they said about ron paul. ron paul is a dangerous man. while his domestic libertarian views are quite attractive to some voters fed up with politics as usual, it's paul's position on issues of national security that are truly dangerous. it's about time new hampshire voters showed him the door. it seems to me that the new hampshire ron paul supporter may be at the fringe. appealable to some other camps. but who is the most likely beneficiary of defections from ronç paul's camp? i think you have to say huntsman or really anybody. let's not forget the new hampshire model is live free or die. liz libertarian stance has an appeal in that way there. but han has proven itself to be famously impervious to whatever happens in iowa. so i think it will be interesting to watch. and christina's point is well taken that new hampshire is really his only hope at this point. of all the candidates remaining in the field he must be wondering why he hasn't been able to get more traction avenue all the on paper qualifications. it hasn't worked for him. >> t

there's a ceiling on ron paul's support. he's running neck and neck with mitt romney but doesn't seem to have a lot of growth potential. so i guess the big story here is this is still a very unsettled race. we've had six front-runners in six months and now we go to the finish line and it's still maybe even a photo finish before we're done on this one. >> one of the things we were attempting to do with this poll and you've done a tremendous job, i think we're interviewing more actual folks to try to get our sample down than anybody else is in doing this because the caucus voter is tough to identify. we've been trying to figure out what kind of factor will turn out. i'll put up our tight, likely voter screen. that's the numbers we've been reporting, the 23/21, 15, 14, 13. then we have what is called potential voters, the assumption of a larger turnout and what would that do to change things? and it didn't change much. 23 romney, 20 paul. santorum loses a little bit of support and thensi is among tose ying the most attention. s

help ron paul. it probably helps santorum because it makes bachmann look weak. but there aren't a lot of bachmann poom who are necessarily going to go to ron paul. so on so many levels i think santorum's doing well. >> well, john, also the polls make it look like romney will finish at least in the top two. is this big trouble if he doesn't meet expectations here? >> it's absolutely -- it is high-stakes stuff. i heard all through the day today that romney's people were going back and forth on whether they should position him in iowa on tuesday night or have him be in new hampshire. struggling with the question of whether he should be here to claim a big victory or get out fast to avoid any embarrassment. that's how high stakes this is. and remember, the dynamic of the caucuses are such that if you see the gingrich supportç and e santorum support come together and then throw in some bachmann and perry numbers there, santorum could well finish very high up in that number. >> and rick green, i've got

help ron paul. it probably helps santorum because it makes bachmann look weak. but there aren't a lot of bachmann poom who are necessarily going to go to ron paul. so on so many levels i think santorum's doing well. >> well, john, also the polls make it look like romney will finish at least in the top two. is this big trouble if he doesn't meet expectations here? >> it's absolutely -- it is high-stakes stuff. i heard all through the day today that romney's people were going back and forth on whether they should position him in iowa on tuesday night or have him be in new hampshire. struggling with the question of whether he should be here to claim a big victory or get out fast to avoid any embarrassment. that's how high stakes this is. and remember, the dynamic of the caucuses are such that if you see the gingrich support and the santorum support come together and then throw in some bachmann and perry numbers there, santorum could well finish very high up in that number. >> and rick green, i've got t

adding "i love ron paul." clarkson some backlash among fans who were enraged because of the recent controversy over ron paul's racist and homophobic newsletters. clarkson later tweeted an apology of sorts saying she does not support racism or homophobia but she is sticking by her support for ron paul. meanwhile, rick santorum spent his day on the xhan trail in iowa amid lots of chatter about whether his recently improved polling numbers in the state actually mean anything significant. for reasons that have everything to do with google i hesitate to use the word "surge." a concern this headline writer for the "philadelphia daily news" did not share. his headline prompted the absolutely best twitter exchange of the day, if not ever. dan u-a tweeting rick santorum to say "great to see this headline on philly.com. santorum surges from behind in iowa. can i get a retweet?" and rick santorum did it. he retweeted. but he is still not going to win in iowa or anywhere else for that matter. not so for mr. willard mitt r

adding "i love ron paul." that won clarkson some backlash among fans who were enraged because of the recent controversy over ron paul's racist and homophobic newsletters. clarkson later tweeted an apology of sorts saying she does not support racism or homophobia but she is sticking by her support for ron paul. meanwhile, rick santorum spent his day on the xhan trail in iowa amid lots of chatter about whether his recently improved polling numbers in the state actually mean anything significant. for reasons that have everything to do with google i hesitate to use the word "surge." a concern this headline writer for the "philadelphia daily news" did not share. his headline prompted the absolutely best twitter exchange of the day, if not ever. dan u-a tweeting rick santorum to say "great to see this headline on philly.com. santorum surges from behind in iowa. can i get a retweet?" and rick santorum did it. he retweeted. but he is still not going to win in iowa or anywhere else for that matter. not so for mr. willa

