what happened in south carolina? gingrich had the moment and those two debates, juan williams moment and john king. then he had a 30-point swing from 20 behind to 10 ahead. in the florida debates he was flat. he was on the defensive. romney was on attack, santorum was strong and that swung him all the way back. it's remarkable how much the debates are a factor and the money advantage had the same advantage in south carolina, it had to do with the moments the gingrich campaign, it was revived on the debate and now it's on debate. but because he doesn't have the debate until the 22nd of february, he is going to be out there for a while. >> sean: i totally agree with that natural si. you add the money, money was a factor and advantage for romney in south carolina. what is fascinating, too, you have been following politics for a long time. what is amazing is the turnaround, south carolina, a double-digit deficit into a double deficit win. same thing for romney in florida. he was back against the wall that gingrich had an

in south carolina, he was red meat. he comes to florida and he didn't have the softball opportunity and romney came out swinging. >> sean: romney and romney saw what happened in south carolina and romney went to work. romney prepared for those debates. he went after newt gingrich in very aggressive way, in a way he knew he had to step up. >>> he took gingrich off his game. up to that point he had not gone negative. gingrich was singing kumbayah and it all caged. >> one thing, it was compressed schedule between new hampshire and south carolina. so the debates which were right at the bookend two of them, they had much greater impact on much smaller state. had you two debates in smaller period of time. >> i don't think it had the kind of potential to be a game changer in florida which is really five states when you think about it. >> sean: here is what happened, we keep hearing the romney campaign spent a lot in debate prep. they hired a debate coach. newt gingrich i think he did the interview to michael barone he said his

this one is in sumter, south carolina. >> oh, that's your birth certificate? >> reporter: amanda wolf has been waiting over six months to get the proper papers so she can finally get a photo id. >> i was adopted in georgia, and my name was different on my birth certificate, and plus my birth mother and birth father was on the birth certificate, so we had to go to vital check, and with vital check you have to have a major credit card, which i don't have. >> reporter: and so it went, on and on. amanda had a student photo id when she lived in florida and used it to vote when she moved here, but not anymore, not under the state's controversial new voter id law that was fashioned after an indiana law the supreme court upheld in 2008. state senator chip campsen sponsored the south carolina law. >> and the court has concluded that whatever those hurdles you have to clear to get the id necessary to vote. >> reporter: is worth it. >> it is worth it, that is correct. >> reporter: it is those hurdles, critics say, that will keep some eligible people who lack the proper i

what happened in south carolina? gingrich had the moment and those two debates, juan williams moment and john king. then he had a 30-point swing from 20 behind to 10 ahead. in the florida debates he was flat. he was on the defensive. romney was on attack, santorum was strong and that swung him all the way back. it's remarkable how much the debates are a factor and the money advantage had the same advantage in south carolina, it had to do with the moments the gingrich campaign, it was revived on the debate and now it's on debate. but because he doesn't have the debate until the 22nd of february, he is going to be out there for a while. >> sean: i totally agree with that natural si. you add the money, money was a factor and advantage for romney in south carolina. what is fascinating, too, you have been following politics for a long time. what is amazing is the turnaround, south carolina, a double-digit deficit into a double deficit win. same thing for romney in florida. he was back against the wall that gingrich had an

happens in positive light in south carolina. we have bridgestone making amar juror announcements and company -- major announcements. what we are trying to say the right to work atmosphere is con deucive to job creation for company expansion but it's also good for america's exporting goals. we don't want to continue to feed in the cultural war from state to state. we need to recognize the right to work state gives our country an opportunity to compete in a global economy. >> stuart: is south carolina unified on this? >> 110%. we made this from lat of things. south carolina versus clemson. you will find us unionfied. that is on the issue as it relates to right to work and the ability to attract new employees from across this country to home, the new home, south carolina. >> stuart: nicely put, sir. all right, representative tim scott, republican, south carolina, joining us from charlatan, we appreciate you being with us today. thank you very much, indeed. >> thank you, stuart. >> stuart: in one hour on the fox business network, th

