twinkie looks like. >> it's brittle. >> do you think it's edible? >> i wouldn't want to try it. >> by the way, the maker of the twinkie says its shelf life is actually 25 days. there are humans who have never tasted a twinkie. for this australian couple, it was their first bite. >> mm. they're yum. >> don't stop making twinkies. >> hostess says that during the bankruptcy proceedings we're going to operate business as normal. they'll keep making twinkies. >> goodness. they make you feel good. it's hard not to smile when you eat a twinkie. >> would you like a twinkie? >> no thank you. >> the company says it owes more than $1 billion to creditors. that's a lot of twinkies. jeanne moos, cnn. >> a toast. >> cha-ching. >> new york. >> that's it for me. thanks for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. the news continues next on cnn. good evening. tonight we're live from the cnn

elections center. it is on to south carolina for the republicans who would be president with mitt romney looking to run his win streak to three and to use his dramatic momentum to raise millions more this month. the texas governor rick perry is among those vowing to stop romney in south carolina. he's right here to answer republicans who say attacks on the frontrunner's business record are over the line. just wait until you see governor perry's backdrop. a plot worthy of a spy model. a bomb attached to the car of an iranian nuclear scientist who's dead tonight and nobody knows who did it. the fight for the republican nomination roared into south carolina today, and with its full cast of characters. mitt romney's easy win last night in new hampshire didn't convince any of his rivals to drop out. instead they now insist south carolina is january 21st primary will be a real race, not a coronation. cnn's jim acosta caught up with

rick santorum in south carolina. >> this is a long process. half the people who voted yesterday weren't even republicans. so the idea that he's wrapped up the republican nomination because he won by eight votes in iowa and he won his home state is just silly. >> are you going to challenge his record down here? >> we're going to challenge everything. >> team romney knows those challenges are coming. their hope keep the candidate above the fray and let the tv ads and the surrogates deal with the back and forth. south carolina takes pride in settling gop nomination contests. it also has a history of rather bruising campaigns. peter's in the south carolina state capitol tonight. peter, if he starts 3-0 he's almost impossible to stop. what's the line of attack in south carolina? >> well, we've been hearing the line over the last few days. we heard newt gingrich sort of back off today. spending five years down here

talking to voters, the fundamental issue with mitt romney is trust. even the voters who are for mitt romney are voting for him because they think they can beat barack obama not because they believe he will be a conservative who will appeal obama care who will appoint their kind of judges to the supreme court. so i can tell you there's at least one campaign a very tough mail piece that's going to be hitting mailboxes very soon. whatever these guys can do to soften up mitt romney whether it's on social issues or he's an out of touch elitist or he's flip flopped, any of these things can work over the next 10 days. >> so peter, governor romney lived this four years ago and he ex or sides his ghosts in iowa and demons in new hampshire. he was in strong position early on in south carolina four years ago. those attacks the same type of attacks worked. is hi prepared this time? does he have a better infrastructure and team in place to rebut them? >> he has a much smaller team in place but he's much more confident here. the same reason he was confident

in iowa. he didn't try to talk to those voters that care about abortion and same-sex marriage. they might not even be with him in the first place. he's talking to business-minded voters, moderates, people who are concerned about electability. yes, 60% of voters here are born again or evangelical. but guess what? 40% aren't. and he's still leading among evangelical voters. he's confident he can talk about the economy in a state where the unemployment rate is almost 10%. i talked to a county chair who said he can even win up here in the evangelical upstate because the number one concern here is jobs. and mitt romney knows that. as long as he keeps talking about it he's going to be okay or at least near the front of the pack in the polls, john. >> interesting ten days ahead. peter, thank you. jon huntsman insists his third place showing in new hampshire will give his campaign new life. but south carolina's voters are more conservative. and the former utah governor today began courting them. >> you have creative destruction

