good evening. tonight the republican race without herman cain. we'll go live to the key early voting states to see who benefits most. plus, back to school with newt gingrich. with his lessons to a college class in 2009 match his rhetoric on the campaign trail now? >> what do you want to talk about? that's the key theme? beats me. >> up first, sparks fly between gingrich and another former house speaker nancy pelosi. president obama adds a briefing room appearance to his schedule to predict republicans will end up raising taxes to the middle class because they are stubbornly preventing millionaires and billionaires from paying more. >> keep your word to the american people and don't raise tax on them right now. now is not the time to slam on the brakes. now is the time to step on the gas. now is the time to keep growing the economy, to keep creating jobs, to keep giving working americans the boost that they need. >> our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin

with more on the president's bush. you don't add an event unless you see moment dlul. >> reporter: they want to beat that drum every day. they see this as a win for the president. the pay roll tax cut issue. on the merits and the politics. on the specifics, the president's argument is that if republicans don't stepped the cut, tax increase on regular americans, $1,000 more they'll see taken out have their paychecks. and then therefore, it is inconsistent with the republicans pledge not to raise taxes. the white house believes it would be hurtful politically for republicans and democrats if people's taxes go up next year. and so on the politics of it, it is a win-win for the president if taxes go up, then the president can point his finger at the republicans who presumably would be the ones blocking it saying, they did that. i didn't. and if they vote to extend it, the president can claim that as

a political win for himself and say look what i did. now, the bottom line is, they believe fundamentally that congress will vote to extend this in the end and the real drama here is by what means? how will it be paid for? this is a bit of a game of chicken at the very en. still the drama is the president pressing, making sure he gets the president for this extension in the end and sure it gets done before congress goes on break. >> the holidays fast proef approaching. nothing gets congress out of town faster than the holidays. let's go to kate for a reality check. the democrats had a new proposal today. they say it is a paired back compromise. will it sell? >> reporter: that's a great question. on its face, it doesn't seem the republicans will be going to be getting on board with this. here's what democrats say they're offering. they call it their compromise offer. this latest offer still extends and expands the pay roll tax

credit for employees, going from 4.2% to 3.1%. as they say, kind of in aed in a to republicans to win over more republicans, democrats in this latest offer, they're dropping a provision to sentence the pay roll tax cut to employers to bring down the overall cost. and they're also making the surtax on millionaires smaller, going from just over 3% tax to just under a 2% tax. as they say, to make it more palatable for republicans to be able to sign on. they, obviously they're pushing to try to win over more republicans. but right away, even before the full details were coming out, republicans were are ready coming out to slal it saying it is still a political maneuver, a political show boat that's not going anywhere. >> let's assume republicans under no circumstances will accept raising taxes on millionaires or billionaires. are there three or four people in a room somewhere working on the final plan or is that yet to happen? >> reporter: i know there are conversations happening. it didn't seem, especially with

this latest offer from democrats, that that was a product of ds and rs behind closed doors talking to each other. as many republicans took pains to point out, they were not consulted or what the details were about this offer coming before we started reporting it. in the end as jessica said, but there is an understanding or thought that they will reach some great. we have plenty of time to fight about this. >> posturing first, perhaps a deal later. from capitol hill tonight. thank you. >> newt gingrich and nancy pelosi have a personal and policy feud that case back more than two decades. today it flared anew. pelosi issued what sure sound like a threat in an interview with points memorandum officially listen to this. one of these days we'll have a conversation about newt gingrich. i know a lot about him, pelosi said. i served on the investigative committee that investigated him. four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a

year. a thousand pages of his stuff. speaking to reporters in new york city, gingrich took issue. >> i want to thank speaker pelosi for what i regard as an early christmas gift. >> what's that? >> she is suggesting she is going to use material that she developed while she was on the ethics committee. that is a fundamental violation of rules of the house and i would hope members would immediately file charges against her the second she does it. >> cnn's reporter was in the room. when you watch politicians taking questions, the body languages tells a lot. the glint in his eye, the locked jaw. this is a long time rivalry, a long time feud. and that got under speaker gingrich's skin. >> that's right. it felt like old times. it was like a seinfeld flash back going back to the 1990s. and lets just be honest about this. the house democratic leader nancy pelosi started this fight telling talking points memo that she basically relishes the idea of newt gingrich running for

