Page 24 - Sam Higgins News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> the record of texas speaks for itself. >> i have the calmness in my heart. >> we're back with a late addition of the blast word tonight. the top eight declared republican presidential candidates participated in a presidential debate in iowa, the last debate before saturday's ames straw poll. not in attendance was a rick perry, whose spokesman said today that he will announce that he is running for president on saturday. early in the debate, fox news asked ms. ronny about being missing in action. >> you mentioned leadership on the economy, you are the front runner in this field. wh...

one, the republican party today is unwilling to compromise under any circumstances. two, they really don't care about the deficit. all they care about is taxes. three, this is a big one. they're all scared of not looks as right wing as possible. it's the elephant not in the room who may have been the big winner. rick perry stole a lot of the thunder yesterday when he says he's running. he may soon steal their votes once he makes it official tomorrow. the day of the straw poll happens to be the same day. plus, president obama could not have been unhappy with what he saw last night, ...

>> pelley: good evening. in every presidential election people talk about how the iowa straw poll can't be taken seriously-- and then they take it seriously. the poll, to be taken tomorrow, is in a sense the first test of the republican field. last night as a you are the cane-raiser, the major declared candidates held a debate. there are two republicans who can't afford to lose the iowa caucuses six months from now and they went at each other last night. norah o'donnell is in iowa. >> reporter: good evening, scott. and saturday's straw poll is the biggest test to date for these repub...

has become minnesota nasty. listening to the attacks, did they help pawlenty, was bachmann thrown off her game? what do you think? >> the person it helped the most was mitt romney. he got to stay above the fray with the back and forth. a lot of the back and forth was with michele bachmann and tim pawlenty. the biggest move the target being president obama to the candidates trading barbs, a significant shift and we'll see this throughout the rest of the primary season. >> philip, the candidates like mark was saying attacked president obama. let's listen to what mitt romney had to say,...

could that be because republicans are simply unhappy with tonight's debate lineup? the big question, it's not winning the debate, when will the party emerge as dominant? traditional, whose turn is it? guys like romney and pawlenty or the tea party will triumph? the bachmann ring, surrender or treason? a bad showing tonight could spell the end of a couple of the candidacies. also, put together an unpopular dead deal, 30 american deaths in afghanistan, a terrible run on wall street and declining poll number, and what do you get? a bunch of democrats getting very nervous about president...