of course the endorsement of newt gingrich. they say gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate but we would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what we think they want to hear. that is clearly a slap to mitt romney. >> we're proud of the strong endorsements we have in new hampshire. we have governor and a lot of strong conservative support in new hampshire. >> you know, governor romney knows this is an important election and he wants to take his message directly to each voter. >> i want to ask you about a bloom berg article. >> is -- with that history, is that similar to what we are seeing now in the match up between newt and mitt romney on immigration? >> governor romney discussed his position on immigration and illegal immigration extensively in the last campaign. that's nothing new. he proved that he does not support amnesty or illegal immigrants cutting in line between those who are trying to come to this country lawfully. if you look at his record, he vetoed for illegal immigra

a young woman was saying she liked newt gingrich. i asked, you didn't mind all the stuff that didn't happen during clinton? she said i was in fifth grade. so that's a reminder that a lot of time has passed, but there will be a huge focus on it. the magic of e-books, it was just two weeks ago we were able to do an interview with the former speaker. he said there he was the only person that didn't recognize he wasn't dead. he said he was happy for the staffers who left that we saw covered on the show. he said they were running a compare from 25 years ago worried about things like dirty tricks in south carolina, based on the fact that he has a much younger wife. >> that's a great point. this is one of the lessons of this cycle. you don't need a big campaign. if tim pawlenty were driving around in an suv somewhere, we might be the front-runner. yet he was at the front of the pack. he says he hayes focusing on social media. you know the former speaker is never shy. he said watching his campaign is like watching ray crock build pluck donal

third, newt gingrich has a long record on this issue. this was articulated in a fresh way last night, but it's not a new position for newt gingrich. and finally, mitt romney himself in 2006 expressed some sympathy for positions similar to what newt gingrich said last night. and ultimately underlining this entire debate, andrea, is that most people who really think about it understand, even conservatives who have -- want a hard line on immigration. we're not going to kick 12 million people out of the country, so newt gingrich was expressing that. >> at the same time, on afghanistan and troop withdrawals and the whole divide in the republican party between those who are a little bit more isolationist and those more aggressive, you had jon huntsman trying to get tougher with mitt romney. let's watch. >> governor huntsman, do you agree with governor romney that the u.s. has to stay in afghanistan at these levels? >> no, i totally disagree. i think we need to square with the american people about what we've achieved. we need an honest convers

. >> let's talk about the other candidate in the news is newt gingrich. what we are now learning courtesy of bloomberg in the "washington post" and other reporters is that he had a huge role in terms of the gingrich group, the money that he was able to earn advocating for things that are very controversial with conservative republicans, including the prescription drug benefit which was unpaid for. >> we found out earlier this week at.6 million according to bloomberg -- >> we've got 1.8 million. >> 1.8 million for freddie mac. $37 million to the center for health transformation. another gingrich aligned group from as astra zeneca, blue cross blue shield. all of these things remind us and voters that newt gingrich has been around for a very long time and he is fundamentally a creature of washington. why did all these people pay him all this money? i know newt has said it's for his historical perspective. that's what he had to say earlier in the week. but we know that it's because he knows how washington works. >> he knows who to call. >> that's not necessar

it's quite possible that newt gingrich will weather this. he has about a dozen for debates where he does quite well to move past this as he's moved past earlier controversies in this campaign. >> he's been incredibly resilient. let me show you another issue which is today's washington times, a conservative journal here. this headline is gingrich campaign platform at odds with planks from the past saying he made accommodations with bill clinton that the deficit reduction and balanced budgeting he was doing was with democrats in congress and, you know, obviously also republicans in congress when he was speaker. but also with a democratic white house. >> right. he was critical earlier this year of the ryan plan which is very popular within the republican party. so there is a series of land mines we haven't even talked about the money from tiffany's, the revolving line of credit there and questions he had to answer about that. as stuart indicated as he becomes a more serious candidate the questions will keep coming. to say that he has baggage is

and newt gingrich in south carolina today has reacted. here's what gingrich had to say. >> i think it's a very difficult situation for he and his family. my heart goes out to them. i hope that he reaches whatever is the right decision for them. and beyond, that i'm not going to have any comment. i think it's his decision to make. he has to do what he thinks is best. >> so, gingrich staying out of the way as the other candidates are. >> right. >> but clearly, this is a decision time for herman cain pp, candidacy which was already, we should point out, already in significant trouble. >> thank you. that was the point i was going to make, andrea, which is this is someone who has his 15 minutes which appeared to have run out a few weeks ago. the polling suggests he's dropping. he's not dropping like a rock, but gone from 25 to 15. interesting point. you don't see conservative talkers, rush limbaughs of the world rushing to defend him as you did when the original sexual harassment allegations came out. herman cain said, here we go again when re

