who might have white house ambitions in the future just got behind donald trump. We have seen some people, including the north dakota senators, who previously endorsed the governor, endorsed former President Trump as well, so we are seeing a consolidation before a single voter has gone to the primary polls, and i expect this to accelerate. S in endorsements . 100 . N is the former president leading those contenders in endorsements . 100 . Nikki haley in ron desantis have a handful of congressional endorsements between them, and no senate endorsements. There was an opportunity for both, especially ron desantis, to get a bunch last year, but as he has faded and trump stayed strong in the polls, that opportunity has gone away. Quite a few republicans think donald trump is unelectable and are looking for a new candidate. Prised if some antitrump or trump skeptical forces in the party get behind her, but she needs to win first. You mentioned the work the former president has done behind the scenes. What has he said to senators to get them to endorse him . I have two examples, one is josh hawley, a republican from missouri who led the challenges to the election in 2020. He has said, i will support donald trump. I think he will be the nominee. Behind the scenes former President Trump was saying, i need that actual endorsement. He got it. Another example, john hoeven from north dakota endorse governor burgum, and even then trump was asking, will you please endorse me. That is what has happened. Those are a couple examples how he is working behind the scenes to get the backing from Senate Republicans. Any Senate Republican leaders endorsing candidates . John thune, the minority whip , who is one of the contenders to replace Mitch Mcconnell as gop leader endorsed tim scott early on, the highest republican to weigh in early on. Tim scott has dropped out, so thune is neutral, says he likes nikki haley. He could be in play if she does well in New Hampshire, but at this point, they are all neutral and say they will support the nominee. It will be interesting to see what happens when early states, especially iowa, where you have joni ernst, the number four leader, and chuck grassley, what will they do if President Trump wins in iowa . They will be under pressure to back him. What about Mitch Mcconnell . That is a huge elephant in the room for the Republican Party. Mitch mcconnell has no working relationship with donald trump. He outsourced the Political Partnership between Senate Republicans. The key here is senator mcconnell says he will back the nominee. If donald trump, who looks like the favorite wins the nomination, it seems like he will get that pro forma endorsement from Mitch Mcconnell, even though they could not be more different and are unaligned on big issues. Will the former president care if Mitch Mcconnell endorses him . I dont even know if that is an endorsement trump would want. He has been calling for mcconnell to go. He encouraged rick scott to challenge Mitch Mcconnell last year. Rick scott did but lost handily. That has created an ongoing split in the Republican Party in the senate. I dont know if trump wants that endorsement, and i do not know if Mitch Mcconnell will serve another term as leader. We will see this come to a head in the next couple months. If anyone tells you what will happen, they are lying to you. Over to the house side, among republicans, who has the most endorsements . Trump has a stronger law on house republicans. A handful have endorsed ron desantis or nikki haley, but trump has the backing of the top three republican leaders, tom emmer, the whip, steve scalise, and mike johnson was quick to endorsed trump after winning the speakership. There is a schism between the chambers of congress and Republican Leadership getting behind trump early. A lot of that has to do with the house has more gerrymandered districts, where losing a primary challenge is the biggest threat to your general election. You see a lot of folks getting behind trump earlier in the house. The senate is a lagging indicator. The house is in front with those endorsements or trump. Why do these candidates seek endorsements from members of congress . That is a great question. Especially as we see that versus the two early state governors, kim reynolds and chris sununu, who have endorsed other candidates besides trump. I do not know if a senators endorsement matters, but trump really values endorsements. They are super important to him. He uses them almost as currency and politics. A great example is endorsing j. D. Vance in the 2022 ohio primary. J. D. Vance won. He was one of the first to endorsed trump, and now trump is backing j. D. Vances preferred candidate in ohio. That is how he uses endorsements to affect politics across the Republican Party. Politicos Congressional Bureau chief, thank you. Next we are in iowa where Marjorie Taylor greene of georgia was stumping for former President Trump. Here is a bit of her interaction with caucusgoers and the press, including questions on a local school shooting. All right, iowa. I