, paul for the presidency. is that your position as well? could you back paul for president if it came down to that? >> well, i intend to be the nominee of the republican party. >> if you were the nominee, where would you be? ominee. >> welcome back to "hardball." that's myself trying to get some information from congresswoman bachmann. i was asking her about whether if ron paul were the nominee, could she back him in theç general election, and she gave me an answer, which is she's going to be the nominee, which is a good answer. we're at java joe's. the story out of iowa could be the strong showing of ron paul. his supporters are passionate and well organized, a winning combination on caucus night. but with us -- but with his front-runner status has come new scrutiny of his background. he's been criticized for newsletters he published under his name in the late '80s and early '90s. paul said he didn't write them, but they were published under the name of ron paul and he did make some money from them. another

i talked to ron paul voters in 2007 who liked barack obama and liked ron paul. i was one of those voters. once they were disappointed by what barack obama did in office, they've remained in his camp. if you talk to young people at rallies, you'll hear a lot -- the first things they'll list off, the reasons they go for him, are the social issues. then they'll list the economic crisis issues. they come over to his side the way they could have easily been convinced. you're at that age where you're receptive to ideas like that. he's added those people to the party. i think also because the economy collapsed in 2008, because he'd been predicting it for so long, doesn't really matter if he was wrong in previous instances, you know. the preachers who predict the rapture are ever right, are we going to forget he got it wrong 20 times? that happened to him. people in the republican party disagree with him on a lot of issues became more sympathetic to him. the coalition in iowa is partly the new voters and partly oldline conservatives who would have listened to him before

and the conservatives are moving over to ron paul. >> where was paul policed in the iowa straw poll [everyone talking at once] >> about 150 votes behind -- michele bachmann. >> she is number one. >> it shows ron paul has an outstanding organization, energy, youth, lot of people. 4500 votes in iowa straw poll is extraordinary. >> to say -- >> who plays second in the straw poll? >> and second, mitt romney plays second in 2008 because -- >> i thought -- >> how could they play second? >> he was number one. >> the thing is -- in the straw poll. >> oh, in the straw poll! romney won the straw poll. >> romney won. caucus in iowa. what. >> it's essentially a three-way tie. i would not scout michele bachmann and she has an organization, she's on a bus tour visiting all 99 counties. she another place you can go if you don't want romney and you're wary or think -- about newt gingrich, so he -- really interesting campaign about a lot of ideas like increasing the health budgets so we can solve alzheimer's. and something so bizarr the box. and romney is a total -- come on! >> for romney the idea is

ç what if you have ron paul win? at that point i think you have -- people just sort of shake their head and go to the next topic. >> almost the likeable newt gingrich, i have to tell you, mark and j-mart because there's the guy, the corner man, the guy talking like one of us in the back room, being smart and not talking about his own ego which is refreshing for all of us to do, but i thought that was a pretty honest assessment, don't you, mark and j-mart. doesn't he look like a smart tout right there? >> honest and that side is more appealing than a lot of what he's been showing lately. look, the reality is if romney finishes first or second, assuming paul is first if romney isn't, the conservatives in the race, the other candidates are going to say, you know, "x" percent of voters in iowa didn't vote for mitt romney and that shows this race goes on. if he's first or second and wins resoundingly in new hampshire it's going to be very hard, i think, to head him off in south carolina and florida, even though right now,

ron paul? >> yes. ron paul can win in iowa. look, ron paul is the campaign here in the iowa that has the most energy. you saw it, you know, in my opening piece, i went to all of the headquarters. the only one buzzing with activity is ron paul's. you're not seeing at romney's events or at gingrich's events. but you're seeing huge crowds for ron paul's. >> there was a key piece of spin from the romney campaign at the debate last night they went out of their way to say that ron paul had a great night. they're saying as if, it's not going well for us it better not be newt gingrich, better be ron paul. >> ron paul has a very energized, roughly 20% of the republican base. after that, not just the 80% don't like him that much, they disagree with him. he's a pure consistent libertarian. >> but that 20% is going to show up in the caucus. >> and mitt romney will be driving them to the polls. >> again, according to the "new york times" two-thirds who say they're going to go to the iowa caucuses have said they haven't made up their minds.

