hold on. >> newt gingrich. and i think tonight we saw the first newt gingrich, the more positive newt gingrich who sort of had a vision and took on ron paul, and the patriot act debate, it was very, very interesting. the intellectual newt, but he was appealing which is something i don't think he's really been before. i think it's probably because he's more relaxed and he's doing better in the polls and people like him. i think he was more likable this evening. >> i think speaker gingrich came into the debate with the most to lose. i want to see how the immigration debate plays out. herman cain was asked a question about syria and started talking about the u.s. economy that to me is a sign of his weakness when it comes to commander in chief test. thanks to our panel. that does it for this edition of "360." you can see the debate in its you can see the debate in its entirety, next. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪ here's where we deliver steady income - month after month. what's it going to be this month

will it be the intellectual newt gingrich unafraid or the sour, nastier newt gingrich that is not likeable? i think the first newt gingrich was at your debate last night. >> certainly he surprised all of us, given where he was over the summer. everyone thought his campaign as it was beginning was already over. all of a sudden, the new polls show he's right in the thick of things. >> what a testament to the power of the debates and the way it changes the way they run for president. >> we'll see if this last debate winds up helping or hurting him. don't go too far away. we have a lot to discuss. the candidates were united in slamming the tsa. some calling for profiling of muslims. also, a sharp clash over the u.s. military mission in afghanistan. act my age? -why? -why? -why? [ female announcer ] we all age differently. roc® multi-correxion 4 zone moisturizer with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you. the sleep number bed. with the sleep number bed, it's not about soft or firm. it's about support where you find

newt gingrich, 27%. romney, 20%. paul, 16%. on down the line in single digits, cain, bachmann and santorum. moving to new hampshire, romney 33%, gingrich 22%. paul 12%. single digits again, cain, undecided and huntsman. okay. couple questions. is newt gingrich a serious contender at this point? >> i think the endorsement of "the union leader" makes him a serious threat to mitt romney potentially in new hampshire in ways that he might not have anticipated and we'll see what happens in the polls in the next few weeks. i think in iowa it is easy to say newt's on top but that contest comes first. he has a lot of explaining to do on the immigration question. he has a lot of explaining to do on other issues. support for t.a.r.p. which he then took back. his position on climate change. his position on the ryan medicare plan. a mandate for health care. advanced directives for health care. he has a lot of answering to do in iowa before those caucuses are counted -- the votes are counted on a cold january 3rd night and i think that ultim

interesting thing, perry couldn't take on newt gingrich. newt gingrich is newt gingrich. he'll surprise you and you never know which newt gingrich will throw up. the unafraid or sour, nastier newt gingrich that is not likeable. i think the first knute bring ri ging /* gingrich was at your debate. >> all of a sudden, new polls show he's right in the thick of things. >> it's changing the way you run for president. >> we'll see if this last debate winds up helping or hurting them. don't go too far away much woo. we have lots to discuss. and the candidates calling for profiling of muslims? and a clash of military position in afghanistan. [ male announcer ] sometimes, a hint is all the wrapping a gift needs. is that what i think it is? ♪ [ male announcer ] the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer for exclusive lease offers on the 2012 is 250 and, as a gift from lexus, we'll make your first month's payment. congratulations. congratulations. today, the city of charlotte can use verizon technology to inspire business

>> i'm newt gingrich. >> i, newt gingrich. >> do solemnly promise to continue to be a good speaker. i promise that my book will be way less boring than al gore's book. >> for republican committee roast in 1995, newt gingrich is back about me now. you have a sense of humor about yourself. >> you have to or else you'd go crazy. >> you have thick skin as well. you seem like the classic just economy but jobs in particular. how get americans back to work. that will be the battleground. where do you think you have the answers that barack obama doesn't have? and also, where do you think you differ, if you do, from the tea party and their aspirations in that area? >> well, first of all, i think with obama, he's the best, most effective food stamp president in history. more people are on food stamps thanks to his policies than any other time. i'd like to be the best paycheck president. the contrast is dramatic. >> it is harder with an entrenched and republican trying to steal our every move. >> we second. first of all, bill clinton was president. and republican speaker who had to figure out

mitt romney and newt gingrich. listen to what romney is now saying about newt gingrich. >> he and i have very different backgrounds. he spent his last 30 or 40 years in washington. i spent my career in the private sector. he's a lifelong politician. i think you have to have the credibility of understanding how the economy works. and i do and that's one reason i'm in this race. >> he spent 30 or 40 years in washington. he's a lifelong politician. on the other hand, mitt romney's a business person. the gloves are a little bit beginning to come off. >> it's about time. look, this is supposed to be a change election. all the issues will boil down to the economy and so, mitt romney has to offer that contrast and it is an absolute joke for newt gingrich to stand here and talk about he's an outsider when he is an ultimate insider. this whole deal with all his institutes and these organizations, he's trading on the level of influence in the nation's capitol, so it's smart for romney to go after him aggressively. >> you use