president and talk b the possibility that while someday we may release some of the research that we have on speaker gingrich from his days in leadership from the house investigation into potential ethics violations, an investigation that resulted in the speaker being reprimanded back in 1997. and when newt gingrich, i have to say. when the former speaker was asked that question, i asked the question about that press conference. he wasn't shrinking from it. he fired back immediately with the line about it being an early christmas gift. and it is not a bad thing in the republican party to fight with nancy pelosi. this might have been a fight newt gingrich was looking for, quite honestly. >> we'll see how it works in the long material. jim acosta, thank you. let's get some perspective from the former colleague, our chief political colleague, gloria borger. i want to get to the substance. let's deal with the politics. if you're a conservative, seeing

newt fighting nancy pelosi, you think, yay, good for you. at a time when he is rising in the polls, trying to say that he is a new fresh voice, this does remind that you, a, he was a long time politician, and b, a pretty controversial one. >> i don't say that he is a fresh voice. newt has been around a long time and i don't think he would even say he is a fresh voice. but fighting with nancy pelosi is not a bad thing in a republican primary. you recall about three or four months ago, the junior senator from oklahoma in a town meeting in oklahoma said that nancy pelosi was a nice lady. he got booed. so i mean, she incites the same type of anger and consternation with republicans that george bush did for democrats. >> coburn said he wouldn't support newt, right? >> newt cuts both ways. >> but she is clearly, i mean, they go back a ways.

let's be clear. they go back a ways. she was on the ethics committee, in a leadership committee on the democratic side when newt came to power. there's a lot of bad blood there and you sense it. let's listen to what newt gingrich is saying about nancy pelosi's motives are. >> i think it talks about how capricious she was. how tainted the outcome was that she was on it. and what she said to you today should explain a great deal about what happened in the he think i. process when nancy pelosi was at the heart of it and is now totally prepared to abuse the process. >> first, the bad blood is obvious and b, when you look back at the history, this is grass half empty or half fulfill let's look at the record. the house voted 395-28 to reprimand speaker gingrich. that means a lot of republicans voted to reprimand their speaker. so it wasn't just democrats. they ordered him to pay an unprecedented $300,000 penalty. that is a big fine. and yet, speaker gingrich can say in the end by the time this

all wrapped up that 83 of the 84 counts were eventually dropped. this was complicated stuff about foundations and gold pack and political committees. more to my point, it helps with conservatives but does it remind voters this guy has some baggage and do you really want to send hill against obama? >> absolutely. what i saw was a little of the old newt gingrich relitigating those charges before the ethics committee. going back over it and saying 83 out of 84 were not real and all the rest and it was bad advice. that's not what newt gingrich really ought to be doing. he released an ad in iowa today that was all positive and rosie. he is trying to reintroduce himself. and reinvent himself to a certain degree. relitigating his old fights with nancy pelosi is really not the way to do it. but newt did not bring it up. he was asked the question at a press conference and he responded. but also on those charges, no

irs charges. they cleared him. the guy never went to jail. what, i mean to say that they would release that. >> going to jail is not -- >> that's ethics committee, republicans used it for sport, democrats used it for sport. so you know, what came out of it? >> there is more history. >> later in the day, leader pelosi's office, this gets confusing because both gingrich and pelosi were speakers. nancy pelosi is now the democratic leader in the house. saying pelosi was clirly referring to the extensive am of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive committee report with which the public may not be fully aware. all of the other campaigns already had that report. they're preparing whether or not they'll use it but now they have it. do you think, gloria, the democrats know he is combustible. the democrats know he gets mad when you question his past. does nancy pelosi say wait for

the day. is she planting a seed? is it on purpose? >> i think she is planting a seed. and, but it is clear that everybody knows that the history is there. i think the question with the romney campaign right now, it's not really about nancy pelosi. it is about mitt romney. what does mitt romney do? he's been calling him a career politician. actually, i would think that the way to confront newt gingrich would not be on the career politician but would be on this question of power and how he used power and can you trust him with power in the future. that might be a little more -- >> do you trust him with power? >> we'll see. i'm only one voter and i think he will have to take that argument to the voters and throughout the south and throughout the primary campaign. but i think if you look at newt, you compare apples to apples. romney has a problem. newt has problems, bachmann would have problem, perry has had problems. the republicans, we have six or seven to choose from and newt is one of them.