in capitalism, which has always been a part of capitalism. it becomes a little disingenuous to take on bank capital. i think it's more instructive to look at governor romney's record as governor. he was elected to represent his people for four years. what did he do for the economy? he didn't deliver any big, bold economic proposals. i delivered the largest tax cut in the history of my state, a flat tax as well. >> ron paul now fresh off a second place showing in new hampshire. his campaign officials telling cnn they will spend about $1 million down in south carolina paying for television, radio ads, a bill direct mail operation and appearances by the congressman like this one today. >> what we want to do is reverse the trend of this country for not only a few years or a few elections, it's a reversal of probably 100 years of slipping and sliding away from our constitution. >> and while governor romney is campaigning, his team is trying

to add ann exclamation point to his strong start. i'm told when his finance team met today in boston they set a goal of raising at least $5 million more by the end of this month, the month of january. with his business record more and more under fire, mitt romney's come up with a line designed to prove it's an asset, not a liability. with an eye on the general election he started telling people he's created more jobs than president obama. here's how he put it this morning on abc. >> every time we have had a reduction in unemployment it was designed to try and make the business more successful and ultimately to grow it. and tens of thousands of jobs created by virtue of the work that we were doing. i'm pretty proud of that record. a heck of a lot better than the president's record. he lost almost 2 million jobs during his tenure. >> he tried a slightly different variation on cnbc. >> i'm pretty happy to show my record of job creation. actually my job creation record in the private sector has created more jobs than president obama has created in the entire

country. so i'll be happy to post up against him. >> chief business correspondent alley velshi, let's leave the posting up for the basketball for later. can governor romney back up that claim that in the private sector he created more jobs than president obama has created in the entire economy the past three years? >> no and no. first of all, president obama in his tenure in office which started in january of 2009, the number of jobs lost in that time has been 4.3 million. okay? so if you look at the raw numbers, he's lost a lot of jobs have been lost under president obama's tenure. you can hold him responsible or not. here's the thing. two-thirds of those jobs have been recovered. so president obama can also talk about job creation. raw numbers he's created more jobs than mitt romney did. how many jobs did mitt romney create? he claims 100,000 while he was the head of bane capital. bane doesn't keep figures on these. these are from major companies like staples that hired people. they don't know what the numbers are. so a, we don't know how many

mitt romney created. b, let me just remind you, president obama, two-thirds have come back. at the pace of job creation that we're on that we've been polling economists it's entirely possible that president obama could make up the entire 4.3 million job deficit by november. so the trend is not mitt romney's friend right now. i don't know whether he's right or wrong but the trend isn't with him. >> and he knows that the obama campaign if he is the nominee, let's underscore that if, but if he's the nominee he knows they're going to say bane like some of the republicans are saying bane was heartless. ripped profits out of this company and laid the workers off, zested the employment situation. governor romney says president obama has first-hand experience at that, too. let's listen. >> by the way, in the general election i'll be pointing out that the president took the reins of general motors and chrysler, closed factories, closed dealerships, laid off thousands and thousands of workers. he did it to try and save the business. we also had on occasion to do things that are tough to try to

save a business. >> fair comparison? >> absolutely a fair comparison. in fact, the people that the government put into place when they took over general motors were people from the private equity world. that is exactly how the private equity world works. it's like burning a forest to enrich the soil kind of thing. it is what they do. there's a valid argument as to whether there should be companies that profit from taking other companies and closing parts down and selling them off for profit. but that is what private equity does. so until we decide that's either wrong, immoral or illegal it is what they do. it is what bane did and what mitt romney did. and it is as he described what the government of the united states did when it took over general motors. >> we're going to be doing a lot over the next ten months to keep all the candidates accountable on this economy. ali, appreciate your time tonight. now a look ahead at the path ahead in the race for 2012. our chief political analyst gloria borgers, one of the questions people are asking what are we learning so far? only two states but some people say is there enough republican

