a lot of people are talking about mitt romney -- florida being mitt romney country. newt gingrich could do very well down in florida. he's already cultivating ties with the cuban-american community and mitt romney will have a tough time explaining his opposition to the dream act, which is a bill that would lead to a path to citizenship for young latinos in this country. newt gingrich said he's in favor of portions of that bill. mitt romney said he would veto that act and newt gingrich would be very popular in the central part of the state. that's sarah palin country and sarah palin, she sort of endorsed newt gingrich here in south carolina. so buckle your seat belts. >> candy crowley is at romney headquarters. it was interesting to hear governor romney's speech tonight, talking a lot about obama, but he did throw a few references towards newt gingrich, though not using the candidate by name. we anticipate that is going to change in the next couple of days. he's squarely got to go after newt gingrich, right? >> reporter: and it's clearly one thing he told me and talki

mitt romney by far spending the most. this is mitt romney on television ads. $2.7 million. to buy 30 seconds of advertising in south carolina is $300. now, here are our four candidates, going on to florida. mitt romney's campaign has already spent $2.4 million on television ads in florida. when you d in the superpac, $4.9. that's going to buy him a lot of ads. some of his ads are already playing in florida. he's got an ad airing in spanish. the real question is, you go to newt.org tonight, what does it say? we want a million dollar money bomb, trying to get more money to buy advertising in florida. but right now, mitt romney is the only one with the television presence in that state and it's an expensive state. >> it's not cheap to buy those 30-second commercials. i want to go over to peter right now, one of our political reporters, doing an outstanding job for us. take us inside, peter, the romney camp right now. they must believe so upset, so frustrated. a few days ago they were poised to win in south carolina and didn't happen. >> reporter: that's right. i can tell you r

mitt romney is doing well. let's echo candy's point. this was an impressive win for mitt romney. he was polling in the last few days. he's going to get at least 38%. based on what we see right now. he can claim a victory. why is this important? 70% of the people in new hampshire live here. they call it the gold triangle. ports smith on the sea coast, down to manchester, nashua. 70% of the population here. close to the boston media market. romney is winning them all. if you check in on some of the places, he's winning most of these more than state-wide. this is his margin of victory, close to massachusetts. as you note, also an impressive note, as he throws in the map for ron paul. orange. might look pink to you at home. all the other candidates say he's not a main stream republican. he continues to prove he's a factor in the race. at the moment, the buffer between mitt romney and everyone else. huntsman began this thinking he would stumble in iowa, falter in new hampshire, but 17% wasn't what they were looking for. we leave new hampshire, romney is 2-0. we go on now to south caro

not because mitt romney is the front-runner, because mitt romney was ahead or mitt romney had a good campaign. mitt romney winning new hampshire was a foregone conclusion because historically speaking, new hampshire couldn't have been won by anybody other than him. because he's the guy from massachusetts. the guy from massachusetts, whether a republican or democrat, always wins new hampshire. in 2004, john kerry, in 1992, paul songas, michael dukakis, henry cabot lodge, john f. kennedy. when a massachusetts politician is running for president it's a safe bet they will wine in new hampshire. they will win. there are two exemptions to the rule. two exceptions to the massachusetts guy winning in new hampshire in modern political history. 1980, jimmy carter got a primary challenge from the left from inside the democratic party from ted kennedy, ted kennedy was from massachusetts, he did not beat the incumbent president in that new hampshire primary. that is kind of an exception but was an incumbent president, not really. the only other exception to the massachusetts guy not winning in ne

to try to stop -- to make him stop attacking mitt romney, specifically for mitt romney's business record. don't run the when mitt romney came to town attack ad about his economic record in the private sector, stop saying things and get on board. private equity executives our kind of people, shut up, newt gingrich. this is the test. is there an anti-establishment right wing populist insurgency that matters or was the whole tea party story line much ado about nothing. has nothing changed between 2008 and 2012? joining us is dave weigel, dave, thanks for being here i'm sure you're tired after all your days on the campaign trail recently. >> i'm been woken up by watch t tiny heads. >> john mccain's heads are almost this size. >> they are two dimensional. in terms of your thesis, was that the overall point you were trying to make that the same dynamics driving the republican party's decision making last time around are still driving it now, that nothing really has changed? >> that is what was surprising to me. i almost in making the comparison, probably peddled how well mitt romney is doing.

