the news continues next on cnn. >> good evening. an important night in washington. the house deciding whether your taxes will go up in 12 days because democrats and republicans are again engaged in a partisan showdown to see who blinks first. that's right. majorities the most parties want to extend the holiday. they will give you an extra $1,000 in your paycheck but a disagreement how to do it now makes it a real possibility taxes could go up. at least temporarily. we'll go live to the capitol shortly to take you to their deliberations. also, a dramatic shift in the race for the republican presidential nomination. newt-mentum is giving way to a romney rebound. take a look at our brand new poll numbers. former speaker newt gingrich, romney romney, now tied nationally among republicans. each with 28% support. congressman ron paul runs a distant third with 14%. the other candidates all trail

in single digits. moments ago, gingrich at a media event as he struggle to reverse the slide. >> the only person who profits from republican ads attacking other republicans is barack obama and i think that's a pretty reprehensible behavior on the part of some of the candidates. so i'm going to be honest. we did this saturday morning and we had some 14,000 people join us, 14,000 iowans join us. we'll have an ask newt every day and have people calling. in if you get junk mail furcal see a negative attack ad, whatever, you'll be able to call me and ask what the facts are. >> gloria borger was there at that event and joins us from davenport, iowa. let's start with the former speaker. telephone conferences with supporters or potential supporters. he said he won't go negative. the rule of politics tell you, that won't work. how worried are they inside camp

gingrich? perhaps beyond the candidate that their strategy sonl contributing to the slide. >> reporter: they're very worried. as you said earlier, they added an availability today. he is trying to get his message out. look, they don't have the money to put up the ads that would allow them to go negative against the other candidates. so they're trying to make a virtue out of it. and say, you know, we're really going to be positive here so don't pay attention to those other folks. and they're holding these teleconferences, essentially, asking people to join their caucuses. asking people to join their campaign. the place where we just had this event, davenport, iowa. i talked to the two guys who set up the event. they got a call from the gingrich campaign at 10:30 last friday morning. they're not gingrich supporters. they're precinct cheryl in the state. they don't know who they'll support and they had to cobble

it together over the weekend. gingrich doesn't have a lot of money. he raised $500,000 over the weekend. that's not a lot of money. he doesn't have an organization. he is trying to counter that. >> i want to show the national numbers to see if this is what you're getting in eye waffle you can feel the nigewt-mentum. what's most important? personal qualities or stands on the issues? 62% say personal qualities. programs because they don't disagree on that many issues. so who wins there? who represents the qualities? romney has 32% to gingrich, 21%. what else is it? if people say personal qualities is why they're more for romney there, what else are you picking up two days and one day until iowa votes? >> reporter: it's interesting. in talking to folks around here

in davenport, it seems newt gingrich might have peaked a week too early. they like him. they think he's different. i spoke to a couple folks who said what they like about him is that he seems like a strong leader. and our polls showed that as well. he beats romney on the leadership issues. some particular evangelicals have questions about his past personal life. and they wonder whether he is a little too bombastic in washington to actually make things work. but they like him because they feel he stands up for what he believes. however, one person i talked to today said to me, look, i like him. i think he is great. i'm just not sure he can get elected president. >> gloria borger live on the ground for us. here in washington tonight, vigilant is the watch word of the top military officer as the world anxiously watches the transition of power in north

korea. so far no unexpected troop movements following this weekend's death of the north korean leader kim jong-il. now the latest and the details. when the top military office says vigilant, when they say there are no so far, no unexpected troop movements, what are they most worried about? >> they're worried about being surprised. we now know that kim jong-il passed away more than a day before the u.s. was even made aware of it. what they're doing now is secretary panetta and other fls are calling there are counterparts in south kree. they're also making sure they have the intelligent aspects. surveillance analysts to make sure they don't get surprised if conditions in north korea change. this was the scenario that some military officials really feared. the officer who runs u.s. forces korea warned the u.s. senate back over the summer that kim jong-il's death could make north