hold on. >> newt gingrich. and i think tonight we saw the first newt gingrich, the more positive newt gingrich who sort of had a vision and took on ron paul, and the patriot act debate, it was very, very interesting. the intellectual newt, but he was appealing which is something i don't think he's really been before. i think it's probably because he's more relaxed and he's doing better in the polls and people like him. i think he was more likable this evening. >> i think speaker gingrich came into the debate with the most to lose. i want to see how the immigration debate plays out. herman cain was asked a question about syria and started talking about the u.s. economy that to me is a sign of his weakness when it comes to commander in chief test. thanks to our panel. that does it for this edition of "360." you can see the debate in its entirety, next. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivi

>> i'm newt gingrich. >> i, newt gingrich. >> do solemnly promise to continue to be a good speaker. i promise that my book will be way less boring than al gore's book. >> for republican committee roast in 1995, newt gingrich is back about me now. you have a sense of humor about yourself. >> you have to or else you'd go crazy. >> you have thick skin as well. you seem like the classic washington bruiser, able to deal with all the slings and arrows that get chucked at you. >> this is a free society. i'm allowed to have an opinion. other people are allowed to have an opinion. i relax and try to live it up. >> the key thing of the next election is going to almost certainly be not just the economy but jobs in particular. how to get americans back to work. that will be the battleground. where do you think you have the answers that barack obama doesn't have? and also, where do you think you differ, if you do, from the tea party and their aspirations in that area? >> well, first of all, i think with obama, he's the best, most effective food stamp president in history. more people are on food

newt gingrich, 27%. romney, 20%. paul, 16%. on down the line in single digits, cain, bachmann and santorum. moving to new hampshire, romney 33%, gingrich 22%. paul 12%. single digits again, cain, undecided, and huntsman. okay. couple questions. is newt gingrich a serious contender at this point? >> i think the endorsement of "the union leader" makes him a serious threat to mitt romney potentially in new hampshire in ways that he might not have anticipated and we'll see what happens in the polls in the next few weeks. i think in iowa it is easy to say newt's on top but that contest comes first. he has a lot of explaining to do on the immigration question. he has a lot of explaining to do on other issues. support for t.a.r.p. which he then took back. his position on climate change. his position on the ryan medicare plan. a mandate for health care, advanced directives for health care. he has a lot of answering to do in iowa before the counts on the cold january night. iowa could be a muddled picture where there's an anti-mitt romn

prestige of newt gingrich. prestige of the speakership of the house. that's what they're selling. it's the newt gingrich signed gavel and newt gingrich framed certificate and the party where you're allowed or guaranteed you'll be allowed to be near newt gingrich. it is the letter you get from the desk of speaker newt gingrich. and today we have learned that it's not just small businesses and doctors who've been suckered into the whole access to newt fund-raising spam scam. it's big companies, too. today "washington post" reports that the newt gingrich's health care think tank, the center for health transformation, collected $37 million over the past 8 years from some of the biggest health care companies in the country. companies like astrazeneca and blue cross blue shield and ge health care and wellpoint. all of these companies would pay newt's for h-profit health care thing, $200,000 a year in membership dues. what would they get for their membership dues money? in part, they'd get special access to the former

the thing about newt gingrich though, you never know which newt is going to show up. when you interview him or when he's on the campaign trial. during the debates, he's often seen as the adult in the room. he uses the press as his foil a lot, but now that he's under the mike scope, we're going to have to see how he reacts to the stories. >> he's really doing well in new hampshire. 40% say they like romney, gingrich is at 11%. cain, 8%. you see the numbers there. almost a resident of new hampshire, mitt romney. does this make iowa the first contest even more important? >> yeah, it makes iowa much more important and i'm going to show you some more numbers because take a look at this. iowa is really a very, very close race. according to a new iowa poll taken by bloomberg news. you can see the top four candidates there are really bunched together. with cain at the top, but that can change. iowa is the first time that really votes are cast and some campaigns have to win iowa or the money's going to dry up. i think that would be michele bachmann or rick santorum. and romney

