el? >> it's the republican race that inspeiered the parodies. >> are you just going to keep talking? >> no, but i will. >> all this stuff twirling around in my head. >> they poke the president, as well. >> mr. obama, we're canada. and even we think you're too polite. >> at least if canada is ever inaugurated. >> i barack obama do solemnly swear. >> maybe it will get the oath right. >> i canada do solemnly swear. >> jeanne moos. >> to faithfully execute the office. >> cnn. >> of president of the united states. ♪ >> that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." situation room." the news continues next on cnn. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com tonight, mitt romney gets personal as he tries to halt the newt gingrich surge in florida. a tsa scanner gets an up-close lesson after setting off alarms

in nashville. and a woman today up today and said president obama is a muslim. how did the candidate respond? senator santorum joins us tonight. tonight the spotlight's on florida and the pressure is on the republican presidential candidates and it isable. the more intense the pressure, the more personal the attacks. just a week ago mitt romney held a comfortable lead. today, florida a dead heat. it's not just florida that has team romney more than a little nervous. a new tracking poll shows govern romney speaker gingrich in a virtual tie among republicans. just a week ago, romney was more than 20 points ahead. romney today warranted voters, take another look. >> as you look at the speaker's record over time, it's been highly erratic.

and in the case of the speaker, he's got some records which could represent an october surprise. we could see an october surprise a day from newt gingrich. >> there's a blistering new campaign ad targeting gingrich. >> sanctioned for ethics violations, gingrich resigned from congress in disgrace. and then cashed in as a dc insider. if newt wins, this guy would be very happy. >> gingrich focusing the moment on desperately needed money to keep up the momentum. laughing off governor romney's latest attacks. >> i have been told by a variety of people that governor romney has been saying unkind things. i prefer personally not to believe it. but on the other hand, if you've been campaigning for six years and you begin to see it slip away, you get desperate. and when you get desperate, you

say almost anything. >> jim acosta is in tampa for us tonight. you had a chance to catch up with the former speaker about this pointed and personal back and forth. what did he have to say? >> john, it goes back to the charge from mitt romney earlier today. he had a media availability in which he told reporters newt gingrich was essentially a lobbyist for freddie mac and gave the line if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. i went to the former speaker this afternoon and said, you have said that you were not a lobbyist, you were not a registered lobbyist. mitt romney is saying you were a lobbyist for freddie mac. his response was short and sharp. he said basically this is the reason why john mccain and mike huckabee said romney was dishonest in the 2008 campaign. that's just a sign of things to many could, john. when we heard newt gingrich get on stump after making the comments to me, he made the comment that you just played a few moments ago. he also said that you know,

you've heard of mitt romney's pious baloney. he said get ready for desperate baloney. perhaps he should open up a deli in florida. the rhetoric is being dialed you. there are two debates this week between now and the primary. there's very little time for these candidates to get their message out. they're going to be a to doing a lot of it on the airwaves and the debates. i was just able to confirm some of this in the last couple minutes. it looks like speaker gingrich is going to be going after mitt romney's ties to charlie crist. at that event earlier this afternoon, newt gingrich actually went after governor romney's staff pointing out a few of them worked for charlie crist during that are 2010 midterm battle between charlie crist and marco rubio that got very ugly and personal. i asked marco rubio's staff earlier today, will he be endorsing anybody before tuesday's primary, the response no, they're staying neutral till the florida primary. >> jim acosta, thanks very much.

republican senator rand paul of kentucky already is one of capitol hill's most vocal critics of the government airline operations. the senator had a run-in with the tsa today in nashville. dana bash, what happened. according to senator paul, he was going through the scanner that anybody who travels has been through, the full body scanner. it went off. so the tsa said we want to give you a full body patdown. he said no. perhaps i'll go through the scanner again. they said no. he said maybe you can look at my leg. he pulled up his pant leg because he thought that was where the potential problem was and they said no. the bottom line is he missed his flight and wasn't allowed through because he refused the full body patdown. while he was there, he also said he was talking to tsa agents who he says told him sometimes the scanner goes off randomly with alarms going off. you mentioned, john this is all in the context of senator paul