korea a more, make it more of a military threat. he said the son now has an imperative to sort of play indicate the hard liners. the military hard liners in north korea. he said that combined with his youth and inexperience increases the likelihood of some sort of miscalculation and makes the son in the short term less predictable. >> and chris, the unpredictability that is the giant question mark. i'm not sure they have a clear answer. but you have a country that has six or maybe 10 or 12 nukes. it is the concern that he may do something provocative in the region or is it perhaps that they would go back into the proliferation and the arms, the marketing business. >> by far, much more of a concern about the ladder. north korea was accused of building a plutonium reactionor in syria, until that was allegedly destroyed by the

israelis. many are very concerned that north korea could at some point decide to try to give some of its technology or sell some of its technology to iran to help iran overcome its problems. i'm told a lot of nations have invested time and money in slowing down iran's program. that has been made clear to the north koreans that is a red line. that any help given to iran is a no go and a nonstarter. just about six weeks ago, some of the senior military officials in the region said that when they were talking to the north koreans, the north koreans made it clear they thought one of the reasons that moammar gadhafi was able to be ousted in libya was because he gave up his wmd program. and they say if that's the way the north koreans are thinking, it makes it hard to trust the negotiations to get them to curtail their own program. >> chris lawrence, live at the pentagon. thanks.

cnn learned today that kim jong-il's death came just as the united states was set to announce a donation of food aid in return for stop processing uranium and to readmit international inspectors. secretary of state hillary clinton went out of her way to extend an olive branch. >> we reiterate our hope for the improved relations with the people of north korea and remain deeply concerned about their well-being. >> with me now, david sanger. thanks for your time. the first question i have for you is based on all your reporting, how will this transition play out? >> you know, john, nobody knows. the fact that nobody knew that kim jong-il had passed away for 48 hours gives you an idea of how little the top leadership has been penetrated by american intelligence, south korean intelligence and others. but there are sort of three leading theories. one of them is that they'll be some sort of regent appoint who

would oversee the son in his late 20s. and see whether or not he is up to the job. he has not had very much training time. his father had 20 years to prepare for the job. the son has one or two. the second theory you heard alluded to. that he would feel it necessary to step out and either sell weapons or do some sort of can provocative act similar to 2010 when it sank a south korean war ship. when it attacked an island. the third theory interesting really scary one, is that is the north korean military would fracture with some supporting the son and some saying they don't want the communist dynasty. if that's the case, who controls the nuclear weapons. would the united states, china, south korea have to mobilize they will. that's a pretty scary scenario.

>> it is. the country that might matter most is china. how would this play out? >> for years the united states has wanted to start up a quiet conversation with the chinese about what to do in case of north korean collapse. and when you go through wikileaks documents that came out a year ago, this was the source of a lot of discussion between the diplomats. the chinese have never wanted to play because they cannot want to admit the possible that north korea could collapse and it would be a disaster for china in the chinese mind if that happened. this they would have 23,000 refugees coming over the border all hungry. they would have south korea trying to take over the north which would put an american ally on china's board. so what the chinese want mostly is stability. and they're probably more worried about the situation

right now than the u.s. is. >> david sanger, the chief washington correspondent. thanks for your insights. and ahead, the reaction when kim jong-il's death was announced. >> translator: i'm announcing in the most woeful mind that our great leader kim jong-il passed away due to sudden illness -- >> what do we really know about life inside north korea? in three minutes, the former head of the cia joins us to shed light. plus, a popular car maker declares bankruptcy. no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate!

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and communities, the more we can help make opportunity possible. tears as the announcement of kim jong-il's death was made on television. those images are the images the north korean government wants to you see. the story that's missing, his level legacy of famine, poverty. jong me, two men who know north korea and knew this leader more than any other officials. first the retired general of the cia, and in denver, the assistant secretary of state of

president bsh was the lead negotiator. i want to start with this threshold question for you. your biggest worry today is what? >> well, the instability in the north. because of internal pressures, because they can't settle the leadership succession, that they do something stupid. i don't think that's leakly. i think they turn inward. i think we'll see a period in which we can't get the north koreans to do anything externally positive or negative. it will take a period of months before this settles out. >> ambassador hill, you're the u.s. diplomat who knows this government. knows this regime best. are you confident that they have a succession plan that will avoid instability? >> no, i'm not. i think they've certainly tried in the last few days. probably the delay in announcing kym jong-il's death was part of it. you have to remember kim jong-il had something like 20 years under his father as he sort of constantly was introduced to various communes and other factories and every north korean

