rick santorum did call mitt romney. romney took the call. it's been described by santorum's eldest daughterrer as a cordial conversation but brief. it happens minutes before he took to the stage to make his remarks. he made it clear that although it didn't go his way, he's not backing down and super tuesday is an opportunity for him to rise again. mitt romney didn't mention any of thinks republican rivals tonight. there are only a few plays in the romney playbook, and he has been disciplined in sticking with them. tonight was a victory and he talk about barack obama, not about his republican rivals. that's likely to continue but in ohio and the states where it's close and romney has to do well next week, don't expect any let-up. mitt romney has made it clear he knows how to throw a punch and he knows how to take a punch. there will be plenty of those exchanged between mitt romney and rick santorum in the days ahead. >> thank you. >> bill is at the touch screen tonight. bill, mitt romney did win a greater share of the vote in michigan. some i

romney care still seems to be hurdle for romney voters. he needs to do more especially as a new 2009 revelation came out in recent days. he needs to bridge that gap if he can. he needs to try to. at least look like is he willing to come to terms with romney care. >> rick santorum has talked about that a lot. on your show today and criticized romney openly. >> which he doesn't do all that often. indeed, megyn, i know you have been talking about, this rick santorum, that he believes is still his opening with romney. how you can run against barack obama when you yourself advocated on behalf of a national mandate as he did pretty much in that "u.s.a. today" piece from 2009? nevertheless, you talk to folks and i have been speaking to listeners across the country last two weeks you do sense people are getting weary of this process. do you sense people are saying the perfect is the enemy of the good. we have got to kind of figure this out soon. >> megyn: what of that in the polls showing the folks who decided in the past few days are siding with

>> romney. the counties that are coming in for santorum, like hoden, delta, chippewa, marquette, more of that vote is? >> smaller counties -- the. >> the smaller counties come in quicker. and a grand total after couple hundred votes in one county. so the smaller counties are in and santorum is tend to go win them, 29-48. 29 for romney and 48 for santorum. but the bigger counties where romney is coming in, they are coming in much slower. macomb county, he has a lead of 1,000 votes there. only 3% of the vote is in. he will probably come out of that county with a 30,000 vote lead. oakland county, 12% of the vote in. an 8,000 count lead. >> suburbs north of detroit. >> and near the center of the state near the state capital, 2% of the vote is in and romney has 1,000 vote lead in the county. looking at these bigger county that is are tend to go vote for romney are coming in slowly, and they have a lot more votes to come. as a result, they are going to come in with bigger numbers. >> this is a three p

to derail romney. are you buying that? >> you know, being one of the callers of the meeting i don't buy it. are you going to be in texas on friday. >> i will, indeed. if the meeting starts turning into a bash session of one of the republic candidates, i will stand up and fight that and if that doesn't work, i will leave the meeting. look, there will be a lot of people there. we have these meetis fairly regularly. we will be sharing ideas. people will say why they endorse various candidates. there will be newt gingrich fans, perry fans since we are in texas. people like me supporting santorum. there will be people there that have endorsed mitt romney. >> bill: free exchange of ideas not a cabal to derail romney. have you got to let us know if you walk out of the meeting right away. we have got to report that. the mainstream media, i'm not running down the "the washington post" here because somebody probably told them yeah we don't like this guy romney and going to try to do something. i'm not running hi

will the gingrich tax on romney have an effect? romney has had a charmed life here. romney has a little bit of incidental fire, but not much compared to gingrich or some of the others. what happens on the debate saturday night? does romney pull out more endorsems? apparently senator mccain will endorse him and stomp on whatever rick santorum gets. but the story of the week is, what -- can rick santorum make the most of this moment in a way that perry, bachmann and gingrich couldn't make the most of their moments over the last few months. >> stand by, we are checking in with carl cam -- carl cameron. any reaction to the late-breaking news? >> reporter: not exactly. they have been striking the room for the better part of the last hour. it's over. we learned that the polling in iowa was fairly accurate. [no audio]. >> sorry, carl. >> reporter: sorry, i have a lot of noise in my ear. and i can't hear you. >> the polling in iowa was fairly accurate. what is the romney game plan? i don't think he expected to be a run-away winner in the state of iowa. he has a lot of eggs i

romney. but, first, we caught up with the governor on the campaign trail late this week in michigan. governor, welcome back to fox news sunday. good to be with you. >>chris: what do you hope to achieve over the next week? i like people to stand back and say, what are the big issues america faces? what are the answers that i have and that paul ryan has for the issues that we face? i believe that if people stand back and consider all that america has to deal with going forward, they will recognize we are the only team that has answers for the challenges. they are big and bold antis. america needs that kind of held when so many people are out of work or underemployed or having a hard time making end's meet. >>chris: if voters take away one thing from your big acceptance speech on thursday night, what do you want that to be? >>guest: that i believe in america and in the american people. that i believe this nation is unique and exceptional and we have everything we need to continue to lead the wor