being a long-time critic of the tsa saying the procedures are simply too broad and it hurts people's civil liberties. >> let adults go back through the scanner if they choose to do that versus an invasive body search or give someone discretion. in the nashville airport today, no one had the discretion to say, oh, hello there. i've seen you four times. i see you come through here every week. i'm not asking for special privileges because of the office i hold. i would expect the same thing for any frequent traveler. >> so there you have it, john. this is something that we've heard from senator palm many times. and now he has firsthand experience, let's say, of what he thinks is very wrong with the tsa. >> he also has a father running for president who complains about the government all the time. did ron paul jump into this one? >> this is campaign candy for his father. he said that he believes that this is evidence that there is a

police state in this country. he said that the tsa embodies what is wrong with the civil liberties in this country. he even talked about the fact that they grope and grab our children and senior citizens, people with disabilities. and, of course, in his campaign and even before his campaign, he has proposed to eliminate a trillion dollars from the federal budget and totally do away with the tsa. for somebody running as a libertarian, this is something he said could not stop touting as example of what's wronging with this country and specifically the federal government. >> the dana bash live for us on capitol hill. thanks very much. there's late word tonight nug may be about to release some of his records with freddie mac, the mortgage giant, that many blame for pushing risky loans that helped fuel the housing bubble. gloria borger is here. he had a contract. he was a consultant to freddie mac, about 1.6, $1.7 million. what are the big questions as we

await this? this is part of a transparent sit dual between gingrich and romney. >> sure it is. you release yours, i'll release mine. the big difference, first of all, mitt romney says he was a lobbyist for freddie mac. and newt gingrich says no, i was a consultant. there is a difference because lobbying is when you go to capitol hill and tap a senator on the shoulder and say vote this way because i'm representing a certain company or whatever. consulting is different. but the question that the romney campaign wants answered, and i think the large question out there is if you're on the payroll of someplace as a consultant, then normally one would assume you are giving them strategic advice to help them, not to hurt them. so what the romney campaign would like to see is what kind of advice actually did newt gingrich give. now, we've heard him say that he alternately served as an historian or that he told them what they were doing was crazy. but they want to see more

detail. this may just be the details of a contract that he signed with freddie mac and it may not give us a lot of the details. >> but you make an important point. when he's been asked about this, his initial answer was historian. then he said strategic advice. in that way, his problem could be the things he said about this. we'll read the contract. another question is, he has said a lot of this money went to a bunch of people in his firm. it doesn't all come to him. it sounds like a lot of people but it was spread out. we assume there's contract language about that. >> i've got some word in my ear from our producer that this is going to be released within a half hour which cnn will have and then we'll know the answer to some of those questions. i wouldn't be surprised if we see the contract and then mitt romney says but it doesn't answer all the questions. >> speaker gingrich did this last week right before our debate, he released his taxes as the debates was beginning. he knows this is a source of contention with governor romney. governor romney in the morning will release his tax returns,

which have become an issue in the last few weeks. if gingrich releases his contract, governor romney reest going to fight about? >> i don't know, maybe policy. >> wouldn't that be something? gloria, thanks. we'll watch as newt gingrich releases this freddie mac contract. we'll bring news to you as soon as we can. when we come back today, a woman at one of santorum's rallies called president obama an avowed muslim. next, the former senator explains why he didn't correct her. >> the president's a big boy and he can defend himself and his record. i'm going to talk about the issues that the president and i disagree on and try to defeat him. dave. dave. dave. i just saved a ton of money at staples. great job, dave. suck-up. [ male announcer ] in a small business, it's all you. that's why you have us.

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gingrich versus romney or romney versus gingrich. read about the republican presidential race the past 24 hours, most of the buzz is about this new dramatic two-man race between the winners of south carolina and the new hampshire primary. not so fast insists the guy who won the iowa caucus. rick santorum, it's good to see you. you understand the dynamic in the race. speaker gingrich is raising money based on his south carolina win. romney has a deeper financial network than santorum. even earlier today, you told

this to reporters before an event at a manufacturing plant. sitting on the sidelines watching two people destroy each other creates an opportunity itself. is that what you're hoping for that maybe speaker gingrich takes out romney and all of a sudden, the party says whoa? >> well, you know, has been the narrative from actually the very beginning of this campaign. the media always tries to make this a two-person race. >> that's you said that, senator. you said sitting on the sidelines watching two people destroy each other creates an opportunity. that's not us. >> well, yeah, it was in response to a question about a two-person race. so yeah. it depends on the question that was asked. so having said that, obviously, those twos are getting the media attention. and you can't deny that. that's obviously the case. and there are advantages as we've seen throughout the course of this campaign. one thing is for certain, things are going to change. and we believe things are going to change again, and that as

