. >> newt gingrich seizes the lead as the campaign heads for florida. >> newt gingrich is south carolina's choice. it's a major blow to mitt romney's campaign. >> this is a hard fight because there's so much worth fighting for. >> four republicans went into this southern brawl. who will be left standing as the contest moves to florida? the votes are in. south carolina has spoken. and the biggest battleground yet is still ahead. rick santorum at 17%. ron paul at 13%. all the candidates say they are moving forward to florida. we have reporters stationed throughout south carolina as we have for the last several weeks. let's start off with gingrich headquarters. there are still a lot of folks there, romney headquarters looks like a ghostown. does the candidate move to florida tomorrow? >> reporter: you know, we're still waiting to hear about his travel plans. it's been on interesting day watching the gingrich campaign. this is a candidate who tends to shoot from the hip. i did catch up with somebody a few moments ago and they were watching the returns come in on the gingrich bus. i asked were

49% said newt gingrich. mitt romney is saying you want a governor, somebody with business experience. well, newt gingrich has convinced at least south carolina republicans he has the right experience to be president by a commanding margin over mitt romney. this is a challenge going into florida. and this has been mitt romney's greatest strength the entire race, who is the best candidate to go up against president obama in the fall? a combination of the debates and campaigning -- i'm sorry, i put the wrong one up there. 51%, a majority of south carolina republicans said newt gingrich is the best candidate to beat obama. if you listen to those undecided voters, you watch them react to the speech, this is a big gap, a 14-point gap. if you see rick santorum and ron paul, these are the only two candidates, but this is the underpinning of the romney campaign. you might not like me, but i can beat barack obama. it's the psychology of the race that newt gingrich can beat barack obama and newt gingrich has the right

at the just leaves newt gingrich and rick santorum. herman cain is in town, and he'll be addressing the same group over the next two days. we're hearing we could be getting another endorsement from herman cain as. >> from the comedy side of things, with stephen colbert say he's trying to bring attention to what's going on with the super pacs, but how are people in south carolina taking that in? the seriousness of what this all means, but we have this dommic basically trying to stir things up, to prove what super pacs are all about. >> stephen colbert wildly popular, but there are a handful of folks -- oddly you should just asked that. i was talking to a guy before i came out, and he said the shtick is kind of getting old. granted, it was a former huntsman campaign worker, but he said, you know, the colbert comedy is getting kind of old. you also have to wonder if you were herman cain standing next to stephen colbert and he turns around and endorses santorum or newt gingrich, if that happens, how seriously can you take that endorsement

to him, newt gingrich directly. we stau a little bit of that tonight in his speech. what they're going to talk about is the fact that newt gingrich is a lobbyist and somebody who lobbied as they say for freddie mac. when you look at the value of housing and how it's declined in the state of florida, they oar going to have after him on that. they're going to say he's out of touch with the republican party, that he called the republican budget right wing social engineering. something that almost every house republican voted for. so they're going to also say that he's unreliable, that he's erratic. that you need somebody who is steadier at the helm and who can be depended upon to beat barack obama, because in the end, it's going to be a race about who is best able to beat the president of the united states and romney has to show in these debates coming up, including the one with wolf on thursday, that he can take it to barack obama and go the long haul with him. and win for the republican party. that's what they want.

newt gingrich trailing there. another florida conservative quality, tea party, the tea party movement boosted rick scott and marco rubio's wins. newt gingrich has been courting them. pundits caution a weakening tea party. one in two tea party voters embrace the tea party less taxes theme. finally, florida conservative is more northern. generally the more north, the more conservative. gingrich should do well in the north here, romney in the south. the fight, watch highway i-4 in orlando and tampa. the florida conservative, evangelical, minority, tea party, and northern. and by the way, looking at social security records, chris, he is most likely called james. >> all right. something i didn't know before for sure. thank you so much, appreciate it. richard. let me bring you in. you know this area so well. let's start with what we heard from ron. you know, ties into what richard said. newt gingrich's argument, you take me, you take santorum, we're outpolling mitt romney. his implication being if santorum would get out