am so excited to be here, it is like starting the primary election with the super bowl, which i think is really wild. In georgia, we just go and vote in a primary, but you guys have this caucus system. I had to learn all about it. So i can understand what you go through. Im a competitive person, so i think it is pretty awesome. I am counting on you guys to turn out big for President Trump. [cheers] and i never get tired of winning, and i think we need some more. America is losing now. None of us like it. It has been a shocking experience the past few years, ever since the Biden Administration took over in washington. I want to go back in time and tell you about me. And tell you why i support President Trump. I never thought i would get into politics. I never had political aspirations. I spent most my adult life running a Construction Company and raising my kids, and looking at washington, saying, there is the cause of all of our problems. When President Trump ran in 2015 in that primary, that was the first time i ever saw a political candidate stand on a president ial stage and speak a language i understood. He talks like regular americans. I supported him from day one. Im excited we elected him in 2016. We already know what President Trump is capable of. We had him as president for four years, the best four years america had. We need him back in the white house. [cheers] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] Governor Ron Desantis was in iowa recent days touring with kim reynolds, who endorsed him. Here is some of his recent visit where he met with voters. Gov. Desantis thank you for coming. One of the things we were able to do campaigning in iowa, as a guy who grew up playing baseball through college, i remember being a kid watching this movie about that building a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield, the field of dreams. When we were coming to iowa, i would show my kids we have a first grader, kindergartner, and prek, and i would show them the appropriate parts of the movie, the Baseball Players coming on the cornfield. We got to do an event at the field of dreams, which was really cool. My kids got to play. I remember being at the Clayton County fair, and we had time before the bus left to the next stop. My son who is 5 had his baseball glove. We were by the corn playing catch back and forth, father and son, and he stopped and looked at me and said, dad, is this heaven . I said no, son, it is iowa. [applause] now he knows what to say. Sometimes on we are by the corn, i will say to him, is this heaven . He will say, no, this is iowa. We are excited to be here for the home stretch in the iowa caucus. I want to thank Governor Reynolds for her support. As the governor of florida i have a unique window on what goes on in this country because every time one of these blue states does something stupid, i gain more residents in my state. People flee chicago, los angeles, new york, minnesota because the policies are destructive, and the quality of life diminishes, their freedom diminishes. Florida has been the refuge people escape to. I talked to people when they come, they talk about how dysfunctional illinois is, how bad california is. When i am in here in the wintertime and i meet iowans on Vacation Spending part of the year, they are happy with how iowa is governed. They are happy to have Governor Reynolds and the legislature do such a great job. I see that personally dealing with people from the midwest, how they view iowa. You are lucky to have a strong and effective governor. She has delivered huge results for this state. And clearly, as you look around this region, illinois, minnesota, look at your neighbors, you are lucky to have a governor that you have in iowa. Earlier today you mentioned the former president , would you take questions at a university, do you think that is because trump does not have the mental capacity or strength to do so . Gov. Desantis i think it is because he does not want to answer questions about his record. I think you would rather i get why he is doing it he has a Cable News Network that basically 24 7 pumps him up. No critical appraisal of anything that has been done. I dont think that is why he has not debated. He would be asked questions. That is what he does not give interviews outside of a few handpicked ways. The question for iowa voters in early state voters beyond that, is that something that is good enough for a candidate who is not the same candidate he was in 2015 and 2016. He has not been willing to come here to answer questions. He does a 45 minute speech and then just leaves rather than listening to iowa and, answering questions and do what it takes to win. I think people will see on caucus night that will have a big impact. We have answered every question. People ask whatever they want. If you are not willing to do that, will you beat our best candidates Going Forward . With his path to victory, he was the incumbent president in 2020 and could not get the job done. Now he is out of office. How will he do better this time . Who are the