i'm going to take out mitt romney. benefits it was about selling books and being able to write off vacations we could take and meet people and to maybe increase my speaking fee but now i'm going to do some damage. >> what's interesting, we have seen people -- we've seen people go after mitt romney in debates and relatively hard charging. i mean you know -- gloves off kind of thing but he hasn't really been barraged with negative ads. la is the big test and is anyone going to do that in the next round. >> there's lots of -- >> of course, there is. >> who has the money to do it? that's the real question. rick santorum is going to spend money on clearing the rest of the anti- -- the non-mitt romney people. so no one has the money to attack romney right now. but on these debates that are coming up this week, you're going to see gingrich is going to blow through every question and immediately -- >> frankly, that's whobl what he'll do. he will profoundly and frankly go after mitt romney. >> i read the speech as i will try to

what romney fears, what is nasty to mitt romney, is blanketing the airwaves with attacks showing mitt romney saying one thing and saying another, saying one thing, saying another, saying one thing, saying another. none of his competitors have had the money to do it to him. those who have had enough money to get on the have been attacking the anti-romney. newt gingrich, in addition to getting hammered by the super pacs got hammered. so for newt, for mitt romney, this has been the nicest, cleanest campaign one could possibly imagine. >> so is this going to be the campaign, nastiness coming from the super pacs. this was through december 30 p. ron paul ran almost 2600 ads, half attack ads. the pac that supports romney ran 1,746, all negative and most were aimed at gingrich. so, is that what we're looking at here? we're looking at the candidate who the nasty evidence thing he says is, you lied about something and let the pacs do the dirty work? >> absolutely. he gets down to a plausible deniable. he gets to say, pacs, i don't know those guys, i by law can't communicate with them. the super

mitt romney doesn't get it. he doesn't get it because actually he believes that the american people are just jealous of rich people. listen to what he told matt lae lauer. >> anyone with questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country is envious, is this about jealousy or fairness? >> i think it's about envy, class warfare. >> are there no fair questions about distribution of wealth without being seen as envy, though? >> you know, i think it's fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like. >> in quiet rooms? you folks down here on the blue line, be quiet, go behind closed doors, don't say anything about those vultures up on top who have seen their income go up over the last 30 years, 340%. don't do that. of course mitt likes quiet rooms and closed doors. held, he hell, he doesn't want to show the tax returns. 66% of the country say there is a conflict between the rich and poor. mitt romney doesn't want to talk about it. he said they are filled w

stick around in case something happens to mitt romney or something is done to mitt romney that takes him out. still be in the race when that happens. >> they're all "break glass in case candidate implodes" candidates. and the little elephants break the glass, here i am, you know? and if you're huntsman, you're seeing everybody else has moved up and down and moved up and down. he's still waiting for his moment. so maybe the point is, if he stays in long enough, something happens. >> let me ask you one last question, chuck, you look at rick santorum, jon huntsman, newt gingrich, rick perry, who has not been a factor in new hampshire, but will be a factor in south carolina. all of these candidates who not only have their own campaign resources, but have access to quirky billionaires who may or may not be their dad, who may or may not want to give them money to carpet bomb in the next couple of states. is there any difference in strategy from any of those four toward mitt romney, or are they all on board with the mitt romney corporate raider attack that we've seen newt gingrich play up s

mitt romney's camp is actually running anti-mitt things in florida already. >> we'll have mitt romney and ron paul on this here four-hour program this morning. so put down the clicker because we got a big day and we start with some headlines. >> the mother of the prime suspect in a wave of arson fires in los angeles says her son is mentally ill. dorothy burkhart repeatedly demanded to see her son as she arrived yesterday. she's facing charges unrelated to his case and had no clue he had been arrested and charged with setting more than 50 fires in the hollywood area. he's expected to be arraigned today. his mother who reportedly runs an exotic massage business faces deportation to germany where she's reported for not paying for breast enlargement surgery. two bomb scares on a new york bound flight. the plane diverted last night after someone abandoned the phones in the plane's bathroom. no one claimed them. the pilot landed immediately. later, a passenger fessed up to forgetting the phones. that person was questioned by the feds. no charges were filed. we told you about this yesterday,