intensity? we go back to the iowa caucuses in -- in 2012 republicans beat that number. so republicans said not great but not so bad. i would remind you george w. bush did not win iowa this year. democrats won again in 2008. we'll see. iowa's a swing state this time. now let's move over to the state of new hampshire. again democrats are crowing. they say this isn't all that impressive if you're going to beat the incumbent president, 2000, 2008, this is our ballpark number. 248,000 for 2012. do you read anything into this? is there any evidence of pro or con intensity gap? >> the secretary of state predicted 250,000. so they're kind of on target for that. but when you think about the overall turnout and you think that almost half of those people were actually independents, that could be a problem for the republican party. because there is enthusiasm to get rid of barack obama as president of the united states. is there as much enthusiasm for

their candidates? now, the polls that we looked at, the exit polls last night showed that 61% of the people said, you know, if romney were the nominee that's fine. over 60% said, you know, we're satisfied. pretty satisfied with our candidates. but is it overwhelming at this point? maybe not. >> at this point maybe not. so let's look at our next battle ground, south carolina. if governor romney can go 3-0, most people think he's very hard to stop. let's take a look at some of the questions here. number one, the darker the area here the higher the percentage of people who self-identify as evangelicals. in our poll before new hampshire, governor romney was leading among south carolina evangelicals. if he can break even there, he wins the state. but the question is, do they decide to rally around one candidate? >> well, it's interesting listening to what peter was saying to you earlier, evangelicals don't vote on just one issue. yes, they're skeptical about mitt romney because he's a mormon. they believe that he's not totally dependable on social issues such as abortion. but evangelical voters vote on

the economy. and if mitt romney's message on the economy gets through, he could very well win with evangelicals. we just don't know. >> the next test of republican intensity, republican unity in the great state of south carolina. gloria borger, thank you. still to come here, a pilot explain as video now going viral on the internet. he says despite how this looks it isn't really that unsafe. okay. plus some conservatives would prefer one or two candidates quit. so there's one challenger on mitt romney's right. rick perry joins us next. if you think he'd consider stepping aside, wealthy again. -- well, think again. >> i'm sure there's some supernatural occurrence that could occur but i can't think of anything in the natural world that would cause me to drop out of the race.

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. rick perry almost quit the republican presidential race after losing in the iowa caucuses. to be fair governor perry didn't compete in new hampshire in the past week to make a stand in south carolina. he joins us this evening from the gun rack in aiken, south carolina. governor looking at that

backdrop i get the impression i'd better be on my best behavior in this interview here. >> this is just a great example of our constitution and the second amendment, john. so it's a lot of people in south carolina and many other states are great believers in that second amendment. as a matter of fact, i think we've had two of the best gun sale years in american history. >> i assume that will be one of the issues in the week ahead. speaker gingrich said last night, south carolina is a must win state for him. for rick perry is it win or go home? >> well, we're here to win. i mean, that's the purpose that we're in the race. so i think the south carolina voter really resonates with the leadership that we talk about, about getting this country back on track from the standpoint or who is it that's got the record of creating jobs. who is it that knows how to cut taxes and cut regulations, get america working again. and i'm it. the question is, do you think if you change one insider that's at

the white house now with another insider that it's going to make any difference? and the answer is no. >> as you try to make that case, sir, as you know a big group of conservatives, evangelical and other conservatives are meeting this weekend. as you know many of them share your concerns about governor romney as the nominee. if they come out of that meeting and many of them are big-time, long-time supporters of rick perry. if they come out of that meeting and say conservatives should coalesce around somebody else, say senator santorum, are there any circumstances under which you would bow out before the south carolina primary? >> i'm sure there's some sort of supernatural occurrence but i can't think of anything in the natural world that would cause me to drop out of the race. we're running on our record. we're running as a leader that is overhaul washington, d.c. and i'm taking my message to the people of south carolina, not a small group of individuals, certainly not the media, not a group of establishment republicans that say here's who