gingrich. >> what about the fact that n nayisna naysayers would say newt gingrich doesn't have a lot of money, at least didn't until this bump in the polls. he's doing a book signing and one of his movie pre views which some rg u have been the main focus rather than real grassroots organizing. >> you asked a lot of questions there. let me get to a couple of them. in terms of money, we raised money. we raised more than $1 million last week. we'll be very competitive on the money front. as i mentioned, we have a team down here in south carolina, nine people, the largest cam taken staff of candidates in south carolina. we have a team in new hampshire and we'll be announcing the team shortly in iowa. so we will have the ground team and the financial resources to make a run. you talked about losing part of this team. i've been working with speaker gingrich for nine years. they were campaign consultants but with one exception. when they left his entire team remained, so we've been with them over the course of the summer. we've been adding staff and certainly as we grow in this campaign, we

this is kind of newt gingrich's turn to be the flavor of the day, week or month. we'll see how long that lasts. it's a testament to how reluctant the party is to settle behind mitt romney who is seen as not conservative enough for the party's base, the fwhbase t dominates the iowa caucuses. >> i think what mike murphy and ed gillespie were saying on "meet the press" is whether this 25% for mitt romney is a floor or ceiling. >> it's an interesting question. there's something about him that is making republicans, rank and file republicans around the country unwilling to close the sale. four years ago, john mccain faced a bit of this problem. his mother, roberta, thought the republicans would have to hold their nose and take him. it may well be something like that happens with mitt romney. then the question, of course, how enthusiastic would the base be in the fall and the general election and how hard, if they would work for him and support him. >> one thing you write about in "vanity fair," the thing that makes iowa different is one of mcgovern's young aids sketche

it's a pretty big gap between mitt romney and newt gingrich. and new hampshire voters might be asking what is the real newt gingrich because he's been talking about himself as a washington outsider at the same time he says that his washington inexperience helps him to become a leader. which is it? >> there's a lot going on in new hampshire. several polls, last week, magellan poll had romney and speaker gingrich 22-21 respectively. there are a lot of polls coming out. obviously the suffolk poll was an in-depth poll. the reality is that on the ground there's definitely a lot of momentum picking up for speaker gingrich. we're seeing a lot of volunteers coming in the doors. the recently launched a website newhampshire.com. we had over 350 people sign up and vol fear. we have people filling out all the different volunteer opportunities and things like that all over the state. there is definitely a lot of momentum here. we're seeing a lot of people coming from other campaigns who are changing their support to speaker gingrich's campaign and it does s

newt gingrich is written off early to a glitter bomb at a book signing and now gingrich has newt ment um as he is moving up in two new polls. they want a job. the postal service employs more veterans than any other civilian employer. but congress is debating a bill that would force the postal service to fire tens of thousands of vets, close post offices, shut mail processing plants, and disrupt mail delivery. drastic cuts won't fix the postal service and aren't needed. tell your representative to vote "no" on house resolution 2309. it's time to deliver for our veterans -- and america. what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. ♪ oh,h, oh give me your war face! ca♪ iom yo♪ raaah! [ ou darrd inoh,h, oh give me your war face! ca♪ iom yo♪ raaah! fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido >>> "news nation" is following developing news in the penn state investig

this was newt gingrich in the debate last month. >> put in by the federal government. if you want to put people in jail, i want to second with michele did. start with barney frank and chris dodd and look at the politicians who created the environment and the politicians who put this country in trouble. >> he's been going after democrats for being hooked up with freddie mac for some taking campaign contributions and criticized barack obama for taking campaign contributions. and all the while he earned 1.6 million -- or $1.8 million from him. our friend david gregory last week gave chris dodd a chance to respond and also martin bashir. >> you should go to jail, the former speaker of the house said. >> i know. >> you and barney frank. how do you react? >> i should be flattered i suppose. >> the republicans are the ones responsible for fannie mae and freddie mac during the bad times try to blame us. two l words, lobbiest and liar. >> does newt just ignore all of that and portray himself as a washington outsider? >> the always subtle barney frank, andrea. i think there are