romney, show me a poll where ron paul beats mitt romney anywhere. >> he's within two points of mitt romney in those very polls, when pitted against barack obama. >> no, okay, that's just a poll. you're not going to -- okay, you're going to do that spin. that's not it. we saw what he got last night in new hampshire. where else is he going to get that? >> i agree with you that mitt romney is the front-runner right now, but the one lesson we've learned from this cycle is that anything can happen. >> well, not anything. >> almost anything. >> a lot of things have happened, but once we got to the ballot box, the thing that everyone thought was going to happen happened, the guy we thought was going to be the front-runner was the front-runner. >> but as of these candidates aren't even on the ballot in illinois or arizona, where there's 24 candidates on the ballot. so we're running a serious campaign. and we're going to go all the way to tampa. >> steve, i'm told we've got a problem with your mic. what i'm going to do here while we get steve's mic working is i'm going to give you my theory

39% for mitt romney here. we talked about getting to 40%. 39 is a strong number. >> it's a really strong number. think back to 2008. you had john mccain had about 37% of the vote. john mccain, a favorite in new hampshire, mitt romney exceeded his vote total and percentage of the vote. barack obama had 35% or 36% in 2008. in some ways mitt romney did better than that. it's an apples to apples comparison. it was a six-race in 2008 for the republicans, six-way race this time. it's a strong day. i think the over/under was probably about 5 or 36. romney back in 2008 got 31% of vote, so he's 8 points higher than last time around. you know, i think there's not an expectation that he did not meet or exceed. that's as much part of the game here as collecting the win itself. he had so many people expected him to win here, posting a strong win, 17 points, 16 points over ron paul, also very strong. he walks out of here with his head very high. >> what to do about ron paul. he's over 20% again as he was in iowa, 23% last n

six-point lead over mitt romney. gingrich's debate performance clearly appealed to republican voters in south carolina. conservative outlets like the weekly standard are giving the tea party credit for gingrich's turn around. today one of the tea party's favorite candidates got out of the race and supported newt gingrich. >> i've always believed the mission is greater than the man. as i've contemplated the future of this campaign, i have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me in this 2012 campaign. therefore, today, i am suspending my campaign and endorsing newt gingrich for president of the united states. >> i thought he said he'd never quit. perry's endorsement is a big deal for newt gingrich. newt already has a sugar daddy. he got a $5 million donation from a billionaire. sarah palin gave perry a thumb's up on her twitter page. she called rick perry a true american patriot for what he did. well, the news didn't get any better for mitt romney. one of his wins turned into a loss. rick san

is now on mitt romney. if i'm mitt romney, i'm telling you right now, i'm not going to get into the mud with gingrich and santorum and ron paul. if i'm him, i'm focusing my attacks solely on president obama and i'm constantly repeating the mantra, that's what republicans should be focused on. if you guys want to sit here and tear me down, knock yourself out, but i'm focused on being the president. if he says that, you're going to see a reaction from the crowd, you're going to see i think a reaction from foejz foelks at h. so, he has to be able to turn their negativity back against them and not feel as if i'm under siege. >> will and roland, we're going to keep talking about this. you saw it first right here on cnn. our peter hamby calling in to confirm rick perry going to call it kbits an hour from now. you'll see it live right here on cnn. best breaking news. tonight, two days before the south carolina primary election, four gop contenders will now debate the issues. the southern republican presidential de

mitt romney is on such a roll now. coming very strong out of new hampshire heading down to south carolina. if newt gingrich or rick perry or rick santorum have any chance of trying to win this nomination, they have to stop him in south carolina. >> let's talk about ron paul. he did well in new hampshire. he did fairly well in iowa as well. he's saying that he's nipping at the heels of mitt romney. might he be appealing though in south carolina? very different electorate. >> different electorate. quite frankly, is he appealing beyond the scope of support that he already has? the fact of the matter is he's always going to get 10 or 12%. not that he wants them to. the main street republicans aren't behind him because some of his views on foreign policy people cannot seem to embrace. it was interesting after he came in second place, very respectable second place, his campaign came out and said that ron paul is the conservative alternative to mitt romney and asked all the other campaigns to back him. >> could he potentially