>> yes, newt gingrich, i guess. if he doesn't win on saturday or he only ekes out the narrowest victory, we will have a very fun next few months. >> colby? >> romney hit the wall, so to speak, and i think even if he gets by in south carolina, he has a fight on his hands in florida and the states to come. >> what is your take? >> i remember in 1984 when walter mondale, the democratic front runner, was considered the inevitable choice and ran into the sand storm, the hurricane of gary hart. mondale gave a speech at that time in florida and said this is why i am in the race. it was just a statement of his political beliefs and principles. that is what mitt romney has to do. the question about him is core to the man and beyond that, inevitability is not a campaign argument. i am not going to vote for somebody because of the inevitable. what is it that makes mitt romney want to be president in a public sense, not private vindication sense? >> what we heard in new hampshire and iowa was i am going to vote for this guy --

newt gingrich wasn't the fiery newt gingrich who had so riled up the folks in south carolina and who, frankly, i expected to try to do the same with the folks of north florida tonight. he didn't do that. he decided to play the front runner and be above it all. oh, i won't bother myself with these petty attacks from mitt romney. whereas romney, who i think is better suited for that sort of patrician front runner role, tried to be the attack dog and that's not his comfort zone. he's not great at it. at one point he gave gingrich the opportunity to take credit for medicare part b in florida, telling -- part d in florida, telling retirees, you know that lipitor you took this morning? you can thank me for it. that was kind of a flubbed opportunity. >> you know, gentlemen, we all cover the news differently, and we all have our habits of doing things. i have these msnbc cards i carry with me when i'm at a debate and write notes. the first note i wrote was "controversial when needed." that was one of the first things newt gingrich said tonight, and i thought that was somewhat a code to conser

michael reagan throwing his name behind newt gingrich. interesting. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. when i'm on the night shift. when they have more energy than i do. when i don't feel like working out. when there isn't enough of me to go around. ♪ when i have school. and work. every morning. it's faster and easier than coffee. every afternoon when that 2:30 feeling hits. -every day. -every day. every day is a 5-hour energy day. [ male announcer ] 5-hour energy. every day. >> all right newt gingrich now has been there for a time in greensville, south carolina. it is a must meet and greet traunt and a must stop for presidential traunt and newt gingrich is the rock star. mitt romney showed up an hour ago . it was monument and t

santorum gives no ground to newt gingrich. newt gingrich gets the nod today from rick perry. bill: carl, thank you for that. we'll see perry at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. we'll see gingrich moment mem terrell. martha: what a day for rick perry. what a day for newt gingrich and the dynamic is very volatile folks in south carolina. rick perry calling it quits after 159 days. bret baier joins us to weigh in on this after the break, right here in "america's newsroom." stay tuned. whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! pure adrenaline. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! who emailed it to emily, who sent it to cindy, who wondered why her soup wasn't quite the same. the recipe's not the recipe... ohhh. [ female announcer ] ...without swanson. the broth cooks trust most when making soup. mmmm! [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson. martha: all right, folks we're back mere in "america's newsroom" with the breaking

hurt by newt gingrich. who can best beat barack obama? that's the number one concern among republicans, especially conservati conservatives. south carolina, they are hungry for someone who is debate fiercely, passionately against barack obama and hopefully beat him. that has been the strength of the romney argument all along, a majority of south carolina republicans tonight say they think gingrich is a better candidate. gingrich is winning big so in some ways you discount those numbers. but if you can carry anything like that, that he's the better experienced to be president, the better candidate to beat obama, it if he can carry that forward in florida, romney has problems. >> gloria, let's talk about mitt romney. this has been a bad night for him. >> terrible. >> it's been a bad week. i thought that his performances in the debates were pretty lackluster. he looked weak on this whole tax issue. he should have just come out and come clean i think. and now he's under real attack. and he doesn't seem to have a change of gear where as gingri

maybe the perry voters, in south carolina, to help newt gingrich a little bit, but newt gingrich won that fair and square on his own, i don't necessarily think that the endorsement translated. >> or mitt romney-- >> and i think that rubio and bush saying in florida, let the florida decides on merits and then in the the general election, i expect that both jeb bush and marco rubio and nicky haley and others from the states they're been through will be active in the campaign to campaign against president obama at that time. but probably not smart politically for them to get involved. >> clayton:. >> alisyn: dana perino, co-host on "the five", with us on the four. >> great ratings. >> thanks. >> alisyn: an al-qaeda official in somalia reportedly killed by a drone strike. three missiles hit the official's car on the outskirts of mogadishu. reportedly an associated of one of the master minds of the bombings in kenya and tran tanzania. and crews resume searching for 20 people still missing to understand after the costa concordia ran aground more than a week ago. they stopped search efforts