needs to be our nominee. i think the american people and south carolinians in particular are smart enough to figure out who they want as the next president of the united states. and i think they want someone with a track record and someone that will stand up and make the hard decisions and the tough decisions, but get america back working again, someone that shares their values whether it's the standpoint of the judeo-christian values that our foungd fathers established this country on. that's what south carolina voters are going to be looking for. >> you've been very tough in recent days about mitt romney's tenure as the ceo of bane capital suggesting, my words not yours that he was heartless and greedy and that this company went in not looking to rescue companies but to pull out money and make profits fans the workers lost their jobs so be it. i want you to listen to your own tough language. >> they're just vultures. they're vultures that are sitting out there on the tree limb waiting for the company to get sick.

and then they swoop in. they eat the carcass. they leave with that. and they leave the skeleton. >> ronald reagan used to say "thou shalt not speak ill of another republican." what are you trying to say about governor romney's character here? >> americans are looking for leadership and for somebody that understands how to create jobs, not somebody that is in the business of destroying jobs. >> as you know, much of the republican establishment is cringing at these attacks on mitt romney. you mentioned wall street. i want to read you from the editorial page of the "wall street journal" today. it is hardly a liberal mouth piece, sir. very conservative newspaper "about the best that can be said about republican attacks on mitt romney's record on bayne capital is that president obama is going to do the same eventually so gop might voters might as well know what's coming. yet that hardly absolves newt gingrich, rick perry and

others -- these candidates are desperate but do they have to sound like mike michael moore?" how would you respond to that. >> i disagree with their characterization that we're not just telling the truth. the fact is the obama administration will use this and we do need to get it out now and talk about it. it doesn't sound like michael moore. what it sounds like is the people from gaffney, south carolina or georgetown, south carolina who lost their jobs. the fact is you can create jobs without destroying a company. and that's what i'm talking about is i think americans are really tired of these wall streeters that take advantage of americans. >> an interesting ten days ahead in south carolina. governor rick perry of texas, appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you, john. so long. governor perry isn't the only one complaining republican establishments pressuring candidates to tone down the attacks on governor romney. in a few minutes we'll ask the party's chairman if it's true

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welcome back. here's kate baldwin with the latest news you need to know right there. >> good evening, everyone. this afternoon secretary of state hillary clinton categorically denied any u.s. involvement in today's attack

that killed a top nuclear scientist in iran. a motorcyclist attached a magnetic bomb to the man's car. the iranians blame israel, officials there say they don't know who did it. and check out this wild video of airliners fighting strong crosswinds as they head into the dues el dor of international airport in germany. a pilot tells cnn things weren't quite as dangerous as it looks. he says pilots are trained to let the jets act like weather vanes and make sure they're aligned with the runway. still scary video especially if you're in that plane. finally tonight, the chairwoman of the democratic party, florida representative debbie wasserman schultz took a big swipe at the tea party today. listen here. >> we need to make sure that we tone things down. particularly in light of the tucson tragedy from a year ago.

i hesitate to place blame, but i have noticed it take a very precipitous turn towards edginess and a lack of civility with the growth of the tea party movement. >> john, you spoke with the head of the republican party a short time ago. he says blaming the tea party is simply pathetic. listen here to him. >> well, as usual i think she speaks a little too much and went on a little too far. and certainly any insinuation that somehow such a tragedy would occur because of a movement to get our government and our spending and our debt under control is ridiculous. and i think she ought to apologize and admit the stupidity of that comment and to take such a tragedy and such a remarkable story and to try to score political points on it, it's just -- it's pathetic. >> some emotional words on both

sides, john. >> that's a debate that won't stop, i guess. but you can see the republican chairman wanted to engage in that one. ahead more on that conversation. still ahead here. with all the republicans looking to next week's south carolina primary it's not just them. one person looking at the crowded republican field is the president. the latest on his strategy. plus south carolinians are quickly learning what people in iowa and new hampshire already know. >> i hate to think what it's going to be like once we do get down to the wire. >> campaign ads, being fired around the clock. do they really work? do they change undecided voters' minds? that's ahead.