there's no doubt mitt romney won. mitt romney won because he really didn't come here till the very end. you're going to have a lot of detractors saying that he got the same amount of votes and the same percentage after campaigning here four years in a row. you know what? a win is a win is a win. >> eight votes? >> and iowa was devastating to mitt romney four years ago. so if i'm mitt romney, i'm excited this morning. they stole iowa. rick santorum, a big winner last night. i'll tell you what, santorum may be a bigger winner headed toward new hampshire because of who lost. rick perry, chances are very good he's going to be out of this race in the next 24 to 48 hours, those conservative votes go somewhere. i suspect they're most likely going to go toward rick santorum who looked very good last night in this speech. and of course, the other loser newt gingrich who gave an speech to less than 100 people and could not get out of iowa fast enough last night. i think one of the most remarkable things about newt gingrich and

mitt romney is the perfect candidate on paper. if you like to see something written on white paper with a couple of exclamation points. when it comes to revving up the base, getting people excited, bringing more people into the party, mitt romney is not going to bring anybody to the party. >> you look back at the iowa caucuses this week a few thousands more voters that voted four years ago, but not a jump even though there wasn't anything on the democratic side. >> that's right. because iowa is on everyone's list of 12 to 14 swing states that you have to carry to win the presidency. the republicans should be alarmed the absence of passion. donna, we all know that the passion and the republican party is in the tea party, the tea party isn't an important part of the party now, it's the party. i have to my weekly statement, mrs. will is working for mr. perry. the fact is, someone has to find the voice of the tea party. the way you start that is by saying is what got us into trouble isn't barack obama. what got the tea party so kindle

if the general election ends up being barack obama and mitt romney, would mitt romney say let's shake hands and no super packs? >> well, the state of the law, erin, is that the candidates don't control the outside groups. you're right, there are a lot of them operating. some are running advertising against mitt romney including the president's super pack which you just mentioned. the key things to keep in mind with regard to the outside groups is, one, the candidates can't control them. two, for the republican nominee, whoever that person is going to be, they have to expect an onslaught of negativity from the obama campaign machine. we're prepared to take that head on. we're not going to complain about it. we're going to fight back. >> thank you very much. appreciate you taking the time. mitt romney's top adviser. i want to bring in our democratic strategist james carville now. let me ask you for your reaction. strategically, you hear how he is talking. can you hear me there? >> yeah. >> okay, good. what i was saying is strategically, what do you think about the way romney is playing

there's people out of work because of what mitt romney and bain capital did. >> you're mad at mitt romney. it's like he answered the republicans e-harmony ad, and now you're saying it's unfair. >> it's very weak. maybe like got 37% in '92 and lost to clinton who got 24. he didn't meet expectations. >> where does ron paul stand on zombie preparedness? >> me dad said never get involved in politics. if you have to win an election to pay mortgage. >> what a relatable story. mitt, remember only run for office when you're rich. >> we're drifting to a society where millionaires buy office and it's very dangerous. >> this is make or break moment for the middle clasç class. >> the new hampshire primary is tomorrow. if romney sees his shadow, six more weeks of campaigning. >> why is mitt romney so far ahead of you? >> he's been here for a whole lot of years. >> you're the first person who ever called mitt romney a home boy. >> the home boy with the freshly minted mba. joining me is melissa harris perry. soon to be crowned with her own show on msnbc. from washington, jonathan capehart along with r

mitt romney is weak. ron paul is out of the mainstream, almost a freak show in the republican party. how can you claim you're stronger if you keep losing to the candidate you call weak or freak. it's an interesting argument. >> and we wonder whether it was to the party's advantage, the republicans, to have an extended battle. when barack obama had a win after months on end, they were the only story in town. obama appeared to get better as a candidate as the months went on, and that seemed to play well for him against john mccain. couldn't the same thing happen here? could romney become a more formidable opponent? >> there are some who would argue that. he was much better tonight than the speeches he gave in the past. it was the best speech he had all year. there is that argument. you have to remember with barack obama and hillary clinton they believe largely the same things. you got to be very personal about which one you preferred. in this case, mitt romney has a fractured party on his hands with differe