>> and there are no perfect candidates. thanks for coming in tonight. still no herman cain. that means no 9-9-9 plan. does anything professor gingrich say complicate his message now? ♪ [ male announcer ] it has an hd webcam, killer audio, and lids that switch to start every semester fresh.

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fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums how about we spend a little time going back to school with newt gingrich? and mindful of the fact he was paid more than $1.5 million for his work with freddie mac. you decide whether it is telling it like it is or bald hypocrisy. >> i'm a theodore roosevelt republican in the sense that, one of my conclusions out of the last ten years, if you are too big to fail, you're too big to manage. i would break out fannie mae. i would break out freddie mac. i would break out aig. i wouldn't defend any of the biggest banks. if you're too big to be managed, you need to become smaller. >> that was march 2009 at a

tulane university class. you might have seen him there. we'll call him professor james carville. he is with us tonight. and david gergen. james, you invited me to your class that day. we wanted to go back and look at those tapes. we want to match up what he was saying then with now. he said if you're too big to manage, you should be broken up. this is a guy who took all that money from freddie mac saying break it up. will opponents grab that and say which is it? what do you really believe? >> well, you know, they've already plowed that ground pretty, been plowed and replowed. the truth of the matter is, i would give hill a little bit of a pass because he was in a classroom and we like for people to be provocative so i appreciate him coming down to my class. i obviously have serious differences and issues with the former speaker. but i never criticize a guest of mine. i'm going to shy away from what he said. >> let's see if i can see over the next few minutes if you stick to that. >> no, no, anything not related to the class, i'm ready to jump

in. >> one of the reasons we wanted to go back and look at this tape is because when they're not running, he is and not running for anything. they tend to be more relaxed. more revealing. i want you to listen to a little more of the snippet of the class. carville was trying to get speaker gingrich to make a bush-obama comparison in terms of the economy. the speaker from time to time presents himself. he likes to talk in grand historical ways. >> you're kidding. >> listen to how you teshs a bush-obama conversation into the roman empire. >> it seems to me that you're suggesting, you're suggesting that economically, the bush and obama administrations are a contin continueum. >> yes. >> we're saying for republicans to become a more, is populist a better word? or to sort of be less wall

street, less party, more, is that what -- >> i wouldn't use populist. but i would go back to the role an model of popularity. there was a party which ultimately caesar had at the end which basically that any fight between the elites and the great mass of people, be on the side of the great mass of people. >> he's not an elitist, right? he is not in the elite. he is with the people. >> he is with the people. he does have a grandiosity about him. i think as james says, within the context of a classroom, to go back and cite roman history, that's looked up to. not looked down on. >> go ahead. >> yeah. just reminds my students, we had a pretty good class but i wanted to be provocative because i want mr. gergen to come talk to them.

i want him to feel he can be as provocative as he wants to. >> just keep the cameras off. >> trump says he still might run. i don't think gergen will run so i think he can come down to your classroom. here's one example where gingrich the political analyst is actually dead right in terms of, if he's analyzing how president obama lost his popularity. and he is dead on. listen. >> i think the challenge for obama is actually the challenge that george w. bush has. george w. bush failed to perform. failure to perform is the greatest problem an american president can have. because we are a ruthlessly consumer cent rick company. when something doesn't work, we change. how many of you have ever changed a brand? all of you, right? so just think about it. and what happened was the republicans starting in 2005, i

think this city was the first enormous break point. although i think the first big mistake was the social security plan. but this city then became the break point. when bush came down, this is my personal analysis. and i don't know of you agree or if james agrees. when bush came down and said, brownie, you're doing a heck of a job, i think the whole country looked at him and thought this guy is out of touch with reality. which is the jimmy carter problem. >> a couple things, number one, a pretty fair assessment. the competency question undid president bush. what are you doing in iraq? number one, the big mistake was the social security plan. the speaker says he wants to have an opt-out for younger americans. remember that was proposing an opt-out for parts of it. the part that struck me most, have you ever changed a brand. remember how important to you, james, to you first, newt beginning was in changing the republican brand when they took power in the 1990s.