gwen: ron paul, we have to ask you about ron paul. there's some possibility he could even best mitt romney on tuesday night. how strong is he now in iowa? then how much can he use that as leverage to get another leg up in new hampshire? >> you know, i've been surprised at some of the people i have run into at ron paul's events. four years ago they were sort of this kind of hard core libertarian crowd. but this year i have run into evangelicals and homeschoolers. i think his appeal this year is somewhat broader than it has been and also as ken sorenson, michele bachmann's recently departed campaign chairman as he was joining ron paul forces, he said these people who support ron paul, it doesn't matter if there's five feet of snow on the ground caucus night, which thankfully it does not look like there will be, these people are going to show up. gwen: intensity, jeff? >> i think there is intensity, no question. the only question for ron paul is what is his ceiling of support? you hear every other candidate, really every single candidate

i'm the letter si coach at paul revere. i'm here to show support for paul revere staff and our principal. i'm also here to express my concern over the way that our principal and school has been portrayed by some people in recent times. i'm very concerned because we need at paul revere consistent leadership. that is leadership that sheila provides us. losing our principal in the middle of a three-year reform means starting all over again from scratch and potentially losing two years' worth of hard work, effort, and progress on the parts of our parents, teachers, staff members and students. i refuse to dignify the outlandish claims that have been made by the few parents that spoke at this meeting a while ago because they're simply not true and without merit. i have listened to the minority speaker and they want to replace her. but i don't believe they're in an opposition to sheila. i believe this comes from misinformation to the changes that have taken place since she has become principal. these changes were needed and reform

paul with 17%. if it's one of this year's ç huckabees who wins, a ron paul, a rick perry, a michele bachmann, a rick santorum. if one of this year's huckabees wins iowa and mitt romney wins new hampshire, everything will have gone according to plan. we'll be no closer to knowing who the republican nominee for president will be. the first race will be an open question politically, will be on the saturday january 21st contest in south carolina. >> you have to win south carolina. everyone who's won south carolina has been the nominee. every single one. >> iowa and new hampshire are fascinating to watch, but south carolina might really be the race to watch in terms of how things are going to go in this nominating process. mr. gingrich there describing south carolina as a must win. he's previously described it as his firewall. south carolina is the kind of place where mitt romney is not expected to be able to win. just as he's not necessarily expected to be able to win in iowa. it should be noted mitt

-- reason -- ron paul campaign and he was thinking about going with the reason paul -- ron paul campaign. and i said it would be political suicide. >>eric: so now we have him leaving to go to ron paul and michele bachmann claims that ron paul offered him a substantial sum of money and ken comes on fox news saying michele bachmann is lying, and megyn wisely asks what about you who claims you said the same, and he calls you a liar. listen to this entrepreneur. >> i didn't have that conversation with her. it is unfortunate that we is come to this, in this particular race, we have come to this and i did not accept any money from the reason -- ron paul campaign. >>eric: do you have anything to gain by saying that he told you he was offered money by ron paul campaign? >>guest: no, and when i work with candidates they understand i am working with them because of their integrity, because of the changes they want to make and he clearly lacks integrity and i am sorry for the people who followed him for the constituents. i have been on the phone since 10:00 last night with call after call and e-mai

ron paul story. she was talking about foreign policy. >> foreign policy. >> he wants to abolish the fed, abolish income taxes, cut $1 trillion from spending, wants to abolish half the government departments. >> when you start talking domestic, i'm all about ron paul. >> you are not all about ron paul. you put up a great fight, but you are not. >> it goes on with a testy exchange on the air that shows that maybe he is beginning to feel the heat we speak of. >> and also, people wanted ron paul to be examined in the media. >> and they're looking. >> they are looking. there were some comments made, racist comments in news letters which he profited from. >> well. >> and that were written in his voice and that he previously claimed authorship of some, although we don't know which. so there's a little ambiguity, he's denying he had anything to do with the ones that said that gays were trying to poison the blood supply with aids. he's saying he didn't write that, we don't know, because a few years ago he was

