newt gingrich said he was for it. and even as recently as a year ago before the latinos in the united states. he came out with the policy that said he stands for amnesty for illegal aliens. >> bachmann pointed out no mention of the 25 years and law-abiding and the other qualifiers that newt gingrich is putting on it now. what about that? >> first thing, i think you have to acknowledge that speaker newt gingrich is the only presidential candidate in all of the years that i have followed politicings who will affirm that the united states has a sovereign right to define and protect its border. you never hear anybody else talk about that. and the other thing you hear speaker newt gingrich talk about. yen 20 13. he will have provided operational controls of the u.s.-mexico border. currently, you have the secretary and department of homeland security say we have 40 percent control. i am sorry, that is a failing grade . speaker newt gingrich is talking about operational control in one year's time. if you have operational con

and that's what newt gingrich's contention is. how can you be the party that's pro family and dividing the family? but the iowa governor, branstad, came out and tweeted this. newt did himself considerable harm in that caucus state. >> you know what? he did himself considerable harm maybe. and maybe he didn't. but i will tell you, with the overall electorate, he did himself considerable good. >> right. and overall, he probably did himself wonders with the hispanic community if he's looking to get them. >> i think so that's right. with a very strong conservative group of people, he did himself harm. with the overall electorate, he did himself a lot of good. of course, he has to get there first. >> let's talk a little bit about a third party, a third wave for voters out there. this topic continues to come up and i know that you have been very profound in saying that look, if you do not like who the republicans nominee is, you will consider a third party run as well. let's take a look at this latest poll or history that shows what hap

you and i have known for newt gingrich for over 20 years. you walk around with newt gingrich, and he always has a live hand grenade in his pocket. you never know when it's going explode. >> you want that in a president, steve? do you want a president with a live hand grenade in his pocket? >> i'm not so for sure, but for the last couple months it's not det take it. he's looked good. i've gone through his economic program, and i think it's excellent. he sounds very much like a modern-day jack kemp. it's an appealing message. >> a pro-growth message with substantial tax cutting as part of it. is that what you like? >> tax cuts, personal accounts for social security. one of the things i love, he wants to get rid of the congressional budget office, the bane of existence. he has innovative ideas, very attractive to conservative republican voters. >> joe, do you share this enthusiasm? >> no, i don't think so. i think gingrich has his schtick. >> schtick? >> real fundamental change, paul, dramatic change. this is the most important election since 1

voters and newt gingrich. 21%, 14% to newt gingrich. >> clayton: 41%. so newt gingrich and ron paul tied for second place that that poll. >> dave: that's a lot of distance. newt gingrich is the 6th person to lead the polls if you include donald trump going all the way back and seems a little reactionary. i can't imagine mitt romney isn't just furious this morning over how hard he's worked in that state. >> clayton: possibly, but isn't it like lobbying to get class cuty. >> alisyn: which i did. >> clayton: but you did. who is going to make the decision on school council. would you mind-- a they sat down with candidates and discussed things with them. and they may have agreed to news gingrich's position. and herman cain in the wake of everything with milwaukee, sitting down that with that editorial board. he close to cancel the meeting with the union ap canceled it and back on again. no more editorial boards for a little while until i figure out what's going on with libya. >> alisyn: speaking who is praising gingrich's strengths. strange politics makes st

newt gingrich's timing is quite good. this is when john mccain started to make his move four years ago, around thanksgiving. this is a big deal. newt gingrich is a threat to mitt romney which, has got to be concerning the romney camp especially this is the second time romney has been snubbed by this newspaper. bill: besides that what does it mean for mid romney conversely? >> i think romney will have to --, he doesn't panic. when rick perry got in the race and his numbers went up they didn't panic. they're going very steady. they contend whether herman cain or rick perry orbach bach they have been steady. if you look at early numbers in various states romney is still well-positioned. bill: his whole idea do well in iowa and win new hampshire and go on from there. what do you make of the statement, the one who tells us what we want to hear? >> yeah, that's a real biting shot at romney and that's what democratic national committee has been going after on romney as far as being genuine and they make the case, listen, we don'

