Matt Miller in the anchor chair!

Good Thursday to everyone — here’s what’s coming up on The Dylan Ratigan Show today with guest host Matt Miller. (Say hi to him at @MattMillerNow on Twitter.  He’ll be here all week holding down the fort!)

The Big Story today: An Insiders’ Look at Iowa.  What should we make of Rick Santorum’s surge there, and what’s up with Michelle Bachmann’s state chairman defecting to the Ron Paul campaign?  We’ll also take a look at the role big campaign money is playing there — in December, candidates and their committees spent more than $10 million combined — and that’s not even including the money their PAC’s are spending.

On today’s Megapanel: Mark Tapscott, Susan DelPercio and Jimmy Williams join us, along with General Treasurer of Rhode Island, Gina Raimondo.  Ms. Raimondo was recently featured in Time Magazine, which you can check out here.

End of the year travel – is it the safest year ever?  If you’re flying, it looks like it could be, with only one fatality for every 7.1 million passengers traveling on a commercial or charter flight somewhere around the globe.  A couple other interesting factoids: more Americans are driving than flying over the holidays.  And here’s a story about airports looking to replace the TSA with private contractors.  (Whatever gets us through faster!)

Could there be a real third party threat in 2012?  Between Ron Paul in Iowa and Gary Johnson announcing yesterday that he’s launched a Libertarian bid, it could be possible?  We’ll find out more from Kahlil Byrd of Americans Elect.

Daily Rant:  The one and only Imogen Lloyd Webber with a very special “Happy New Year” rant.  

That and more coming up at 4PM! As always, let us know your thoughts — Tweet @DylanRatigan (which we’re checking while he’s on vacation) or email us at dylan@dylanratigan.com.