gingrich, i guarantee you, is taking a hit tomorrow morning when the polls come out. >> newt gingrich played its mark as far as immigration is concerned. >> not for the right. >> he's going to have to get the latino vote. there will have to be some kind of a play from the republicans for the latino vote. when he talked about family and said that people that have been here, you cannot up rig them when they have roots in the community and are contributing to society. jim moore, i find this to be very interesting because net romney did say that opening. we are talking about amnesty. he says i am not going down that road. would there be a political upside for not being pressed on this? >> and there is in the general election because it will help him with hispanic voters. here in texas people have been beating each other up in the republican party and on the right about immigration for years and years. to treat people humanely. i think it is presumptuous{ on the part of new to toss this out this early because it presumes that he is going to do well and is likely a nominee. >> he was kind o

cain votes. >> newt gingrich is well-known. it's the carry on kind of baggage. people know about his past. they know about his mistakes. they know about the scandals he's been involved in and because of that, conservatives who are still looking for an alternative to romney, they might park temporarily in the newt gingrich camp, but i still believe that some of the others may have an opportunity to move up. >> what do you think? >> you had it right on your blog. it's not predictable at this point. what is to be sure, is the bigger the field, the better for romney. worse for him rather. so -- >> his latest developments have been good for gingrich. not so good for romney. but we'll talk about that later. thanks very much. the "cafferty file" is up next, then at the top of the hour, mitt romney secures three key endorsements in one critical state. could he also be securing his front-runner stat or not? with less chronic low back pain. imagine living your life with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymba

is there a new, more mature, newt gingrich. if there is a new newt and people are convinced of that, i think he'll give romney a run for his money. on the other hand, if it people conclude he's a right wing sort of erratic, bully kind of person, who is -- you know, who says really -- and can hurt himself, then i think his chances of getting there are quite slim. >> david gergen, david erickson, thank you so much for joining us. we're on facebook and google plus. add us to your circles. >>> up next -- new violent clashes in egypt. military police battling protests, tear gas and anger in the streets. a truce lasting just three hours. the military says it wants peace. we're keeping them honest. >>> also tonight, the latest on the penn state sex abuse scandal. jerry sandusky's lawyer spobds to new allegations reportingly coming from members of sandus sandusky's own family. >>> john, amazing video from new zealand where a helicopter crashed as a pilot was helping to set up a christmas tree. incredibly, the pilot survived this crash.

you get that sense with newt gingrich. i hesitate to say this one's going to last when it comes to this search for the anti-romney. but i thought you put it very well. i think the conservatives that are not sold on romney, that are basically looking for anybody but romney won't be embarrassed by gingrich. there was a sense that, well, cain may embarrass me by supporting him. maybe rick perry embarrasses me because i don't like the fact that he's not coming across as bright as he should be. newt's not going to embarrass me if i support him. i think that does matter to a republican electorate that's paying very close attention to this race and really wants to win but wants to do so on a set of princeles. >> john, you're a deep south southern, evangelical by your religion. you can answern't go with herman cain anymore. he's getting more embarrassing every day. he keeps changing his story about him. you've got romney who's certainly not acceptable to you because he's a rhino who keeps swapping back and forth. and then you have

there is an unromney and his name is newt gingrich. take a look at new polls that came out, first the -- let's look at the first poll first. mitt romney on top 23% and then newt gingrich at 19%. he has moved into that unromy position. he is sliding it with herman cain. and then you see ron paul and rick perry. this poll, we should note, is interesting in that it was taken in part after the gop debate on wednesday night when rick perry had that big oops moment. so that potentially has hurt him in this race for the gop nomination. now to the cbs poll which also confirms newt gingrich in a near front-runner status. herman cain there at 18%. mitt romney at 15%. not good news for mitt romney there. but newt gingrich right there at 15%. so what is old is newt in the race for the gop nomination. he has been bouied by the debate performances. you see him go after the media. conservatives love that. >> he's been slow but steady on the increase. he is clearly moving up. rick perry's been massively involved in what we call damage control. >> he h

>> no, never. >> how big a problem is this for newt gingrich? >> anderson, i think this is neither a tempest nor a teapot. i think there's any number of people who have worked for these companies and given advice to them, which is what newt acknowledged he did. he said he didn't lobby for them. i think it's problematic the 2008 interview where he said president obama should return the money. obviously that's a little inconsistent with him keeping the money. but on the day that the debt topped $15 trillion, who newt gingrich worked for i don't think is a significant issue in the debate. there's a lot bigger issues this country is wrestling with. >> hilary, there's nothing wrong with lobbying if that's what he was doing. is this a big deal? >> of course it is because it piles on top of year after year of newt gingrich's sort of saying one thing and doing another. and this just proves it. you know, for two years he made it his number one priority to trash president obama and barney frank and other democrats for their handling of freddie mac and fan