felt they knew kim jong-il before he took power. and even then it took years of introspection before they came out of it. i think the problem is much worse right now. i don't think anyone has an idea about kim jong un. the one thing he has going in his favor is he looks vaguely like his grandfather who was a little more popular than his father. >> that's an interesting point. first and foremost start with the map. this is the demilitarized zone. let's just bring up u.s. bases. there are a lot of u.s. troops in this region. any indication, general, to you first. do we know at all what the son thinks of the united states and the rest? >> no. we know very little about him. there is a little time he spent in switzerland at a boarding school. at the junior high level. we're trying to understand his thinking. i don't think, no one thinks that sojourn in switzerland turned him into someone more oriented to the west he is his

father's son. >> one of our correspondents talked to a high school roommate of the son. i want to you listen to his take. >> he was very quiet. he didn't speak with anyone. he liked the sail things every teenager likes. he liked sports, he watch also, we talk sometimes about girls. but not too much. so he didn't go out at night. he never go out on disco or party, never. >> in your dealings with the north korean government, any dealings with him specifically? or any information? that's high school days. any information about who he is now and what he thinks of the world? >> no. very little indeed. you always have to worry about those quiet types. but i think he was a very low key figure. and i think it was kind of a surprise to have put him out forward as the heir apparent. i think the key question is the

brother-in-law, the brother-in-law of kim jong-il. he has been out of favor from time to time. brought back in, gone back out. a bit of a controversial figure in north korean terms. that's led to the view among some people that he may be some kind of closet reformer. i kind of doubt it. one of the great legacies of kim jong-il in addition to nuclear and famine was the fact that he kind of really created this class of people who are all these luxury goods and committed to keeping this going. i suspect he is one of those people and i suspect they'll try to do that. even if they get into some tiffs. i'm going to bring up on top of this, their missile launching facilities. chris talks about perhaps a regency, a shared power. we don't know.

it is the short answer. when you don't know, does that make you worry more or less? >> of course it does. we've never seen a regency before in north korea. this has been the code of personality times two and clearly kym jong-il wanted kim jong un to be the number three. so if you get tensions, if you get fractures. do any of the factions in a life or death struggle -- >> are they doing anything different than 48 hours ago? >> on intelligence, sure. they're up in the to have step of the dugout. they're looking for signs. but i don't think we perceive an immediate threat. this is the most military arrestized zone on the planet in terms of conventional power, it has been decreasing. the south and we together combined have dominance here. it is these kinds of weapons

that are the wild card. >> so ambassador, in the short term. i assume the japan these and the chinese will be cautious. >> i would speck the south koreans will go on much heightened alerted. it is not just the configuration of military forces. if you put a population overlay there, you would see millions and millions of south koreans living within artillery range of some 14,000 north korean artillery tubes. so the idea of some sort of military confrontation is rather aapocalypt cal to say the least. that's one issue that has to be considered. from a diplomatic point of view, the chinese have been trying their best to try to get the north koreans back to the talks. the trouble is the chinese haven't really looked too much ahead of what they would do once they're in the talk. we are kind of reluctant to go

into talks for talk's sake. we've been looking at signs that wun once they get to the talks, they would live up to their obligations under the agreement to denuclearize. i think that process will be set back even further as a result of this transition. >> ambassador hill in denver. we'll keep an eye on a very important part of the world i did a broadcast ones in the dmz and i put my toe across the line. my toe has been to north korea. tonight your tafxes are caught in the middle. plus, seldom, something we very seldom hear. words of praise for lindsay lohan. but they come from hugh hefner. nyquil (stuffy): hey, tylenol. you know we're kinda like twins.