they had new rules and it went to romney. that had to do with the way the delegates were awarded he claims a victory in virginia, where only ron paul was the other one who met the requirements to be on the ballot. out west, he takes idaho. a large mormon population, predicted to turn out for the candidate and where in 2008, interestingly, ron paul took 23% of the vote. >> gregg: rick santorum has won the state of oklahoma, 40 delegates there. but they're split up proportionally, as well as tennessee, 55 delegate, split up. but he won there handily, 37% to 28%. north dakota, rick santorum, 40%, ron paul 28%. quite a super tuesday. now stretching into super wednesday. even ohio, only 1%. we are waiting for alaska. >> but the problem for rick santorum is he may have only lost by 1 percent, he loses big time on the delegates because he didn't qualify for several congressional districts, 18 delegates, he wasn't even eligible for in ohio. >> jamie: we we will break it down. newt gingrich won his home state of georgia. he had said a

romney is. and this week they put out condoleezza rice. >> how do you know that. >> it didn't go to a drudge. the drudge report had it at the top banner, condoleezza rice under serious consideration by the romney team. it was at a juncture when it was in their best interest to change the conversation. that's why that was done. otherwise we know rob portman is a guy in the conversation -- >> well, swree to do this. we have to talk names. your thought. who would be the smart choice? >> the smart choice at this point is reliable, ready to serve rob portman, the senator from ohio. >> apart from the fact that condoleezza rice has said emphatically she wouldn't do it, do you think she wouldn't be the best choice anyway? >> she would be a terrific choice. actually she has given great speeches, state party chair men like her, but she is pro choice. >> she did give the speech at the romney retreat. i was there and romney was impressed. if you want to be on the ticket, give the best speech you have ever g

romney was at the company. the point is, let me put it-- >> and they would say, for example, four jobs went overseas not reporting that 100 jobs were created here. and you look at the bain record, and it's phenomenal. this is a great american success story. more than 80% of the hundreds of companies they've backed with grown revenues, and the companies in total have grown their revenue by about 100 billion dollars. i mean, you've heard the successes and in terms of staples and bright horizons child care centers, there are tons of companies you haven't heard of, and in manufacturing and in technology, you're talking about hundreds of thousands of jobs created and it's a phenomenal record. i think mr. romney ought to be more aggressive about sharing it. >> mary, if the charges are so bogus, why aren't they having enough for the obama political team to double down on their bet? >> they're fixating on ohio, a place sensitive to outsourcing, but the problem is, the obama-- the romney campaign does not know how to de

and romney looking at obama will that matter more? or that mitt romney changed the tax plan now to say he didn't have a way to actually pay for it? that may come up more. >> are you able to identify, i think if goits to three categories something can be false or he could have change his policy. let me go back to the other two. was there anything that he said tonight that you noted was incorrect? this is off the cuff but, anything? >> yes. there are one if you look at the tax plan he's been specific and those do add up to $5 trillion wh. the president said you can't come up with enough deductions to pay for $5 trillion, either have to raise taxes on middle class or have to blow up the deficit. for mitt romney to reiterate no, my plan is that it won't increase taxes on middle class that is either a new policy that he's saying tax cuts will not be what he's been saying or not correct. and this is if this might if you want to call it that. they're getting way into the weeds when they started talking about it. where some of the analysis of

going in romney had 87. tonight depending how the results shaped up proportionally it will be less than 10 percent the delegates decided. >> less than 20 percent by the end of this month. it is a longer battle. the expectations momentum contest has begun. we people have gone through the contest voters are making up their minds. romney one late breakers they decided he is a winner. he looks like a winner to that. this goes through february when the contest comes in the weeks to come. he makes up his mind in the last minute. other important findings were that true conservatives only 5 percent of them thought that he was a true conservative. true conservatives group with him. he is 21 percent gingrich 24. that says a lot about what they are looking for in a candidate. >> they are getting ready for governor romney to speak at some point this hour. we will bring it to you live. nevada, it is a state that seems to line up not only for ron paul there is a big libertarian streak there the tea party was active in 201

romney and mr. ryan will campaign together aggressively this week and soon will split off and the two will undertake separate campaigns and mr. ryan will be a prolific fundraiser. and they will essentially go stereo with romney campaigning in battle ground and ryan campaigning in others in order to juggle the romney-ryan presence and double $fund raising capacity and take it to the convention and after the democratic convention. we'll see three weeks of fecampaign the entire month of october is going to be filled with debates. there will be three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate and one debate a week and up to election day . romney-ryan team very excited by the reaction. romney is bouyant and excited about ryan bringing energy to the cam bane what henied. there is a lot of enthusiasm and confidence building here in the romneyn. it a rough couple of weeks of polls that showed president obama was gaining ground and mr. romney was slipping behind a bit. they firmly believe that rom