people continue to look at the candidates, there are now four candidates. this is a field where three have an opportunity to become president. and are actually running not just to change the party but to change the country. and actually become president. and very, very good as this campaign continues our stock is going to rise again and we'll be right in the mix of this thing. and starting tonight. >> and you get the sense tonight is one of two debates this week in florida. you get the sense that you view your number one priority is trying to appeal to those voter who's might be heening the speaker's way right now. i say that because governor romney just said today nominate newt gingrich, the republican party might get a dangerous october surprise. sometimes it sounds like you're on the same page. lis. >> and when newt was speaker of the house, well, within three years, the conservatives in the house of representatives tried to throw him out. and in the fourth year they did. why? because he wasn't governing as a

conservative. he didn't live up to all of the type. it's great to be glib but it's better to be principled. >> just today again, senator, speaker gingrich said i'm the reagan conservative in the race. do you disagree? >> i'm the reagan conservative in the race. if you look at the track record of someone who not only espoused those principles consistently and as well as someone who when they were in a position of leadership led and actually had conservative broad, strong, consistent conservative support everywhere not just within the ranks of the senate but from outside. and you know, i'm not just a conservative in the race. i mean, vis-a-vis newt gingrich. i'm the conservative in the race vis-a-vis mitt romney. both of them have problems in winning a general election and rallying our base. and i've been out there talking about issues. they're going to track voters both republicans and reagan democrats. talking about growing this economy. manufacturing base, getting this

economy going again. strengthening our national security. and, of course, shrinking the size and scale of government. we've been out there on a very clear message as we did here today at the vils in florida. we're going to continue that message for quite some time. >> senator, your event there earlier today, a woman stood up and delivered a pretty outthere attack on the president. i want you to listen. >> i never refer toe obama as president obama because legally he is not. well, he constantly says that is our constitution is passe and he totally ignores it, as you know. he does what he darn well pleases. he is an vowed muslim. >> and this, sir, is how you responded. >> yeah. >> i'm doing my best to try to get him out of the government right now. and you're right about how he uniformly ignores the

constitution. >> you're not responsible for what somebody in the audience says, senator. i want to make that clear. do you feel any sense of responsibility to say whoa, senator mccain repeatedly in 2008 would stop people who went down that line saying let's fight him on policy, let's no go there. >> i have repeatedly done that. i don't feel it's my obligation every time someone says something i don't agree with to contradict them. i'm going to go out and talk about the issues that the president and i disagree on. and try to defeat him because i think that's the best thing we can do for the future of our country. >> i understand on every point. something like that, standing up and saying he's an avowed muslim, you don't feel any obligation, ma'am, let's fight him on government, taxes, spending, but let's not do that? >> i have repeated that many, many times throughout the course of this campaign. i don't really feel an obligation to go out and repeat it over and over again as people bring that up. my position's clear. the president's position is clear.

i don't think the president's a muslim but i don't think it's my obligation to go out and repeat that every time someone who feels that way says something. >> senator rick santorum, good luck in florida. appreciate your time today. >> thanks, john. you bet. mitt romney's releasing his personal taxes tomorrow morning. but we already have access to records from his charity. and we'll show you just where thinks money is going. next, something new at starbucks that packs more of a wallop than caffeine. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car,

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welcome back. here's kate bolduan with the news you need to know right now nice to see you in person after a week on the road. >> i know. you look the same. >> good or bad. we'll just leave it there. >> moving on. let's catch you up on news this evening. good evening. the supreme court today set new rules for police use of hi-tech surveillance equipment. officers in maryland secretly planned a gps device on a drug suspect's car without obtaining a warrant beforehand. the court said that's wrong. it violated the man's constitutional right. the eu is dialing up pressure on iran saying it will freeze assets in an effort to the starve the nuclear program of funding. in a statement released by the white house, president obama said he approved of the move "in response to the regime's continuing failure to fulfill its international obligations regarding its nuclear program."

listen up, beer lovers. you may soon be able to get your suddens in grande format starbucks. the seller says it will begin offering beer and wine at select locations in atlanta and southern california by the end of this year to go along with several locations in chicago. and finally for you, for the moment, billionairefully lan throwist warren buffett is marking this week's chinese new year by appearing on china's state run television with a ukelele and a song. take a look ♪ i've beening on the railroad all the live long day ♪ ♪ i've been working on the railroad just to pass the time away ♪ >> i was going to try to check and see if he's available for hiring for events to get for your next birthday. i think he's a little busy. >> did you listen closely. is it working on the railroad or working on buying the railroad.