as anybody who has read my tweets know, i'm not a supporter of ron paul, not a fan of ron paul. as much as i'm neutral in the primary ron paul is a fringe candidate and i don't think ron paul represents the republicans' best foot forward. and so i'm bothered by all this tremendously on the merits of it and on the impact his image could have coming out of iowa as a republican winner. also, four years ago, and i just looked this up, you have ten percentage points in iowa, 8% in new hampshire, 4% in south carolina and 3% in florida. iowa has historically been the strongest state. he ran before. remember not just mitt romney who ran, ron paul ran. and iowa was his high water mark. he plunged from there on. >> gloria -- go ahead, erick. go ahead. >> you know, i think there's another relevant point that needs to be asks of ron paul. if you go back to one of the writings, the ron paul freedom report that had no bi-line was written in first person as if it was from ron paul that was gay men were trying to intentionally infect the american blood supply by giving blood donations while hav

ron paul freedom report and the ron paul investment letter. and contain lines like this one referring to the 19992 riots in los angeles. "order was only restored in l.a. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks." though paul has touted his newsletters in the past. >> i also put out a political type of business investment newsletter. >> he since denied writing and in some cases even reading some of the newsletters that bore his name. after being pressed repeatedly about it this week, he had enough. >> i didn't rewrite them. i didn't read them at the time. i disavow them. >> these things are pretty incendiary. >> to people like you. >> now ron paul wants to us believe he didn't know anything about the newsletters though he was profiting from them. >> then there is this. paul talking about the man he terms the whistle blower behind wikileaks. >> should he be locked up and imprisoned? or should we, you know, see him as a political hero? maybe he is a true patriot that reveals that what is going on. >> this kind of thing sai

paul said." he also said "the comment about black men in the nation's capital was made while writing about a 1992 study produced by the national center on incarceration and alternatives, a criminal justice think tank based in virginia." "these aren't my figures, dr. paul said tuesday. that is the assumption you can gather from the report." when the "houston chronicle" started asking about those comments also in 1996 dr. paul's campaign spokesman defended the remarks about the criminality of black men thusly. he said that the reverend jesse jackson had also talked about urban crime, so essentially that made it okay. so that's how ron paul and his political campaign responded to criticism about nakedly racist passages in his newsletters when he was asked about them during his congressional campaign in the mid '90s. he responded essentially by defending those nakedly racist passages. and that was not enough to kill ron paul's political career. quite to the contrary. he won the election that year in

i don't think this will come down to a battle between romney and ron paul because i don't think ron paul is seen as a credible nominee for the party. there will be an alternative to romney that is other than ron paul. we don't know whether it will be gingrich or perry or somebody else. >> i was talking about iowa, not long temperature. >> ifill: what is not credible about ron paul? his foreign policy? >> there's a ceiling on ron paul particularly on foreign policy. but also on some cultural issues. drugs and the like. his support is very intense. it's very deep. it's just not very wide. he's the kind of person who can get every single ron paul supporter out to the caucuses on, as they say, a cold, snowy winter night. that makes him a force in iowa. but in terms of breadth in other states, it just isn't there. but let me just say this, susan. you're picking a fight with me. if ron paul finishes first or second, he becomes a very complicating factor for others in the race, particularly other than mitt romney. romney would be, i think, rather happy or at least contented if ron paul happens

paul is an unthinkable candidate, then why are all the gop rivals to romney piling on paul? andç could it be that paul, having a good organization on the ground, having some true believers, and the fact that even independents can walk up to a caucus and register republican right that night and go in and vote, could it be that they fear that paul could overtake them with a superior organization that night? >> sure, absolutely they're going after him for that reason, but remember they're all competing for the same pool of conservative votes. there are a lot of conservative folks in iowa, who, like ron paul, up to the "time" poll that came out yesterday, ron paul was the leading candidate in iowa. it wasn't until that poll came out yesterday that showed mitt romney being the one out front that the dynamics changed, but there's a couple things to keep in mind. one, all those candidates are within the margin of error, so we're basically looking at a muddled race. all of those people could come out as number one a tuesday. the second thing to keep in mind is the number one issue