>> yeah, do i! and these guys, he has a lot of problem running for president. from freddie and fannie. my guess is we're only in the second inning about things we'll find out. that's just a sense of where it is. to say today with speaker pelosi brings up something that we all knew about, gloria, you and i, the general public had forgotten about that to the extent they ever knew about it. i think they're getting ready to be reminded of that in spades. >> you mentioned that he gets puffed up, self-importance. a lot of politicians do. i'm not picking on speaker gingrich by any means. what is your next question now that he's made it to the top of the field? >> i think he's known all along he will be heavily vetted and 52nd 90s scrutinized.

what has been interesting is how much animosity there is among the insiders. we heard a little of it from senator coburn. i walked with him. i won't support hill. you see others. i didn't talk to vin webber but he was a friend of his. >> a lot of people who served in the house. a very bad feeling about it. >> don't you think those stories are coming? >> without a doubt. a lot of people looked to him as their leader and then he let them down in a drault way. and that matters, especially in a long protracted primary. to that point, next week john king usa is getting out of here. we're going to eye waffle we want to hear from you. tell us what's on your mind, especially if you're in iowa. up next, we'll look at what a herman cain-less caucus means for the other candidates. brad, where we going?

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a new day in the republican race for president. no more herman cain. that means no more 9-9-9 tax plan. who will benefit? listen to two of cain's rivals, former rivals say how about me? >> herman cain supporters have been calling our office and they've been coming over to our side. i think part of that is because

people see that i'm the tea party candidate in the race. they saw herman cain as an outsider. and i think they see that my voice will be the one that would be most reflective of his. >> there are a lot of people who call themselves tea party people that did like the independent mindedness of herman cain. so i think that we'll probably do better even though some people are saying, oh, no, they'll all go to so and so. but no, i think we're paying a lot of attention to that. >> let's ask the peel in the key early states. we're joined by you. he supports mitt romney. and steve grubs was herman cain's iowa campaign chairman. let me start with you. you said when the sexual harassment charges first came, those being made public, and then the woman alleging the extra-marital affair, you say you lost 85% of your supporters and 83% went to gingrich. some went to bachmann and 4%

went somewhere else. is it fair to say you believe gingrich in iowa is the overwhelming beneficiary? >> he was certainly the beneficiary between the two-week period between the news conference and the ginger white news conference. the question is, where will the, those that are the hard core supporters that are still left, where will they go? some will go to gingrich. i think congressman bachmann will be a beneficiary and possibly ron paul. >> mr. loftus, he did not mention mitt romney. what is it that governor romney has to do to get these voters? herman cain after all backed him. what does he need to do to say don't forget me? >> i think he's doing it. governor romney is marching toward the primary election day. and i think he continues to do what he's been doing. let everyone else come and have their day. you mentioned a lot of the cain supporters. they were perry support herbs before they were cain people. and a lot of them before that were bachmann supporters and

palin supporters and trump supporters. so not to denigrate anybody's choice, it is a volatile field and there is a large movement. i feel really good about mitt's choice because he is the turn-around specialist. he is a business guy. if america ever needed a turn-around specialist in d.c., now is the time. >> mr. cain did pig up a lot of tea party supporters. he gained steam and went from nowhere to the top of the pack. when you talk to your folks at the grassroots level, where do they go down? >> they're mixed. they're very surprised and they're pretty shocked. there's still, i think, in a depressed mode right now. their guy is out. and they are trying to figure out where they go now. they're not fickle. they won't say let's run over here and let's support this guy. they really believed in herman. they believed in his message and they were hoping for an outsider to come in. and they're really depressed. so when you're depressed you

don't make rash decisions. >> we come back to you, steve grubbs. the poll that came out over the weekend. mr. cain had dropped to 8% in the last poll. he dropped quite a bit. in november, he was 25, gingrich, 18, paul. in terms of your people on the ground, steve, you have a suspended campaign which means he can get matching funds. but you are done, closed up shop, right? >> right. we're figuring out what to do with our 3,000 yard signs. we'll be recycling them. getting rid of them. and the rest, we'll be shutting them down. we do have a lot of people that want to be involved and i know they're talking with various campaigns. >> is there a surprise in iowa? you mentioned maybe congressman paul and congresswoman bachmann. four weeks from tomorrow night, if there is somebody starting to ride a wave, you usually start to see it by now.