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tonight would a romney romp prove the tea party a one-hit wonder? the gop is a big fan of ronald reagan's 11th commandment. is it ready to complain about the republican candidates who are breaking it? and your moment you may have missed is must-see tv. michelle obama angry? the first lady takes aim at her critics. president obama tonight back home in chicago raising more money for his campaign's war chest. they believe a team obama more and more that he'll be spending all those millions against mitt

romney. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin has been working her sources and joins us more on the president's emerging strategy. jess, one thing team obama has to be watching closely is all these attacks on mitt romney's tenure as ceo of bane capital. they came up in new hampshire. at least no evidence of impact there. what's the assessment of the obama team? >> well, my sources point to something you just said, john, which is that it came up in only the last 48 hours. and so they argue that that wasn't enough time to necessarily make a dent. maybe a convenient argument, but that's what they're saying. they believe that it will have a lasting impact on mitt romney going into the general election, and something that president obama can build on in the general election campaign. that said, it is important to note that mitt romney won among voters in new hampshire who considered the economy their most important issue. so we'll just have to see how effective newt gingrich's attacks on romney are in south carolina where he intends to go after him on his jobs record,

john. >> and what's their take on the relatively new dynamic in this campaign? they know they'll have plenty of moisture and pro obama groups will have plenty of money but they're watching the experience -- pro gingrich pac dumping on romney. what are they learning about these independent groups and all this outside spending? >> right now president obama's team has outraised all comers. but they are absolutely worried about the superpacs on the outside. and so my sources tell me that what they're most concerned about is that romney is somehow able to wrap this up quickly. south carolina, lets say maybe even florida, and then his superpacs and the superpacs that support him are able to start spending quickly going negative on president obama very early. and then that leaves the president's campaign in a position where they have to choose. do they spend the money they have to combat that early, or do they save it for later and hope that they can raise that money to make up for it?

because right now the superpacs on the democratic side do not have nearly the money that the superpacs on the republican side feel they're capable of raising, john. >> and i suspect the obama white house will be urging them as legally as they can i guess to raise more and more and more. money money money. jessica yellin, important insights from the obama strategy tonight. republicans on the candidate side have moved into south carolina. here's a shot of tv advertising over the last two weeks paid for by campaigns and outside groups. you're seeing how much was spent on ads that supported and attacked the candidates. if you look closely they're basically a 50/50 split for mitt romney but a different story for newt gingrich. up to now every dollar spent to promote newt gingrich nearly six dollars were spent to knock him down in south carolina. all those ads just part of the voter outreach by the campaigns. tom foreman went to see what it's like to be a voter until the middle of this political

messaging storm in south carolina. >> reporter: south carolina is under attack. >> yes. working together. >> reporter: campaign ads from republican contenders are being fired around the clock now. >> is a moral imperative. >> reporter: aiming squarely at undecided voters. >> thank goodness for the mute button. >> reporter: it's not just the tv. she starts receiving robo calls before she can even make her morning coffee. >> it's 8:30. >> and the phone's ringing. >> i have a jobs and economic growth plan. >> i don't feel like it's more than it is in '08 or in '10. >> but it's still not down to the wire. >> well, that's true, too. i hate to see think what it's going to be like once we do get down to the wire. >> reporter: already she and many others here are finding the onslaught almost inescapable. during her commute to work as a medical researcher, the radio rattles with more. >> gingrich attacks romney. >> reporter: there are also

print ads, e-mails, fliers, yard signs. by lunchtime she's already had her fill. between the ads that you see on tv and hear on the radio and read and get an e-mails, how many of these are you getting a day? >> at least 20. or more. >> reporter: and what do you expect next week? >> double that. >> reporter: really? >> at least. >> reporter: will any of these change your mind? >> no. >> reporter: none? >> none. none of the ads. >> reporter: are they wasting their money? >> yes. i believe they are. >> reporter: she may be on to something. this focus group of undecided voters organized by cnn and southern methodist university watched several ads, liked some, disliked others, but generally agreed voters are just being hit with way too many. >> seeing a very large increase in ads on youtube. >> as a matter of fact, i change the channel three times and there were different ads but all political on every channel at the same time. >> reporter: do all these ads make a difference to you? >> actually they don't make a difference to me.

