Interview With Presidential Candidate Rick Perry
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening from the CNN Election Center. It's nearly zero hour in Iowa, the kickoff point for the 2012 election. That's right. They start voting tonight. As Republicans head to their caucus sites, all eyes are on Mitt Romney. An Iowa is within reach and would make Romney the prohibitive front-runner. Win or lose, his rivals are already sharpening their attacks, among them, Rick Perry who says South Carolina voters won't buy a pig in a poke. The Texas governor among our special guests this hour. Plus, dramatic pictures that are a warning to any would-be firebugs. Look up before you light up. We're now just under two hours from the start of Iowa's presidential caucuses, a vote likely to shrink the Republican field and perhaps give us a clear front-runner. Mitt Romney is already predicting -- quote -- "We're going win this thing," but his opponents are promising the former Massachusetts governor will have a much harder time after tonight. This afternoon the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told reporters his ads will start drawing -- quote -- "a sharper, clearer contrast with Governor Romney" and on CBS this morning, the former speaker, remember, he's the candidate who keeps promising to stay positive, well, Gingrich called Romney a liar.</s>QUESTION: Are you calling Mitt Romney a liar?</s>NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes.</s>QUESTION: Why are you saying he's a liar?</s>GINGRICH: This is a man whose staff created the PAC. His millionaire friends fund the PAC. He pretends he has nothing to do with the PAC. It's baloney. He's not telling the American people the truth. It's just like his pretense that he's a conservative.</s>KING: Now Governor Romney's laughing off Gingrich's attempt to be more aggressive.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I understand the speaker apparently's angry. And I wish him well. We like he and Callista. And we have got a long road ahead. And hopefully we will be able to connect with the American people in the way that gets the support that we need.</s>KING: CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley spoke with Governor Romney today. She's with us live in Des Moines. Now, Candy, has to be a great sense of anticipation but also a little bit of anxiety as Governor Romney sees an Iowa win within reach, but remembers four years ago.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, when he's spent $10 million, only to come in a distant third to Mike Huckabee. So, yes, they are a little burnt by this, but I have to tell you, it is palpable within the Romney campaign that they feel very good about tonight. The governor himself, I had a chance to speak to just as he was briefly going through the rope line after a speech this morning, and, you know, even he doesn't want to jinx this at this point. He says, I feel good, I think we will do well, I think we will be in the top three. Of course, anyone who read the "Des Moines Register" poll would probably think that. They're looking for a good night. Would they love a number one? They would. That's why I think, John, you are hearing Mitt Romney kind of brush off Newt Gingrich. You don't want to tangle right now. You want to stay upbeat and positive, and do some of that, those speeches with that sort of high-flying rhetoric, which is what he did today.</s>KING: And to that point, Candy, Governor Romney is focused on President Obama, not his Republican rivals in the closing hours. He also brought his sons out to stump for him today. And they were telling some family stories. Let's listen.</s>TAGG ROMNEY, SON OF MITT ROMNEY: Rather than paying someone to build a fence, he decided he was going to work with his five sons and his wife and he was going to build this fence on his own. My dad is extraordinarily cheap. He is as cheap a human being as you have ever met. He could have afforded to have someone else come in and build that fence, but he wanted to do it himself.</s>KING: Explain to me why they think "My dad's cheap," Candy, is a good closing message in this campaign.</s>CROWLEY: That's right. Because what's been the rap on Mitt Romney? He's too distant, he's aloof, he doesn't have one of the storylines that people like to tell about their childhood, and how they understand the pain of America. This is about putting the flesh on Mitt Romney that some people say he looks like an executive but he doesn't look like he cares. That's what the family does, that's what wives do, that's what sons do. That's what this campaign has been for these last couple of weeks. And he has been out here with his family. For Mitt Romney, the message is, make no mistakes. For his family it's to kind of humanize the guy as they move forward. Here's what he is about. He's not an automaton CEO who cuts people out of their jobs. He's flesh and bones and that's what this is about out here.</s>KING: Candy Crowley, important duty tonight at the Romney headquarters, the second time around for Governor Romney. He hopes Iowa this time makes him the prohibitive front-runner. Candy, thank you. And in the hours before tonight's big vote, Ron Paul's campaign, well, launched its strongest attack so far against Governor Romney. Listen to this, part of a one-minute radio ad. (</s>BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, AD) NARRATOR: Romney's record is liberal. And putting him up against Obama is a recipe for defeat. That candidate who can beat Obama is Dr. Ron Paul.</s>KING: CNN's Dana Bash is covering the Paul campaign tonight. Dana, at the last hours, to go after Governor Romney they obviously think they need to peel a little bit from him, if Congressman Paul is to get what he wants tonight, the prize in Iowa.</s>DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is a little bit of a surprise that they're running this last- minute radio ad. Not a surprise what the message is. They're using the L-word just like they used yesterday in an interview that I had with the congressman about Rick Santorum. Those are obviously the two threats that Ron Paul believes he has tonight. Of course you remember four years ago, John, Ron Paul finished a distant fifth with just 10 percent of the vote. And the expectations were incredibly low last time around, this time very, very different. He has been doing incredibly well in the polls. And that means that the expectations are quite high. His campaign is now saying very similar things to what Mitt Romney's saying, which is that he hopes to finish in the top three. But, look, the question is whether or not what has really become kind of lore here, the organization that he has and has been building for four years, whether or not that will really kick in and do him well, even better than third tonight.