red is romney. those are romney states. blue, obama. then pinkish is lean romney. light blue is lean obama. then yellow are the tossup states within the margin of error. this, of course, is all based on polls over the last 30 days. okay, karl. start from the left time we were together. what has changed? >> two changes in status. the most important of which is wisconsin moves from lean obama to what joe and i suggested it would be after ryan's appointment. the vice president running mate. that is tossup. so ten electoral college votes out of the obama column to tossup. five electoral in mexico from lean obama to obama. >> bret: american samoa is testing by the way, behind us just so you know. >> no electoral votes. >> bret: joe, most important of the changes? >> wisconsin moving to tossup, karl and i agree that would likely happen. it did. that is important. but the most important may be the polls that are coming out of ohio that show that it was a tossup but it is getting tighter, which is significant. obama had been widening up things there. and romney really need

: 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 prep for debate show up he has a great debate. >>. >> sean: i want somebody to clobber obama in the debate. >> at the end of the day. that would be great. but you want someone who c

detailed lay-out of romney. romney >> outright attack on mitt romney alleged weaknesses. not a word about newt gingrich. what does it tell you? they are attacking newt gingrich. the question answers itself. >> what do i tell the viewers who e-mail in and say brit hume is in the tach for mitt romney? >> i call it as i see it. only one person the other night that said newt gingrich had a whopping victory. it was i. >> bret: thank you. arizona state legislature is investigating the gun smuggling probe known as operation fast and furious. they will try to determine if a state law was broken or they were coerced to helping. >> it's wrong. we will investigate it. >> mark kirk underwent surgery this morning to relieve swelling around his brain. after suffering a stroke. he checked in the hospital saturday. his surgeon said he is doing well but it's too soon to predict when he can return to the senate. >> gabrielle giffords met with other survivors from the last year shooting and gave a hug to intern hernandez credited with saving her life. giffords announced she is resigning fro

like mitt romney. at the expense of everybody else. what the ryan-romney plan provides win fall tax breaks at the expense of the rest of the country and everything else . very much a return to the bush economic agenda that if you let things trickle down it will lift the boats and had it helped people like mitt romney. >> there is no question. you have to do something about the deficit and spending. and you have to do something to broaden the tax base and the president's plan would be to increase revenues on the same people that paul ryan would maintain cuts on. where is that a better way to go? >> i believe a balanced approach to the long-term deficit is the right way to go. that is the way it isy recommended. i don't endorse every recommendation but the overall frame work is a balanced one which is in stark contrast to the republican budget which is lopsided approach and that significantly cuts our investment in education and would ask seniors to bear the rising health care costs risk and provide a ta

romney and mr. ryan will become officially the republic ticket it in just a little bit under a couple hours. this has been a long long process for mitt romney. he started with, at one point, at many as a dozen names being threated around the country. the mentionables. brought it down to a list of three or four in the last several days there was a real emphasis that maybe it was rob portman and maybe tim pawlenty and a buzz began at the beginning of last week that paul ryan height be the pick. in norfolk, virginia but the uss wisconsin obviously kind of hard to overlook as an irony or intentional coincidence for the ticket. insofar as mr. ryan is the congressman from wisconsin and as we have been talking about. the house budget committee chairman with the ryan budget in his portfolio which now becomes a big part of the romney agenda. he was early supporter of the ryan budget when the likes of newt gingrich and other republicans criticized. gingrich called it right wing social engineering and got roun

what's wrong with the romney campaign. >> there's a lot right with the romney campaign, but a couple things wrong. one is that the candidate himself failed in south carolina, especially, to spahn vigorously to challenges, the challenge to his role at bain capital mounted by gingrich and a lot of people thought that was an unprincipled attack. if he turned around arn needed to and still needs to he might have been able to do something like what newt gingrich did when he was challenged a couple of times in the debate. he turned those things around, you know, forcefully and made them work for him. and mitt romney need today do that and he failed to do it and that's point number one. and point number two, if you look back in iowa and what happened to newt gingrich in iowa and the courtesy of the romney team was, he was number one in the national polls, remember, and got cut down on the sharp attack in television ads. remember how he complained earlier about them. by the time new hampshire was over with, finished first, fourth and then fifth in new hampshire and the romney campaign felt t