john mccain aendorsing mitt romney today. mitt romney already has the endorsement of nicky haley. i predict we'll see other people, maybe lindsey gram from south carolina endorsing romney as well. that means that people are going to have to find a way to beat him in south carolina. s it's true that gingrich and santorum are likely to attack each other. they don't have a lot of money to spend on tv ads. they have to find a way to work together but both of them still want to win. so at some point they're going to have to differentiate as well. and that's good for romney. but he got 25% here. he's going to have to get more than that next time in south carolina with rick perry out of the race. i think he can do it. it's not a sure thing. >> mike, as i walked out of the caucus site last night, i grabbed this as a potential collector's item. rick perry says he's going back to assess the campaign. he is finished? >> yes. you would not go to texas. you have to keep your foot on the gas if you have any hope in new hampshire. he has $3 million left. they had planned to go on. but they're ve

he's 162 votes ahead of mitt romney, 12,417 for rick santorum, 12,255 for mitt romney. ron paul is now third, 22%, 11,238. newt gingrich, look at this, a distant fourth, only 6,788 votes, 13%. if we move to the bottom three, you see rick perry with just more than 5,000 votes, 10%. almost 3,000 votes for michele bachmann, 6%. 300 or so votes for jon huntsman. but rick santorum, all of a sudden, with almost half of the precincts reporting, slightly ahead. only 162 votes, only 162 votes ahead of mitt romney. it's still a three-man race. still 54% of the precincts remaining outstanding. jim acosta is over at rick santorum headquarters. let's talk to him a little bit. i guess the folks over there, they're pretty happy, at least, right now. a lot of them have come back from the caucuses, right, jim? >> reporter: that's right. they're very happy right now, wolf. they're starting to fill in behind me, and it's just sort of extraordinary to note what you were talking about just a few moments ago. the fact that rick santorum, somebody who has not really had much of a budget to wo

>> reporter: so the point being missed, had mitt romney come to iowa, had mitt romney come to iowa a couple more times, he might have gotten more than 14 votes. the other thing is, we shouldn't be too shocked by the close nature of this race. it was only 11 years ago that the general election ended in a tie in florida. of course, karl rove remembers that quite well with george bush locking it up in the sunshine state. >> all right. here -- i don't know if those are up oners. >> reporter: i don't know what to say about that. >> you might want to check that out. >> reporter: you know, they say the caucus is different. some say it can be meaningless. some say it's quirky. pick your adjective. >> reporter: it looks lying they are cheering somebody named sarah. i have covered the romney campaign for 5 1/2 years. this is america. [laughter] >> carl cameron has been feeding us information all night long. some great stuff. and now to end this like, carl, your evening and morning, it's just not fair. but -- it's funny. >> reporter: thank you. we are doing the all-nighter and will be in manche

>> mitt romney. >> all right. why? >> i really like his policies. >> are you a moderate, conservative, right of center, where are you? >> moderate. >> that makes sense. >> he won't say that. you will. >> i'm voting for democrats. >> democrats. >> obama, all the way. >> obama. >> obama. i'm afraid this would happen. it's breaking my heart. >> obama. >> don't go breaking my heart. >> obama. >> obama. >> see, this is what i -- anybody here voting republican this year? we got one. we got a live one here. who you voting for? >> mitt romney. >> why? what's your reasons? >> i like his policies. >> how would you describe yourself? right of center, right wing, far right, somewhere near the middle, moderate? >> moderate. >> is mitt romney a moderate? >> tends to be, somewhat. >> is he willing to admit it? >> maybe, i hope. >> how come the other day when i asked if he could say, let them eat cake, i said, can you say that in french, governor, he said, yes, but i won't. why do you think he's afraid to speak french in understand. >