they somewhat annoy me. >> reporter: pam spencer is still making up her mind who to vote for. but of one thing she is certain. >> are you tired of the ads yet? >> oh, i've been tired of the ads. >> reporter: but she knows from sun up to sundown, until primary day it will only get worse. tom foreman, cnn, charleston, south carolina. >> and the republican race heads on to south carolina, the chairman of the republican national committee finds himself in the middle of quite an interesting internal party feud. the chairman joins us today from new orleans. mr. chairman, speaker gingrich said this in south carolina today. he said there's enormous pressure from the establishment in both parties, he says, for candidates not to say certain things. have you yourself or anybody on the r.n.c. payroll reached out to the gingrich or perry or huntsman campaign and said, whoa, back off when it comes to mitt romney's record at bane capital? >> no. i mean, i've said repeatedly,

john, that my role is not to get in the middle of a primary battle. and the reality is i think the base of our party, the people across america, they're sick and tired of party bosses and people from washington telling them what to think and how to vote and how to act. so this is up to the voters of the republican party to make these decisions. now, certainly i believe in reagan's 11th commandment. however, it's not the role of the rnc chairman to start telling people what's good and what's not. i'm not the -- >> if you believe it that 11th commandment is it fair to say yu also agree it's not being followed at the moment? >> you know what, it's for the voters to decide, john. it's sort of like the supreme court whether something's obscene or not. i mean, you know it when you see it, right? i mean, so it's the same thing here in politics. you know, and with every ad and with every strategy comes a

potential up side and a potential down side. and those are the risks and political decisions that these candidates have to make. >> so do you view it personally maybe not as chairman, you've been involved in the party for a long time before you were chairman. is it fair game to call mitt romney as governor perry has a vulture capitalist or as governor romney says desperate republicans who in the end might be helping president obama? >> you know, john, seriously, i don't think this is anything new in american politics. four years ago hillary clinton was crying and calling barack obama a hypocrite. and those democrats were out there on obama's side saying that hillary didn't have the moral character to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. so i mean, this stuff happens. bob dole, bush, bush, reagan, hillary and obama. tough primaries are sort of a way of life in american politics. at the end of the day this will be about barack obama and

whether he ought to be fired by the american people. >> you know the process pretty well. some people say it's about delegates. other people often it's decided by momentum. if governor romney goes iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, opens 3-0 is it game set match? >> well, that's not for me to decide, john. i certainly governor gets his due. two in a row is pretty good work. but you know, south carolina is going to be a big matchup. and florida's coming and then nevada after that. so as far as we're concerned it's a race to a majority of the delegates at the national convention. and so we'll see who gets there. >> what is your take? you mentioned the clinton-obama drama of four years ago. most democrats would think that in the end barack obama was a better, tougher, more seasoned candidate because of the long-drawn out process. but you're returning against an unopposed incumbent president right now with a very deep fundraising organization. whaers what's better for

republicans? a long drawn out process that might get bloody that would keep your party front and center or do you think it would be better to wrap this up relatively quickly so whoever the nominee is can focus on unifying the party and raising a bode load of money? >> john, we have more cash in the bank than the democratic national committee right now. so as much talk as you hear about all their fund ragz we've got more cash in the bank than they do. so i think we're doing pretty well and we're doing well because people want to make sure that barack obama is fired. but as far as what i choose, i've always said i think primaries are good for our party. i maintain that. i think tough primaries are good. i don't think a little bit of drama is bad. i think it's the opposite. so i don't mind if this thing takes a little while. but certainly whatever the case is, i think the first question that americans are going to ask themselves and why i keep coming back to this, it's not a talking point it's just the facts. people are first going to ask themselves whether barack obama