. >> newt gingrich seizes the lead as the campaign heads for florida. >> newt gingrich is south carolina's choice. it's a major blow to mitt romney's campaign. >> this is a hard fight because there's so much worth fighting for. >> four republicans went into this southern brawl. who will be left standing as the contest moves to florida? the votes are in. south carolina has spoken. and the biggest battleground yet is still ahead. rick santorum at 17%. ron paul at 13%. all the candidates say they are moving forward to florida. we have reporters stationed throughout south carolina as we have for the last several weeks. let's start off with gingrich headquarters. there are still a lot of folks there, romney headquarters looks like a ghostown. does the candidate move to florida tomorrow? >> reporter: you know, we're still waiting to hear about his travel plans. it's been on interesting day watching the gingrich campaign. this is a candidate who tends to shoot from the hip. i did catch up with somebody a few moments ago and they were watching the returns come in on the gingrich bus. i asked were

you do if it is between newt gingrich or obama. >> try to get the third party. >> newt gingrich cannot beat barack obama and newt gingrich cannot be elected. look at the ethics violation. >> he was exxonerated on that. >> look at what he had to pay a big fine number one . number two, he was lobbying for fannie mae. >> he has a lot of baggage. >> huge baggage and while he was trying to impeach bill clinton for having an affair, he's having an affair. >> it doesn't matter to the south carolinians. >> i think it does matter. for one minute he has a moment of strength on the stage that was brilliant. that is a character issue not that we go in private lives, but private lives do matter and character matters in the office and newt gingrich does not. >> you stuck with bill clinton when the character matters. >> i didn't dismiss it, i thought as a president he was -- >> you liked him. >> i really like his wife and i really like him and i was mad at him like everybody else. i didn't think he should be impeached for it >> lady. milady, that is cool. you have that on your card. >> no, i don't us

and presents a huge problem for newt gingrich and mitt romney. gingrich is it running on emotion and a high voltage campaign. and santorum and mitt romney are more contained. and many are looking for an avenger, someone who will take the fight to the president and governor romney in take seemed like a milquetoast, but romney and gingrich are not conceding anything. >> newt is a good friend of mine, period,'s a friend of mine, i like -- he's an ayn tell gent guy,'s. >> and this is a guy who had a very difficult political career at times and has been an embarrassment to the party. >> governor christy of course speaking for romney. and the rasmussen follow has gingrich at 41%, romney 32 and expect it to tighten. if newt gingrich wins big in florida, mitt romney will be in dire trouble. and next, tonight, what exactly is wrong with the romney campaign? has a lot of money, the governor himself is a seasoned campaigner. and joining us, brit hume. what's wrong with the romney campaign. >> there's a lot right with the romney campaign, but a couple things

but let's talk about newt gingrich. this wasn't just that mitt romney appears to be -- it's that newt gingrich appears to be the anti-romyy -- am nil. how? >> he's improved as a candidate as well. hiss demeanor is much more upbeat. he's not scowling like he was a few weeks ago and in particular, he changed his message. he wasn't on the perhaps right message at the beginning of south carolina. he was attacking on how governor romney made his money. saying he presided over job loss and other things. he was criticized by all kinds of conservatives so he abruptly flipped that aside and went on to other things. newt gingrich is also benefiting here from the fact that he is from georgia. actually, he's from pennsylvania, but he represented the neighboring state here. but i think it's not so much that people want to like newt gingrich or see him as president. i think some of them want this race to go on longer. they want to see romney be put in the fire a little bit. >> the other thing i would say is just that he went away fro