mitt romney? what i was surprised about, greta during the debate on the middle east, mitt romney didn't bring up israel once. it just shows he isn't committed to israel in the way he says is he and only used it as a political opportunity and not done a very good job. >> i was surprised and is a missed opportunity for governor rom neechl i would have mentioned president obama didn't meet with prime minister netanyahu when he was here and that he was today there was a israel's embassy web site where they talked about they're surprised about the story whether there would be bilateral talk was iran or not. looks like there is a very chilly relationship between the president and prime minister netanyahu. ways surprised that governor romney didn't hit him with that. >> i was surprised that governor romney, who said israel is a priority didn't mention it. president obama made it clear in word and deed he has had israel back. he reiterated time and again when it doumz making sure israel and united states

romney is in a stronger position now than he was in in august. >> so is romney, is it fair to say romney is actually leading or is this essentially a tie? >> it's essentially a tie right now. the data is so close. but romney was behind by a field goal, now he's kicked a field goal and we have a tie race going into the final weeks. >> what voter groups have moved in the last three weeks? are you talking about independents, are you talking about specific demographic groups? who has moved? >> well, one group that hasn't moved are the strong partisans. democrats and republicans who turn out are going to vote for their own nominee. the key statistic to watch with the partisans is enthusiasm. and the presidential debate clearly help the republican enthusiasm and hurt the democratic enthusiasm. on the other hand, the group to watch as far as the ballot test goes are the independents because they are much less lock into their particular pref presence at -- preference at the moment. your own poll showed that in virginia, according to wall street journal poll, independents moved a net seven points

they're going for mitt romney, 58% to 33 for newt gingrich and romney though continues to be dogged by the idea that he's not a quote, true conservative. voters who are looking for a true conservative, once again, have been won over by newt gingrich's argument and gingrich is 46 and romney all the way down there at 11% with the true conservatives which is a striking number this evening. nearly twice as many are likely to say that romney is not quote, conservative enough when asked that question and say the same thing tonight about newt gingrich and let's talk about the makeup of the florida electorate. has both tore mitt romney and newt gingrich. and seniors are crucial voting blocks in florida usually strong for mitt romney and 50% of the seniors in florida voting tonight are going for mitt romney. 35% for newt gingrich. another voting block that we've been watching this primary season is evangelical christians and this is a very strong group of course for newt gingrich in south carolina, and once again, they seem to be pulling for newt gingrich here in florida as well and 40% for gin

bill: we are tracking the romneys there in massachusetts, and moment ago, governor romney and ann romney left a building heading back to their home and he was asked how the meeting went. he said quote i like my speech, i really like ann's speech. our sons are already in tampa. they say it's terrific there, a lot of great friends. that coming across the wire there on the romneys today. security also a major concern as you can imagine at the rnc. police arrested a knife-wielding protester believed to be part of a group occupy tampa. he was seen walking around with a group of other protesters inside the event zone. police say he was spotted with an 8-inch machete strapped to his leg. he faces charges of carrying a prohibited item and resisting arrest. martha: the rnc's keynote speaker may be helping out in tampa as well. speaking to delegates on sunday morning he referred to one of his more well-known statement that got a lot of attention as a possible inspiration for them meeting him around here. >> i think we'll enjoy the next few days down here in florida. the weather will come and go. t

romney's campaign veered offmessage. every other republican leader seized on the supreme court healthcare ruling. pounding the president's individual mandate as a massive tax increase on americans. but an advisor to mitt romney said the governor doesn't see it that way. in fact, he suggested romney sees it just as the president does. which left the romney campaign scrambling for clarification. ed henry reports. >> reporter: barely 24 hours after the top republican claimed the healthcare plan is a massive tax, adopted by the romney undercut the argument and let the president off the hook saying on msnbc the mandate in romney's own plan was not a tax. >> the governor believes that what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty. he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax. >> he believes that he shouldn't call the tax penalty a tax. you should call at it penalty or a fee or a fine. >> that is correct. >> reporter: romney camp tried to back pedal from advisor eric bernstrom comment with a statement t

i think mitt romney will win florida. if the governor wins ohio as well, he will be the next president of the united states. but that's a big if. president obama seems to have blunted romney's momentum over the weekend. talking points predicted that would happen last week. because of hurricane sandy, and because the national media simply refuses to cover the libyan situation. so while romney had momentum one week ago, the storm stalled it. and that's where we are tonight. both candidates slugging it out, momentum for both somewhat subdued. in just about four hours the good folks in dixville, noch, new hampshire will cast the first ballots. i love the notch. nature at its best up there romney will most likely carry the notch. but new hampshire seems to be leaning obama. if president obama loses the election, it will be because he could not convince americans that his big government philosophy would improve the economy. even though mr. obama had trouble in other areas like libya, it is the economy that has made this electio