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welcome back. >> it's a story we've been following, i've been following very closely. you out there and millions of americans may find out late tonight whether your taxes are going up. the house is getting set to vote on extending the social security pay roll tax cut that expires at the end of the year. but house speaker john boehner says republicans, they won't buy the senate pass bill extending the tax cut for only two months. >> i think we've made it perfectly clear that we believe that a full year extension of these tax cuts are very important. i don't believe the differences

between the house and senate are that great. it's time for us to do our work. >> a problem though. the senate isn't around to negotiate and senate democrats don't want to and don't want to come back to town. we'll be following this story throughout the hour. >> in other news, an investment firm run but a saudi prince announced it is buying a $300,000 stake in twitter. they also own and invest in our coil, time warner. a sad farewell maybe for some of you saying goodbye to saab. it started building autos in 1946 filed for brums today and expects to go out of business. good news though, look for this next year at an atm next year. no fees. of course as usual, there is a bit of a catch. you'll have to watch a commercial before you get your money since, of course, we all need more commercials in our lives. consumers fork over about $4 million in fees for getting money that doesn't belong to

their own bank. >> if you can believe linhugh hefner, lindsay is one of the best things that happened to the magazine. they are breaking sales records. on that note -- >> did you ever think in your life you would speak the sentence that began, if you believe hugh hefner -- >> no, i didn't. and i was hoping we could quickly transition back to poll numbers. >> no poll numbers. this is a hard one for me. i have a 15-year-old daughter who used to be a lindsay lohan fan. >> it is tough for a lot of parents. >> shall we say, not anymore. >> let's hope not. they cannot figure out how to do something nearly everybody wants to do. keep your taxes from going up. and you won't want to miss this. newt gingrich said he wants to be that's ontively his wife takes to twitter. she's fighting back. it's easy to see what subaru owners care about.

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the house of representatives should decide tonight whether your tafls will go up starting january 1. and the battle on capitol hill is anything but pretty. the house voted on a bill that would extend taxes for two months. not good enough for most house republicans. john boehner wants a one-year extension in order he says to eliminate uncertainty in the tax code for small businesses. >> the idea of a tax policy can be done two months at a time is

the '69 of activity we see here in washington that is really put our economy off its tracks. >> speaker boehner's objection to the senate bill does come as a bit of a surprise. on a conference call saturday, the speaker called the bill a good deal. joining me from capitol hill with the latest, our senior congressional correspondent. and so the question is, what is going to happen this evening? house republicans are in their meeting. they're plotting strategy. taxes going to go up? >> well, if house speaker john boehner is right, he is saying that it will fail. and he is saying that as you mentioned. there was a conference call over the weekend. he got an earful from rank and file republicans saying they will not go for the short material extension. they say a year or nothing. and since then interesting house speaker has said, you know what? this is what we're sticking to. we're to the one year or nothing. unless something changes, unless congress finds its way out of what is utter chaos right now, 160 million americans will see their taxes go up. unemployed americans will lose

their benefits. and the senate which you can see right down here, they're gone. they've left for the year. the senate democrat says we have done our job. we passed this two-month extension and we're not going to come back unless the house follows suit. >> a little showdown here. you can call it a game of championship. both parties going into a dicey competitive election year. do the democrats and the republicans think they have the upper hand politically? >> both do. democrats are talking about what they think is more political leverage. they say, look, what they're going to see probably late tonight is republicans voting for what is effectively a. at a increase which is anathema to republicans across the board. and they're playing up on the democratic side. a real split among republicans. the vast majority of the senate republicans just over the weekend. they voted for this. they said it is not perfect but they said we'll deal with a two-month extension for this pay roll. at a. the house republicans are saying no way. on the flip side, republicans,

they are hoping that the democrats blink because the last thing president obama wants going into the 2012 election year is uncertainty in the economy and that is certainly what a tax encrease will do and people losing their unemployment benefits. >> first day back after six months. how are things on the hill? better? more mature? more childish? >> pretty unbelievable. six months maternity leave. the specifics have changed. but the chaos is still the same. kind of scary. >> kind of scary. that's encouraging for people watching at home. welcome back. >> speaker boehner called it a victory and a good deal as recently as saturday. but rank and file conservatives in the house pushed back. today the speaker back tracked. said this. >> i've seen congress kick the can down the road. kick the can down the road. it's time to stop the nonsense. we can resolve these differences and we can do it in a way that provides certainty for job creators and others in our economy. >> one of those conservative