</s>KING: Well, that's fascinating if you look back because Ron Paul has an older libertarian base, but he's now depending on younger voters. And he doesn't strike me as an "American Idol" fan, but at least one former "Idol" winner is a fan of Ron Paul. And listen here. Ron Paul's looking to make the most of it.</s>REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm wondering, does anybody here know the name Kelly Clarkson?</s>PAUL: Because, recently, recently, she endorsed me a couple of weeks ago and something happened because I had to admit, I didn't know a whole lot about her.</s>KING: Even the pictures, Dana, fascinating, the oldest candidate in the Republican field, all those college students behind him. How important are the new, younger voters to the Paul recipe for success tonight?</s>BASH: Incredibly important. I was at that event today. The other two candidates who spoke, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, they got pretty good responses, but nothing like, as you said, the 76- year-old candidate from all these young voters, first-time caucus voters. There's no question those are the kinds of people the Paul campaign are really relying on to actually not just say, yes, we like Ron Paul, but get out and vote for him. One other interesting thing that I found in talking to the young voters there, something I know you have found in traveling the country and talking to people, they like Ron Paul because they feel that he is authentic. They're really annoyed with the politicians, and they're annoyed with the government in general and they think that Ron Paul actually says what he means and does what he says. And that's something that we don't see, they say, a lot in politics anymore.</s>KING: Dana Bash at Paul campaign headquarters, a big night tonight ahead for her as well. Dana, thank you. Dana mentioned authenticity. One reason Christian conservatives say they like the Pennsylvania senator, the former Senator Rick Santorum is for the same reason. Santorum now downplaying his expectations tonight. Remember, the "Des Moines Register" poll showed him shooting up in the last few days. Santorum tonight said it would be great just to crack the top three. At his last-minute stops today, trying to convince undecided voters he's the best choice to take on President Obama come November.</s>RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every decision that's going to be made here in the next few years, whether Obamacare is repealed or whether it's kept in place, whether taxes are going to grow, whether this deficit that is now crushing the economy and will crush your pocketbooks in the future is going to be dealt with, so you won't have a lower standard of living, it's your future.</s>KING: Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, they were the top three in that final Iowa poll, but that doesn't guarantee they will end the night the big winners. Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, here with me for a closer look at the different paths to victory in Iowa. This is the 2008 map. I bring it up for this reason. Governor Romney did well here, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Dubuque, the -- quote, unquote -- "urban areas," the cities in Iowa. They're not very big. He also did well out here. This is a huge test tonight. This is a more conservative part of the state. Team Romney says this, they want high turnout, higher than the 118,000 last time, they want more women, more senior citizens, fewer evangelical voters from a percentage standpoint. They believe that gets them victory tonight. Why?</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, because those voters, the evangelicals, would certainly help Rick Santorum and they don't want that kind of a turnout. Women do very well with Mitt Romney. They like him. And they don't want the sort of ideological purists, if you will. Those are not his people. His people are that sort of solid 25 percent that have liked him all along. They believe he's electable. And they want those people to come to the polls tonight. They don't want kind of those new...</s>KING: They don't want this.</s>BORGER: They don't want the younger voters that Ron Paul might bring. They just want their dependable Mitt Romney voters to come out.</s>KING: This is the evangelical base of Mike Huckabee four years ago. I want to come forward to 2012. We will clear out the map. Here are the colors as they fill in tonight. Watch this as we go on tonight. This will fill in live as the results come in. Here, some interesting questions. We have the evangelical voters. The darker the area on the map, the higher the percentage of evangelical voters. If you talk to people in the Santorum campaign, they say they will go into the caucuses, look the Perry people in the eye, look the Bachmann people in the eye and say, your candidate can't win, you have to support us so that we have a conservative voice in this election. What the Romney team hopes is Bachmann and Perry adds up to about 15, 18 percent tonight. They think that blocks Santorum from winning. Evangelicals, how important?</s>BORGER: If they divide, evangelicals divide, Romney conquers. That's what it is. Romney doesn't want the evangelical voters to turn and say, you know what? We kind of like Rick Santorum now, we think we're going to unify behind a candidate. That's what happened with Mike Huckabee in 2008, and that was what gave Huckabee the huge percentage, 45 percent of them. He really needs evangelicals to split, absolutely.</s>KING: We will show you a little bit later in the show. Gloria, thank you. A little bit later, we will also break down the Tea Party vote here in Iowa. Evangelicals big in 2008. The Tea Party, that's a new element in 2012. We will see how that plays out. Still ahead, it wasn't long ago he was in the lead. Now he's on the sidelines. We will ask Herman Cain his choice among the remaining candidates. And despite his stumbles in Iowa, Texas Governor Rick Perry says he has got plenty of fight left. Governor Perry joins us next with a preview of the tough message he says he's bringing to South Carolina.</s>GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mitt Romney has got a real problem when it comes to consistency. Those folks in South Carolina, I can promise you, they're not going to buy a pig in a poke.</s>KING: Plenty more to come. We're setting the stage for CNN's special coverage, America's Choice 2012, the Iowa caucuses. Don't go away.