only two people involved in conversations ann romney and mitt romney. the third, beth myers the woman who has been i long time aid to mitt rom nee. beth myers led the search committee. she's cut her teeth in american politics years ago in texas alongside karl rove. the romney campaign said that they would conduct a very long, very intense vet prog ses that would be unprecedented in the depth it would go to ensure they'd pick the right person for the job. and there is a lot of unthese yachl. because the buzz has gotten so pronounced there is a possibility that any selection other than him might disappoint some conservatives concerned that rob portman, tim pawlenty, capable wex peer yens in government may not bring the type of chemistry that the romney ticket might need. there is marco rubio, florida u.s. senator who could help with hispanics across the country, coming from the important swing state of florida. ruby yoe would be exactly the type of spark romney might need in order to not only court latinos maiblging up a key, growing coalition but also to

so now we are down to santorum and romney. go on romney. >> yes. romney scares me because i don't believe he sees the fed as a problem. i think if we hit a global crisis i'm not convinced that mitt romney is the guy to bring us into a small government age and pare us down. with that being said, he understands the economy. he understands business. i hope he understands small business and not just big business. he is the guy who will wipe the floor with barack obama in a debate, i believe. >> bill: all right. what about this bain capital business. you stuck up for romney. you were one of the guys who stuck up for romney. >> there is nothing wrong. are we really in a country where we're going to start hammering capitalism? >> bill: yes, we are. that's where we are. that's what the election is about. go to western europe and do what they do or go back to capitalism. that's what this is about. >> just a second. wait a minute. wait a minute. bill, are you actually saying it's anti-capitalist, maybe socialist, maybe even communist that we are arguing with

bill, romney's win was certainly expected. combined with a big win earlier in the week in florida and what looks like a string of strong states for him in february, how commanding is his position right now? >> it is pretty commanding. but i think the key question is what you just said. the string of the apparently strong states coming ahead. i think tuesday night is important. you asked rick santorum is this make or break for you. he said it is a long campaign plenty of time. but tuesday night for santorum will be an important moment to try to surpass gingrich and take on romney especially in missouri. romney if he could win all three on tuesday night then suddenly five in a row and that would be impressive strength. >> chris: in fairness, liz marlantes, in 2008 barack obama won a string of victories in caucuses in february and it didn't stop hillary clinton and she was able to come back strong in march. even if you do well in one month it doesn't exclude the others from staying in and prospering. >> if they can survive financ

romney has to do well, no doubt about it. the debate falls into the media of romney has to perform and if he he doesn't it is an excuse for another round of in my mind disgustingly biased pieces against mitt romney. i believe bill is exactly right when barack obama was challenged in the univision interview and he was challenged very hard. obama looked uncomfortable when he is really confronted with facts and simply worded questions. i think if mitt romney reminds people we have really 11.7% unemployment and not 8.1% that america's best days ca cannot e behind her, they have to be in front of her. i think having a moment of real leadership and maturity and contrasting that with the president who seems more comfort with ellen or the late night hosts than he is talking to the families of these insider attacks. i think romney has to be mature and forceful. yet the idea that it is all in the debate i think that is a little too convenient for the media. >> chris: juan talk about it but also is because we keep forgetting about obama

and 20 seconds here, the romney campaign you can't see mitt romney tonight. why is that? >> about a week and a half ago they looked at polls and way things were going and thought there was a chance that romney could pull off perhaps a first-place showing but they knew he's going get a third of the delegates. so by not scheduling an election night, they're not in a position to have reporters like me, standing in front of a case saying bad night for mitt romney. and still not a good night for him. >> all right. carl, thank you. and the back to the panel. steve, interesting that dynamic, what do you think of the interview with newt gingrich? >> it was fascinating. half candidate, half analyst describing where he wanted to be and how he saw his campaign for the presidency. it's clear he wants to deny mitt romney 1144 that. is his goal. and he said thachl i'm a lot paraphrasing what he told you. it's interesting. he made several arguments on behalf of that strategy. he said having two conservatives in the race couldn't focus his money on one of the two candidates he's talking

saying that mitt romney is a vulture capitolist? that governor romney is unethical? >> what i'm saying is that way they operated with those two particular companies and those two south carolina cities, it is, i think irresponsible. the truth is the truth. there is no use in trying to shy away. if we think barack obama is not going to attack this and talk about it we might as well discuss it now. is this the type of conservatives we want representing us? i happen to think south carolina voters want someone who. >> we know whoever gets this is going to be attacked. it's go tok a billion dollar campaign. there are areas you can have with the governor romney. he's positions on abortion or romney care. i think those are all legitimate debates here, but there tl is also, i just think to say those people willing to invest their money and they come in and try to get them profitible again tork say they're vultures and enethical is about a severe charge as you can may make. you're right. it's one boy expect from barack obama saying republicans want dirty air or dirty water. >>