>> no, never. >> how big a problem is this for newt gingrich? >> anderson, i think this is neither a tempest more a teapot. i think there's any number of people who have worked for these companies and given advice to them, which is what newt acknowledged he did. he said he didn't lobby for them. i think it's problematic the 2008 interview where he said president obama should return the money. obviously that's a little inconsistent with him keeping the money. but on the day that the debt topped $15 trillion, who newt gingrich worked for i don't think is a significant issue in the debate. there's a lot bigger issues this country is wrestling with. >> hilary, there's nothing wrong with lobbying if that's what he was doing. is this a big deal? >> of course it is because it piles on top of year after year of newt gingrich's sort of saying one thing and doing another. and this just proves it. you know, for two years he made it his number one priority to trash president obama and barney frank and other democrats for their handling of freddie mac and fa

newt gingrich campaign. newt gingrich still doing more than a third of his upcoming events as book signings and dvd screenings. running for president it turns out is a great way to sell your stuff. the whole idea behind newt's stuff, the whole idea behind newt incorporated is that you should want to buy newt gingrich books and should want to buy newt gingrich dvds and want to pay thousands of dollars to get fake awards from newt gingrich enterprises because newt gingrich is such an important and very serious man. that is the whole marketing concept behind newt gingrich incorporated. and that dovetails really nicely with running for president because if you're newt gingrich, running for president sort of givings givings you a justification to talk about yourself in rather grandiose terms. for example, late last week at an event in michigan, mr. gingrich was asked about judges. dave wiegel at slate.com was at the event and quotes mr. gingrich as responding this way. "if you go to newt.org, you'll see an entire

but newt gingrich is different. newt gingrich is different from all the rest of these pachinko ball front-runners for five minutes. newt gingrich is fun to cover in his moment in the sun here. because newt gingrich has been around in politics in one incarnation or another basically forever. to trace the origins of the eyebrow raising stuff that newt gingrich is promoting now that he's the presidential front-runner, go back to newt gingrich's old cassette tapes. remember cassette tapes? for all viewers younger than me, this is a cassette tape. used to have boom boxes and machines in our cars that would play these things and sometimes your car would mess it up and the tape could get tied like this. one of the things newt gingrich did when he was on his way to becoming speaker of the house newt gingrich -- look, i broke it. no, there it goes. he took over a republican organization called go-pac and he would send republican coaching cassette tapes to republican candidates for office all around the country. not just peop

newt gingrich raises to. top. >>> i will talk about that race with the republican candidate rick santorum. we will also discuss what he calls the horrific and devastating scandal of his alma matter, penn state university. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in the situation room. >>> but first, a stunning new shift in the republican race for the presidency. our new polls shows gingrich gained 14 points since october. that puts him in a virtual tie for the lead with mitt romney. herm yan can dropped 11 points. that puts him in a battle for third place right now with rick perry. ron paul and michele bachmann follow with jon huntsman and rick santorum rounding out the field. herman cain's plunge comes as he struggled with allegations of sexual harassment going back pour than a decade. now herman cain's wife is speaking out, but she isn't the only one. cnn's joe john says tracking the latest developments for us. and there have been many joe, what's the late snef. >> with herman cain losing status in the polls, the latest pe

newt gingrich did a fine job tonight. it was interesting to see michele bachmann is the one person who did take a swipe at him on the immigration issue and challenged him going down the same path that torpedoed rick per perry's campaign a few months ago. newt took a body blow. i'm interesting to see if that makes movement in the polls. overall newt had a very grasp of the issues and he's going to probably stay solid in the polls at this point in time. >> ron, let me stay with you on this immigration question, because it seems to me that newt gingrich found a new way of talking about it. perry's way of talking about it was obviously disastrous within republican party politics. but you heard some new sounds and some new angles from gingrich on this. has he found a way to make this more open notion about what might be possible in immigration policy, acceptable to the republican primary audience? >> well, certainly he brought -- he packaged his position in a much more palatable mode. whether or not, there are a lot more repub

check out newt gingrich. his website has shiny, new explanations for why he's changed his positions on the health care mandate, on global warming, on t.a.r.p., on what he called paul ryan's right wing social engineering medicare plan and luckily for newt, all of his new positions line up nicely with the conservative republican primary voters. well, also the veto -- >>> the video that went viral this weekend. campus police pepper spraying peaceful occupy protesters out at uc davis in california. the university's police chief was placed on administrative leave today and many students are calling for the university's chancellor to step down. >>> and look who has decided to take a chance on iowa, mitt romney. he may be trying to win it all up front, but if he loses out there and loses big, it could be all over for mitt. >>> finally, let me finish tonight with why i think november 22nd, tomorrow, should never be a day to remember john f. kennedy. >>> we start with the super committee's failure to reach a deal toda