has lived up to the promises that he made to the american people. and when people answer that question no, then the next question is, okay. did the republicans provide an intelligent, articulate alternative? and the answer to that is going to be clearly yes. >> reince preibu s, hez of the republican national committee, thanks for your time tonight. still ahead tonight's truth. why the coming days will be a defining moment in the republican party. plus the white house angelina jolie and brad pitt stopped by. we'll tell you why. stay right there. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb.

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>> you're locking right there that's the massachusetts former governor mitt romney in columbia, south carolina tonight. a very important friend behind him. the governor of south carolina, n nikki haley. she endorses him. if he wins the south carolina primary he'd be hard to stop. which brings us to tonight's truth. newt gingrich is not speaking from a position of strength at the moment. back-to-back fourth place finishes in iowa and new hampshire, well, they speak for themselves. in sports you don't ask the losing teams or coaches for the keys to winning. but the former speaker deserves points for candor, telling us yesterday right here he now views south carolina as a must-win state. today he framed it this way. >> i believe the next ten days

are as important as any ten days we have seen in american politics. i believe the south carolinians are either going to center in and pick one conservative or by default we're going to send a moderate onto the nomination. >> now perhaps a bit of hyperbole. here's tonight's truth. the next ten days are a defining moment. choosing time for republican party that's in the middle of an identity crisis. that choice belongs specifically to south carolina republicans who can appoint mitt romney as their de facto presidential nominee or decide not so fast. governor romney has the biggest personal stake in that decision. but the rest of us are about to learn a lot about how much and how fast the republican party is changing. here's one way to look at it. is this 1996 or 2008, meaning after a few bumps and bruises the party hands the nomination to the guy next in line? you know, bob dole, john mccain, mitt romney. there's a long tradition of that

in the gop. or is this 2010 when the tea party emerged with the ignore tradition and damn the establishment attitude that bruised a lot of republican egos yet powered all those dramatic gop election gains. so far, tradition seems to be trumping the tea party approach. governor romney hardly a tea party darling. yet in his second time on the presidential track, the former massachusetts governor has exorcised the demons of 2008. first iowa, now new hampshire. is it his turn? south carolina will tell us either yes or not so fast in just ten days. in truth that vote will tell us a lot more. will evangelicals unite around romney or spread their votes as we've seen so far? will the tea party stop the establishment's rally around romney movement or the big movement of 2010 have less sway already? will gop voters especially downscale rural whites critical in several big battle grounds agree with the criticism of romney's business record or will

they embrace romney's suggestion it's a sign of desperation? >> president obama is going to try and put free enterprise on trial. but rick perry and newt gingrich are going to be the witnesses for the prosecution. i'm not worried about that. >> should he be worried? well, truth is, that is just one of south carolina's rather consequential places. let's get more perspective from cnn contributor, editor of conservative blog red state eric erickson -- amy, i want to start with you. coming out of 2010 and into 2012 everybody said wow, the tea party was the biggest new element, the surging element in the republican party. and forgive me but it's pretty obvious, tea party did pretty good in iowa in 2010. it was the tea party element in new hampshire pretty strong one in 2010. mitt romney is not a darling when you talk a to tea party activists yet 2-0 heading into another state where the tea party was a booming force in 2012. will we see it this year?