paul. >> eric: of course you are going to give me ron paul. you have don't want to do ron paul. every time one of us does it, paulites go ballistic on the internet. small government guy. hates the fed. right on all fiscal, everything to do with money, spot on and perfect. i love him for that. weakness, once again, blaring hole in the side. you can't survive, can't be the nomine with the way you treat israel. your opinion on israel, frankly, i think he has even said israel shouldn't exist. that and you will never become the nominee being pro drug legalization. it won't happen. >> greg: i hope it happens when i'm still alive. about five years. bob, speaking of which -- >> bob: yes. >> greg: you are going to live forever. you are literally in formaldehyde. let's ask you about mitt romney. he is the front runner basically. >> bob: first, andrea said something right about romney, he plays it safe. you don't beat the sitting incumbent president playing it safe. rarely, if you look back in history

we've discussed newt gingrich and ron paul. it's the so-called second tier candidates that are hoping to surprise everyone with a stronger than expected result next tuesday. while an all out win for perry or bachmann or santorum, a second or third place finish would go a long way as the primary season continues in new hampshire. joining me no to discuss the likelihood of what is going to happen, perry supporter steve forbes. what these guys are going through in iowa and new hampshire is very familiar to you. in a sense, the battle for those second tier guys is the battle to secure the conservative support. bachmann and perry and santorum fighting over the same people? >> they are trying to be the non-romney. the press wants that. they are going to narrow as quickly as possible. in iowa where you have a fluid situation, you have this polling that is does not get all of the people that attend the caucus, you don't know who is going to show up. you could get a surprise. third or good fourth place for perry would put him in the run

to vote for ron paul. how's that going to play here in this state? >> it's going to be very interesting to see how it plays because you know, there is a certain element here that buys into the libertarian views of ron paul, but there are also a lot of republicans as you know, who are very concerned about picking an electable candidate to stand up against barack obama in november. so, that's something that the voters in the caucuses are going to have to weigh and there are a lot of people who don't like the idea of republicans getting into vicious battles with very rough words, wolf. >> joe johns is in des moines. he's going to be here in iowa for the remainder, this week, one week from today, the iowa caucuses. joe, thanks very much cht. let's continue our coverage of ron paul. he's one of the front-runners in iowa. he is breaking from the pack, taking a day off from the campaign trial to a certain degree. the texas congressman is known for being unconventional both politically and personally. dana bash ha

adding "i love ron paul." that won clarkson some backlash among fans who were enraged becaon lofer tweeted an apologof sorts saying she does not support racism or homophobia but she is sticking by her support for ron paul. meanwhile, rick santorum spent his day on the xhan trail in iowa amid lots of chatter about whether his recently improved polling numbers in the state actually mean anything significant. for reasons that have everything to do with google i hesitate to use the word "surge." a concern this headline writer for the "philadelphia daily news" did not share. his headline prompted the absolutely best twitter exchange of the day, if not ever. dan u-a tweeting rick santorum to say "great to see this headline on philly.com. santorum surges from behind in iowa. can i get a retweet?" and rick santorum did it. he retweeted. but he is still not going to win in iowa or anywhere else for that matter. not so for mr. willard mitt romney, who appears to be feeling mighty confident about his chances in iowa, a s

paul. >> you can say that. >> it's interesting on the ron paul piece because eric dundero, he was a long-time aide of ron paul. he posted this piece recently where he talkedç about ron paus crazy foreign policy ideas and different things. and he did say, and these are his words that ron paul is personally uncomfortable around homosexuals. >> yes. >> which i think we just saw a little video evidence of. >> you could say that. you know, i've seen these videos eight times now. they're still hilariously funny. let's just be clear, all due respect to sacha baron cohen for his genius here. what's more stupid, the fact that ron paul gets suckered into this kind of interview or that he's offended not by the guy taking off his pants by but the fact that he is, quote unquote, queer. i mean, you know, there is -- there's a -- there's something that you cannot hide when people are in shock or they're drunk or angry. and that was his response the idea of the homosexuality being so offensive supposed t

