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Instead will be passed on to young people. i think it's wrong, and i'm not going to let that continue. and how do i balance it? what do you do? well, let's talk about the things you cut. people say how do you cut programs? and i'm not just talking about slowing them down. i'm not just talking about slowing down the rate of growth of certain government programs. i'm talk iing about eliminating certain government programs. >> a lot of undecided voters still in iowa as caucusgoers get ready to head to all the meetings tonight. mitt romney there at a grassroots rally in des moines, iowa, trying to...

christine romans will show you why iowa voters may not be asking the same questions as you. let's go ahead and begin with jim in west des moines. you've been with rick santorum almost 24/7. you do let the guy sleep. what's that been like? >> reporter: it has been amazing to watch, kyra. who would have thought when all of this got start that had we would be chasing rick santorum around in the final 24 hours before the iowa caucuses that the international press, he had the japanese, the german and the french, the british press all tailing him yesterday and testifies drawing some very b...

Whole other week of what's happening in the senate, and i think it all depends on how close that vote is going to be and obviously they think right now they assume that once the house goes through they have their 51 votes but, you know what, we've seen that this is something that the end game is unpredictable. >> it's not as though this kind of thing hasn't happened before. bill clinton was negotiating at camp david. ron brounstein, he is sending a message, i hear you. he met with the caucus and is paying more attention, you see more people trouping up to the white house for more arm twisting....

Ron brounstein in washington today. chuck, first to you, this has a lot to do with the optics but it's a lot of arm twisting. there's no underestimating the pressure of a trip to the oval office when you have the last final votes you're trying to get. >> reporter: it is. look, i had a house democrat say to me last night if the president went ahead with his trip before health care was done, it would be political malpractice. and they were hearing this going through and that said this same democrat said to me he also shouldn't announce any sort of -- if he's going to cancel the trip he shouldn't...

Sense of why that week. it's a movable week no matter what they say. >> now let me ask both of you about getting across the finish line with health care, which is why he's staying behind, and it's been reported that perhaps in their whip count they are 12 votes behind. can they finesse, ron, the abortion issue, the stupak amendment, by saying it has been badly reported and the senate bill acceptably follows decades old traditions where there would not be a federal subsidy? >> well, the answer is there are going to be some democrats who voted for the stupak amendment in the house who will vote ...