>> or working on owning the railroad. >> maybe he stopped at starbucks. >> tonight, the plans are set now for penn state's final good-bye to the legendary football coach joe paterno. plus tonight's truth about why big spending on attack ads is the new normal in american politics.

in this half hour, a close look at mitt romney's favorite

charities. where the money goes says a lot where he is. tonight's truth, attack ads, big spenders and no end in sight. plus tonight's moment you missed. who is pointing their finger at broadcaster terry bradshaw scolding him on live tv. >> pennsylvania's governor today ordered state flags flown at half-staff till the burial of joe paterno. there's a private funeral wednesday afternoon. and then a public memorial service thursday. paterno, penn state's head coach for 46 years died sunday of lung cancer. as jason carroll reports, many think he died of a broken heart. >> joe paterno's family says like in life, he fought until the very end. but there are many here at penn state who feel strongly fight as he did, he was dealing with more than physical health problems.

>> penn state was his life. and joe paterno was penn state. so i definitely think he died of a broken heart in some respect. >> he built this the university, without a doubt. i believe he died of a broken earth. >> students at penn state aren't the only ones who feel that way. bobby bowden, former florida state coach was his friend and football rival for 50 years. >> it seems like he got hit with everything at one time. and many times i was thinking how in the world can he handle all that. i've got a feeling broken heart played a big role in him passing. >> dow bowden remembers what happened to another famous football coach, paul bear bryant who once said, quit coping? i'd croak within a week, one month after he retired, the former alabama coach died from a heart attack. >> at least he got to retire. he thought he might croak in a week. he laffertied a month. >> can someone literally die. from a broken heart? give up the will to live after losing a spouse or leaving a

lifelong career? charles schulz died shortly after he announced had his retirement. so too did andy rooney. some research shows the idea of having a broken heart is not a myth. >> if all of a sudden the thing you love most is taken away from you, there's very powerful fis lodge kick responses such as the stress hormones we were talking about that can affect how blood tl flows to the heart. >> in november it was revealed paterno had a treatable form.lung cancer. he made it clear what would be his final interview, he wished he had done to more tore respond to allegations assistant coach jerry sandusky had sexual relations with a young boy. the university him after some 60 years of service. it was a strong emotional blow for a han man who by all accounts dedicated his life to penn state. one of his oldest friends

believes his legacy will be a great one. >> people like me and people like his players and people that know him personally, we're going to think the good things. and john, when you listen to those who know joe paterno or those knew of him, they will tell you they hope he is remembered for his 60 years of service he gave to penn state rather than for the months and weeks that happened following the scandal here. john? >> jason carroll on the campus tonight. thanks so much. no matter what state you live in, especially if it has a republican primary, brace yourself for a flood of attack ads. this year, big donors like corporations have no limits how much money they can spend. get this, so far this election cycle, some $30 million have already poured into organizations known as super political action committees. super pacs for short. this week cnn is going in depth with i an series of reports to help you understand what they are, where the money comes from and how much impact they have. here's correspondent kate

bolduan. >> romney's obtstive was never a focus on creating jobs. >> newt attacks because he has more baggage than the airlines. >> the ads are everywhere. their source? a new breed of political action committee aptly named the super pac. >> this is the first presidential election where we're watching these new creatures that can take any amount of money from just about any entity or individual and spend it any way they want as long as they're independent of the candidate. >> and boy, are they spending. some $34 million so far in the 2012 race. according to nonpartisan center for responsive politics. there are almost 300 super pacs currently registered. >> and much of this explosion can be traced back to the supreme court and the landmark citizens united decision two years ago. the justices eased prairie strictions on federal election spending by outside groups allowing corporations, unions and advocacy groups to spend