who's doesn't like the two-month bill and wants the extension. it's good to see you will you're a freshman elected with teem support. a lot of people thinking it the new members like yourself who told the speaker, sorry, sir, i know you're on the record saying this is a good deal but we don't think it is. here's what the democrats are trying to make of this. chris van hollen that we are bidding a pattern of speaker boehner walking away from bipartisan compromises to cow 200 to his extreme tea party. he means you. is that what happened? did you pull the rug out from under the speaker? >> no, i don't think. so when i flew back in saturday morning, before i even landed, i had message upon message from friends and constituents saying what is this about a two-month extension? no one can do any type of proper analysis with just a two-month and that's bad that is cal policy. as a matter of fact, we just had today the national pay roll report and consortium say that the senate amendment could create substantial problems, confusion and cost affecting a

significant percentage of u.s. employers and employees. the small business and entrepreneurship council said indeed the uncertainty regarding what happens next following the two-month expiration date will serve as additional fuel to currently low business confidence levels. so this is not what we should be doing up here. we pass a bill that gave it a one-year extension which is something that the president said. senator harry reid said and senator chuck schumer said. to come back with this band-aid approach is playing political chicken with the american people who are suffering under failed economic policies. and i won't stand for that. >> i understand. forgive me for interrupting. you called it political chicken. some moderate republicans, specifically in the senate side are a bit nervous because of the political environment. senator scott brown of massachusetts faces a tough re-election campaign. the house republicans plan to scuffle the deal to help middle class families is irresponsible and wrong. that's a republican, sir. what do you say to senator brown? >> i say very simple. i'm not up here worrying about

re-election. i'm here to do what is right by the american people. there are senators that are more concerned about re-election than missing the boat themselves should have got on board with the one-year extension that was paid for. that will make sure we don't see a social security deficit as we did with this pay roll tax cut. we had unemployment insurance reforms as well as suede a two-year extension on the sustained growth rate which is important for doctors treating medicare seniors down in my neck of the woods. also, we had a good thing with the -- the key stone xl pipeline to make sure that we provide the opportunities and the conditions for private sector jobs. john, look. we have to be very honest. i know that the messaging machine will be in full time. the american people should be absolutely appalled and i'm embarrassed. the fact that the senate sent over something for just two months. we'll vote on this senate amendment. i don't think it will pass. and then we're going on continue with regular order which is something that we've established

this year. we'll probably go to a conference. >> you say probably to go a conference. the senate is gone. they can come back if the democrats blink. they say they have no plans to do that. you mentioned the messaging machine. the white house has in its briefing room, if congress doesn't act in x number of days, they've now crossed that out. if you go to the website, it says if the house doesn't ask. they're putting the blame on you. you might have a tough reelection campaign. are you at all concerned when we're in these meetings that we're not allowed to bring a camera in to, what is the level of concern if we do this, even if we think we're right on the policy. we could pay a price for it. >> it is not paying a price. you have to do what's right for the american peel. this past year we've seen such abysmal economic growth. a gdp. we have to do something that's better to provide predictability and certainty and confidence which is exactly what several of these groups have said about a two-month extension that does not do that. so john, i'm not up here wanting

to play games with the american people. i'm not up here worrying about political tick tock clocks and thing that are a lack of leadership in the white house. two months is not viable and the american people don't need us to come back in january or february and go through this whole machination again. i think that it ends right here. we're going to come up with a one-year solution which is what i voted for last week so no one can say that i don't believe in having this done. i'm voting against the short term. >> thank you for your time tonight. when we come back, tonight's truth that kinder and gentler often doesn't work in politics. and sometimes the wife decides to come to the rescue. [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation, not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be,