herman cain's loss in the polls is newt gingrich's gain. since the last insider advantage iowa poll three weeks ago today, herman cain dropped 13 points and newt gingrich gained 13 points. that poll has newt gingrich way out ahead of the field in iowa. similarly in the latest rasmussen poll in iowa, again, three weeks ago, to last week, herman cain dropped 15 points and newt gingrich gained 23 points. looking at the overall national polls is sort of interesting for the atmospherics of the race. maybe it's helpful for fund-raising. you have to look state by state in order to get a true sense of who might win the nomination because we choose the nominees state by state and state by state the same principle for now seems to be holding. when cain drops, gingrich gains. in new hampshire, a rasmussen poll, a conservative leaning poll, we've seen over the last month herman cain dropping by 12 points, newt gingrich rising by 16 points. public policy polling which is a left leaning firm, they took a really interesting approach to this question. they

look at newt gingrich. newt gingrich is tied with mitt romney for second place in this poll. a new poll out today by marist and mcclatchyn, trailing romney by four points. newt gingrich's poll numbers started at nil but are pointing up. rick perry self-emulated and we're watching the art project known as herman cain self-emulate as well, it's not surprising that the beleaguered republican primary voters of this year will turn to yet another candidate begging them to please not be mitt romney. they've gone through this with donald trump now and michele bachmann, rick perry, herman cain and expect them to do this with everybody in the field except for rick santorum. nobody's going to vote for rick santorum, come on. the idea of a newt gingrich surge is almost as absurd as people googling rick santorum and saying, i like what i found here, i'm going to vote for this guy. if you know nothing else about newt gingrich, what is the other notable thing that's happened to newt gingrich since he's been running for president this year? what's the one other thing? back in june, remember,

is there a new, more mature, newt gingrich. if there is a new newt and people are convinced of that, i think he'll give romney a run for his money. on the other hand, if it people conclude he's a right wing sort of erratic, bully kind of person, who is -- you know, who says really -- and can hurt himself, then i think his chances of getting there are quite slim. >> david ger again, erik erickson, thank you so much for joining us. let us know what you think at home. we're on facebook and google plus. add us to your circles. >>> up next -- new violent clashes in egypt. military police battling protests, tear gas and anger in the streets. a truce lasting just three hours today. the military says it wants peace. we're keeping them honest. >>> also tonight, the latest on the penn state sex abuse scandal. jerry sandusky's lawyer responds to new allegations reportedly coming from members of sandusky's own family. >>> first, let's check in with isha sesay. >> john, amazing video from new zealand where a helicopter crashed, who was help

>> newt gingrich might just have it, timing. just as former house speaker surges in the hol polls he is also getting key endorsements. for starters the new hampshire editorial leader is backing gingrich. they say he has improved washington before and in this race he has the best shot of doing it again. this conservative stamp of approval can do a long way in helping gingrich, especially at a time when many conservatives are taking aim on his stand with immigration. >>> sarah palin, remember letter? she could throw her supported behind gingrich as well. one suggest, atds to palin, say gingrich is the most likely to score her endorsement. and it is not just conservatives who have nice things to say about newt gingrich. former president clinton praises gingrich in an interview with a website news max. calling gingrich articulate. saying he tries to think of an idea that will solve a legitimate problem. that's a clinton quote. he suggests that it will make independent voters take a hard look at him. all of this has to be keeping mit

we start with newt gingrich. howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and the "huffington post" media group editorial director. and melissa donohue is now a fellow with the eisenhower institute. the new hampshire leader endorsement had a subtle slap at romney. "gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate. we would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear." boy, that is a shot. howard, tell me about this. this is an endorsement that doesn't mean you win, but it means what? >> well, you don't want to get in the gun sights of the union leader. and it's clear that mitt romney is right there. sure, joe mcquaid, the publisher and president, who i spoke to just a couple of hours ago to ask him about the endorsement is thinking behind the endorsement. and the first thing joe mcquaid said to me was, did you see "saturday night live" last week, in the skit that they did about mitt romney? that's the one where the comedian plays mitt romney and mitt r