today in colorado, romney leads. today in new hampshire romney leads. the race is dead even, my suspicion, by monday in ohio. and we have got a barn burner. >> bill: you are not even talking about florida, which i believe the governor is going to win. >> florida, the reason why i haven't been talking about it i think it's sweeping in the republic column same thing as virginia. five polls thursday through saturday of last week. >> bill: virginia, and the momentum in virginia and florida. this is fair and balanced is going -- the governor's way right now. we don't know about the third debate. the instinct is not doing very much. however, if president obama wins ohio then. it becomes problematic for the governor. right? he has to do an extraordinary amount of winning the -- >> you have to win colorado and wisconsin. or colorado, nevada, and new hampshire. why is nevada with the highest unemployment rate in the country still so stead fast for obama. big unions in las vegas. culinary union. >> bill: in clark county. >> clark county. very good. second thing i

so romney was right. but on medicaid, where romney said it wasn't wouldn't be a cut twould be inflation plus 1% and obama said it would be a 30% cut. there was an independent study by bloomberg. they say that romney's medicaid proposal, $1.26 trillion loss in medicaid over 10 years under the romney plan. so there were facts and some loose arguing of the facts am but an interesting debate. i am not sure a game changer, but a good night for romney, a little less so for the president. >> thank you. bret, at the beginning of the show, you were jealous of me because i was with the action and now you are with the action. >> yes. chris wallace has good analysis and he can pick good times. coming up, charles krauthammer on who came out on top. he joins us after this break. music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i

how many decided for mitt romney? so it's clearly a good night for mitt romney. i want to go right to the dials. this is at the very beginning of the debate. when mitt romney talked about the five points of his program that he would implement if he got elected president, both republicans and democrats dialed it up. let's take a look. >> my plan has five basic parts. one, get us energy independent, north american energy independent. that creates about four million jobs. number two, open up more trade, particularly in latin america, crack down on china if and when they cheat. number three, make sure our people have the skills they need to succeed and the best schools in the world. we're far away from that now. number four, get us to a balanced budget. number five, champion small business. it's small business that creates the jobs in america, and over the last four years small business people have decided that america may not be the place to open a new business. >> so you tell me, why did -- why -- what's so good about that program? why was it so positive to you all

romney to do. which is to get in the weeds of the problem of romney care and the liability he will face as nominee. the governor has continued to say, you know, states should be allowed to do what you want. what rick santorum says is no, what you fundamentally believe in and showed was that government run healthcare is okay. how can you make that contrast? mr. romney didn't have a good answer because the answer has been states should be able to do what they do and he's going to get caught. >> he goes back to his talking points. he cut 500 billion-dollar from medicare, i didn't. as if massachusetts had anything to do with medicare and floundering with talking points that aren't accurate. >> this was a important style distinction in what we saw. mitt romney says the system we have is quote/unquote pretty good. and santorum jumps on that aggressively and says you can't give the issue away. i'm your debate coach, you cannot go against barack obama and talk like that. >> jason, you were impressed with r

romney. >> romney, paul, huntsman. >> i go with romney, paul then gingrich. >> how about that. thank you so much. you sure you don't want to -- >> okay, all right. >> just checking. thanks a lot.st stay tuned for a final look ahead. tell me what you really ♪ ♪ do you know wh 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 know what you a ... from toyota. ♪ do you know? 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! >> brett: finally tonight a remind are about tuesday. we will start off election night coverage with another live special report right here from manchester. that begins at 6:00 eastern. then 8:00 p.m. eastern time. megyn kelly and i will bring you results. we'll have expert analysis, charles drought ham you are, chris wallace, jo

i want to be honest i'm not going to get lectured by mitt romney or anybody on the romney campaign about the tone of this campaign. this is a guy who has flown all over the country saying he is not sure whether the president believes in america. we are auctioning off dinners with the birther in chief right wing nut job donald trump who still questions whether or not the president was born in the united states of america. i'm happen to listen to charges and counter charges but the notion that we will get lectured by mitt romney and his campaign about running a positive campaign that is a pill far too big to swallow. >> chris: thanks for coming in. always good to talk with you, sir. >> thank you. >> chris: up next, the romney campaign responds. we will sit down with senior advisor ed gillespie, next. people like options. when you take geico, you can call them anytime you feel like saving money. it don't matter, day or night. use your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, whatever. the point is, you have options. oh, how convenient. hey. crab cakes, what are you looking at? geico. fifteen

mitt romney? what i was surprised about, greta during the debate on the middle east, mitt romney didn't bring up israel once. it just shows he isn't committed to israel in the way he says is he and only used it as a political opportunity and not done a very good job. >> i was surprised and is a missed opportunity for governor rom neechl i would have mentioned president obama didn't meet with prime minister netanyahu when he was here and that he was today there was a israel's embassy web site where they talked about they're surprised about the story whether there would be bilateral talk was iran or not. looks like there is a very chilly relationship between the president and prime minister netanyahu. ways surprised that governor romney didn't hit him with that. >> i was surprised that governor romney, who said israel is a priority didn't mention it. president obama made it clear in word and deed he has had israel back. he reiterated time and again when it doumz making sure israel and united states