all of them came out and harshly critized newt gingrich when dole trashed newt gingrich as well and palin said he is being critized by a gop establishment not ready to make reforms that are necessary. palin considers herself a maverick outsideer . so obviously she sees a way for newt gingrich said the same thing. and in florida. a state that is got a lot of the establishment republicans who play in national politics. mitt romney has a tremendous number of people in office in the state and national level backing him. it is a fair hit for them to say that the establishment has aligned against newtingrich and for mitt romney. that makes it tougher for newt gingrich to win and come back. it is a lataino vote that could be key. one florida leader that is a high profile player is the congressman. her name came up at this year's debate. >> we have many qualified historic leaders . >> and mel martinez is back in the private sector. >> there you go. they join us with more on how latino voters could make a difference. >> great to be here. i am excited about the race. >> there is a battle underway.

this is newt gingrich's strength. it's where he has pulled from and what has propelled him throughout most of this primary season. it has been his debate performances. i think there was a lot of pressure on mitt romney to put in a, quote, presidential kind of performance as well as a really strong performance because he didn't get that great a grade last time. it matters now. this is the last one before the south carolina primary. >> paul steinhauser, i'm hearing you might know when rick perry's announcement is going to happen, is that right? >> reporter: yeah. the perry campaign, which is still around for now, just put out a press release moments ago while you were talking to wolf, candy, roland. it's going to be at 11:00 eastern. only a few miles from here. just a few miles from here. steve rusk, he's making the move. we'll have the cameras there. >> once again, if you're just tuning in, here's the latest news. paul telling us 11:00 a.m. eastern time right here on cnn we are going to hear rick perry step up to the m

newt gingrich is asking that question. it would be an entirely ignorable question for republicans if i asked it. last night on our election coverage, i said the trick question for republicans like mitt romney is what legal thing would you not do to make money? i'm sure that question, as i put it, created no discomfort among republicans. provoked no introspection. but newt gingrich is now saying the same thing to a much larger audience. his comments are being carried on every news network. and newt gingrich is the second most influential conservative republican of his generation. the most influential, of course, being george w. bush, who was able to work his will on a republican-controlled congress only because newt gingrich seized republican control of that congress, from the democrats, before george w. bush was even close to running for president. a democrat, or a liberal like me, decrying the excesses of romney-style greed changes no minds. it gets appreciative nods from people who think already the same thing. but a con

fake cnn e-mail denigrating newt gingrich. suffice to say, nasty allegations related to the issue of abortion. so the dirty tricksters believe abortion is important enough to sway the race. further evidence the con 'tis the anti-abortion primary, the next contest is in florida the republicans in the florida lecture last year filed 18 different pieces of anti-abortion legislation for their state. by our count they took some sort of sacks on nine of those bills and five anti-abortion measures were signed in law. they have started a new legislative session, there is an anti-abortion cue. three bills on the docket tomorrow. florida is not alone. on the occasion of roe versus wa defrn the anti-abortion move is crowing about what a great year they had. the president of americans united for life saying "the headlines were about the changing command in the house of representatives, what we were seeing was a tidal wave in state houses "wt when we saw the wave come in we ran the ball and ran with it. 28 laws we were involved with passed

today on face the nation, newt gingrich. yes, newt gingrich pulls it off and wins south carolina and he's with us this morning "face the nation." everywhere you looked in south carolina, there he was. >> what kind of sandwich would you like. >> schieffer: and it worked. he won't have to sell chicken sandwiches full time just yet. >> the order i want is to get your vote today. >> schieffer: you crushed the once frontrunner in south carolina mitt romney in the upset of the year and hints of his next stop. >> we're moving on to florida and beyond. >> schieffer: mitt romney was left to state the obvious. >> we've still got a long way to go. >> schieffer: it all happened in spite of gingrich's ex-wife downloading nasty allegations for all to hear. >> he was asking me to have an open marriage. >> schieffer: gingrich turned it around with an attack on the media. >> i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. >> schieffer: south carolina voters seemed to agree and gingrich is with us this morning t