you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪

everybody falls down. the challenge is whether and how you get up. how newt gingrich does it over the next few days will speak volcano you'll of he is now in danger of slipping out of the top three. he didn't stumble by accident. he was pushed. pummelled. the candidate who led the charge is now reaping the benefits. call it the romney rebound. >> i'm going to let the lawyers decide what is and what is not lobbying. when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, typically

it's a duck. >> that was governor romney this weekend. proof right there that after playing it safe, team romney realized the gingrich let the was more real than any previous anyone but mitt knew. proof that when it finally moved, the romney campaign moved decisively. inexpensive but buzz generating web video linking gingrich to democrats, republicans love to hate. that was a web video that hit nancy pelosi and al gore. newt gingrich was in a video supporting them on climate change themselves backed that message up with a tough iowa attack mailing. that's not all. truth is, mitt the knife got some very important help. >> the fact that we know that he cashed pay collection from freddie mac. that's the best evidence we can have. over $1.6 million. i'm shocked listening to the former speaker of the house because he is defending the continuing practice of freddie

mac and fannie mae. >> most impactful perhaps is this iowa attack aid from a pro romney super pack. >> newt has a ton of baggage. that the fact that he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. or that he took at least $1.6 million from freddie mac just before it helped cause the economic meltdown. >> now let's remember how volatile this race has been. what we see tonight could prove to be a mirage by the end of the week. but consider the turn-around. a week ago newt-mentum was the buzz word. the political class was chattering about the poll showing gingrich with a 17-point national lead. tonight our brand new cnn number show it is a dead heat nationally. more importantly to me, accounts from republican sources on the ground in iowa suggesting not only a gingrich stall but at least a bit of a romney surge. the truth is that's a big turn-around in just a week and it didn't happen by accident. joining me to talk about the

romney rebound. romney supporter, cnn contributor, erick erickson. and j.c. watts. i want to go to you first, erick. i want to read some notes. one anecdotal story, a conservative high did not think would be a romney guy, they will have a field day with newt's baggage. i think romney has the best shot of beating obama. here's one here. i talked to an activist here. he said my high school senior daughter who will be voting for the first time told me she is settled on romney. she was formally herman cain's eastern iowa high school coordinator. is that happening everywhere? >> it's happening across the bored in iowa. the problem is, that as much as people pooh pooh negative adds and say they don't work, number one, mitt romney is not running the ads. they're for him but it is the super pack. he has a little distance between they will. but negative ads work.

they have always worked. there's a reason they run them and i'm a little bit shocked that newt gingrich is playing naive, willfully or not. and did not plan on responding. he had to know it was coming and now they're taking a toll. >> he's been around a long time. he is trying to run a different campaign. in part because he doesn't have the money to match these guys. he says in his way, this is way to do it. i want to you listen to the former speaker. you're a romney guy. form he speaker here saying your candidate and others are what they call negative junk. >> very disappointing. to see some of my friends who were running put out so much negative junk. i really wish they would have the courage to be positive and i wish they would have a campaign in which we matched ideas. we didn't see whose consultant could be the nastier or whose consultant could run the more destructive ad. >> he goes on to say that all these internal republican ads could weaken whoever wins the nomination in the long run.

>> it's a healthy part of the process. the reality is they happen to be true. when you're sitting next to nancy pelosi advocating cap and trade, that won't play too well. there is another thing. mitt romney has done a lot of positive things. i think you've seen him open up a lot more about his family. this family is, this country is still rooted in family valley uls. any time he talks about his long time love affair with his wife and the difficult things they've gone through, that i think humanization if you will is the combination of the exposure of the truth to newt gingrich is certainly playing well. plus you had the des moines register, the governor of south carolina, a very tea party the oriented person. a lot of good things with chris christie and you keep going down the path. you can see why people are gravitating toward mitt romney. he is the best candidate to beat can barack obama. >> among them, you know newt the

best. you've known him the longest. you know that he's being kinder and gentler right. now he maybe has political strategic reasons for that. but you know inside, this is a guy who has been in some pretty nasty street fights and he has that in him. will he be able to contain it? should he? >> i'm glad i'm not a potted plant here. but you know, the negative ads, they do work. and newt doesn't have the dollars to respond. he's trying to do the grassroots thing. and trying to keep on it a substantive level but that's not going to happen. he won't have the dollars in iowa to talk about the flip-flops with governor romney on the life issue, on the marriage issue. the things that i think iowa voters are concerned about. but i have worked with newt. and i think it is important to note, when newt gingrich was speaker, we had balanced budgets. we got tax relief. we reformed entitlement programs which hadn't been done in the last 15 years.

