let's get you right bab to ames, iowa. presidential hopeful tim pawlenty at the mic. >> signed the economic recovery act into law. and it ignited in that time of challenge for our country massive revenue growth, massive job growth. massive economic opportunity for the american people, and as we face similar challenges today, we know what to do, don't we? >> yeah! we know what america needs, but unfortunately, barack obama has absolutely no clue. he is like a manure spreader in a wind storm. (cheer (cheers) >> about hour years ago, barack obama came through iowa and convinced the democrats of this great state to catapult him toward the white house and they did. but today's the day that republicans in iowa, independents in iowa and conservatives across this country send the message that barack obama's got to go. [applaus [applause] >> he's been talking a lot about the full faith and credit of america's debt and barack obama should put his full faith and credit in the american people. [applause]. now, the way forward may not

his speech before people cast their ballots in the ames, iowa, straw poll. we'll have results for you later on this evening. >>> perhaps you're ready to start a new business. well, here is a question for you. what percentage of small businesses actually flop within the first year? stay tuned and we'll have the answer for you right after this. . people told me i wasn't going to do anything. and i just decided i have more to offer than that. i put myself through nursing school, and then i decided to go get a doctorate degree. university of phoenix gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people's lives. my name is dr. kimberly horton. i manage a network of over a thousand nurses, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. >>> before the break, we asked you what percentage of small businesses flop within the first two years? 30% according to the u.s. small business administration. seven out of ten last at least two years. >>> so it is the number one issue in american homes, getting your financial house in order. well, today in

ames, iowa. founded in 1632 by willie ames. yes, once again ames iowa in the spotlight as a result of the 2011 iowa straw poll are in. >> with 16,892 iowans voting, the winner of the 2011 iowa straw poll is congresswoman michele bachmann. >> jon: there you go. >> audience: boo. >> jon: i see we have a lot of pawlenty supporters in the audience this evening. backman wins. the ayes or shall i say the crazy eyes have it. michele bachmann's 4,823 votes narrowly clipping ron paul. no one else even close. exciting victory. looking for someone to throw cold water on it in 3, 2,... boom. former george bush strategist matthew dow. >> ames has never had a history of picking winners but they've certainly had a history of picking losers. >> jon: michele bachmann so you won. one of the actual losers of the poll, they must be celebrating their not winning. >> we needed to get some lift to continue on and to have a pathway forward. that didn't happen. so i'm announcing this morning on your show that i'm going to be ending my campaign for pres

that's how you win the straw poll in ames, iowa. you spend money to do it. michele bachmann who reportedly won purchased 6,000 $30 tickets. her campaign bought the ballots and gave them out to people, a strategy that resulted in her getting 4,823 votes, which was first place. the iowa republican party also sells essentially real estate inside the straw poll. they sell real estate, they sell locations inside the straw poll to the highest-bidding candidate. the highest-bidding candidate for real estate at the straw poll was ron paul of texas. his campaign paid $31,000 for the best, best-placed, largest, most desirable booth location at the straw poll, and ron paul in correlation with his willingness to spend that kind of money at ames came in second in ames. he was just 152 votes behind michele bachmann. now, do those votes represent organic statistical votes among iowan republicans broadly speaking? maybe. bingo. but they also might just represent the fact that those two campaigns are good at winning a racket like this. and it is a racket. and actually the so

i'm chuck todd in ames, iowa. the next hour we'll bring you poll results, expert analysis and how the race changed before my eyes. i'll welcome david gregory to join us now. >> it is early summer testing. you say enthusiasm -- i think enthusiasm begets organization. i think that's what michele bachmann benefited from. as i've been going around, chuck, michele bachmann is in sync with a lot of the mood of the primary voter on the republican side right now. they are enthusiastic and angry. they want to send a message to president obama and she seemed to capture that in a great way with poise and a strong message. still a lot of vulnerabilities down the road for her, but in terms of capturing the lightning, she's done it. >> our campaign had news about how michele bachmann was waivering on accepting the invitation tomorrow night to speak in waterloo, iowa. rick perry accepted and so did michele bachmann. she looked like she was about to get her shot at romney, perry just trumped her. >> no question about it. governor