and newt gingrich. the reverend al sharpton and newt gingrich being set up on the stump today, in south carolina, reverend sharpton has not responded to that from gingrich yet. we'll be getting a response from him after the break. at this hour, newt gingrich the projected winner of the south carolina primary. msnbc's coverage of the south carolina primary will continue in just a moment. >>> welcome back to our coverage of the south carolina primary here on msnbc. nbc news projects that newt gingrich is the winner of the south carolina primary. part of the reason that newt gingrich is thought to have done so well in south carolina is among late deciders. and part of the thing ha was driving what late deciders decided on were two debates this week. including one which resulted in a standing ovation for mr. gingrich after a racially-charged exchange that he had with juan williams. an african-american journalist on the payroll of fox news. watch. >> my email account, my twitter account has been inundated wi

smart by newt gingrich. if you are a undecided conservative, if you think you'll not be romney, that performance probably made you with gingrich. >> santorum zeroed in on one of the key issues that troubled a lot of republican party leaders around the country is that newt, you do not know where he is going. do you see him winning and then going to the florida and then having the organizational capacity to go the distance? >> the answer is not yet and newt was asked what one thing would he do differently in his campaign today and he said he would never have run a traditional campaign that let to the first problem when all his staff members left. a lot of people would cheer that, i would say it's a worry, the traditional campaigns tend to work, barack obama ran a traditional campaign and it worked. newt cannot just go to debates and give speeches. he has to run money and have real debates. he just doesn't have that right now. >> chris, thank you so much for our daily fix, see you later and how can romney go th

newt gingrich does not . so newt gingrich will have to or santorum, will have to win somewhere else and do it fairly soon. it will go until early march and super tuesday. until that time newt gingrich will have to show he can win in another state. if you don't have money as mitt romney and you will not have more than one debate in february. that may be the only schedule now. it is going to be difficult for him to do it. and it puts romney in a commanding decision. romney is not making the case for himself. this is a systemic demolition of newt gingrich. and not saying why i want to be president but why this guy shouldn't be. >> chris: the landd scape changes after tuesday. in february. there are fewer primaries and some of them tend in place to favor mitt romney. nevada with a mormon and michigan his home state. he was outspending newt gingrich 5-1 in all of the tvad and super pack ads in florida. you think that money is becoming an issue in only one debate february 22nd and does that make it harder for newt

he's known newt gingrich for more than a decade now. what is his political motivation and why is he so sure that newt is the man to deliver this political message? >> well, as you mentioned, thomas, they've known each other for more than a decade. they met back in 1995 shortly after newt gingrich became speaker and sheldon adelson was in washington lobbying on one of his big causes which was to move the embassy in israel to jerusalem. he met newt gingrich in a hallway. they talked about that. they bonded over that. but their friendship really blossomed after gingrich left congress, a little later in the '90s and started up americans solutions which was a pact that adelson contributed $8 million to. so that is the tie that bound them together. and what is his agenda? he's a very conservative guy. probably the most conservative casino owner in this state. he has long been very hawkish on israel. he's involved in israeli politics, too. very close to benjamin n netanyahu. he loved it when gingrich talked about the palestinians being invente

gingrich is not the match for that. newt gingrich? i mean, mike huckabee has that sort of southern appeal, yes, newt gingrich has southern background, but it's not -- he feels d.c., he doesn't feel georgia. and the way he's playing what this sort of conservative narrative is is brand new. in the sense that this form of conservatism has been exactly what he's been battled on and he's been insufficiently conservative on in much of his career. >> what newt gingrich was picking up on and this was not an issue in this primary, and this is not what mike huckabee is, honestly or not to the extent that gingrich is. this is all about strength. this primary is about nominating someone who can take the fight to barack obama. think about the times we heard that and think about why donald trump was a factor early on. he's somewhat -- well, going back -- >> there's so much to say. >> the problem that mitt romney has had in the past week has undermined his own discomfort with talking about his wealth. donald trump never had an issue with this. he em