he has in the public mind won everything but south carolina. people forget, rick santorum won iowa but right now newt gingrich is flailing away without a meaningful argument. >> he did say if this is going to go on for another six to eight months with typical newt irony he says unless romney drops out first. >> you have got to love the guy's bravado. he is like a cat with nine lives, comes bouncing back, different incarnation, a slightly different look and kradzier ideas each time arguably but the public will respect thatcrazier ideas each time arguably but the public will respect that but he isn't looking presidential. look at the different feel. newt gingrich is done. >> speaking of not looking presidential, this is newt gingrich last evening going after mitt romney. i mean the question is whether or not this really sells with voters and the newt that we have seen in the last week particularly getting more and more desperate. here is a quick clip: >> every time we nominate a moderate, we lose. you know. so 1996, we nominated a moderate. bill

as follows -- this is south carolina's article. no person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof escaping to another shall consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from service or labor be discovered upon claim of the party to whom such service/labor may be due. they go on to say that -- they say if that provision -- as a matter of fact, let me finish the next sentence. this stipulation was so material material to the compact. they're talking about the compact that form this is nation. that without it, that compact would not have been made. the greater number of the contracting party is at the time hell slaves. they previously in missed the events as a stipulation by making a condition in ordinance of government of this territory creeded by virginia which now composed the states north of the ohio river. now, they go on to talk about -- they name these states, by the way, that are violating this -- that are violating the fugitive slave act which will not allow them to go into their territory t

this was south carolina's article of secession. no persons held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof escaping to another shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be charged from service of labor but shall be delivered upon claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. and then they go on to say that if that provision -- as a matter of fact, let me finish the next sentence. this stipulation was so material to the compact -- now they're talking about the compact that forms this nation, that without it that compact would not have been made. the greater number of the contracting parties held slaves and they had previously in their estimate of the value of such of the stipulation of making the condition in the government of this territory seceded by virginia, which now composes the state north of the ohio river. now they go on to talk about -- they name these states that are violating the slave act, which is not allowing them to go into their territories to collect their slaves when their s

newt gingrich finished fourth in iowa, fifth in new hampshire, and he won south carolina. i mean, that is unheard of, unprecedented and partly he was able to do it because of sheldon ed son and, the individuals can give as much as they want, and are into the money like it has never been before in american politics. >> before mitt romney came under some sort of assault he was turning all of his firepower on barack obama, is that what we are going to see happening now that he feels, if he feels he dispatched newt gingrich? >> yes and i think you will be able to tell when he is completely confident, that he has won the nomination when he stops using the line he is a european socialist, and goes back to the line, he is a good guy who is over his head. that is the real general election message, but right now he is hitting the more ideological, he is a socialist and a european. >> yes. i mean, when he uses the president's name and sol lewinsky in the same paragraph it is a good indication that he is talking not to the nation, he is talking to republican primary voters and the pa

in south carolina, gingrich won that group by 14 points. so much better performance among women, and being seen as the most electable were among the keys to romney's victory tonight, brian. >> tamron, hall, looking at the exit poll numbers tonight, thanks. >>> our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd here in our new york studios with us. in our washington bureau, the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory. david, let's begin with you. as you look at tonight, and as you look at what we knew the challenge was for the romney campaign, are they going to be able to claim a lot of goals met? >> well, i think the big one is electability. if you look at the last couple of weeks, ten days coming out of the south carolina, what was the big question? why was romney so defensive? why would he allow himself to be bruised so much on the campaign trail over wealth, over taxes. those are really defensiveness brought on -- defensive responses brought on by himself. he really righted that. very strong debate performances, an

argue with south carolina on that. megyn: tom perez who a lot of our viewers may know, he was vocal in defending the decision to drop the case against the new black panthers. he comes out i believe in this case and said, looking, we don't necessarily buy that that will rectify the problem. >> it puts another requirement on, you have to go to the department of motor vehicles, get that photo i.d. south carolina already requires a state-issues i.d. like a registration card. this adds a photo i.d., the department is saying that's adding something that's more onerous. there are only 15 states that require a photo i.d. megyn: it's been upheld by the supreme court, has it not? >> it has. and if we bottom line it again, how hard is it? why is it own --ies it onerous to go to a dmv and geat free photo identification? megyn: you need it to buy a bought of wine. >> in south carolina they have a history with the department of motor vehicles of having dead people registered with the department of motor vehicles. i think the departm