deal of money from the ron paul campaign. >> reporter: tonight the ron paul campaign denies that it paid anyone to defect from michele bachmann. tonight, the former campaign manager for herman cain who at one point was the frontrunner here in iowa said mr. cain has no plans at this time to endorse any republican candidate. >> peter alexander in mason city tonight. thank you. >>> while the romney campaign likes its chances in iowa, the wild card continues to be ron paul. he's got momentum, organization and a fiercely loyal base of supporters. our chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd is traveling with the paul campaign today. he joins us now from atlantic iowa. chuck? >> reporter: good evening, harry. when it comes to ron paul there are two key questions. one, can he widen his appeal among mainstream republicans and not just the closet libertarians inside the party? and two, does he have the infrastructure or is this a howard dean ruse from 2004 to win these caucuses and catapult him to new hampshire? at the core of ron paul's strength here in iowa, devote

i'm paul gigot. they squared off in a debate. and showing newt gingrich, mitt romney and ron paul, and the others tried to make a final impression on iowa voters. >> i kind of like these debates, and i hope obama and i debate a lot and i'll get there early and we'll get it on and talk about our differences which are great. i tell you, i hope i am the tim tebow of the iowa caucuses. >> i think that people, neil, are coming around to finding that i mean the consistent conservative in in race. >> they're coming around to find that i'm not going to pander. i'm not going to contort myself into a pretzel to please any audience i'm in front of and i'm not going to sign those silly pledges and now what else i'm not going to show up at a donald trump doe bait. >> paul: so did they succeed? joining the panel, wall street journal columnest dan hittinger-- did it change the contours of the race? >> i don't think so paul, i mean, i believe that the race is now between newt gingrich and mitt romney with ron paul probably playing the role of a

sort for ron paul and for gippi as a whole. be able to step to the plate here and deliver something right barack obama when he had the reverend wright scandal erupts he stepped up to the plate he delivered something you might not have solved the world's problems it might not even erased the right problem but it did it did mount some kind of push here response that i think was in the end what most people were looking for the american people in spite of everything are pretty forgiving and even with something like this where it's kooky and it's it's got these this rate these restrictions these conspiratorial overtones if paul steps forward and deliver some kind of purity direct response i think that's going to get a lot of. our james i want to thank you so much for joining us and i think a lot of people out there are waiting for that response because you're not that i want to think so you know ron paul really is bringing a very very different kind of argument on many levels to this presidential race and i think a lot of americans

that's right one point ron paul even walked out of a c.n.n. interview when he was questioned about this story. and you know it is that legitimate i mean is it a legitimate question to ask that something went out when you get real name and when you get the answers legitimate that you sort of take the answers i get you know what the answer is i didn't really write them i didn't read them at the time and i disavow them that is the answer. now the story itself is a lot more nuanced than just saying is ron paul racist stories in fact al for years has been recycled many times over but it's paul's explanation that's changed a little bit over time some points he said he never read the newsletters and others and said he's aware of some of the content but he stuck to the fact that he did not write it but some of the questions that need to be asked here are whether or not this could hurt his campaign as he surges in games more than just his dedicated followers and whether these letters should carry more weight than policies of his that actually protect c

the latest cnn poll shows romney and paul battling it out for the lead. romney 25%, paul 22. santorum third place tripling his support since the beginning of the month. gingrich dropped to 14%, down from 33% early in december. perry 11%, bachmann and huntsman in the single digits. huntsman is not in iowa. tonight, bachmann is doing it without two high-ranking members of her team. bachmann's iowa campaign chairman jumped ship and went to ron paul's campaign. bachmann says he is a sellout and was paid to go to the paul campaign. take a look. >> i had a conversation with kent sorenson. and in the direct conversation i had with him, he told me he was offered money. he was offered a lot of money by the ron paul campaign to go and associate with the ron paul campaign. no one else knows about that conversation other than kent and myself. i know what he said to me about that. >> he says he went to the paul camp because ron paul has the best change of beating romney and president obama. in his statement, he says as for the ridiculous allegations that congresswoman bachman made, i was

that's how ron paul rolls. want to drain the swamp, ron paul, do it. >> i'm ron paul. i approve this message. >> that was republican presidential candidate ron paul's latest tv ad in the early voting states of iowa and new hampshire. ron paul is one of the few republican candidates who has not had his turn as front-runner, but he's now polling in second in iowa and third in new hampshire. ron paul, the only anti-war and anti-torture republican candidate, is now the most eloquent anti-trump candidate. he issued this statement in response to the announcement that donald trump would moderate a republican presidential candidates' debate. "the selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will be watching is beneath the office of the presidency and flies in the face of that office's history and dignity. to be sure, mr. trump's participation will contribute to an unwanted circus-like atmosphere." yesterday congressman paul added this observation about the constant stream of desperate republican candidates going to new york