vote newt gingrich. the other big question about florida is jeb bush. everybody kind of understands that jeb bush likes mitt romney. but he hasn't actually come out and endorsed mitt romney. and the question i have is, is mitt romney -- you guys were saying is jeb bush getting into the race? my question is, is general bush going to endorse mitt romney and how much would that help? >> yeah, the bush family bears no love for newt gingrich, going back to the father and what happened to them and how they felt that newt gingrich undermined his presidency and cost him his re-election. so there's a lot of bad blood going back. but we'll be talking about this as the night goes on. florida is much more like the rest of the country. and what we know is in the last few days, mitt romney has not only seen his lead disappear in south carolina, he's seen his national lead shrink. so the gallop says it's been cut in half, from 20 points to 10 points. that same thing is happening in florida. >> if mitt romney loses in f

newt gingrich wins and wins big. a double digit victory over governor romney in the first southern primary. >>> we proved here in south carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money, and with your help we will prove it again in florida. thank you. good luck and god bless you. >> we will talk to the winner himself live this morning. also, how does the romney campaign now respond? >> this is a hard fight, because there is so much worth fighting for. >> the florida the next big test, how does governor romney connect with conservatives and make the case that he alone can beat president obama? we'll ask top romney supporter, the republican governor of new jersey, chris christie. then our special political roundtable as we wrap up the results from south carolina and analyze where this wild race goes from here, plus the president's standing two days before his state of the union address. how will he use this election year to advance his and dane. joining me the host of msnbc's morning joe, joe scarborough.

he was one of the first people to do that, but for newt gingrich. -- for newt gingrich. rubio has chosen to stay out of the race and call balls and strikes when he thinks that candidates have gotten out of line. but there is no genuine upside for either of these men to stick their neck out for either of these candidates. host: tuesday the president delivers his state of the union address followed by a three-day tour, including bipartisanship, part of the weekly address. here's a portion of what he had to say over the weekend. [video clip] >> just two days ago, a senator promised to obstruct every judgeship i have appointed unless they fire the consumer watchdog i put in place to protect the american people from financial schemes or malpractice. for the most part it is not that the senator thinks that the nominees are unqualified. in fact, all of the judicial nominees being blocked have bipartisan support. almost 90% had unanimous support from the judiciary committee. instead, one of the senator's aides told reporters that the senator plans to delay and slow the process i

president obama and newt gingrich. i was also told that "a major speech will be given by romney on tuesday morning" as a prebuttal to the state of the union address by the president. and romney will give another speech wednesday morning to react to the state of the union, and romney will differentiate his economic policies from newt gingrich and president obama. >> jim, expectations over there? >> wolf, they are very confident here at the gingrich headquarters. newt gingrich is scheduled to appear on three morning shows tomorrow. i had a chance to catch up with the spokesman for newt gingrich earlier today and we thought newt gingrich and mitt romney might cross paths. i thought hey, is there going to be a barbecue eating contest at this restaurant? he said if there was going to be one, we would win that, too. so it was an air of confidence all day long inside the gingrich campaign. >> anderson cooper is with us throughout the night. anderson? >> going to be a fascinating night. this rain has changed completely from wh

gingrich has never won a state wide election, mitt romney, and newt gingrich never won in swing states and santorum one four ow out of five of the states. >> in in building, women who haven't heard rick santorum on social issues, on abortion, on the right to life, are raging, they can hardly stand still at the microphone. >> the point is, you go into the fall with the the republicans already having lost new york and california, those are the off the map. so what he's saying, santorum electability argument is, it's the midwest swing states, i can win there, aim he going to appeal to voters more than romney, i think it's a reasonable case. >> paul: what about a mitt romney's electability, the central selling point. other that he's a business man who can get the economy going. how persuasive is that to you? >> it's mildly persuasive. i think he has the intelligence, he knows the issues, but the weaknesses that have shown up especially when santorum leaned on him in that debate on romney care, and taxes. the taxes thing was devastating, that at this point in the campaign, a major campaigne

and newt gingrich has made similar comments and romney believes he as newt gingrich in a corner for accuse him of being antiimmigrant opposed to antiillegal immigrant and being against something when he was for it in the case of self deportation. >>shepard: thank you, carl, and now, my guest has worked on three presidential campaign including the campaign of george bush in 2000 and 2004 and a spokesman for the speaker boehner and serves as communications director for dick armey and partner in communications firm, the hispanic voters. who has the edge here? newt or met? >>guest: it will be a big fight for dade county but all across florida you have a latino community but they not just going to vote on immigration, they are going to vote on the housing crisis, because ground zero for the housing crisis is florida. and, they are going to fight over who has a better message for opportunity in getting ahead in this country, and i don't thing it is clear, this florida fight, you know, for a long time romney was shadow boxing while all of the other candidates got flirted with. and, now, th