there's more buzz about newt gingrich now. i'm thinking about how four years ago, john mccain was written off like newt gingrich has been lately, and mccain made a come back and got the nomination. newt is looking better by the day to a lot of republicans. >> with newt looking better and better to a lot of republicans as perry's declined, does perry go after newt? what does rick perry do to try to regain some momentum? >> i think all of them are going to focus more on mitt romney than one another for this reason. each of them wants to be the alternative. at this point there's a vacuum in the republican field as to who the alternative to romney will be when you get to caucuses and primaries. everybody needs a piece of the vote on the stage except what romney has. they want to show they can be the strongest candidate against romney and the person best in a general election race other than romney. >> dan, is it to herman cain's advantage to say i've said all i'm going to say, i never did anything wrong and i'm not going to distra

rick santorum wouldn't be effective, newt gingrich would be a good president but not sure if he can get there. michelle bauchman scares him. what ice cream did he say she would be? >> tooti fruiti. >> it shows the personality. pizza and politics at the gq table. the issue comes out in december next week, i guess. thanks for previewing it with us. and ftaxes are still the bigges sticking point. >> he is confident he could get support to change tax rates. >> i am convinced if there is in fact an agreement that it can pass. the offer that the republicans put on the table is a fair offer. reforming the code is a step in the right direction. the details of how we get there are dwroet be worked out. >> indeed yet to be worked out. democrats have said that the republican proposal is dead on arrival because it would lower taxes for the rich. democratic congressman is a democrat, of course, and a member of the super committee. and today you told reporters that you are pragmatically opt omystic. why? >> because we have seen a solution put on the table before, whether it was the simpson commission

that's the same territory as ron paul, below newt gingrich. can rick perry come back? he's got the money. we've always assumed that meant he had a chance. but you know, did his first impression -- was it so lasting, so negative with a lot of voters who were excited about him that he can't fix the problem? i think that's an emerging story line. >> chris cillizza, 12 months out and less than two months from iowa and we'll talk to you later about all the other implications. thanks so much. chris cillizza with our daily fix. >>> and the question of when life begins is being put to a vote in mississippi. the so-called personhood amendment could trigger a legal battle over everything from abortion to birth control. pete williams has more. >> if it passes, it would be the toughest anti-abortion law in the nation by far. not merely restricting access, but outlawing it. the initiative would change the state's definition of a person, someone entitled to legal protection to include, quote, every human being from the moment of fertilization. advocates say medical science has come

newt gingrich kind of coming to cain's defense saying i don't know exactly what happened but if it's the media following down this path, it's wrong. what do you make of all of this? you have followed the circus that is the presidential campaigns for a long time. who wins and loses in this? >> it depends on what the facts are and the facts are getting worse not better. murray is right when he said the blame game is an inside baseball game. the perry campaign has been definitive for not having dropped this on politico. the question is what happened and how herman cain is dealing with it. yesterday, you have someone who claims was working as a lobbyist for the national restaurant association who claims to have been an eye witness to the sexual harassment that earned the payout for the woman who left and was one of the sexual harassment charges and the other is a iowan radio host who said in the source of the campaign he acted inappropriately to two of his staffers. those are facts coming closer to rather than documentary evidence to eye dwitness evidence. >> it's the old you're entitled

i'm expecting a boomlet for newt gingrich next and possibly santorum as well. it seems like every candidate has their day. >> and in new hampshire, is jon huntsman at all viable as a real challenger to mitt romney? >> well, you know, it's just hard to see any evidence yet that he is making a really strong play in new hampshire. he is trying to make a strong play. he's putting all his marbles there. you see him creeping up in some of the polls. but it's really hard especially against someone like mitt romney who has invested so much time and money and effort in that state. people up there joke he could be the third senator from new hampshire. he's well known. he's well liked. he's put a ton of time and money in there. so i think, really, at this point, given what we're seeing for jon huntsman it would have to be a gamble that he makes and a gamble that he wins. >> nick, thank you very much for joining us with your reporting on the romney campaign. >>> up next, is iran on the verge of a nuclear breakout? y? the atlantic's jeffrey goldberg next. [ male announcer ]

he is campaigning as newt gingrich. his stump speeches go on for an hour or more. he has this sort of quirky set of issues he talks about, things like brain research or setting up social security accounts for college kids, that you know, again, they're these kind of unusual ideas, but he remaally convinced this is going to give him some momentum. i think at this point, he's definitely a long shot, but the size of the crowds and the enthusiasm of the crowds that i saw in south carolina were really remarkable. >> well, you never know, especially this campaign year. karen, thanks so much. great to see you. >> thank you, andrea. >>> and more trouble ahead in greece is tanking markets around the world. >>> plus, eric cantor tried to avoid the occupy protesters. how's that working out for him? send me your thoughts on twitter @andreamitchellreports. ! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the