>> yeah, you know, the big freeze comes in about two weeks. and in my past experiences, i know that when we got to about october 20th, volunteers would not talk to us. no one would make phone calls. the campaign really freezes at that point. so i think candidates have two, maybe three weeks before this thing is pretty much settled. >> mr. loftus, i was in south carolina. there was a complaint from some conservatives. why won't he come here more often? why won't he inact? you said he has this strategy. most people think it is the play it safe strategy. make the late push. then win new hampshire and only then, come to south carolina and beyond. why? >> well, i mean, of course they have a discipline strategy and they are just that. they are discipline. but there's more to it. he just can't be everywhere. he has been a skin front runner all along. he's been right there at the top so everybody wants him. we get appointments every day from groups. you just can't do them all.

so he has a busy schedule. he spends a lot of time studying and for the debates. he is discipline. he is doing a great job and i think the polls reflect that. we have this volatility for a while and it will continue. they are just a few hours old. in a week or two we'll see it settle down. and i have believed since the very beginning the closer we get to election day, the more people say mitt romney is the man that can send oh obama back to chicago. and that is our one unifying goal for all conservatives. >> so billie, settle the fight. some say iowa is 29 days away and the voting starts quickly, that this is going to be a romney-gingrich race. the other candidates will have an impact by what they get but you have two people at the top. the nominee will be one of them. others say look at all the volatility we've had. we'll probably have another bounce or two before we figure this out. where are you? >> mitt romney has not met with the tea party groups all over

this country and we keep asking why. and yeah, we hear that he is busy but he's been busy for over a year. we've been reaching out to him. i keep asking, why won't he meet with us? nobody can give us a correct answer. i think mitt romney has a lot of work to do in getting the tea party vote. so newt gingrich will be up there. i think there is nobody out there right now that has got this. but newt and mitt are definitely going to have to have a conversation. >> steve grubbs, if you had to bet a dollar today, who wins iowa? >> i would say newt gingrich is certainly the front runner. if i was betting, probably newt. but i wouldn't count ron paul or michele bachmann out. and mitt romney has a five-year organization. i would go with newt. >> that was very cautious, very cautious there. steve grubbs, billie tucker, thank you. up next, the traditional

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here's the latest news you need to know right now. the leaders of france and germany have design a new plan to help the debt crisis. they will urge all union members to adopt it. late today, standard & pours

placed 15 members on a resri view for a possible down grade indicate. the mail system is about to get slower. they announced $2 billion in cuts that will cost thousands of jobs. tuesday military will pull out of an air base in pakistan. that at the request of pakistan's government. it used that air base for drone attacks against militants. this follow nato strike this past week that killed 24 pakistani soldiers. and iraq plans to execute today, aziz. he served for years under saddam hussein. when we come back, we return to politics. let's use tonight's number to set the table. it is $250,000. that's the amount the form he speaker newt gingrich is spending on his first statewide tv ad in iowa. it went up today. let's look at what else is happening in the state.

omaha, nebraska, sioux city, who is up right now? gingrich up 250,000. rick perry has an $80,000 add. and we know the romney campaign started one last week. we dope know how much he is spending. but four weeks from tomorrow, iowa votes. the tv stations are out to make some money. when we come back, how does this impact the race in the state that votes first? nyquil: you know i relieve coughs, sneezing, fevers? tylenol: me, too. and nasal congestion. nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

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tonight erin is live from abu dhabi. what's the headline? >> reporter: well, iran is really the headline getting all the talk here with one of the most sophisticated american drones that there is reportedly, so iran says being shot down by iran. that's the big talk here about 30 miles away from iran at the home of america's biggest ally in the middle east. the united emirates. they have dubai. we'll talk to the ruler of dubai. he is our exclusive guest. a very rare interview and i have to say, it is fascinating, it was to me. everything was on the table. we talk about democracy. we talked about the arab spring. we talked about protests here. we talk about the freedom of the press or the lack there of. all of that was on the table coming up in our interview tonight. so we're very excited about it. even though, you know, got to