he's against newt gingrich. now the context here is weird but you have to know this in order to understand what is so strange about what bob dole is doing right now. in 1996 when he was running against bill clinton, newt gingrich was speaker of the house. republicans won the big midterm election against bill clinton and the democrats in 1994. by the time he's running for president in '96, newt gingrich was really the most famous republican in the country. he was speaker of the house. and he used to carry a bucket around with him everywhere. here's why. apparently there had been a long standing practice in congress for whatever reason that the office of every member of congress every day got a bucket of ice delivered in the morning. they always had done this in congress and still did it in the 1990's. i find it charming. newt gingrich found it wasteful which is obviously, totally was wasteful. newt gingrich as speaker put a stop to the ice delivery tradition while he was speaker, was so pleased with himself for d

>> yes, newt gingrich, i guess. if he doesn't win on saturday or he only ekes out the narrowest victory, we will have a very fun next few months. >> colby? >> romney hit the wall, so to speak, and i think even if he gets by in south carolina, he has a fight on his hands in florida and the states to come. >> what is your take? >> i remember in 1984 when mont -- walter mondale, the democratic front runner, was considered the inevitable choice and ran into the sand storm, the hurricane of gary hart. mondale gave a speech at that time in florida and said this is why i am in the race. it was just a statement of his political beliefs and principles. that is what mitt romney has to do. the question about him is core to the man and beyond that, inevitability is not a campaign argument. i am not going to vote for somebody because of the inevitable. what is it that makes mitt romney one to be president in a public sense, not private vindication cents? >> what we heard in new hampshire and iowa was i am going to vote for this

bad news for newt gingrich. most of the votes, it can be presumed, had he takes, he'll take from newt gingrich. and his presence in the race is a factor, that will make a difference here. >> bret: panel, we'll be back throughout the night, of course. >> megyn: the candidates kuwaiting for the results of the first in the south primary -- candidates are waiting for the results of the first in the south primary and we're close to the closing of the polls in south carolina. we're keeping an eye on the campaign headquarters for the candidates. >> bret: and our guests break down what to expect tonight, ed rollins and mike huckabee and we'll hear from sarah palin as well, this is fox news, america's election headquarters. ♪ at i am today. r science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three y we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learnin

sources of suggesting he's going to endorse newt gingrich. he got in in part by the notion of stopping mitt romney from being the republican nominee. he has a chance to help newt gingrich do what he could not do himself. >>> moments like this really hurt him. these are some of the gaffes. take a look. >> commerce, education, and what's the third one there? let's see. >> you can't name the third one? >> education, commerce and -- let's see. i can't. the third one i can't. sorry. oops. >> that was painful. but wayne, how surprised are you by the overall performance and him buttoning things up before he has to take to another debate stage. >> i'm not that surprised. i thought he was going to drop out after iowa, as many of his staff did. that performance as well as another debate performance absolutely killed his chances. he's a southerner, a good social conservative, comes into a state like south carolina and was fifth if the polls? he knew the handwriting was on the wall. i would talk to people in iowa, new hampshire, and here in south carolin

make a tough case against newt gingrich. making a tough case against newt gingrich is not the same thing as making a very positive case for mitt romney. my guess would be if he wins florida, that is mitt romney if he wins florida tomorrow night by ten points or more, they will try to pivot and use the month of february to start again focusing on president obama in why mitt romney would be a better choice. the success, how he's turned this campaign around in the last nine days is to go after gingrich. he's not selling the positive mitt romney. he's saying, do you really want this guy, newt gingrich, to be your nominee? >> let's watch something that's rare in politics. it's where a candidate for president, here mitt romney, who we think is smart intellectually. here he is giving away the store early this month in an interview with laura ingraham on the radio. asked about the economy, romney said, it's getting better. it's getting better. the obama economy. this is his number one challenger speaking. god knows why he said that,