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-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 ho

newt gingrich holds the lead in several polls. mitt romney within striking distance, despite spending relatively little tomb in the state. tomorrow, conservative leaders will be there to discuss who will be the anti-romney candidate. why is there so much resistance to romney? joining me is the publisher of safey review dot-com. and justin, doug, welcome. doug, the perception has been that eventually romney will get it. but, you know, he has a lot of baggage, it seems. there is the anti-romney movement just refuses to go away. why? >> well, because romney's not a social conservative, eric. he has flip-floppedflopped on an and on climate change. he is somebody who, as the union leader endorsement put it, is somebody who tells you what want you want to hear, rather than what you believe. with 62% of iowa being social conservatives, mitt romney is in a much weaker position today than he was last night. and i think it's likely with this endorsement that the anti-romney sentiment will begin to galvanize around gingrich if only because h

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

newt gingrich has actually done that. and in this race, he offers the best shot of doing it again n. new hampshire, gingrich is far behind. in a recent poll, 18%, compared to mitt romney's 36.8%. gingrich's team is hopeful, saying 80% of the voters don't focus on the race until christmastime. the former house speaker has been surging to at or near the top in many national polls of g.o.p. voters. the campaign spokesman says that the man chester union leader was among the first to champion ronald reagan. newt gingrich has solidified his hold as the conservative frontrunner in the 2012 race. another g.o.p. candidate, explained gingrich's sudden popularity this way. >> it proves, chris, how fluid and unpredictable new hampshire is. people are just beginning to pay attention and coalesce around the candidates. >> reporter: gingrich has come under fire for an immigration policy. candidate herman cain has a very different approach on that. >> the way i would deal with those who are already here, which has been my stated position

>> i think newt gingrich survived through persistence. the only thing not known about newt gingrich is they balloted the budget cut taxes and reformed the major entitlement program. i think he solidified himself as a nonromney candidate. i think in large part because of what kelly said. he was inok rated fr -- inocula from the candidates listed pawlenty fox and perry and cain. >> would you go back to work for him? >> i am not going to rule anything out but i am not going to announce anything. people who follow politics feel we can lose perspective. he h we had an avalanche fall on the campaign. i took the short view and thought terp dead. newt took the long view and started to sis descend the mountain again. >> i have 30 seconds left because of this terror bust i am short on time. do you think he can sustain the momentum with the press ma'amering about him every day about the divorces the hypocrisy about making the money from freddie mac? >> it may em bold enhim a bit. the candidate that the grass-roots feel is being put upon unfairly the

newt gingrich picks that up. you see, whenever a conservative candidate gets into a little bit of trouble and does poorly. then a little portion of their support goes to another conservative candidate. we have been seeing that since the rise of michele bachmann last summer. tonight, greta van susteren has an interview with mrs. cain. and i'm looking forward to seeing that. who is going to stick up for her husband and going to say, listen, this is all politics and there is nothing to it. not the man i know. that kind of a thing. if herman cain with ride out the next week without these people harpooning him in a way that matters. they can't keep saying the same stuff over and over. they have to advance the story. he can come back. does that impact on newt gingrich? mitt romney stays the same in all polls. >> i disagree. mitt romney has moved ahead slightly. newt gingrich has moved up some. in fact, i think it was nbc "wall street journal" each of them had moved up a points. i do think this about mr. cain if can rid

i think newt gingrich has been consistent. i think ultimately he was out earlier and he said some very nice things about rick perry who is one of the losers. we can say from the debate. >> laura: why do you think rick per i can't was a loser in last night's debate. >> newt gingrich said it could have been me and everybody has those moments and it's true. people have those moments. the difference is gingrich is consistently good. this is his forte. this his venue. this is the thing he likes to do. perry not so much. he doesn't want to debate. when he has a bad night it just reminds people he doesn't like to debate. he has a hard time eking out a statement and saying what he believes coherently. voters are responding to it and that's why he keeps sinking in the polls. >> laura: people are going to think i'm nuts here but i think perry had a good night until the gaffe. one of his better performances, people say is he not a good debater. probably right. he didn't want to do many more debates but changed their position on that a co