now tonight we're going to take a look at why ron paul is surging it with the youth could his foreign policy have something to do with it you know that same foreign policy of the establishment hates and says is a disqualification david sirota is going to join us for that one then today is day four of the pretrial hearing for bradley manning so we'll get details on what the press is and isn't being allowed to cover from kevin costner ola and catch back up with daniel ellsberg and what it all means for whistleblowers in america the north korea's leader kim jong il has died according to state news agencies and everybody is in a flurry to try and figure out what that means for the future but the problem is nobody really knows robert farley is going to help us hash all out of all that and more food and i couldn't go so happy hour but first let's take a look at the mainstream media has decided to miss. all right so there are some big news coming out about how voters in iowa are feeling ahead of the january third primary a new poll from public policy polling and a survey taken from december

could ron paul really snag the nomination? according to real clear politics editorial, not if the republican establishment has anything to say about it. what awaits the paul campaign if the candidate does manage a win in iowa and new hampshire? "if those two unexpected events do occur, then all hell will rain down upon the paulistas. the gop establishment will throw everything including the kitchen sink, the garage door opener, and two dozen pair of oversized baboon dentures at paul to keep him from becoming the nominee. but i'm getting ahead of my myself." it's still a big unknown who will win in iowa and new hampshire, but ron paul is no stranger to getting pummeled by the republican establishment. >>> and finally, date night for the first lady. you'll be surprised to find out i'm not talking about with the president. late last week, first lady michelle obama was donating gifts at a military base in maryland when one of the cadets mustered up the courage to ask that she join him at next year's marine corps ball as his date.

. >>> plus, ron paul with a fringe on top. you're hearing more and more about ron paul's fringe supporters and more about what he really thinks of gays and israel. meanwhile, on the under card, while no one was watching, rick santorum has been making a move. could it be that he's the tortoise raising in a pack of hares? >>> plus, it turns out it's not just the rich that get richer. so do those getting elected to congress. why has the personal net worth of the body gone up so much while everybody else has gone down? >>> and almost every american has seen this photo. it's the photo of elizabeth eckford trying to enter high school in little rock, arkansas, in 1957, after it was ordered to resegregate. but what most of us don't know is the fascinating story behind that picture and how she and the white girl screaming at her eventually became friends. we'll have that story for you later. and let me finish with why conservative republican voters in iowa can rally -- cannot rally around a champion to face obama. >>> we start with new

campaign to go and associate with the ron paul campaign. no one else knows about that conversation other than kent sorenson and myself. and i know what he said to me about that. >> sorenson says he went to the paul camp simply because ron paul has the best chance of beating mitt romney and president obama in his opinion. in a statement sorenson says quote as for the ridiculous allegations that congresswoman bachmann and her surrogates have made, i was never offered money from the ron paul campaign and would never accept money. >> was money offered to you by anybody from the ron paul camp to jump ship? >> absolutely not. the fact of the matter is that i did not accept any money from the ron paul campaign. i was never offered a nickel from the ron paul campaign. >> or anybody associated with it? >> never offered a nickel. >> we don't know what conversation if any a took place between bachmann and sorenson. but tonight there's another he said/she said conflict. sorenson's decision was no no way financially motivated. wes enos former iowa polit

the ron paul campaign. >> reporter: tonight the ron paul campaign denies that it paid anyone to defect from michele bachmann. tonight, the former campaign manager for herman cain who at one point was the frontrunner here in iowa said mr. cain has no plans to endorse any republican candidate. >> peter alexander in mason city tonight. thank you. >>> while the romney campaign likes its chances in iowa, the wild card continues to be ron paul. he's got momentum, organization and a fiercely loyal base of supporters. our chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd is traveling with the paul campaign today. he joins us now from atlantic iowa. chuck? >> reporter: good evening, harry. when it comes to ron paul there are two key questions. one, can he widen his appeal among widestream republicans and not just the closet libertarians inside the party? and two, does he have the infrastructure or is this a howard dean ruse from 2004 to win these caucuses and catapult him to new hampshire? at the core of ron paul's strength here in iowa, devoted followers like these who came fro