is there a new, more mature, newt gingrich. if there is a new newt and people are convinced of that, i think he'll give romney a run for his money. on the other hand, if it people conclude he's a right wing sort of erratic, bully kind of person, who is -- you know, who says really -- and can hurt himself, then i think his chances of getting there are quite slim. >> david gergen, david erickson, thank you so much for joining us. let us know what you think at home. we're on facebook and google plus. add us to your circles. >>> up next -- new violent clashes in egypt. military police battling protests, tear gas and anger in the streets. a truce lasting just three hours. the military says it wants peace. we're keeping them honest. >>> also tonight, the latest on the penn state sex abuse scandal. jerry sandusky's lawyer responds to new allegations reportedly coming from members of sandusky's own family. >>> john, amazing video from new zealand where a helicopter crashed as a pilot was helping to set up a christmas tree. incredibly,

newt gingrich did a fine job tonight. it was interesting to see michele bachmann is the one person who did take a swipe at him on the immigration issue and challenged him going down the same path that torpedoed rick perry's campaign a few months ago. newt took a body blow. i'm interesting to see if that makes movement in the polls. overall newt had a very grasp of the issues and he's going to probably stay solid in the polls at this point in time. >> ron, let me stay with you on this immigration question, because it seems to me that newt gingrich found a new way of talking about it. perry's way of talking about it was obviously disastrous within republican party politics. but you heard some new sounds and some new angles from gingrich on this. has he found a way to make this more open notion about what might be possible in immigration policy, acceptable to the republican primary audience? >> well, certainly he brought -- he packaged his position in a much more palatable mode. whether or not, there are a lot more republica

but newt gingrich is different. newt gingrich is different from all the rest of these pachinko ball candidates for five minutes. newt gingrich is fun to cover in his moment in the sun here. he's been around politics in one incarnation or another basically forever. to trace the origins of the eyebrow raising stuff that newt gingrich is promoting now that he's the presidential front-runner, go back to newt gingrich's old cassette tapes. remember cassette tapes? for all viewers younger than me, this is a cassette tape. used to have boom boxes and machines in our cars that would play these things and sometimes your car would mess it up and the tape could get tied like this. one of the things newt gingrich did when he was on his way to becoming speaker of the house newt gingrich -- look, i broke it. there it goes. he took over a republican organization called go-pac and he would send republican coaching cassette tapes to republican candidates for office all around the country. people running for dogcatcher. if you were a

this is the best day of newt gingrich's life. for newt gingrich this is a 13-point surge just since june when his entire senior staff quit en masse saying he wanted to sell books and dvds, and the staffers didn't think they were to help hulk ster his products and they walked. these poll results are a slap in the face, right? mr. gingrich celebrating his new top position in the polls tonight by doing a dvd screening in iowa. quote, newt and calista screen nine days that changed the world in carroll, iowa, at 7:00 tonight. this is newt's dvd about the pope. if you look at the events tab, you see lots of things like that. tomorrow night calista gingrich will hold a book signing at webster city, iowa. later that day both newt and calista screen a documentary in massachusetts, because that's such an important republican swing state, massachusetts is. on saturday calista will be signing books at the hooray for kids book sfor and they sign books at books amillion in naples florida. this is what newt gingrich lists as hi campaign events.

newt gingrich on the defense again. new reports he was paid tens of millions of dollars by the health care industry. ♪ do you believe in magic? [ male announcer ] there's just something about werther's caramel that makes a chocolate so smooth and creamy, you don't just taste it, you feel it. ♪ magic [ male announcer ] werther's original caramel chocolate. what comfort tastes like. >>> embarrassing and potentially dangerous security slip-up in australia. brianna is joining us in bali in indonesia. what happened? >> hi, wolf, the sidney herald is reporting the president's visit to australia's capitol the middle of this week, it was found lying on the street, obviously not where it was supposed to be by the paper's national security reporter. it included details, such as phone numbers for top administration officials, australian military officials and detailins even down to the seating arrangement of the president's motorcade and which door of his limousine he would be getting into and out of. it's unclear how signific

after a big new hampshire endorsement for newt gingrich. joining me the roundtable is here, doris kearns goodwin, jon meacham, michael beschloss, rick lowry and michael eric dyson. up next after this brief commercial break. wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012

could it really be newt gingrich? jon stewart captured the iron of that news on "the daily show" last night. let's watch. >> the scandal has taken its toll on the cain campaign. reports are now emerging that he might be considering withdrawing from the race which i strongly discourage him from doing. i've already lost trump. i can't lose you, too. if these allegations of sexual improprietary derail cain, who will benefit. >> herman cain was already losing altitude in this race. where do his votes go? >> they go to newt gingrich i think. >> what? so voters leave cain because they don't like that he had an affair and go to the guy who had two of them. i guess newt gingrich becomes the candidate for people who like herman cain but think he was too monogamous. [ laughter ] >> well, look, the only candidate saddened by cain's downfall besides cain is mitt romney. here's junts man speaking for the happy survivors. quote, we've got real issues to talk about, not the latest bimbo eruption. well, this whole shebang has been li

