there was something good in those shows, at leet for women. let us know what you think. tweet me at erin burnett or facebook at outfront@cnn. in the meantime, at least we do believe in the song, the one-in-100. at facebook.com/outfrontcnn. on that note here's "piers morgan tonight." tonight, game on. next stop, new hampshire. i asked ron paul if he thinks he has a real shot there. >> it's a live free or die state. they're very freedom oriented. >> can a front-runner mitt romney now break out? >> it's sure nice to have a win. can we do better here in new hampshire? >> now it's the challengers. the news media continues to say he's the most electable republican when he can't even break out in his own party. >> in the end, nobody cares. >> jon huntsman is taking everything on in new hampshire.

tonight i ask him can he win that huge bet. donald trump has a lot to say about the republican field. he'll grade all the candidates. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. we expected the caucuses to be close, but not that close. mitt romney wins by just eight votes. and on to new hampshire, where he has a much larger lead at the moment. today he pukd up an endorsement from john mccain. >> mitt romney and i and you believe that america's greatest days are still ahead of us. it just requires the kind of leadership to put us back in the position that made america the greatest and noblest experiment in the history of the world. and the person who will do that is right here with you today. president mitt romney. [ applause ] >> good night for mitt romney

and rick santorum. how will ron paul's third-place finish go in new hampshire. a pretty good night for you last night. you must be feeling pretty happy today. >> yeah, i think we did real well. it was essentially three-way, came m first and gave us a chance to have some momentum to go on. so i'm looking forward to new hampshire. you know, we did real well in certain groups. and people dissect this out all the time, and i think most people knew i would do real well with the people under 30. and i did extremely well there. but i did real well with the independent groups, too. and that means that the interest in what i'm talking about is very broad-based. a lot of republicans, independents and even democrats have come out to our rallies. so i think we're presenting a program that should be appealing to all americans. >> what's fascinating, i was down at the cnn location in atlanta, watching the dramatic

scenes unfold right through the night. and it was clear that one thing was constant, which is that you, and i say this with great respect, the oldest candidate by some margin. was attracting the largest amount of young action on social media, twitter, facebook and so on. you have got this extraordinary appeal to the youth. what do you put that down to? >> i don't know. i'm very pleased with it. i keep trying to figure it out. i ask a lot of questions of the young people and they give me different answers. they're always very complimentary. sometimes it's just, it sounds like you're the only one telling the truth, that you'll obey the constitution. they talk about foreign policy. i think young people are just not anxious to be sent off to war. and they have become fascinated with my interest in monetary policy, and there's a financial crisis going on. so they're actually studying the federal reserve and monetary policy. so they give us all this interest. but having the freedom to run

your life as you so choose, as well as spend your money as you so choose. that is very attractive to young people. >> i use twitter a lot. every time i mention your name, or we cover you in the show, whatever it may be, i get an avalanche of reaction. very, very angry from people that feel that you don't get a fair crack at the whip from the media generally. you're not taken seriously enough as a candidate. and there's no doubt there is some truth to that. and for whatever reason, you quietly do your thing and you do it well. and it suits people to portray you as a kind of cranky old guy in the race. when actually, the figures would suggest you should be taken more seriously. >> yeah, you know, i see that word cranky. my supporters don't call me cranky. my friends don't call me that. the but i think the media uses it a whole lot. i hear some of our people overreact.

but i'll tell you what, they do the opposite thing. just take the singer that endorsed me. they went and bought her albums. kelly clarkson, i believe. and they bought albums, and they were very happy. so if you say something nice about me tonight, i'll bet you'll get a lot of good e-mails. i mean, they are very discretionary. they really compliment people. but if they feel like i'm not getting a fair shake, and i think you said possibly that's the case we come up short, they will even overreact. and i caution them against that, because that's not the way to win friends and influence people. but they are very supportive. and they want to defend me. you know, when people sort of attack me. >> do you think, congressman, that in new hampshire, mitt romney is almost certain to win in new hampshire? do you believe the real battleground will move on to south carolina, to florida? >> you know, i think the