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,

why did newt gingrich get your endorsement? >> we said it's not going to be enough to replace the current occupants of the white house. we don't need more government. we need a wholesale sale change of government. gingrich has a track record that he has done that and can do it. >> gregg: are their specific positions that speaker is advocating or is it his record as a conservative or both? >> i think it's both. there has been a lot of talk lately about his position on immigration. you folks have correctly reported that it's no change for him. i've seen in the media that gingrich is walking back his position which is somebody has been in the community for a long time, you don't throw them out. that makes sense. that is the ronald reagan position. it's a lot better than what we have now. >> gregg: here is what you wrote. newt gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate but republican primary voters too often make the mistake of preferring an unobtainable ideal to the best candidate who is actually running. in this incredibly imp

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

it's good for newt gingrich, but it's not going to deliver him the nomination. he has to be in iowa, and south carolina and meeting voters. >> already michele bachmann is attacking gingrich over what she calls his schilling for freddie mac collecting $1.6 million in the process. would you expect the attacks to begin to escalate now that the former speaker has vaulted from the top of the pack? >> i would be surprised if it didn't escalate. you should see a pile on both mitt romney because that is consistent over the last debates. he is still the front-runner, then you would see a lot of candidates to pile on newt gingrich. the other candidates have a lot to work with. you mentioned the freddie mac thing, there are a lot of other things in gingrich's past on flip-flopping. the other candidates have a lot to work with. >> gregg: let's jump into one of them. gingrich's think tank has paid $37 million by the health care industry. according to gingrich, here is what they got in return. we'll put it up on the screen. they got to visit with a really important guy who re

gingrich. >> brian: newt gingrich? >> steve: that according to real clear politics.com. >> juliet: coming up, michelle bachman greeted by the b word. the words to this song, it's one despicable word after another. this is jimmy nationallan's band. johnny carson wouldn't have done this. when did this kind of behavior become acceptable? there are a lot of people freaking out about this. peter johnson, jr. taking a look at that. >> brian: i'm sure doc severonson lobbied for it. indiana's pride, they will perform at the national anthem right here on "fox & friends" and wearing those same outfits. ♪ diabetes testing? it's all the same. nothing changes. then try this. freestyle lite® blood glucose test strip. sure, but it's not gonna-- [beep] wow. yep, that's the patented freestyle zipwik™ design. did it just-- [both] target the blood? yeah, drew it right in. the test starts fast. you need just a third the blood of one touch.® that is different. so freestyle lite test strips make testing... easy? easy. great. call or c

>> i hope so for newt gingrich. but a lot of things happened back then that maybe they would want him -- >> we also had welfare reform and a balanced budget. >> and he also proved that he understand votes are in the middle. he's to the left. >> and the immigration comment? >> and also healthcare. he's for the individual man date. >> the end of the day i think more conservatives will hold their nose and vote for romney than independents will hold their nose and vote for newt in a general election >> let's go to the ad on former governor palin that came out today. >> we need sudden and row relentless reform and that will return power to we the people. we need people with a proven record of reform. i served in public office in state that had core bankruptcy problem. i fought that. i took on a lot of corrupt and compromised middle class. the challenge is not to replace obama in 20 is it 11, the real challenge is who is what will we replace him with? >> i think she's made her decision. we all know that. will her endorsem