unlimited amounts of cash to influence an election. >> five more conservative members in the majority said this is an easy case. this is elections. it's why weets have free speech. therefore this is constitutionally protected. >> the ruling put corporations and unions on equal footing with individuals who have in reality been able to spend their own personal fortunes advocating for campaigns for decades. for example, newt gingrich supporter sheldon adelson and billionaire democratic backer george soros. previously though, those fortunes had to be spent by the individual directly. not through a group like traditional political action committees. while experts dispute the direct impact of the citizens united decision, they agree it created an environment ripe for historic spending in elections. >> it's always been true in campaigns that money is like water. it will leak around, find the cracks and crevices. it will find ways to evade restrictions. but citizens united on some level just blew a hole in the

wall and said, you know, come on through. the constitution gives you this right. >> some rules still do apply. super pacs must disclose their donors and cannot coordinate with a candidate or campaign. but critics of the ruling call it one of the worst decisions in the court's history. >> it's now the system under which we operate, which leads to this kind of campaigning and will lead to corruption and scandals, i guarantee it. when you have that much money washing around campaigns, there be scandals. >> another critic? president obama himself. >> i don't think american elections should be bang rolled by america's most powerful interests. or worse, by foreign entities. >> but that hasn't stopped his supporter. former white house deputy press secretary bill burton heads up a super pac backing the president. >> it was my view when i left the white house that the president shouldn't have to go -- shouldn't be left undefended against all these attacks that are coming in from

the outside. there's going to be a lot of money in this race, make no mistake. >> the bottom line and honestly, john, like it or not, huge spending by outside groups is the new name of the game in politi politics. and every candidate in this presidential race has close supporters ready to play that game, and that game is through super pacs. john. >> kate, thanks so much. as kate just noted, the super pacs are the new normal like it or not. the pro-romney super pac without our future without a doubt did major damage tonl newt gingrich in iowa. it spent heavily in south carolina. look at this, when he it comes up, the romney super pac spending $3.3 million when you combine the campaign and super pac. guess what, gingrich won that state in a walk. let's move on to florida. watch when i bring this up. this is tv ad spending in florida. all romney so far, romney and the pro-romney group already up big in florida. more than $3 million spend.

the group supporting speaker gingrich and santorum haven't bought any time yet. battle of the gop super pacs is about to ramp up. we'll know just how much of an impact that will have on picking the nominee before long. after florida closes out january, there are seven gop contests in february, then comes the bigger test. 19 states vote in march. and tv resources will be critical. truth is, there will be a significant advantage for the candidate who gets the most lep from his friends. then we paws for the biggest test, the multimillion dollar super pac general election showdown. let's get our first impression by ed goaz, democrats strategist paul begala and senior romney visor. kevin, how do you explain south carolina? is part of the lesson it doesn't always work? >> that's right. oftentimes, you know, everybody looks at how do you have the momentum and do you have the infrastructure. i'm sorry the message and

infrastructure. in this case, the momentum actually happened. what's important too is that voters aren't just looking or they're not making their big opinions based on just soft imprints of advertising, but they're also learning a lot from these debates. a lot of the media taking place in this campaign is shaping voter opinions. as much as we try to put an overemphasis on the amount of money spent, it comes down to whether or not you have the message and you're mobilizing key voters. >> if that's right that the debates and momentum have so far at least competed and sometimes outweighed the ad spending when we get into the later months and all those contests, is it your take that that's when this money will matter because the candidates can't be anywhere? >> absolutely. up to this point, the campaign has almost been -- it's been all driven by the debates. if you look at newt's numbers, 48% voting for him if they saw all the debates, 36% most of the debates, 21% some of the

debates, 11% if they've seen none. it's almost reality tv driven by the debates at this point. it changes now. it moves to what is the real campaign and the campaign's going to really make a difference. >> the obama super pac is raising money right now, keeping its powder dry for the most part. you do see some groups, a labor union tied group going after governor romney essentially replaying what we saw in nevada last time. democratic groups going after republicans in primaries trying to pick the nominee. >> i advised that pro-obama super pac. the lesson i take from watching the republicans is that unilateral disarmament doesn't work. newt had a surge in iowa. he might have won but govern romney's allies and super pac crushed it. newt didn't have to match him. but he had some money. momentum without money is still death in politics. i'm helping president boll's super pac, the one that's independent but supporting him. and we don't want to allow them to attack him without having a defense. >> so the message there, spends