going into south carolina, you come out of new hampshire, you had a double-digit lead going into south carolina. you have two debates, a double-digit leads becomes a double-digit loss. you go into florida, you are down double digits. you have two debates and you turn a double-digit lot into a double-digit victory in florida. a big victory in florida. how do you interpret this? in other words, the ebb and flow of this is kind of unlike anything i have seen. >> i have been fortunate over the last year. i have had pretty steady support. but there have been some other folks of that jumped in the lead and then dwindled down over time. the speaker got a good boost in south carolina. i think he had two good debates. frankly by taking on the moderators. he wasn't going after president obama or the other candidates, it was a chance to whack on the media, the mainstream media. that came across well, the audience loved it and gave him a big boost. when he came to florida and it was actually not about the moderators but about the candidates, he didn't do so well. he initially said the audience in

of south carolina on that sunday after south carolina leading romney in florida by six points. >> jon: gingrich in a landslide. a ging-glide. america, brace yourself for a gingrich white house and a new hair style craze. no! i meant his wife's hair. there. with his new lead in florida, gingrich felt confident enough to start speculating about the future. >> by the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon. (laughing). >> jon: by the end of my third term, i will have shaved the sides off michigan so it looks like it's flipping off aliens. by my fifth term, i will have fed the nation's poor with the cheap food stuff made from their own children. by my seventh term i will have trained cats to do jobs that immigrants do. so how did mitt manage to claw his way back? well, gingrich won his advantage by being kind of a huge dick to romney in the south carolina debates so when it came time for the florida debates.... >> wouldn't it be nice if people didn't make accusations somewhere else that they weren't willing to defend here? having differences of opinions on

a huge switch from south carolina. now, people will say south carolina is more conservative. that's true, a different tea party in florida, but this is a huge gain for governor romney. one of the reasons, if you're in florida, a lot of tweet, e-mails from tea party voters, ran into some who said they liked speaker gingrich until he gave the speech about the moon colony, that gave them the idea that he's not serious abiliout cutti spending. >> let's show what he said dug that debate. >> by the end of my second term -- [ applause ] we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be american. >> we will have commercial near earth activities that includes science, tourism, and manufacturing, and by the end of 2020, we will have the first continuous propulsion system in space capable of getting to mars in a short time because i'm sick of being told we have to be timid and have to be limited to technologies that are 50 years old. >> that was the day before the cnn debate. he did get hammered for it in the debate, and also for going around state by state and talking ab

they were make up their minds well before south carolina. only 25%over the voters here in florida decided in the last few days, and in south carolina where newt gingrich won, 55% decided in the last few days. two out of the three republican voters said the debates were important. and that was very significant to the romney campaign because he was convinced he turned in a very strong debate performance and newt gingrich was something off of his game. the other issue which is so important for the romney campaign as they try to spin the victory, 45% of the voters said the electability was the number one issue for them in this race. and they had hammered newt gingrich suggesting he was too much of a lightning rod the voters decided romney is more electable in a general election and that's why they gave mitt romney the victory today. also the indicators by those who voted from absentee or voted early. there were 605,000 votes cast before the polls opened today. and of those 51% said they voted for mitt romney, 29 for newt. which is a bigger sprea

south carolina it wasn't an issue. so, you know, that remains to be seen. i think people are looking for -- i think they're looking for solutions. they're looking for ideas contrary to what many in washington would say. you know, the last time -- we have to look at new ways of dealing with old problems. >> we're going to take a quick break and be back with more of our "press pass" with j.c. watts, former gop congressman and football star on this super bowl weekend. we'll talk football with him. safety and the super bowl when we come back. our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she wa