get over the hump of not sleeping but that will happen. >> sleep is overrated. sill mr. lesson. simple lesson. >> reporter: yeah. true. when you're out and about, you've got to live and enjoy it, right? i don't want to sleep. i want to enjoy every second. we'll see you in a few minutes. >> we'll see you then. the tv ad wars are heating up now that the first votes are just four weeks away. iowa first. newt gingrich launched his first statewide tv ad. some some people say the america we know and love is a thing of the past. i don't believe that. because working together, i know we can rebuild america. we can revive our economy and create jobs. shrink government and the regulations that strangle our businesses. >> the imagery, the opt mix, vaguely familiar, right? >> today, more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country's history. with interest rates at about

half the record highs of 1980. nearly 2,000 families today will buy new homes. more than at any time in the past four years. >> morning in america if you don't know your political history. 29 days and downing. erick erickson, newt goes statewide in iowa. a very optimistic ad. this renews the whole debate we have every four years, especially now that technology has changed. is iowa an air war, a ground war or both? >> i think it's both. you have to remember the way we play these commercials nationwide. even the way herman cain campaigned in iowa out going to eye warning you can reach about a quarter of the iowa voters by being on tv nationwide. and you can reach other voters outside of iowa as well. he is building in new hampshire in addition to iowa, making it difficult for mitt romney. with herman cain out, i've been saying the optimistic candidate

of james carville probably wins. that's the most optimistic we've seen so far. >> it is very optimistic. it is your first time out. is that what you want to do? lay the optimistic down? i can rebuild the economy. a lot of people are using it to shore up their weak knows. and for all his rise in the poll, speaker gingrich does have some. >> exactly. at this point most americans have seen him in these debates where he has been very unruffled but he has come across as a little bit stern and doom and gloom. these ads which reinforce the opt mix and point him as this good will type of candidate are really attractive. peel want to see it. they've seen the infighting and the herman cain drops out and the attacks by media on different candidates. so i think an optimistic ad, you can't go wrong by has to follow it up with meat and potatoes. >> a lot of us remarked about the discipline that speaker gingrich has shown.

some of us have been around and seen the other sides, if you will. you worked on capitol hill for a long time. you know the good sides and the bad sides. when you watch him perform, very upbeat ad there. a little angry glibt in his side talking about nancy pelosi. what do you see? >> the ad is fascinating. the rudy theme in the background. the great movie about the underdog who makes it big. and newt has to be the underdog in this race. if he is the favorite, all the favors go down. for newt it is always better to be the underdog. he has to temper that partisanship that comes from him. if he can somehow be an optimist, be the guy who has real ideas and can move the nation forward. he can do well. but that lack of discipline, that's the thing when he was speaker, it got him. and my guess is it will get him again. >> your guess is it will get hill again. not only seeing gingrich ads. another candidate who his supporters often say doesn't get enough attention.

ron paul will be a factor in this race. the question is how much? there are some who think he can win iowa. iowa voters are seeing this. >> what's up with these sorry politicians? lots of bark. when it's showtime, whimpering like little dogs. >> it's a little different than the gingrich ad, huh? >> yeah. very different from the gingrich ad. i have to say that i think bar none, ron paul has some of the best videos and ads that have come out. i wasn't expecting that. i hadn't seen that but that will get people's attention. the polls showing whatever he is doing in iowa is working for him. >> let's move. on david axelrod was on "meet the press" yesterday. people are wondering, why does the obama campaign keep going after mitt romney? asked about romney, david axelrod says -- >> he seems to think every day is a new day that he can change all of his positions, depending

on who his audience is or what the political circumstances. that is not what you want in a president of the united states. so was that an issue? yes. that's an issue. >> you asked him about newt gingrich who has risen in the polls. you would think he would go after hill with equal vigor, right? >> newt gingrich. does he have a core? is he a formidable candidate the president faces? >> i mean, i think that's what voters will have to decide. he is obviously a man with an expansive thoughts and ideas that he expresses widely and we'll see how that plays. i don't know the answer to that yet. >> is romney a bum when it comes to newt, it is up to republican voters? >> i think it is a little bit of reverse psychology. and david axelrod is pretty clever in laying out his argument like that. there was a story today that showed democratic strategists do not want someone like newt gingrich to be the nominee. that debate would be a train wreck for the administration. for the gingrich to be a nominee because that will be a