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tomorrow morning, mitt romney will release his 2010 tax return and an estimate for 2011. we already have some documents dealing with his charitable giving. tom foreman has been digging

into ten years worth of tax returns. what have you uncovered. >> a cure for insomnia for one thing. really, this has to do with a group called the tyler charitable foundation set up by the romneys in the 1990s. it gives you an idea what they do with their money in a charitable way. it's a little window. take a look at this. this is how much they have donated to the tyler foundation over the past few years. in 2007, more than $2 million worth, 2008, a little more than a million. you can see there, 2009, $49,000. the money tends to come from these blind trusts from either mitt or his wife. and this would suggest a declining number over these past few years. that's just these three years. he kinds of goes up and down and changes with the year. so there's no reason to believe next year they might not give much, much more. that's where it is coming from. and the distributions also seem to fluctuate each year how much this charity gives to other people. 2007, you see about a half million given. in 2009, almost $2 million went

out and then last year, about $600,000. the fund right now, john, is believed to be worth about $10 million. and that gives charity to various groups out there. >> you say various groups. can we say specifically who's getting this money? >> yeah, some of them are predictable. the biggest part has gone to the mormon church. and that is used for charitable purposes by the church. lds, if you don't know, has a massive outreach program all over the through its charities. that's where most of the money goes. a lot goes to other things like cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis is, the unites way. standards things people might expect. >> as we await the governor's personal returns, any controversial groups on that list. >> it's kinds of interesting. some would be controversial. for example, the massachusetts family institute is a group that really promotes views of a traditional family, many gay and

lesbian rights group say they're anti-gay, that they're trying to stop sex education, all of that, many of which i suppose the massachusetts family institute would say they agree. the hoover institution promotes conservative and libertarian ideas by and large. the congressional sportsmen's foundation. a group that promotes hunting and fishing rights. so some people might not like that. my sister's keeper reaches outs to help women in poor communities all over the world. right now they have a focus on the sudan, on africa, and the beckett fund is also involved in religion in that it is a group of lawyers basically that aggressively tries to fight what they see as bias against religion, for example, they're involved in the pushback against the idea that religious groups can be forced to include birth control as part of their health care plan for workers there. so depending on your political point of view, if you're a liberal, there's plenty in this group that will tell you he's

the conservative i don't want. and if you're a conservative and you look closely enough, you'll even find some things that might, like you say, he's the moderate i don't want. it's just a look they're give. this is not all of the charitable giving by the romneys, just how they have address this had one group that they starred. >> tom, thanks so much. let's get back to our conversation whereas democratic strategist and bye-bye and kevin madd madden. that's from a family foundation. i suspect that last slide, romney is having trouble with conservative voters. he should mail it around to those groups. let's get back to the bigger issue tomorrow. the tax returns. it's one of the reasons he started to fall in south carolina. is it the transparency question that causes people to move or he seems unkfcomfortable talking about it. people say the governor is a private person and doesn't like talking about his wealth. >> first of all, i think the campaign was always prepared to have a certain level of disclosure. >> if it was always prepared, at

first he said i'm probably not going to release them, then he said he might. don't you need to be consistent? >> related to campaigns. first of all, you have a very robust financial disclosure you go through. related to the tax returns, that usually happens in the spring when you become the nominee. i would say in hindsight, we would liked to have been better prepared and liked to have these ready now. he's not the nominee now. now understanding this, and look, i think the big rob was down in south carolina, we spent two days talking about tax returns. we didn't spend two days talking about the economy. we'll admit that. this is why this is important to put this in the reviewer mirror. the governor didn't decide to run for rez because he wants to run on you know, the financial disclosure laws in the country. he wants to run for president and he's running for president because he wants to turn around this economy and thinks america's better days are still ahead. that is what we have to get this campaign back to. >> the reason he lost several days on it is because his