oddsmakers would probably bet that. but i think santorum showed you can change things rather quickly right at the end. maybe the undecideds haven't decided to do anything yet in new hampshire, and maybe there will be a switch. actually, in new hampshire, you can get republicans, independents and democrats coming over and -- no, i'm sorry, you don't think you can have the democrats, but it's more independents than others that can come in there. so there are some unknowns. but i think the oddsmaker would say it's his home state, he lives there. but that doesn't mean that the rest of us give up. i think all of us will continue to campaign very hard there. >> look at your contenders here. are you surprised that rick perry is staying in the race, given how he's underperformed? >> well, i haven't concentrated on what he should do or being surprised or not. i am surprised that he wasn't

able to sustain, you know, his burst onto the scene, where he was riding high in the polls. you know, back then i would have guessed that he would have been neck and neck with mitt romney. so i was surprised that he didn't stay up there. but i don't have a strong opinion one way or the other whether he sticks in or not. but he must be calculating that south carolina is his place to take a stand. because i don't think he's doing a whole lot and i don't think his numbers are that good up in new hampshire. i have trouble keeping up with my own campaign, let alone what exactly their strategy is. >> let's just turn to the two direct competitors who performed well with you last night. mitt romney and rick santorum. rick santorum played a pretty clever game. 270-yard rally, in 99 counties. amazing feat of endurance, if nothing else. i think he's earned his right to have his day in the sun.

but as more scrutiny comes on him now, do you think he'll be able to withstand the inevitable media attention that he will now get for what many say are policies that go to in some cases to the supreme right? >> well, you know, my criticism isn't that he's an extreme conservative. i think he spends way too much money. when he had the opportunity to double the size of the department of education, he did, when he expanded medical care with prescription drug programs, and votes for foreign aid, he votes for all these things. he's supported people like arlen specter. he doesn't come across as a conservative. i think that will come out. he sort of popped up in the polls at the last minute. if you look at a picture of their rallies, they're sparsely attended. so it was a mechanism where a group of people came together and said, he's our candidate, we didn't rally around the others so we'll rally around him at the last minute. but i don't think he can go anywhere.

he doesn't have an organization. he doesn't have the money. so i would be surprised if he does very much in new hampshire. >> how did you react when he called you disgusting? >> i'm sorry, i missed that. what? >> how did you feel when rick santorum implied that you were disgusting? >> oh, he called me disgusting? i didn't hear him say that. maybe if i heard that in the debate, i could have had a spontaneous reaction. but you know, those kind of terms, i think they lack in vocabulary. it's not very creative. i think he could find maybe a more dignified term. maybe he could say he disagrees with me or something. but, you know, i just don't see the purpose of that. but i haven't thought that through. i haven't talked to him about that. and i didn't hear him say that. >> clearly the gloves are coming off, i think, in terms of

personal attacks. you've seen it from mitt romney through these pacs to newt gingrich. newt gingrich looks like somebody about to erupt back at mitt romney. you see santorum whacking you and you whacking a few people. is it time the election gets real, and inevitably gets ugly? >> it's probably the part of politics i never liked. and over the years, you know, i have participated in using what people say are negative ads. but if you point out another, what i just said about santorum, i don't consider that being negative. i tell people that he votes for foreign aid. and that he supported no child left behind. but no, that's the part that is more difficult for me, because i've been much more interested in changing the dialogue. you know, my campaign, and my platform is so much different. i'm talking a change in foreign policy, i want to address the federal reserve, i want to cut spending. nobody -- i mean, whether it's

santorum or gingrich or romney, none of them really want to cut spending. they talk about the whole establishment, republican and democratic, they're talking about cutting proposed increases, and i want actual cuts. those are some of the policies that i find rather disgusting that they won't deal with the issues. and i think that is so important. and yet i have tried to bring this up. but i don't think they addressed it in a serious manner. i deal a lot in protecting civil liberties and privacy, and talking about the patriot act. and i get a good response from that. in the defense authorization act the idea that the military can arrest american citizens and held indefinitely without a lawyer? and nobody wants to talk about it? i mean, this -- none of the other candidates even bring that up. so that is why our campaign is quite different. >> let me take a short break, and we'll come back and talk about your electability. some say they love your energy,

love the passion, the dynamism. but few people believe you can become president. i'm sure you do. i want you to explain to me after the break why.