he's now, i have beaten mitt romney. newt gingrich has beaten mitt romney. the idea that conservatives have to coalesce to beat romney. they have a choice. we don't have to rush to judgement. we can look at the candidates. the longer this campaign goes on, the better it is for conservatives and our party. we stay focus on the issues. which is going out and taking on barack obama. the republicans are the focus. i know why the media would love to have this race over. they like to spend and obama administration, they would like to take aim at the nominee as soon as they can. i don't think that's going to happen. i don't think it's a good thing that it does happen. >> well, it looks like it's going to be a long one. senator santorum, thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you. >>> and with that, let's get straight to our roundtable. i'm joined by george will, katrina vanden heuvel, matthew dowd, amy walter and ron brownstein. mitt romney looking to do something that has never been done. this week, something else we haven't seen before, three primaries an

is mitt romney on a path to a nomination? yes. am i willing to reward it to him because he's taken away one state? no. i'd like to see the votes get tabulated before we call a winner but if conservatives come up and coalesce around a candidate other than mitt romney, then there's real trouble and this contest goes on a bit longer. >> okay. we have a couple must-reads go through. meghan has howard kufrt of "the daily beast" right? thumbs up? you think that's what people should read? >> i do. i think it's a great take on the debate. mitt romney is both a career politician and successful businessman. >> okay. we have goldie, "the washington post." the gop finds itself stuck. i'm stuck with saying good-bye because we're so out of time. ladies, thank you so much. that's a wrapup of sundays with alex witt. we have a re-airing of the debate next. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now.

if it's mitt romney, means mitt rom i? on the way to winning it. if santorum wins mitt romney is not on the way to winning it but we don't know who is. >> not necessarily. i wouldn't even say the number, the gap between the number one and the number two matters. >> exactly. >> if there's a five, seven, eight-point gap that's a comfortable win. >> what i love is whoever wins, wins, there's no spread stuff, she didn't meet the spread. everybody thinks the top three about get 25%. romney gets about 25, santorum gets about 25 and maybe ron paul gets a little less than that. where is the other 25 going tonight? that's my big routine. you're the pundit here. where's that 25 go? it's a phantom 25%. >> half it is going to go to perry. >> it will get divide up. >> he'll get 12. >> 12, maybe 15. >> yeah, okay. >> and the rest -- >> bachmann will get 5 or 10. >> yeah. >> that's exactly sgligts what would be a big win, somebody said there would be a big winner tonight. can anybody get 30 tonight? >> plus 30. >> if you get 30, that's a huge win, particularly gi

mitt romney won. but when you look at the fact that he has basically been running for president for six years, that he has participated in this contest before, basically within 500 votes of his previous total four years ago, and he only beat rick santorum on a shoe string budget with very little support, an asterisk in the polls until a few weeks ago, by 8 votes, says something about his feeling, says something about the fact that conservatives out there are looking for someone else. that's not to say he won't ultimately be the nominee. but it's going to be a struggle. >> so a tough night for romney. a big night for senator rick santorum, coming from the back of the pack there, no question about it. he goes on with a head of steam. >> he absolutely leaves iowa as if he won, even though he came in second. the question is that has been how others have left this state. pat robertson comes to find. he came in second but he was able to make that as if it was a victory. then he couldn't take it anywhe anywh

not because mitt romney is the front-runner, because mitt romney was ahead or mitt romney had a good campaign. mitt romney winning new hampshire was a foregone conclusion because historically speaking, new hampshire couldn't have been won by anybody other than him. because he's the guy from massachusetts. the guy from massachusetts, whether a republican or democrat, always wins new hampshire. in 2004, john kerry, in 1992, paul songas, 1998 michael dukakis, henry cabot lodge, john f. kennedy. when a massachusetts politician is running for president it's a safe bet they will wine in new hampshire. they will win. there are two exemptions to the rule. two exceptions to the massachusetts guy winning in new hampshire in modern political history. 1980, jimmy carter got a primary challenge from the left from inside the democratic party from ted kennedy, ted kennedy was from massachusetts, he did not beat the incumbent president in that new hampshire primary. that is kind of an exception but it wasn't incumbent president, so not really. the only other exception to the massachusetts guy not wi