train wreck for the president. if they wanted to go off mitt romney, they'd go after his record. that was a soft hit talking about flip flopping. that's something conservatives have been joking about for the past several years even before 2008. so it's just some reverse psychology, i think. >> this is a debate and divide within your party, the conservative movement and the republican party of this very question. if you look at the polls, which a lot of people are obsessed by polling, the most recent poll, bahama/romney is a dead heat. obama gingrich and obama wins by 10 points. if you look at the data, homi r is the stronger candidate. >> newt gingrich is their dream. they want him to get the nomination and herman cain to get the nomination and wanted michelle bashfulme bachmann to nomination. >> they say newt gingrich was

the most liberal candidate in the race. is that right, eric? >> you know, i tend to agree with george will about a lot of things. when you look at newt gingrich's record, people forget his record and rhetoric aren't the same things. i think the white house is somewhat smart here. everybody thinks mitt romney is the nominee. they might as well define him now before he is the nominee. >> dana lesh at this point and peel say do we have a romn romney/gingrich race, what do the grassroots say? >> they hope it expands upon a two-man race and we see who is leading in iowa. if it has to be gingrich, i don't know. we'll see. he's better than romney in my opinion. >> that said it all. thanks for coming in tonight. up next, tonight's truth, and if were reality tv, it might get me fired. [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac

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get back to the things that matter most. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ male announcer ] enbrel. the #1 biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. iowa votes in 29 days. new hampshire is 36. >> it was grate honor to have newt up here. it's amazing how well he's doing and how it's really resonated with so many people. >> but the trump primary could be settled before then. after the donald taking his turn as a debate moderator. >> the debate is december 27th. i'm looking to endorse somebody after that debate.

i'm not looking at anything. >> now, if only he had stopped right there, but being donald trump means never having to say never when the issue is running for president. >> if the wrong person gets in, that's dircht. i don't think the wrong person will be chosen. >> just a little wiggle room there, which i guess we should consider progress from leaving a lot of wiggle room earlier in the day. >> the fact is if the wrong candidate is nominated to run, approximate if i think it's a candidate that's not going to win and not very good, and that could happen, i guess. i see very good people and very talented people, and approximate if the economy continues to be bad and i think it will because i think we have incompetent leadership, i would certainly think about running as an independent. >> you flirted with this a lot of times. >> as an independent. if nothing else that's amusinam. here's the truth, enough already. the country faces serious problems, and the voters need to be worrying about and listening to the serious candidates for president. like them or not, you have to

consider the former speaker newt gingrich among the leading contenders. serious? yes. not opposed to add it to it -- >> this is a country that elected a peanut farmer and an actor that made two movies with a cripple pan zee. this is a country of enormously wide open talent. donald trump is a great businessman. >> the trump debate is organized by the conservative organization news mac. ron paul and huntsman won't attend and made clear they don't think much of the event or moderator. >> i don't understand the marching to his office. i mean, i didn't know that he had an able to lay on hands, you know, and anoint people. >> now while it pains me some to say this, news max has every right to pick its moderator, and listen, mr. trump, he has a point here. >> i built a tremendous company.

i built a tremendous net worth. i've employed thousands and thousands of people, jobs, education, real health care. i mean, real health care. we've done a great job, and everybody else seems to like it. >> truth is, i'm a firm believer, the more you see the candidates in any setting, the more you learn and a debate about jobs, health care and schools, well, that's a debate the country sorely needs. let's not forget trump also enjoys leading debates the country doesn't need, like stoking the ridiculous discussion over whether president obama was born in the united states. >> but you raised this saying the president should release this. >> you raised it. >> i didn't raise it. >> i was in palm beach earlier this week. >> every time i sit down with the press and they want to talk about the birth certificate. goit him to do something nobody else could do. >> you raised this issue of his credibility. approximate if he has it, he should release it. >> absolutely. >> in the end, the president

found and released that long form birth certificate. case closed. he was born in hawaii. except, except the donald believed he was due a little credit. >> let me tell you something. i have done a great service to the american people. >> now, on that point the silly birther debate, i beg to differ. it's a ridiculous distraction, but mr. trump is a show marn and has an act for gepgt instruction so if his big debate on the issues and actual the candidates. this remind all next week, we report from iowa where the actual candidates are out campaigning. we want to hear from you, go to cnnireport.com. tell us what's on your mind as the caucuses approach. we'll take yr suggestions. you'll see some candidates along the way. that's all for us tonight. see you back here toernt. erin burnett "out front