>> i think south carolina is going to be a game changer. because i think that's where you're going to really see the power of the tea party movement. and like you said, we saw it in 2010 with their state elections there and then going into florida you're going to see the same thing again. i've talked to governor romney and his staff. and the thing with the tea party movement is the mandate. and the people across this country don't want a mandate regardless if it comes if it co state or federal government and he's going to have to reconcile that. but i can tell you this. the tea party movement is saying not so fast. you cannot just shove these candidates down our throats and expect us to take it. we're going to have a say in the matter and i think we're going to influence what happens next week. >> if he wins in south carolina, will those words as well intended as they are, prove false in the sense you win in iowa, new hampshire, so you've won in the midwest, the northeast, then you win the south. history says you win the south carolina primary, you're the

republican nominee. >> you are, but the conventional wisdom says yes, but the rules have changed for the first time. only 2.01% of delegates will be picked through south carolina and all will be proportional until april. 60% won't be picked until april 1st and beyond. conventional wisdom is so soaked in, the money's going to dry up for the others unless someone has a very strong showing against mitt romney headed into florida, the money's going to dry up. >> so, mark, you're sa senior adviser to governor romney. proud conservative yourself. you're standing next to a tea party leader who says we can't stomach this mandate. they'll raise other concerns about romney. if he wins in south carolina, he's in a competitive election against a strong democratic incumbent, he has a good

organization, you need her votes. you need all those tea party voters. how? how does governor romney say look, you need to be there for me. you need to volunteer. we need your passion. >> he may not be every group's darling, but i think he's awfully attractive and polls show that he's attractive. i mean, he won last night among evangelicals, people that strongly support the tea party and among those that identified themselves as strongly conservative, even those who identified themselves as strongly conservative on moral and social issues, he won. so it's pretty -- you know, i would acknowledge that he's not everybody's first choice, but i think he's an attractive candidate. i think he's increasingly so and did something last night that's never been done. >> no nonincumbent has won iowa

then new hampshire. forget the names of the candidates for a minute. since george w. bush lost office, he wasn't terribly popular. mccain loses the last election. we have a party that has an identity crisis. grass roots, it happens when you're out of power. where are we now? is there an open wound in the party? is it a civil war, a polite struggle? >> i wouldn't call it a civil war, but the tea party started because people were fed up and angry with both parties, but especially the republican party because they got away from their conservative values. we have changed the narrative. never before have you heard democrats talking about cutting spending, so we have driven that narrative and we're forcing them right to stand on those conservative principles and values. i want to go back to what we're talking about why things have changed. when michele bachmann got out of the race last week, i think all of a sudden, the people in this movement realized two of the

most conservative candidates we have have now stepped out. we're left with this field. sarah palin's not getting in. there's no one that excites the base and puts the energy in like sarah palin, so we're going to have to choose from these candidates and right now, we see establishment and mainstream media pushing a candidate and if we're going to engage, now is the time to do it. >> if you include me, i'm not pushing a candidate. i'm citing history. >> you can blame george bush for this. he didn't have a successor in 2008. the party was not able to accept bush's vision or reject it, so now, we're having to refight battles that shouldn't have been fought in the first place if there was a nominee in 2008 coming from the bush administration. romney to a degree is being caught in the cross fire and to some degree, it's unfair for him. >> post mccain's loss, everybody said some republicans just stayed home. are you convinced governor romney can convince them, you need to help me because president obama --

>> i hope that the enterprise is big enough, grand enough to bring folks together. look, there's never been a candidate in the history of the world that any person has agreed with on every issue and you won't find it. i don't agree with my wife on any issue. we've been married 24 years. i love her more than anybody in the world. it's about choices, as you said. people presented themselves for this process. they've gone through it. someone's going to be president in november. >> maybe you guys can go out from the corner, get a first expermit on how this might work. ten days to south carolina. thanks for r coming in tonight. it is a fascinating race and we're going to show you coming up, michelle obama dismisses the idea she's quote an angry black woman. plus, brad pitt, angelina jolie in the oval office. and he doesn't have an opponent, but he's trying to raise a lot of money.

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normally, we had the program with one moment you may have missed. today, we have two. kate bolduan is back. >> a big slice of hollywood came to the white house today. take a look at these fphotos. brad pitt and angelina jolie seen through the windows of the oval office. they were in washington to screen a new movie. a movie that angelina