mitt romney was 64 years old. governor for four years, but he had a great private business experience and created immense wealth for people across the country. >> with all due respect and we've had this debate on bain capital, i don't want to go there right now, but the thing is, that's exactly the problem. when you nominate a republican who's talking about leveraged buyouts and how these are-- it's all capitalism. i don't have problem with that, but that's not what the guys on main street are talking about, they're talking about how do i get my mortgage payment up. can i keep my job and pay my bills and we'll have a republican out there leveraged buyouts, it's not what we need in our nominee. we'll pay the price for that. >> you don't want somebody in washington d.c. the last 30 years and on k street. you want ones that take on brm ap that's the fundamental difference. >> sean: gentlemen, another spirited debate and that will continue into the debate into south carolina. and let your heart not be troubled our gre

this is a character issue for mitt romney. he pretends to talk like a tea party conservative but he's been really at the trough, hasn't he? romney is nothing but a corporate welfare hog if you look at the facts. you mean to tell me that romney didn't know about the tax breaks and the subsidies that steel dynamics was getting? he didn't know the semantics of the deal and the dichotomy of it all? come on. how can a tea party ever support this guy? one of the reasons mitt romney got rich is because taxes and government programs helped his investments. and i think a lot of americans will come to the conclusion that he's nothing but a phony. but what will happen in november and we have a long slog, a lot of stories with bain capital and how mitt romney made his millions. what it will come down to is the american people will render judgment before election day. do we accept any kind of ethics or morals in business or is this just the way business is? we could crap all over workers, we could distort the facts on television all the ti

he not only meets mitt romney in south carolina he has a chance to beat mitt romney in south carolina. >> we'll watch the debate tonight and tomorrow as we countdown for the big vote on tuesday. i know it is going to be quite interesting. thank you, ladies for joining us. >> thank you . in other news. one arizona school district could face delays. and all because of a mexican american study program. high, casey. >> it is the teson program that makes sense considering that 61 percent of the total student population is historic . at that time other school districts have similar programs. the idea to address the needs of a specific population to help them succeed in school. it violates the state law because of curriculum and lesson plans were not approved by the school board and the judge agreed saying that the class says were i am quoting, promoting racial resentment and activism against white people. >> we have no problem with a history class talking about historic injustices. but if you take every historic incident and interpert it in racial terms and use that to inflame a low income

mitt romney, common man. a time magazine reporter how strange it was to be in the room when he was asked a benign question by a little kid about why he wanted to be running for president in order to explain how much he cared about the future of the country, mr. romney started a riff how difficult it has been for him to decide who to leave his fortune to. >> i remember i sat down with an attorney, i said if i have a will i want to make sure and pass along my whatever i have to my sons, and she said well, what do you want to give to your grandchildren? i didn't have any then. i said nothing, i'll give to it my boys, they bill give it to their children. she said you'll change your mind. i said i don't think so. well now i have grandchildren, i saw this lady lawyer of mine i saw her on the street i said by the way, i don't want to give anything to my boys, i want to give it all to my grandchildren. >> the heart warming story about his fortune and the wacky run-ins with the lady lawyer. he told that story at a cam

the republican field led by mitt romney, mitt romney benefits from the tax loopholes that exist in the tax code today, and he wants them to continue. what is the dramatic contrast, barack obama is fighting for the middle class and working families and the tax code that makes it possible for everyone to be successful, mitt romney and the rest of the republican field thinks we should extend tax breaks for the wealthiest, most fortunate americans so they can do better. >> schieffer: let me ask you this. donald trump told me last night that if the republicans wind up mom neigh somebody who he thinks can't be obama that he is thinking about running himself as an independent. what do you think that would go to the race? >> well, i think just the fact he says that is emblematic of the unacceptability of the entire republican field. i mean, we have seen the race unfold on the other side with each of them out trying to right wing each other, it has been pretty remarkable and as a result of how extreme they have been, you have seen mitt romney's numbers with moderates and independents across the

i think mitt romney bled some. if you look from the folks he had before the last few days, he dropped 15 points in the people that voted the last few days. this is a message that will work well in south carolina, if they have the resources and if they have the time. >> donna, will it work well long-term for the democrats? >> there's no question. the democrats will look under the hood and kick the tires and make sure mitt romney has it what it takes to lead the country. i'll tell you right now, he's going to come up short. the republicans missed an opportunity to get the message out earlier. >> thanks very much for being with us tonight. >>> when we come back, what was the one thing on all the candidates' minds tonight, win or lose? we'll tell you. ♪ you're singing with a broken string ♪ ♪ tell me what you really mean ♪ do you know what you want? ♪ while beating up on yesterday ♪ ♪ rolling on, moving on [ female announcer ] the space of a small suv. and more ways to connect to your world. ♪ do you kn