the ames, iowa, straw poll. [applause] barack obama lost in iowa. [unintelligible] am i right? [applause] [unintelligible] [applause] i believe that we are a team that cannot be beat in 2012. [applause] >> the comments of representative michele bawkman. amy gardner, you're right. a huge crowd inside that tent to they're congresswoman. the congresswoman from minnesota. >> yes. the energy around congressman bawkman is clearly where it's at today. what we don't know is where that translates to. there were a huge volunteer of people phoning and did he bring in enough thousands of people to counterspontaneous voices on the other side? we don't know. >> we don't know how many attended the straw poll today. have you seen any figures released? >> i have not heard that. i heard from a couple of folks approaching 13,000 and we still have a couple hours to go. if that figure is accurate, and i don't know if it is, that opposed well for mrs. bawkman. the higher the turnout, the more likely people are coming because they are excited about somebody. and somebody they are excited about is pro

next year. >> paul, thanks so much from ames, iowa. we'll have continuing coverage throughout the afternoon, trying to bring to you any results from that iowa straw poll that will be taking place today as well. >>> meantime, the rebuilding spirit of america, joplin, missouri, gets ready for the first day of school. it will be unlike any other. we'll talk to the school superintendent about where many of these students will be attending classes. it won't be in a traditional school. there's a big reason to lower your high cholesterol... dangerous plaque that can build up in arteries over time... high cholesterol is a major factor. but these other health factors can also contribute to plaque buildup. so if you have high cholesterol and any of these other health factors... it's even more important to get your cholesterol where your doctor wants. talk to your doctor about crestor. when diet and exercise alone aren't enough... adding crestor can lower bad cholesterol by up to 52%. and crestor is proven to slow plaque buildup in arteries. cres

coming up next, more live coverage here from aips, iowa, as we -- ames, iowa, as we get closer to voting. ahead, political analyst charles, charlie cook with me. [ man ] behind every business is a "what if." what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. [ male announcer ] it can open doors, it can erase boundaries and hold its ground. it can even the score and start a movement. -it can... -[ beatboxing ] [ male an

we have wall-to-wall coverage on ames, iowa, straw poll. this is the first major test of the 2012 republican presidential candidates. now, michele bachmann just wrapped up her speech. we had already heard speech necessary the last couple of hours from rick santorum, ron paul, tim pawlenty. we are going to be hearing from theodore and her man cain before voting ends today at 5:00 eastern time. then it should take about an hour for us to get the results. most of the gop candidates are in iowa. texas governor rick perry was in south carolina where he officially launched his campaign this afternoon. >> it is time to get america working again and that's why with the support of my family and unwavering belief in the goodness of america, i declare to you today as a candidate for president of the united states. >> carrie dann is covering perry's campaign. tell us about his opening speech and what's the theme we expect him to see him carrying forward into the early days of his campaign. >> hi there. it was a very crowded event and it was in a somewh

this finally the day for the straw poll in ames, iowa. we have live coverage. we've been listening to rick santorum speaking. he's the first of the candidates there to speak. although all of them are out on the stage just a short time ago. he looks very happy, very much like a candidate. but one who is clearly struggling to gain support and money. that really is one of the keys here. for some of these candidates who are on the second and third tier, to show that they can bring some votes in to try and get some money that will allow them to continue their campaigns. >>> nbc news political report o dominco is live in ames. give us a sense of what it's like there in ames so far. >> really, you know, this is kind of one of those events where, yeah, you've got all of these tents set up. you've got big tailgating party, really, chris. people are outside. you've got all kinds of, you know, signs being handed out. the bachmann camp registering people to vote. the pawlenty people set up after they bused in a whole bunch of their people. ron paul people out front, also w

thank you for the heads up on all the details from ames, iowa. we appreciate that. >> thanks, alex. >>> a bit earlier i spoke with gop candidate and former pennsylvania senator rick santorum and i asked how he expects to do in today's poll. >> we think we'll do well here today. we think that, you know, we've resonated with iowa voters here. we did well two nights ago at the debate. i was at the iowa state fair yesterday, and got lots of people coming up to us saying they liked what they heard. it's the first time they really have heard from me. hopefully we can crack the top five. there's a lot of folks up ahead of nus the polls. if we can crack the top five, maybe four, that would be a great finish for us. >> so that's what your expectations are? >> we would be happy with one. f we would be happier with one. but, yeah, we're feeling good. >> and as i mentioned, rick santorum is the first speaker on the agenda in iowa. that's at 1:40 p.m. eastern. he'll be followed by ron paul and then the two minnesotans. congresswoman michele bachmann and tem p