calista gingrich, third wife of newt gingrich, he openly admitted to having a extra-marital affair with calista while married to his second wife. that second wife told her side of the story to "nightline" last night. >> it was occurring in my bedroom in our apartment in washington. he always called me at night. he always ended with "i love you" while she was there listening. in my home. he did tell me once that she was going to help him become president. >> and what was your reaction to that? >> it didn't look like help to me. >> joining us notice nia malika henderson, reporter for "the washington post." obviously this is not at flattering portrayal of calista by gingrich's second wife or flattering portrayal of newt. do you see her coming under much more scrutiny in the wake of this interview? >> you're right, it may be an inconvenient interview for gingrich, but i think one of the things that's also true is this has been out here for a really long time. people have gotten used to the fact that newt gingrich has been married three times, that he has been unfaithful to his wives. that's

santorum on newt gingrich. >> grand os city has never been a problem with newt gingrich. i don't want a nominee that i have to worry about looking at the paper this next day worrying about what he's going to say next. >> you know, we're not auditions for a debating team. we're auditioning for the president of the united states. you can't have somebody that's really as irrational and perceives himself as winston churchill or the equivalent of margaret thatcher or charles degal. and i think rick santorum put that in context as being one of newt gingrich's biggest problems. the fact is, is we are electing a president of the united states to solve the problems that president obama has left us. i think last night, once again, as he focussed on the issues, governor romney, contrary to what your panel thinks, governor romney focused on the issues that america cares about. >> how come that's not gaining ground? when you look at the last poll numbers, he's been declining in the various polls and i know you have declared yourself as a supporter of mitt romney. why is that message n

newt gingrich will be my guest tomorrow night. we're going to talk about all of this the day before the crucial primary here in south carolina. all right, we are about 40 minutes away from a debate. as good and exciting as a debate could possibly be and ahead of that, the senior senator from south carolina, lindsey graham, going to come "outfront." i'm hopeful. senator? >> yeah. >> he's over there. i see you behind the lights. maybe he will have an endorsement. and what's the number one car company in the world? hint. guess what? made in the u.s.a. we'll be right back. >>> we are live from the north charleston coliseum in south carolina. the site of tonight's cnn debate. it's going to begin as you can see in just over 30 minutes time. tonight, exclusive interview with lindsey graham, who's endorsement has been highly coveted. >> unbelievable. >> is it going to come out tonight? >> it's been highly coveted for the people who want to win, for the other guy. >> why have you been reticent to endorse? >> i don't know who i'm going to v

to him, newt gingrich directly. we stau a little bit of that tonight in his speech. what they're going to talk about is the fact that newt gingrich is a lobbyist and somebody who lobbied as they say for freddie mac. when you look at the value of housing and how it's declined in the state of florida, they oar going to have after him on that. they're going to say he's out of touch with the republican party, that he called the republican budget right wing social engineering. something that almost every house republican voted for. so they're going to also say that he's unreliable, that he's erratic. that you need somebody who is steadier at the helm and who can be depended upon to beat barack obama, because in the end, it's going to be a race about who is best able to beat the president of the united states and romney has to show in these debates coming up, including the one with wolf on thursday, that he can take it to barack obama and go the long haul with him. and win for the republican party. that's what they want.

and newt gingrich tapped into that. watch. >> you sort of just now captured the heart of this campaign. the fact is, we want to run not a republican campaign. we want to run an american campaign. >> reporter: what is it that you like about newt gingrich's message? >> there's two reasons. one is his debate performances over the last two debates where he was the first conservative candidate to really bring out the media bias over the last two campaigns. the other was the speech he gave tonight. and he was the most eloquent i've ever heard. >> i really liked that he kind of included the aspects of the other candidates' campaigns, you know, the positives of ron paul with his financial, rick santorum with family, and then the business savvy of mitt romney. >> reporter: mitt romney also seemed to hit on a key here. one of the strongest reactions from our group last night was when he defended his income and the idea that that's what america's about. >> ours is the party of free enterprise and free markets and consumer choice.