, for making illegal immigrants citizens. >> i thought it was newt gingrich's finest hour frankly. it may hurt him in the short-term, but the reality is the next president is not going to order the deportation of 12 million people. >> even one million. >> american people won't stand for it. a or draconian laws that force people to leave. and newt gingrich should have credit for wanting an adult discussion for this and not an applause line. >> and a candidate looking beyond the primaries to a general election where the republicans will need some hispanic support in order to defeat barack obama and if newt gingrich seems to be the only one who realizes, dan. >> and that can be said about the national security issues as well. obama has not been horrible on 0 national security. he had bob gates as defense secretary and leon panetta as ceo and replaced him with david petraeus and continued the drone wars and i think what romney is doing is positioning, as well as gingrich, positioning themselves at this point. first of all, it looks like they're going to be the two candidates and they'r

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

some decided they prefer newt gingrich. talking to him personally. they have said coming through out they don't know who they are going to vote for. there will be more debates. they will extend the attacks ads against romney but he will be able to make his case. there are legitimate criticisms of gingrich. the thought that he is going to attack him from the right and conservative i think that will not be credible. >> we should point out one of debates phil was talking about is the fox debate. it look the last before the iowa caucuses january 3rdrd. when we come back a super failure as legislative gridlock rules the day in washington. [ morgan ] the super bowl. the most epic day in america. and the end of a journey that began here... ...when the swipe of a visa card... ...gave one man the chance to bring happiness to ten friends, including the knuckleheads at the car wash. those are super bowl tickets? yes dude! you're going to the super bowl! [ morgan ] use your visa card for a chance to win. to see more of the story, visit our facebook page. i wish

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

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

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

and will those two groups resolve to mitt romney or look to someone else like newt gingrich. time is running short, less than two months to iowa. >> paul: dorothy you wrote this week, you think that newt gingrich could be the number one challenger and maybe the nomination. >> i believe not only because of romney's weaknesses which are considerable because he has not lost that sense of, wanting the presidency so much, and to put it blandly, that he would say anything. we have on the one hand a bunch of people who would not run for this office, on the other hand-- >> about whom you're very fond, i know. >> on the other hand we have mr. romney who has this record which he keeps repeating. what he did in ohio after everything, after all of the talk about his waffling, to have backed out on that union business was very-- >> that's a vulnerability for ram any. why gingrich? if he was ruled out three months ago? >> i've had enough male on this, telling me anybody who is exposed to gingrich on the campaign trail, who listens to him, he has an extraordinary flow of substance, ringing

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.

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

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

we start with the apparent gop front-runner right now, newt gingrich. david gregory is the moderator of nbc's "meet the press." and howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and "the huffington post" media group editorial director. david gregory, great to have you on. we'll talk about "meet the press" coming up this weekend. but let me ask you about this whole thing. don't you think just in a psychological way, what do you think it does to mitt romney, who's been running for president since the last time to realize that newt gingrich is now the preferred candidate of the republican party, with all newt's baggage. i mean, totally, objectively, he's carrying so much baggage, serial marriages, moved out by his own caucus for the speakership. and here he is back as if none of that happened. >> i think it's troubling for romney. at the same time, i think there's a level of resignation in the romney campaign, that their campaign was not predicated on setting the electorate on fire. by being this charming historical figure. this was going to be a different

>> i hope so for newt gingrich. but a lot of things happened back then that maybe they would want him -- >> we also had welfare reform and a balanced budget. >> and he also proved that he understand votes are in the middle. he's to the left. >> and the immigration comment? >> and also healthcare. he's for the individual man date. >> the end of the day i think more conservatives will hold their nose and vote for romney than independents will hold their nose and vote for newt in a general election >> let's go to the ad on former governor palin that came out today. >> we need sudden and row relentless reform and that will return power to we the people. we need people with a proven record of reeeerrrrr i served in public office in state that had core bankruptcy problem. i fought that. i took on a lot of corrupt and compromised middle class. the challenge is not to replace obama in 20 is it 11, the real challenge is who is what will we replace him with? >> i think she's made her decision. we all know that. will her endor