. >> newt gingrich, who has had a history of infidelity? i mean, this is the question. >> look, here's the unfortunate truth. the unfortunate truth is that there's many politicians out there that are survived sex scandals. go back to bill clinton and so forth. that's not the real issue. the real issue is whether or not the american people are comfortable with a candidate that has some of these issues. when you take a look at herman cain, there was an interesting phenomenon, the 9-9-9 plan, very simplistic, overly simplistic but the american people, according to the polls said, this is something here because for the first time throughout this presidential campaign so far, someone is talking directly to me. so you can't dismiss that. >> right. but let's be honest about herman cain, i actually think -- i think what we do in this business more and more is confuse what happens on cable in a 24-hour cycle with something that's of lasting interest to the american public. i don't think it is. i think we occasionally show something that has legs. bu

"for president, newt gingrich." now, it is not shocking that "the union leader" would endorse somebody other than mitt romney despite what you heard about this weekend and today. this newspaper, in fact, seems to dislike mitt romney. they spent the entire presidential primary season basically ripping mr. romney to shreds, running editorials like this one every few weeks. "the more mitt romney speaks, the less believable he becomes." ah. so the biggest new hampshire paper not endorsing mitt romney, given how we know they feel about him, that's not a big surprise. the big surprise is why this newspaper's publisher said that newt gingrich got the endorsement instead. listen. >> gingrich is going to have a better time in the general election than mitt romney. i think it's going to be obama's 99% versus the 1% and romney sort of represents the 1%. >> occupy the gop primary! i sort of think congratulations are in order here. anybody who doubted the effectiveness of the occupy wall street movement, doubted what they might

check out newt gingrich. his website has shiny, new explanations for why he's changed his positions on the health care mandate, on global warming, on t.a.r.p., on what he called paul ryan's right wing social engineering medicare plan and luckily for newt, all of his new positions line up nicely with the conservative republican primary voters. well, also the veto -- >>> the video that went viral this weekend. campus police pepper spraying peaceful occupy protesters out at uc dave this california. the university's police chief was placed on administrative leave today and many students are calling for the university's chancellor to step down. >>> and look who has decided to take a chance on iowa, mitt romney. he may be trying to win it all up front, but if he loses out there and loses big, it could be all over for mitt. >>> finally, let me finish tonight with why i think november 22nd, tomorrow, should never be a day to remember john f. kennedy. >>> we start with the super committee's failure to reach a deal tod

you look at newt gingrich, you wouldn't say that about newt gingrich. he wouldn't say that about others, but, again, here you have the only guy supporting, supporting paul ryan's plan. the only guy that is rock solid, prolife, prosecond amendment gun. it's a joke. these people don't -- >> they don't want to win. >> it becomes all about symbolism. >> when it comes to the endorsement of manchester union leader. >> by the way, we will continue to call it manchester union leader. it is the manchester union leader. >> it does not have the one caveat that the publisher of that paper looks for. the ability to truly annoy the left. that's what he looks for. >> is that it? >> newt gingrich has the ability to truly annoy the left as well as to really touch up mitt romney. >> he also, though, he cannot win. newt gingrich can't win a general election. >> that's the thing, on top of it. >> he can't win the new hampshire primary. >> he won't win the new hampshire primary. this is the uother amazing thin. he has the conservative record on nine out of ten issues. newt

newt gingrich campaign. newt gingrich still doing more than a third of his upcoming events as book signings and dvd screenings. running for president it turns out is a great way to sell your stuff. the whole idea behind newt's stuff, the whole idea behind newt incorporated is that you should want to buy newt gingrich books and should want to buy newt gingrich dvds and want to pay thousands of dollars to get fake awards from newt gingrich enterprises because newt gingrich is such an important and very serious man. that is the whole marketing concept behind newt gingrich incorporated. and that dovetails really nicely with running for president because if you're newt gingrich, running for president sort of givings you a justification to talk about yourself in rather grandiose terms. for example, late last week at an event in michigan, mr. gingrich was asked about judges. dave wiegel at slate.com was at the event and quotes mr. gingrich as responding this way. "if you go to newt.org, you'll see an entire paper o