the establishment called him extreme, and unelectable. they said he was the wrong man for the job. it's why a young texan named ron paul was one of only four congressmen to endorse ronald reagan's campaign for president. believing in reagan's message of smaller government, and lower taxes. >> the ron paul political ad, and the candidate is back with me now. the reagan factor is very alive and kicking here. because it's quite clear, a lot of conservatives are looking for a reagan-esque figure. i come back again to i guess what your problem is in terms of perception, is that your enemies out there always position you as slightly crazy.

and therefore, not presidential. not somebody who could actually win against, say, barack obama. how do you deal with that? now it's getting serious, and you see the poll numbers. maybe you hope to win in iowa, you didn't. you're coming in second perhaps in new hampshire. but you won't win there. how do you change perception to make people believe you could seriously be president? >> well, you know, i get a charge out of this when they say these views are extreme and i wouldn't be elected. i've been elected 12 times in my district. and age is a relative factor. you know, besides, you're not allowed to discriminate against age. if i have good ideas and in good health and appealing to young people, that's pretty good proof. but what really counts is the issues and what you believe in. freedom is a young idea. historically it hasn't been around all that long. we've had a great test in our country. and we're losing this. but most people have lived under tyranny. that is the main thing.

young people, and people much younger than i am, are accepting way too much government, whether it's mill tarrism, whether it's regulating and socializing our economy, and special interest protection by the federal reserve. i mean, these things are old ideas. and this is why i think i'm very much electable. but it's also strange that they say that these views, you know, are real strange. but i defend the constitution. why should balancing the budget and defending the constitution, and doing the things i talk about, all of a sudden they say, oh, you can't be elected with those views. but they're saying, oh, we hate the constitution. we hate personal liberties. we hate privacy. we hate the fourth amendment. we think we should be the policemen of the world. that's what they're saying when they're saying i'm unelectable. but they ought to deal with the issues themselves, because the view i hold and strict aheerns to the constitution and my

voting record, they know i would stick to those views. i think that's what they're frightened about because they're used to the status quo, and the status quo is big government. >> i've got your friend jon huntsman coming on in a moment. you gave him a jab on twitter last night and deleted it. discounting any responsibility, what would you like to say to jon huntsman? do you want to apologize that you found his one iowa voter? >> well, you know, that was done, you know, through staff. it was supposed to be good humor. and, i mean, i just didn't think that was a big deal. i can't imagine anybody making that. i think he was the one that sent the first twitter. i was in the midst of a rally or speech when that stuff was going on. so i think that was rather quickly gone through, and i think it was supposed to be something, you know, a little

high-spirited and a little bit funny. but it turned out to be a national incident about this twitter. i think the staff -- >> we'll get his reaction in a moment because he's listening to this. there seems to be -- >> yeah, i thought he was -- here i thought he was a nice guy. he and i get along real well. i thought he had some reasonable ideas. i can't imagine him attacking me, you know. >> that's what he's on for. i think i would just urge a bit of caution with all these things, congressman. you've been completely unaware of what your staff is doing under your name half the time. >> not half the time. you know, i would hardly say that. but a press person does a lot for all of us. so he's going to try to tell you that their press person never did a thing in your name, they're not telling you the straight story. press people tend to do that. they went over the top.