we paid down the national debt. we did some significant things. and john, you know, you've been around this city. politics is a rough and tumble . and when you're the speaker of the house, you'll make enanies on both sides. >> if he wants to make a case now, he might have to knock the other guy down before he can make the case. >> my thing is you should always defend yourself. i think the american people as was said -- >> if he doesn't defend himself more forcefully, do you think he can recover? >> i think he's trying to do it differently. and i think we've seen what that gets. trying to keep it positive, trying to keep it substantive. what's your plan on immigration, what's your plan on growing the economy, what's your plan on education? those things don't get talked about when we get in the mud and we'll surely been there in the last week. >> you're both active on

twitter. here's evidence to me that maybe calista gingrich is getting back to the hotel room at the end of the night and positioning we need to push back a little harder. these are retweets. sunday night retweets at united states. mitt monday any's never sleeps photos. i personally don't mind it, but it won't play well in ohio. it shows governor romneys an his partners holding a lot of cash in their hands. that's one right there. and then a minute earlier sunday night, retweeting again at united states, poor romney, he's just a sound bite candidate. he spewed consultant approved policy. what do you make of that, eric? >> you know, if you're retweeting something and you're a candidate's spouse, you are endorses. but, yeah, she probably wants the campaign to amp it up a

little bit. newt has said that calista is the brains behind the operation, if you will, that she has come up with this new method for campaigning. i'm thinking that he needs to residence to his wife some more. sounds like she wants to throw a punch. if he doesn't throw purfrns, there's a reason campaigns do what they do, because this works. >> when you retweet, you're not being neutral, are you? >> you're taking a pretty strong position on things. you also have to remember that ron paul and michele bachmann have been very aggressive against the former speaker. i think that's been very effective. but it's also this combination of i think the romney campaign has been very successful in pushing this idea the notion that find the most conservative person that can win. and the idea that we have to beat barack obama is very compelling for republicans. they want somebody who is steady, who is rooted in family

values, who has a good strong fami family. and i think that as much as anything is giving people a comfort level that romney is the guy to take on romney in the fall. >> you notice mitt romney has not exceeded 25%, 26%. two well funded, well organized campaigns conditions get beyond 25%. just remember what happened in '08 when republicans went in to the general election not being united. so having a candidate not just that we think can win in the general, that's not how the process works. you have to win in the primary before you get to the general. >> we'll see how it pray it pla. thanks for joining us. the one candidate that three of them agree that should not be a republican nominee, ron paul will be our guest here tomorrow night. when we come back, the tebow effect. think about it.

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25. a huge business story broke late this afternoon. at&t gave up its bid to merge with t-mobile. it would have created the world's largest wireless communications company, but federal regulators were against. an final this you can call the tebow effect. sunday's game between the broncos and patriots was the highest rated nfl game of the season as billions tuned in to see the dual between quarterbacks tim tebow of denver and tom brady of the patriots. new england if you don't know already won 41-23. >> convincingly. i'm a new england fan, so i'm all for tim tebow. i i think what he's done is remarkable. but rick perry said he's the tim

tebow, which meant stung the joint out but he'll win in the end. he said maybe the case iowas isn't this week because the patriots will beat the broncos. so -- >> a good joke. >> it was about so we're paying tribute, that's the wrong work, we're marking the death of the long term north korean leader kim jong il. this moment is back in 2000 near the end of the clinton administration, a controversial decision to send madeline albright to north korea. ve awkward moment. they walk together. not the most gracious. and a massive parade. here's a different take from the movie "team america." >>. ♪ when i change the world, make they'll notice me, and until then, i will 00 just be