we're in ames, iowa. you just heard from newt gingrich, never too shy to criticize the poll says of barack obama. tonight moderateors got a taste of his answers. anyway, former speaker joins us, how are you? >> great to be with you. >> it was interesting. joe tripi thought this was a where's the beef moment. it reminded me of i paid for this microphone. you know, you seem to think wait a minute. why are we talking about this? we've got to talk about substance. you're not happy. >> what made it differÑnv is when bret opened the show he said we want you to put aside your talking points. we want you to have a conversation about what you'd really do. i wrote that down and i wrote under it, then we want you to put gotcha questions. because i knew sooner or later dwoitsing to happen. it's part of the washington culture, i do think we're in desperate trouble as a country. we do need a serious national conversation. and gotcha kind of questions disrupt and slow down the flow of trying to find solutions. >> sean:

we're in ames, iowa. you just heard from newt gingrich, never too shy to criticize the poll says of barack obama. tonight moderateors got a taste of his answers. anyway, former speaker joins us, how are you? >> great to be with you. >> it was interesting. joe tripi thought this was a where's the beef moment. it reminded me of i paid for this microphone. you know, you seem to think wait a minute. why are we talking about this? we've got to talk about substance. you're not happy. >> what made it differÑnv is when bret opened the show he said we want you to put aside your talking points. we want you to have a conversation about what you'd really do. i wrote that down and i wrote under it, then we want you to put gotcha questions. because i knew sooner or later dwoitsing to happen. it's part of the washington culture, i do think we're in desperate trouble as a country. we do need a serious national conversation. and gotcha kind of questions disrupt and slow down the flow of trying to find solutions. >> sean:

we're in ames, iowa. you just heard from newt gingrich, never too shy to criticize the poll says of barack obama. tonight moderateors got a taste of his answers. anyway, former speaker joins us, how are you? >> great to be with you. >> it was interesting. joe tripi thought this was a where's the beef moment. it reminded me of i paid for this microphone. you know, you seem to think wait a minute. why are we talking about this? we've got to talk about substance. you're not happy. >> what made it differÑnv is when bret opened the show he said we want you to put aside your talking points. we want you to have a conversation about what you'd really do. i wrote that down and i wrote under it, then we want you to put gotcha questions. because i knew sooner or later dwoitsing to happen. it's part of the washington culture, i do think we're in desperate trouble as a country. we do need a serious national conversation. and gotcha kind of questions disrupt and slow down the flow of trying to find solutions. >> sean:

debate in ames' iowa, could be a game changer. the latest fox news poll shows mitt romney up nationwide over perry at 13%. sarah palin is third with 8%. michele bachmann at 7% comes in fourth. romney is expected to take a pounding for the rivals for remaining silent in the recent debt debate, now that the nation's credit rating has been downgraded and world markets are in turmoil. he is already bracing for the attacks. >> i believe i'm the best equipped to be able to provide to this nation the leadership that is necessary to get our economy back on track. >> reporter: michele bachmann hopes to dominate the debate in part to mute if not silence what is a relentless stream of criticism from the main stream media. it's critical for tim pawlenty who is well-liked but not considered charismatic. >> shovel ready was not as shovel ready as we expected. >> reporter: pawlenty's latest video suggests that president obama is failing on the economy because he lacked experience before taking office, which is pawlenty's criticism of bachmann as

ames, iowa. hope to talk to you soon. stay tuned for all the straw poll results that are coming in. special installment of special report live at ames, starts at the top of the hour. that is all right here on the fox news channel. >> heather: texas governor rick perry, making it official. you watched it live on fox, formally announcing his candidacy for president at the red state conference in south carolina. that is where we find jonathan. the governor did not mince words when it came to his criticism of president obama, did he? >> reporter: he said page 1 of sound economic policy involve issuing pink slips to residents of white house and received cheers from the crowd. he criticized the obama administration for relying to heavily on central planning for the economy. the obama campaign responded to perry's speech. it accused his policies of carbon copies of washington republicans. >> heather: so what solutions did he offer? not just criticisms, we want to know what he would do. >> reporter: that

i'm coming to you from ames, iowa, on this primetime edition of "the daily rundown." over the next two hours we'll bring you the results from the straw poll as they come in with a complete analysis of the day's events, all the republican candidates are here today. first here in the nation caucus state, we are awaiting the results, some delay, do to a lot of where-ins. we'll bring them to you as we get them in the next two hours. have a dozehousds of iowaoters about why they should be the one to take on