well the attacks against presidential candidate ron paul just keep on coming since ron paul's surge in the polls and i was seems the mainstream media has been focusing on kicking him down his stereo over newsletters his staff wrote decades ago but what about everything else the candidate stands for like his foreign policy which clearly separates him from the others and is clearly resonating with more and more americans today stopping the wars abroad shrinking government spending advocating civil liberties where's the discussion on all of this and the mainstream media well to discuss this i spoke to journalist michael tracey here's what he had to say. well the mainstream media frankly has never felt it necessary to afford ron paul substantive coverage it was only in the last two weeks when he ticked up so dramatically in the polls in iowa that they felt it necessary to visit him as they would any other candidate. ron paul actually has been leading the polls has been in the top tier of the of national polling for a good portion of two thousand and eleven and until now when it's actually

and a former ron paul staffer says, if you believe him, that paul believes israel shouldn't exist, and that the united states had no business getting involved fighting hitler in world war ii. needless to say the paul campaign says he's a disgruntled former staffer who was fired. while aaron mcpike is covering the 2012 gop race for real clear politics and steve kornacki is with salon.com. let's go to this interesting case of rick santorum. i have always believed that when you're in a crunch, erin, and you don't know what you're doing, you go back to basics. if you're a religious conservative, don't get your fingers dirty in this campaign. don't hold your nose. vote for somebody whose values you completely buy into it, and you'll always be comfortable for your vote, even if you don't pick a president. is that what's working for santorum, if anything is? >> he thinks that it is, but his poll numbers haven't budged all that much. he's starting to be tied with bachmann and perry, but the only two ads he has out in iowa are about him and social values and his record on social issues. and tha

he had this to say about ron paul. >> you look at ron paul's total record of systemic avoidance reality and look at his newsletters and then you look at his ads, his ads are about as accurate as his newsletters. >> ron paul on fox news friday defending the statements on his newsletter. >> i think the charge, could be a correct charge, is i was pretty negligent as the publisher of a newsletter not paying more attention. it's trying to portray me as the opposite of what i am, but i don't think it will stick. >> he's saying the only thing he was was a negligent publisher despite the fact that there's tapes and i played them when he said things were taken out of context, part of what he does, deliver babies for a living and has a political newsletter. i mean, come on, bob. >> i mean, first of all, we should note this is possibly the first time in your life that you've held up newt gingrich as a shining example, number one. >> as an example. it wasn't shiny, but go ahead. in any case, that you're expr s expressing an agreement with him. there's such an implausibility, translate probably lyin

ron paul versus obama, what a contest. >> with the newsletter controversy ron paul would not make a good candidate. liberals will run up against him. i have not read it, but have you have anti-semitic remarks and racist remarks. >> mark: he is running against a guy that is fundamentally most anti-israeli president. >> if you read the newsletters, it's really heinous the things that are in there. what is more problematic, what kind of person doesn't know what is in their newsletters letter for ten years and videos of him hawking to people. it raises the question, if you can't keep track of it. >> it's a ron paul newsletter. >> mark: kirsten, from your background you are giving the impression that you think actually your guy is in terrific luck this time? >> no. >> mark: wait a minute. the republican theme should be stronger than it is. and it's generic republican that comes one point ahead. if a generic republican was on the ballot he would do great. >> obama is in a weak position. look at his approval ratings. you see one that creeps up to 50 or 51 where he needs to be. his low approval

i think the ron paul guys put up with you. >> the other thing i was going say about paul is that if you have a situation where romney narrowly wins iowa and paul is second and gingrich a distant third, which polls are now reflecting or gingrich a distant third, you are going to have a situation very much like 1988 and 1992 in democratic primary. where the main candidate destroyed his main opponent and ran against somebody who couldn't win. mike dukakis win. bill clinton beat his opponent and coasted against jerry brown. john kerry beat john edwards and coasted against howard dean. you create a situation where they really won't be a incident grim-romney primary which is what you need to have at this point. ron paul will get in the middle of it. >> in virginia there is only going to be romney and ron paul on the ballot. everybody is off there. iowa is all about organization. that is why ron paul looks like he could win this thing, they are certainly organized. newt got this far on debate performance alone. at this point that won't be enough to carry him further? >> i think that is true. d