where you said of mitt romney let's elect a man of character and decency. were you making indirect reference to the speaker? >> no, not at all. i actually followed at that with a great washington quote about the character of our nation, and the importance of traditional values and supporting those values like supporting veterans, being pro-life and pro family and i was just vouching as a special and fiscal conservative, i'm vouching for mitt romney's credentials and endorsing him and same to south carolina to help him as much as i can. i think he's the best leader at the right time on spending and leadership and that's what we need to america. >> neil: you talk about governor, fiscal conservative vrs social conservatives and religious conservatives, the lat are might have a parole, particularly the female component of that, with speaker gingrich, maybe not, maybe the economy trumps all. what do you think? >> well, i think your last point is exactly right. this was a kitchen table pocket book election, people are very concerned about this incredible deficit

think of mitt romney. he presents himself in the new clothes of a conservative, a figure who has no faith in government, a hard-nose man of the right who has great fondness for the tea party, great distaste for other countries, who assumes trappings of the american angry enemies of the state. oh yes, the other endorsement, a man who never and he wears this coat well, never wanted to serve a life in politics. he ran for the senate but never wanted to serve a career there. helped that he lost the race to ted kennedy. ran for governor was elected but never intended to run for reelection, that would have made it about him. mitt romney isn't one of those politicians who runs for office with the idea of serving there. he is a private citizen, conservative businessman on some occasions offers for public service, of course all this is nonsense, the new clothes he's adorned himself with are not real. he has been a moderate governor of massachusetts who started the mandate. he is in fact a fellow running for office

a lot of people are talking about mitt romney -- florida being mitt romney country. newt gingrich could do very well down in florida. he's already cultivating ties with the cuban-american community and mitt romney will have a tough time explaining his opposition to the dream act, which is a bill that would lead to a path to citizenship for young latinos in this country. newt gingrich said he's in favor of portions of that bill. mitt romney said he would veto that act and newt gingrich would be very popular in the central part of the state. that's sarah palin country and sarah palin, she sort of endorsed newt gingrich here in south carolina. so buckle your seat belts. >> candy crowley is at romney headquarters. it was interesting to hear governor romney's speech tonight, talking a lot about obama, but he did throw a few references towards newt gingrich, though not using the candidate by name. we anticipate that is going to change in the next couple of days. he's squarely got to go after newt gingrich, right? >> reporter: and it's clearly one thing he told me and talki

you've supported mitt romney. what do you make of rick perry dropping out of race and throwing his support behind newt gingrich. >> this is what primaries are all about. they decide who they like. certainly the voters will be the ones who decide on saturday. if they are looking at the person who is the only one who has business experience and the only one who has been on the other side of government they will go with mitt romney. he's the only one that is not attached to washington. we can't have anyone that is a part of the chaos of washington any more. was polling 5, 6%. if all those voters go to gingrich's side that puts him even or ahead of governor romney. how do you foal that swing could be realized on the ground on saturday. >> i don't think that is realized. voters don't move in a block or vote in a block. they look at the candidates and make up their own mind and decisions from that. i think that 5% will split up across the board and they will decide who is best for them. the main issues in south carolina

mitt romney is weak. ron paul is out of the mainstream, almost a freak show in the republican party. how can you claim you're stronger if you keep losing to the candidate you call "weak" or "glooirk?" it's hard to make that argument. >> we had a spirited debate about whether it was to the party's advantage, the republicans, to have an extended battle. i remember when barack obama and hillary clinton went for months on end and they were the only story in town. obama appeared to get better as a campaigner as the months went on and that seemed to play well for him against john mccain. couldn't we see the same thing happen here? it goes on and could romney not become a more formidable opponent? >> there are those that believe that. that he'll hone his skills. he was much better in his speech tonight than we've seen him in the past. i think that was the best speech he's given this year so there is that argument but with barack obama and hillary clinton, then largely, the same things. they believe largely the s