now romney won in south carolina. i think the message is, this isn't over and all of the people have not decided yet. this still is a wide open race. >> gretchen: every state is different. the conservative vote, so much more important in south carolina. not so much important in florida, according to the exit polls. >> yes. >> gretchen: let's take an example of the national polls. newt gingrich is still on top in most national polls. that could change after florida. but let me ask but a job that they have given you as an endorser of newt gingrich, which is to reach out to the young people, to the college campus. why is it you? >> i'll tell you what some of the college students have said. they like my personality and my sense of humor and the way i talk about the issues connects with the youth because if you talk to college students in political speak, you lose them. and one of the reasons that i did that rally at the college of charleston with steven colbert, that's where the students are. they're not going to watch th

no, not clinton, south carolina, dillon, south carolina, south of the border. sp supposedly it was his first job. ted turner. and newt gingrich. and that's -- i don't know if that's a stretch or not, whether he was -- is or should be a southerner. because he was born in pennsylvania i think. just because he represented georgia and taught at west georgia. well, anyway. "time" has tended until very recent years to be a very conservative, very loose, lucite publication you might say tending towards republicans and consensus sorts of people. chiang kai-shek made it, madam chian made the team. mao tse-tung never made person of the year. when "time" decided to acknowledge the american woman in 1975, they had some significant people, billie jean king and others, but they somehow in their list of folks on the cover or pictures of people on the cover overlooked betty fredan and gloria steinem. this is a pretty establishment, up east sort of people. and so i wonder about nominating someone. the person i'm going to nominate, however, achieved probably the first thing he d

just as it was in south carolina. voters had a different idea about which candidate was more electable. if you want to sound smart, newt gingrich beat newt gingrich 58 to 33% among florida voters who saw electability as a top issue, compared to south carolina, voters who cared about electability voted for newt gingrich, 51-37%. >>> enough of the real news, huddle up around the water cooler to hear the first lady's case for her husband and not mitt romney as the singer who can lead this country for the next four years. first a refresher president obama at the apollo theater a couple weeks ago. >>. ♪ i'm so in love with you >> michelle obama on the tonight show last night. >> did you ever think at this point in your lives together he would become a singing sensation, did you ever think that would happen? >> who -- not at all. he sings a lot of al green, marvin gaye, stevie, he likes the classics. >> does he say to you honey, at the apollo, was that spontaneous? >> completely spontaneous, i didn't hear about it until i

newt gingrich had a quick result in south carolina. he is left to pick up the pieces in his campaign. does he have the organization to compete? i think a lot of people in the republican paternity and a lot of commentators will start to say that romney is feeling like the romney, but, there is still a long process to go through. we have only had about 10% of the total number of republican delegates from all of the state. -- states. mitt romney has a long road ahead even though on paper he looks and feels like a nominate. the question is, when and how do the candidates brought out. all three, paul, santorum, and gingrich, stay they will stand. >> let's talk about the campaigning. mitt romney has managed to change his fortunes, 10 them around. how has he done that? >> he has done it in two ways. first, threw cold hard cash. his supporters spent about $15 million on tv advertisements in florida. that is five times what gingrich spent. money talks in a big state like florida. the fourth biggest day in the country. i think you also saw a cha

in florida and south carolina, it was newt gingrich. but santorum is saying that newt gingrich's campaign has imploded. he is a completely unpredictable man. he will always draw attention to him rather than focusing on firing barack obama. if he hangs on in there long enough, newt gingrich will blow up and perhaps he can face mitt romney. mitch running as a 15-point lead in the votes in florida tonight with three-quarters of the votes counted. that is a pretty commanding victory here. what you heard was not really the speech of somebody trying to focus on his rivals. this is the speech as a candidate who is bidding sharply to president obama, setting out to the contrast as he sees it between a romney presidency and barack obama presidency it is a direct contrast for people watching at home. >> we will take live shot to newt gingrich's rally in florida. this is his wife. we will listen in to what he has to say. he has 31% of the vote. ♪ [applause] ♪ only in america >> he is due to speak within the next 30 seconds or so. he is clearly