romney. vice presidential candidate paul ryan is also speaking at a rally. this one in castle rock, colorado. let's briefly listen in. of revenge. [crowd booing] >> we are asking for your are vote out of love of country. that is what americans do. and the way we are doing this is we believe we should not just give you vague platitudes or run against the other are guy or try and tear down the other guy. we give you ideas. the reason we keep talking about the five point plan s we leave we ought to respect you our fellow citizens by giving you specific solutions. real reforms for a real recovery that get people what back to work. we have so is much energy in this country. let's put people back to work. let's get jobs. it is right in front of us. it is right here. and for those men and women who are struggling, who are falling behind or in between jobs get the bureaucracy out of the way and get them the skills they need orchids stuck in struggling schools in the inner city and rural area let the

with romney. panel, we have to take a break here. we we come back, round two, biden ryan. stay tuned. çúwñoa >>> the thing about congressman ryan is he has been straightforward up to now about everything he has -- all the significant changes he wants to make. >> he is fast on the cuff. he is a witty guy. he knows who he is. and he has been doing this for 40 years so you are not going to rattle joe biden. >> chris: vice president biden and congressman paul ryan trying to set tax increases ahead of their debate on thursday. i don't know how important it is terms who is actually going to win. i have to say i'm really looking forward to the ryan-biden debate. on one hand an old school liberal and a young gun conservative. i think it will be a real culture clash. kim, what do you expect? >> i think what you just said, what joe biden had going for him when barack obama went into the debate expectations were huge he was going to mop the floor with romney. joe biden does not have a high expectations

this is a floor romney won. and i think what is really important about santorum is that he is always the one that never got respect from the beginning of the race and on all of us are confessing to sins here, he's a guy who lost his senate race by 18 points in 2006. he wasn't on the scene. coming out of nowhere and is standing on the wings on the side alt the ends of the line in the debates because he was low in national polls. and at times complaining he wasn't getting enough air time and attention. but once he shed the loser label, his senate races and shows he can win i think it changes a lot for him. because the perception is that he is sort of he may win here or there. and this is a hat trick but a huge margin. >> well, up to a point. and that is these tapes these are straw polls occurring on the first day. it's a three, four part process. sanltor yum energy nized -- energized the face of the republican party. he's doing it more main stream basis what ron paul has done before and what mitt romney has done i

will the gingrich tax on romney have an effect? romney has had a charmed life here. romney has a little bit of incidental fire, but not much compared to gingrich or some of the others. what happens on the debate saturday night? does romney pull out more endorsems? apparently senator mccain will endorse him and stomp on whatever rick santorum gets. but the story of the week is, what -- can rick santorum make the most of this moment in a way that perry, bachmann and gingrich couldn't make the most of their moments over the last few months. >> stand by, we are checking in with carl cam -- carl cameron. any reaction to the late-breaking news? >> reporter: not exactly. they have been striking the room for the better part of the last hour. it's over. we learned that the polling in iowa was fairly accurate. [no audio]. >> sorry, carl. >> reporter: sorry, i have a lot of noise in my ear. and i can't hear you. >> the polling in iowa was fairly accurate. what is the romney game plan? i don't think he expected to be a run-away winner in the state of iowa. he has a lot of eggs i

going in romney had 87. tonight depending how the results shaped up proportionally it will be less than 10 percent the delegates decided. >> less than 20 percent by the end of this month. it is a longer battle. the expectations momentum contest has begun. we people have gone through the contest voters are making up their minds. romney one late breakers they decided he is a winner. he looks like a winner to that. this goes through february when the contest comes in the weeks to come. he makes up his mind in the last minute. other important findings were that true conservatives only 5 percent of them thought that he was a true conservative. true conservatives group with him. he is 21 percent gingrich 24. that says a lot about what they are looking for in a candidate. >> they are getting ready for governor romney to speak at some point this hour. we will bring it to you live. nevada, it is a state that seems to line up not only for ron paul there is a big libertarian streak there the tea party was active in 201

in virginia, america research group has romney up there. colorado, romney is up there. and in the swing states, if you look at "usa today "usa today"/s romney. i believe the momentum has shifted. for a sitting president, anybody on the fence is likely to break for the challenger. >> all this could shift tomorrow. look, this thing is -- i think romney has the momentum. the structure of this election, except that people do in some states feel things are better, but right now this thing is still up in the air. it could break. this could break -- >> sean: what could obama do tomorrow, besides not have a disastrous performance like -- >> it's more romney. if this is even close, they've written the headlines, obama wins. the republicans are run running against the obama campaign and the media. >> it's tough to beat an incumbent president, and you're doing it with mitt romney, who most people do not like that much. he's not a lovable character. >> sean: and obama is? >> if you had a serious candidate against obama in the condition he's in right now, they ought to be up by 10 p