>> some candidates are stepping in it, newt gingrich is stepping it up. what's old is newt. he's back. >> it is a wide open race. >> consider campaign road kill over the summer, newt gingrich is peaking at just the right time. he is leaping ahead of herman cain in a new poll and falling within the margin of error for the lead in another poll from cbs. the former house speaker may be scoffing at his numbers. >> all of this effort to create a two-man race when it was perry and romney. >> reporter: he already has a new racer line attack for mitt roxny. >> you're not running to be super governor. this is more complicated than being governor. >> reporter: the campaign lost its luster in may surrounding the tiffany's jewelry chain. but he hung on and serving up red meat filled debate performances along with a tax on the immediate gentleman. >> i have yet to hear a single reporter ask a single rational question about the economy, who's going to pay for the park you're occupying if there are no businesses making a profit? >> reporter: he's also benefited from the clouds hanging over

it could be the current gop poster boy, newt gingrich. but with so many republicans saying anyone but mitt, isn't newt the logical choice? so the obama campaign right now is focusing its energy and charges at mitt romney. it's a win-win strategy for them. help newt knock him out now or finish him off yourself in november. the dnc has put out a second anti-mitt video in two days. this one taking romney to task for his dishonest ad last week, and wait until you see stephen colbert's takedown of that romney ad. it's in the sideshow. finally, let me finish tonight with this exit of barney frank and this rise of newt. talk about bad tidings of the season. >>> we start with the possible end to the herman cain campaign. dana milbank is a "washington post" columnist and satirist, and jim vandehei is editor in chief for politico. it's very hard -- let me go to the hard news reporter now for the entire organ of politico. jim, thank you for joining us. you've got the entire resources of politico working this story, i assume. yesterday cain said he w

four months ago, if we were on talking about the renaissance of newt gingrich, newt gingrich as the hot, young thing in the republican presidential race, we would have laughed a lot more than a republican convention. this is an unpredictable electorate in an unpredictable election cycle. i would agree 100% with susan. it's not going to happen because the republican party poobahs won't let it happen. >> this is the scariest vision i've come across since ebenezer scrooge spotted jacob marley on his doorknob. thank you, chris and susan. >>> up next, mitt romney's campaign released an ad last week which clearly took the president's words out of context, in fact, i think totally distorted them. and now susan -- susan? now stephen colbert has taken his revenge. that's coming up in the sideshow. colbert to destroy romney. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ knock on door ] cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage onli

newt gingrich tweeted this. he invited his followers to take a tweet down memory lane and then there was a clip from a 2007 romney interview on "meet the press." here's that clip. >> my own view, consistent with what you said, those people that have come here illegally and in this country, the 12 million or so here illegally, should be able to sign up for permanent residency or citizenship. >> now, we asked the romney campaign for a response to that and they sent out a more complete quote from that interview. let's put that up on the screen so we can read that to you. right after that clip that you just saw, romney goes on to say in that same interview, but they should not be given a special path way, a special guarantee that all of them get to stay here for the rest of their lives, merely by virtue of coming here illegally. it appears that they took romney's quote out of context but when asked if gingrich did just that, the romney campaign did not want to go there because they admitted that they took the presid

after a big new hampshire endorsement for newt gingrich. joining me the roundtable is here, doris kearns goodwin, jon meacham, michael beschloss, rick lowry and michael eric dyson. up next after this brief commercial break. >>> we're back with >>> we're back with our political roundtable. joining me editor of the national review rich lowry. author and professor at georgetown university michael eric dyson. presidential historian doris kearns goodwin. executive editor of random house jon meacham and presidential historian michael beschloss. welcome everybody. hope you had a good thanksgiving. the great thing about thanksgiving is you get everybody around the table, and unless you talk about food, you might get into politics and the big issues that were discussed. let's get into it. this race is getting very, very interesting. we mentioned it all morning, the "union-leader" of new hampshire endorsing newt gingrich in new hampshire. america's at i crucial crossroads. we're in a critical need of innovative forward-looking strategy and positive l

he gives us jack abramoff on newt gingrich next. breathe robert, out of your mouth. [ male announcer ] that onion after taste after you again? new crest complete with scope dual blast technology blasts away bad breath germs and food after tastes. new crest complete with scope dual blast. blast your way to fresh breath. >>> for the second day in a row a poll shows that newt gingrich is the leader of the republican presidential field. the economist ugov poll has him at 23% and cain 21%, romney at 19% and ron paul 7%. rick perry at 6%. michele bachmann is at 5%. as newt gingrich knows, a surge in the polls means more scrutiny. he acknowledged as much in a warning to a tea party crowd in jacksonville this afternoon. >> in the next three weeks, i predict you will have all sorts of questions about me, and it's fine. i will cheerfully answer every single question they ask, and at the end of it you will be relatively convinced, i believe that i did no lobbying of any kind. i did no influence pedaling of any kind but the truth is if you have