a huge switch from south carolina. now, people will say south carolina is more conservative. that's true, a different tea party in florida, but this is a huge gain for governor romney. one of the reasons, if you're in florida, a lot of tweet, e-mails from tea party voters, ran into some who said they liked speaker gingrich until he gave the speech about the moon colony, that gave them the idea that he's not serious abiliout cutti spending. >> let's show what he said dug that debate. >> by the end of my second term -- [ applause ] we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be american. >> we will have commercial near earth activities that includes science, tourism, and manufacturing, and by the end of 2020, we will have the first continuous propulsion system in space capable of getting to mars in a short time because i'm sick of being told we have to be timid and have to be limited to technologies that are 50 years old. >> that was the day before the cnn debate. he did get hammered for it in the debate, and also for going around state by state and talking ab

and so ging rip competed with a big lead, went in there with big bucks in state of south carolina. he wasn't able to hold that lead. he lost it badly. and that is you know, he had an opportunity to make the point that he was the guy. and we didn't feel we can compete and given the size of the state and the state of our campaign from the standpoint of money. we raised about $4.5 million in the month of january which newt gingrich and you know, he had a much bigger vote coming out of south carolina than we did sort of a disputed delayed victory in iowa. we raised more money today than any other day one one online. we're getting a sense and a feeling out here in nevada and colorado and missouri and minnesota i've been to four states already in two days, we're getting a sense conservatives are looking elsewhere to find someone who can better match up against mitt romney and can be that principled conservative and draw a better contract with barack obama in the general election. >> greta: talking about conservatives, las vague yag yas sun said according to republicans in las vegas will

let's go back to south carolina. joe, where you predicted what happened here, even when everyone thought the surge might continue, spread to florida, you predicted mitt romney would win easily. how did you know? >> well, because i have lived in florida since 1978, and you see all of these elections, these statewide elections come and go, and you realize there's no way for momentum alone, or a speech here or a town hall meeting there to carry somebody over the top. the candidates that win, unfortunately, it is a political state when it comes to tv advertising or those that run the most negative 30-second ads. in florida, i grew up seeing one negative 30-second ad after another. unfortunately, some politicians have overlearned this lesson. rick scott still paying for the negative campaign, sitting at 31%, 32% approval rating, and he's been stuck there. he got sworn in as governor of florida with an approval rating in the low 30s because he was so negative as a campaigner. this is going to stick to mitt romney. >> i wou

that's what won eupl south carolina and what people like. he needs to get out of the snake pit he's been in the last week. bill: doug, are you going to calm down the pythons over there or what? your big point is that the message for gingrich is not as compelling as it needs to be. explain that. >> yeah, i think gretchen was really putting her finger on it. he has to have a message of change for basically working class, ordinary republicans at the grassroots, why he has ideas to lower taxes, lower spending, promote economic growth, get america moving again, and speak to the disaffected in america in a way that he did in south carolina and bluntly he didn't do in florida. bill: do you think, doug, that they are list toning hi listening to his message. >> the exit poll said interestingly me last night that they see him as the true conservative but they didn't like him. they voted against him on personal terms. the answer to your question is they are not listening but they want to. bill: gretchen do you site the same way? >> i can completely agr

. >>> major news on the south carolina voter suppression story. a new investigation says the state's attorney general is dead wrong. >> if we can't to suppress anyone's vote, we want to suppress deceased individuals who have already passed away and continue to vote. >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. president obama became the debunker in chief today. republicans have been attacking the president for higher gas prices with lies and false promises. president obama isn't letting them get away with it. he hammered the gop lies during a speech at the university of miami today. >> anybody who tells you that we can drill our way out of this problem doesn't know what they're talking about or just isn't telling you the truth. there are no silver bullets short-term when it comes to gas prices. anybody who says otherwise isn't telling the truth. none of the steps i've talked about today is going to be a silver bullet. it won't bring down gas prices tomorrow. remember, if anyone says they have plan for that, what? i'm just sayin