we'll have to see where newt gingrich stands two weeks from now for instance. and does that help romney? is he able to gain momentum? >> shepard: karen, thanks. the iranian-backed terror group, hezbollah has reportedly dealt a major blow to our cia. we'll talk to a former cia official about what may be a breach. >> plus, one worker at a major retailer says the company's black friday plans could ruin thanksgiving. now nearly 200,000 people say they agree. the black friday backlash is coming up. >> shepard: this is studio b bottom of the hour. new details about the trouble at that now bankrupt brokerage firm mf global the one time new jersey governor and senator jon corzine ran it until it went bankrupt last month. the trustee overseeing the firm's bankruptcy says a lot more money is missing from customers' accounts than originally reported. 1.2 billion dollars. that's double what firm officials first told the government. investigators say they are looking into whether mf global took money from investors to cover trading losses. fbi is also investigating whether

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

. >>> newt gingrich gets a big nod. what's the political fallout after one newspaper endorses the former house speaker? 2012 strategy talk. a look at how the math shapes up for the reelection for obama and how it fares in key state. >>> big news on black friday, the latest numbers show what some people call a surprise. the holidays at the white house, a new book looks at how past families celebrated there. we'll show you never before seen pictures. >>> good morning everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." it's 10 a.m. in the east, 7 a.m. in the west. let's get to one of the most coveted endorsements in the presidential election. the new hampshire union leader is endorsing newt gingrich for president. the paper calls him an innovative and forward looking leader. we'll go there in a minute. >>> michele bachmann is taking on newt gingrich and his immigration policy. at a book signing in iowa saturday, the congresswoman cited a letter signed in 2004 by several republicans, including gingrich. supporting george w. bus

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

we start with the apparent gop front-runner right now, newt gingrich. david gregory is the moderator of nbc's "meet the press." and howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and "the huffington post" media group editorial director. david gregory, great to have you on. we'll talk about "meet the press" coming up this weekend. but let me ask you about this whole thing. don't you think just in a psychological way, what do you think it can does to mitt romney, who's been running for president since the last time to realize that newt gingrich is now the preferred candidate of the republican party, with all newt's baggage. i mean, totally, objectively, he's carrying so much baggage, serial marriages, reprimanded from the house of representativess, basically moved out from his own party caucus from the speakership. and here he is back as if none of that happened. >> i think it's troubling for romney. at the same time, i think there's a level of resignation in the romney campaign, that their campaign was not predicated on setting the electorate on fire. by b

that's right behind, though, newt gingrich who's at 23%. herman cain next with 18%, then you have rick perry, ron paul and michele bachmann rounding out the top six. jon: and the candidates all tackling foreign policy and national security issues in their debate last night with gingrich and romney looking like the ones to beat. joe trippi, the former campaign manager for howard dean and a fox news contributor. what about this john thune endorsement? he is considered, as we said, a rising star. he was thought to be a possible presidential contender himself. >> yes, jon. it's significant because romney, romney's sort of a weak front runner who kind of needs to get back, i mean, he needs these kinds of endorsements to keep momentum, particularly in iowa, where he's started to really look like he's going to play there, and i think the thune endorsement will help because of his strength with conservatives and, also, the proximity to iowa in defeating daschle next door. it's important, i think there are a lot of iowans that pay attention. jon: i

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

these what they have on newt gingrich. they have to go after him personally and his personal history. megyn: let me stop you. is it not relevant? if he's married three times and left the first two wives after cheating is that not relevant to this race? >> sure it's relative in politics if you have a history like that. he'll have to do some explaining, i don't doubt that. whether it's conservatives supporting mitt romney or newt gingrich i think gingrich will be in good stead. if he squares off against president obama he'll do very, very well. he'll outclass him on every level. newt gingrich is a very, very capable man and politician. he has a very powerful intellect. he has nine books, they are not all about himself unlike the president of the united states and i think he'll square off very, very well. here is a guy who worked across the aisle when he was speaker of the house with president clinton in balancing the bulge jet. those are two characteristics that will go a very long day. megyn: do you think the gop voters or

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