romney shouldance that question. if they go back to mindlessly reminding people guess what the economy is not great they will waste the next ten days. >> chris: we have to move on. the president will have the opportunity to explain all that to the ladies of "the view" is. >> exactly right. >> chris: we have to take a break. when we come back, president obama also had his troubles this week with antiamerican violence in the middle east and a changing story about what a changing story about what happened at in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ >>> the natural prot

romney, thank you for joining us on the flight. i get outside and mr. romney? george scott romney, mitt romney's brother. the whole time. happens to love the show. big fan. big fan of dana, especially. >> dana: well, who isn't? >> andrea: did you say nice things about his brother's performance >> eric: i think i did. >> andrea: that would be bad if you said he didn't do well >> andrea: bob and i have the segment on america's newsroom for six years. this morning, it was outed last night i wasn't watching the debate. i was at a rush concert. but i watched the debate when i got home. i got an e-mail from surprisingly the lead singer of kansas. a big deal to me. john alafonte, all the way to the right. classic rock jungie. i have older siblings and grew up in a diner. give me a break. he wrote me an e-mail and he said a message for you. he said i saw your mini debate with beckel. "who is rush?" is he in the stone age? meaning you. if i had to guess i'd say you are in your young 30s, glad to hear you're in to classic rock. i sang with kansas. he said keep it up, "th

governor romney is there today. >>shepard: i watched pennsylvania with great interest when the obama camp sent out the number one surrogate, bill clinton, to not one but four different stops in person including two in the philadelphia area, and we get the new poll that shows it is basically tied up, and, then, a spokesperson for obama said it is tight. is pennsylvania actually in play? if it is, you are in great shape. >>guest: amazing. amazing. really, pennsylvania was not on the map in the last couple of cycles and we just started campaigning this last week because we have always had an operation in pennsylvania but we started campaigning this last week because we feel like we have a shot at it. they have been responding to governor romney's message and independents have been coming over to governor romney's side so we feel really good about exit for the obama campaign to have deployed their top surrogate they have, of course, joe biden there and this is just spelling trouble for obama. >>shepard: it has been a lo

they voted for romney. in iowa, conservatives voted for santorum because he's a religious conservative and a social conservative. >> douglas? >> yeah, i agree with margaret. the new hampshire conservative is a much more moderate variety than iowa. moreover, 44% of the overall vote in new hampshire were independents. so this electorate is a different electorate than the one we saw in iowa. more moderate overall. even if they had a different self-characterization and a much healthier percentage of independents who could vote in either primary and there was only one primary to vote in yesterday. >> and ron paul got a sizable amount of the vote yesterday because a lot of people in new hampshire like him saying stuff like this. >> i think the intellectual revolution that's going on now to restore liberty in this country is well on its way and there's no way they're going to stop the momentum that we have started. >> all right. now let's talk about the evangelical vote or the person who told the exit pollers, i c

romney first called. first hurdle you have to get over sean has to like you. in the second round. >> and that happens right away. after that question. >> no. i think people are interested in this. generally look everybody who is vetted submitted massive amounts of information and went through follow-up questions and interviews and a rigorous process and it is very well done and professional and my cap is off to them for running a great process. i know a lot of the others considered were called late last night and told it was not going to be them. is that the same for you? well, you know, i served as national co-chair of the mitt romney campaign . he called me. i think it was monday and indicated the direction he was head i certainlyy appreciate that and there was an indication about the process and not about his thinking and decision . he call would me monday evening. >> that is disappointing. i interviewed you twice last week and i tried to pull teeth and you didn't give in at all. >> you have to go back

. >> are you leaning obama or leaning romney. >> i'm leaning obama. >> i'm leaning toward romney because the country is in disarray and the country needs something different. >> bill: watters is out at hofstra university. he is primed and so are the students there. you where to enter the no spin zone. the factor begins right now. >> bill: hi, i'm bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. the big debate had just one hour from now that the subject of this evening's talking points memo. there is no question that this vrabel shootout at hofstra university on long island is vital for president obama. he has another shaky performance the odds are he will lose the election. let me back that up with polling. according to the rasmussen daily tracking poll, among likely voters, mitt romney now leads the president by two points. also gallup daily tracking has romney up by 4 points, the largest lead the governor has in that poll. and the swick states are also trending toward governor romney. in new hampshire, now a tie in the suffolk poll. in iowa according to the arg poll it's also a tie. in p