we are awaiting the critical results from the ames, iowa, straw poll. build a new app for the sales team in beijing. and convince the c.e.o. his email will find him... wherever he is. i need to see my family while they're still awake. [ male announcer ] with global services from dell, jim can address his company's i.t. needs through custom built applications, cloud solutions and ongoing support in over 100 countries. so his company sees results. and jim sees his family. dell. the power to do more. and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped in rocks thousands of feet below us. technology has made it possible to safely unlock this cleanly burning natural gas. this deposits can provide us with fuel for a hundred years, providing energy security and economic growth all across this country. it just takes somebody having the idea, and that's where the discovery comes from.

saturday is the big ames, iowa straw poll. but instead of any good headlines about that about who wins it straw poll or any other candidate, everything on saturday will be dominated by rick perry's announcement that

welcome back to ames, iowa. the site of the republican presidential debate. one of the topics that will come up this evening is the american role in tan stan. there were more reminders of how dangerous it is there. five troops were killed in southern afghanistan today . the napes of the 30 who died in the helicopter crash were released. good evening, jennifer. >>reporter: after an initial delay the pentagon released all of the names and units and home towns and ages of the 30 service member that is died in the chinook helicopter crash. new video showed twisted pieces of the helicopter strawn on the river where helicopter was attempting to land. fighters were hiding in the forest. they had pulled out a outpost. 22 were naval special fare including navy seals many from seal team six . highly trained ordinance specialist. free fall parachutist and a cryptologist and a dogler and three members of the special tactic squad rum and members of the pararescue team . the chinook was flown by members of 135th regiment and

tomorrow is the ames, iowa, straw poll, and msnbc is going to be having coverage of the ames, iowa, straw poll all day tomorrow beginning at 7:00 a.m. chuck todd and andrea mitchell will be hosting beginning at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. we hope you'll check it out. kind of a circus, but always a super entertaining circus. [ man ] i got this new citi thankyou card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. >>> in march 1995, the new republican majority in congress that year was poised for a big victory. they were on the cusp of passing one of those balanced budget amendments you hear so much about, a bill to amend the u.s. constitution so republicans could essentially starve government down to a size small enough to be drowned in a proverbial bathtub. they did not get the balanced budget,

chief political correspondent carl cameron live in ames, iowa. carl, the speeches are underway and what's the mood like there at ames? >> well, kelly, as we speak, rick santorum, the former pennsylvania senator wrapped up the first speech of the straw poll gala this afternoon with a very, very staunch, socially conservative address to this iowa crowd of republicans straw poll voters, insisting his record after 12 years in the u.s. senate as a fighter for right to life and the sanctity of life will continue if he is president and he's been frustrated he feels the national media has not been giving him the attention he deserves and got the crowd on its feet, saying they have an opportunity to make a statement today by supporting him. santorum has had a boost and some think he may have reached from deep in the weeds. and for him a mainly achievement and could potentially breathe new life into his candidacy. throughout the course of the afternoon, they had what they referred to as the class picture and at that moment we had on the stage all at once.

from ames, iowa, good night and god bless. a couple decades , we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped irocks thounds of feet below us. technology has made it possible to safely unlock this cleanly burning natural gas. this deposits can provide us with fuel for a hundred years, providing energy security and economic growth all across this country. it just takes somebody having thidea, and that's where the discovery comes from. toi switched to a complete0, multivitamin with more. it just takes somebody having thidea, only one a day women's 50+ advantage has ginkgo for memory and concentration, plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's. pile on the products. or challenge all that effort with olay. simply sweep on the new total effects da circle minimizer. it tightens anhelps conceal toeautifully reveal younger-looking eyes. it's a clean sweep. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought ose days

poll in ames iowa. and it comes just one week before the republican straw poll in ames iowa. the straw poll is a six hour festival of food, beer and nonbinding preelectoral process that has no connection to the iowa caucus. whoever wins the straw poll will have a massive symbolic victory that will propel them to the white house. just ask past winners president pat robertson, president bob dole, and president phil graham. now rick perry is not officially listed on the straw poll because he's not declared his candidacy yet. but for the first time in its history the ames poll is allowing write-ins. this is great news for perry, folks. and great news for his right write-in opponents sarx appaller, buddy roamer and long shot female arab candidate munch maguchi. now if perry-- (laughter) now if perry really wants to be a player, he needs a superpac behind him, as the polit cos tenacious ken vogel tweeted, don't be surprised if all major presidential candidates get a big donor-backed superpac behind them. and kenny's right. for ron paul there is revolution pac. for mitt romney there