voters who did not vote for him in the past that will be running back to vote for him . The democrats have a strong playbook to handle and approach him. On fox news you referenced nikki haley running for Vice President. Do you think to be a successful republican in the future, you have to appease donald trump . Gov. Desantis the vp thing is different, in that are you running to win or not . They are spending gobs of money against me and not donald trump. That is an indication they may not be playing to win. She is the darling of these never trump voters. She is getting massive amounts of money from liberal democrats in california. Liberal democrats on wall street who view her as an antitrump, and yet if she is angling at the same time to be his Vice President , where is the truth in advertising . The way to clear it up is to definitively answer the question, would you accept, yes or no, and she is not willing to do that. She gives word salads, and that is not given the position she has staked out, it is not a sustainable position. Will she answer the question, yes or no, voters deserve an answer. She will leave every option on the table that she can. She has taken money from blackrock while at the same time trying to placate former President Trump because it is about keeping options open. If you are in it, to win it, Governor Desantis is here to move us to the next level. The battle for the republican president ial nomination is playing out on iowas airwaves. Nbc reported that more than 100 one million was spent in iowa on broadcast advertising, with 7. 5 billion booked this month ahead of the caucuses scheduled for monday, january 15. Nikki haley and her Political Action committee has the biggest buys so far. Florida governor, ron desantis, is second in spending with 1. 2 million in ads booked his campaign and multiple affiliated pacs. Former President Trump was expected to spend under 1 million in the following two weeks, and rounding out the lower end, vivek ramaswamy, with under 30,000 in spending. Next, two of the most recent ads released this week. Record number streaming across the border costing taxpayers billions and as Many Americans killed from fentanyl, yet haley and biden oppose trumps border wall and terrorists sneaking in. Haley joined biden in opposing the prisoner ban from terrorist nations. Haleys weakness puts us in grave danger. Nikki haley has a 17 point lead over joe biden. Ron desantis consistently trails. Ron desantis is plummeting. You cannot beat trump by trying to be trump. And you cannot stop wasteful washington spending when you voted to add trillions in national debt. Ron desantis, he is phony, failing, just too weak. Also this week, abc news compiled data on how many times each republican president ial hopeful visited iowa from september to the end of 2023. Governor desantis was a distant second in the number of visits, behind vivek ramaswamy, who had 192. Nikki haley was in third with 35 visits to the hawkeye state. Bummer new jersey governor, Chris Christie did not visit the state at all, but he was a regular in the Granite State last year. 39 visits, he was the second most seen republican in New Hampshire in the final months of 2023. He was just ahead of nikki haley with two dozen visits to the first in the nation primary state. Next, a visit with the curator of Drake University caucus collection. We are in the Drake University archives and special collection on the campus of Drake University. My name is hope, i am the director of the archives. Today, i pulled out a selection of materials from our iowa caucus collection. We started collecting for this collection late 2014, early 2015 around the time of the 2016 caucus cycle. It is a collection of campaign ephemera we started collecting. I pulled out a sampling of what we have. In the box is some Campaign Mailers and other campaign literature. Iowans get a lot of Campaign Mailers in the mail. We asked for them to send them to us. I thought i would share a piece from this box. We organize them by candidate and year. This box from 2016, ted cruz for president , a coloring book. This was aimed at kids . Children, families, yes. Activity book, i guess. We collect basically anything iowans might have sitting in their basements or addicts. We tried to get in their basements or attics. We tried to get, mitt romney, foam mitt, bumper stickers, i tried to pull out more iowa specific bumper stickers. Support the family farm. Along the same lines, bushcheney farm and ranch team. And then this one here is more of the campaign literature, this is jesse jackson, a fighter for farmers and ranchers. Some of the more iowa specific pieces. This is a tshirt that says dean precinct captain, this would be the tshirt the captain for howard dean would have worn at the caucus that evening. We have a lot of tshirts like this specific to the caucus night themselves. You will see we have pat buchanan potholder. It says i voted for pat buchanan iowa straw poll 1999. We have autographed pieces in the collection as well. That would have been something someone at t