republican opponents picked up on this. the obama campaign for weeks and weeks was saying release them, governor. that's easy for a republican to say go away. no republican will get mad at you for pushing back at obama. why did it matter to republican voters? >> it's more what newt is presenting out there. right now he has the advantage of running as a populist, anti-big government, anti-big labor, big business and anti-big media. >> i hadn't noticed. >> and he's combining all of those not just as a conservative but as a populist. i think getting out of the tax issue and getting it out on the table, it wasn't that the tax issue wasn't as important as it was painting romney as a big businessperson. >> as a democrat, do you worry if he's the ultimate nominee that he's getting this out now and the democrats lose what they thought was some kind of a weapon. >> he needs to disclose it the way his father did. around a dozen years, bill clinton when he was governor of

arkansas released at least a dozen years offis tax returns. the standard his own father set. i'm wondering, look, we know he's a man of profound faith. i admire that. but we know he's already admitted he pays less than 15% rate, less than a lot of teachers and cops and firefighters out there, even though he's a megamillionaire. that's a real problem. i wonder if there were years where he paid zero. a lot of fat cats find ways around paying >> i assume you've been part of the conversations on the communication strategy. what's been the hardest thing in dealing with the papers? >> i think these things are voluminous and the most important thing you can do is do it right the first time. so that's been the focus on the campaign. making sure that the details there are right. that this is done once and we can move on in the debate. the polls point, i don't think then candidate obama met that standard that you're now

applying to governor romney. >> he should of. he's certainly not a fat cat. >> he was trying to use it as a lever against senator clinton. did it early on. this is a transparency debate. you want to talk about who's better on the economy. gingrich wabts to say i balanced the budget with clinton. transparency about this fannie mae and to you again, governor romney's up with a tough ad in florida. hard hit by foreclosure. saying why you were struggling, gingrich is taking $1.7 million from freddie mac. >> on contract, it goes back to the full campaign with newt. right now, if you listen to newt, everything good that has happened in washington the last 30 years, he's been a major part of. . everything bad, he's had nothing to do with. that's where the freddie and fannie issue really kind of comes in. it busts apart his campaign of

i've been part of all the good and not the bad. >> what is a communicator, paul? i know you're not a fan, but he has managed to get people to say here's the good part of me. you put me against president obama, who knows if i will win, but you'll love the match-up. why aren't republican voters listening, that's right rs he was censored, he did have to leave. >> in south carolina, there wasn't enough time. he peaked at the end. first, he bashed juan williams, then you, of cnn. we'll see what he does tonight. there's a debate on msnbc. then thursday, there's another. in almost every one, he's found some kay way to bash the media. it really works with republican primary voters. not swing voters. they don't say, gee, my life is great, but i wish someone who

you would attack john king. it fades out when you move to a broader electorate and looks a little angry. >> it's a somewhat broader electorate. what lessons did team romney learn in south carolina about making the case against gingrich that we will see? >> i think first of all, we have to have our own moment with persuadable voters out there. i think the voters in south carolina had a very distorted view of what electability looks like related to speaker gingrich. that's because he represents the status quo in washington and everything that has gone wrong in washington. if we were to put him forth as our nominee, we won't have the ability to run and drive a strong contrast as we would with romney. >> i think republican voters also want to see more fight in the debates.

they want someone to fight president obama. some win, lose or whatever. thanks for coming in. up next, the stanley cup champions visited the white house today and the chicago president tried to welcome them a little beantown slang. >> well, i am happen p pi to welcome the stanley cup champion boston bruins to the white house. i know you're all wicked happy to be here. you name it.

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you've heard this talked about on the campaign trail for weeks. will newt gingrich release his contract with freddie mac? here's the front page. kate bolduan is with me on the set. just by looking at it, the contract, it is from this is part of it, the one year contract from january 1st through 2006 pays the gingrich firm, $25,000 as a monthly retainer fee and if you go through it, it calls him a consultant and talks about services. it's not terribly specific. >> and we're just reading through this, but one line did pop out, which this is on first read. it says the consultant, mr. gingrich, will have to supply them with copies of any disclosure reports that may be filed by loss.

that's not saying one way or the other, but it's noted in this contract. we need to dig deeper on what the real services were. >> and you can know that his campaign rivals will look at that fairly or unfairly. that says he has to report frequently to freddie mac any conversations and has to protect their confidential secrets of the agency. talks about regulators. the housing market, this is having read a lot of contracts, that's sort of the way these go. you have your saverablety clause. erin burnett is also reading this document. finally a moment you may have missed. terry bradshaw interviewing the giants after last night. someone interrupted him. take a peek. >> victor -- where's victor? come here, man.