and this weekend politicos will be turning to tomorrow's straw poll in ames iowa was an early indicator for the g.o.p. nomination but rick perry governor of texas and a soon to be major candidate is set to announce the same day because of the importance of ames and i will former arkansas governor mike huckabee who came in second in ames and went on to win the iowa caucus last time around is calling it a major tactical blunder by the way the huckster will be making it very clear who he supports tomorrow by playing his bass guitar for santorum and herman cain but joining us now from the ground in ames iowa. for the straw poll that has had a better sense of why this event is given such importance we are joined tonight by artie's artie america's own christine for is out there saying thanks so much for being with us tonight and adam aria outstanding so from what you're seeing there do the people of iowa this year in this in this particular election especially those in ames of course do they have a sense of the extra weight that their votes carry what americans put so much stock in the result

danielle nottingham, cbs news, ames, iowa. >>> while the attention of the republican party was squarely focused on iowa today, the gop felt the presidential hopefuls did get bigger. set his sights on the white house officially. drew reports on the latest candidate to declare. >> texas governor, rick perry, picked an important day and state. >> yes, sir. >> to tell the country he is the person that can defeat president barack obama. >> perry attacked president obama's economic policy and caught his leadership. >> page one of any economic plan, to get america working is to give a pink slip to the current residents in the white house. >> kerry's announcement -- making it in south carolina was also calculated. the state is expected to hold the first southern primary. the contest that picked the gop nominees since the 1980s. the social conservative with a pro business record is not just counting on votes behind the mason dixon line. home of the nation's first primary. >> i feel right at home among people whose motto is live free or die. glefn though he just entered the host, a few percentage

(laughter) >> jon: huckabee you double booked the ames iowa straw poll? for rick santorum will be there. his tent boasts rick santorum summer dance party which, by the way, is the lowest testing bet pilot ever. (laughter) (cheers and applause) >> jon: hi, everybody, who here likes to cha-cha. remember leave room for jesus. (laughter) of course, if summer dance parties are not your thing, perhaps you would like some of rick santorum's homemade peach jelly. they're handing out samples of their peach jelly. wow. rick santorum must really be trying to change the search results that come up when people google santorum and jelly. now rick-- (applause) rick, it's the ames straw poll. it's all about the tent. please tell me you've got something different that's going to bring people to your tent. >> how about mike huckabee, remember him the former governor of arkansas, will also going to perform at rick santorum's tent. (laughter) (cheers and applause) >> jon: mike huck a bee, i never thought i would have to say this to you, you are a shut. (laughter) -- slut. so

remember we're standing by for the results of the iowa straw poll in ames, iowa. as soon as we get those results we'll head out there live. >>> and more and more americans are investing in gold amidst growing uncertainty on wall street. just ahead why you might want to consider cashing in. >>> a boy speaking up for his father. one of many killed in afghanistan over the last several days. his heartwrenching story. that's coming up next. of these abandoned racetracks in america today. automotive performance is gone. and all we have left are fallen leaves and broken dreams and -- oh. wait a second. that is a dodge durango. looks like american performance is doing just fine. ♪ carry on. ♪ my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for cop

mark halprin, good to see you there from ames, iowa. have a good one. sdoo thanks. >> remember to keep it here all day long on msnbc for complete coverage of the iowa straw poll, including the speeches from the candidates, the announcement of the winner of today's vote. it's all ahead today on msnbc. wow, that hurt because you know, he is my friend, too. let's move on to casey anthony who is going to return to florida after a new court ruling. anthony was freed after she was acquitted last month of murdering her daughter. the judge in her trial has ruled that she has to come back to serve one year's probation for an earlier conviction of writing bad checks. criminal defense attorney karen desoto joins me now. >> good morning, alex. >> given the reason why the judge said she can take off and get out of here. she needs her anonymity to stay safe. are you surprised she's been ordered back to florida? >> no, where well, i'm surprised that he didn't just say, okay, time served and that's it because her -- the defense team actually made a good argument that s

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