it was just a little thing. and they were trying to be funny. and i told them afterwards, after i got stuck with that, i said, you know, that isn't very funny to have me get caught on national television, and not know what's going on. but it was meant to be in good humor. >> we'll see. >> but i thought -- okay. go ahead. >> we'll see if jon huntsman found it funny or not. congressman, as always, thank you very much. >> all right. thank you. >> when we come back, my live exclusive interview with jon huntsman. we'll see if he's laughing at ron paul's little jabs. [♪...] >> announcer: with nothing but his computer, an identity thief is able to use your information to open a bank account... in order to make your money his money. [whoosh, clang]

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joining me now is jon huntsman. did you find congressman ron paul's tweet funny or not, mr. huntsman? >> you know, piers, first of all, thanks for having me. you think he would have learned the perils of ghost-written subject matter by now. but i have to tell you, at the end of the day, i actually found it to be pretty humorous. i discovered it last night. somebody shared it with me. and i thought it was pretty funny. you've got to have a little bit of levity and humor in this business or you'll go crazy. just tell dr. paul that i owe him a tweet in return, and he should be expecting one sometime soon. >> i think he should do what

mitt romney does and get the dirty work done by someone else. maybe your daughters can unleash themselves on twitter. keep your hands out of it. >> they've got plenty up their sleeves, sir. you might be surprised what they release in the next few days. >> now, i'm hearing noises of more stuff coming. let's get serious for a moment. let's talk about what happened last night. because i was on air with all the cnn anchors until the early hours. all i kept thinking about is if i'm jon huntsman and i put all my eggs in this new hampshire basket, i'm feeling quite encouraged. because the number one player here, mitt romney, ended up with less votes he got last time in iowa, and he can't beat this 25% ceiling. that, i would imagine, gives you more hope, doesn't it? >> oh, listen, piers, it was a wonderfully ambiguous outcome, when you had 75% of those casting a vote, that decided not to listen to the person the

establishment is teeing up on a silver platter, mitt romney. they're looking for somebody else. that suggests to me, and i think all watchers, it's the same here in new hampshire, and everywhere in the country, that there's a lot of blue sky and opportunity for the rest of the candidates in the race. that's why the outcome here in new hampshire i think is going to be critically important. the race is still wide open. people are looking for leadership. they're looking for a new generation of energy that will be able to deal with the two big issues of our time, the economic deficit and the trust deficit. we've got a message that covers both of them. we've taken it out now to 151 public events in this great state. and if you would have seen, piers, i think you may have cut in live last night at our town hall meeting in peterboro, it was an enthusiastic crowd. i compare and contrast that with the early house parties we did many, many months ago, where you have a very indifferent group trickle in and take a look at you.

>> but tell me this, how are you going to -- something is happening, definitely your poll numbers are getting better, but nowhere near mitt romney's in new hampshire. what is the yardstick that we should be using to judge huntsman's success in new hampshire? >> well, listen, we've gone from dead last place to what the most recent polls, including one of yours had put us in the teens today at third place. we have to exceed market expectations. now, that may sound a little business-like. but if the punditry will assign us a certain market value going into the vote, and whatever that expectation is, it will rise along with our performance in the polls. we've got to wake up the next day on the 11th and say, we did better than what the pundit class thought we would do. that then gives us the ability to move onward. that proves the point of electability.

that will be a few tickets out of new hampshire, make no mistake about it, piers. this is a primary, not a caucus. you've got republicans, you've got independents, and even a few democrats will sneak into the mix. and if you can do well in new hampshire, that really proves a point of electability. i believe that will carry you significantly as you then move down south, into south carolina and beyond. >> i read like all the media does, lots of positive stuff about you. and there's been a general feeling that you haven't been getting the kind of traction people might have expected given your background, given your cv. how are you going to brand yourself from this day on, when it's getting really serious now? how are you going to brand yourself in a simple-to-understand way that differentiates you from mitt romney and rick santorum? >> there's only way to brand yourself, and that is based upon your record, what you have done, where you've been and what you offer the american people.

and that one word would be trust. my whole career has been based on trust. i promise the people of utah i would do something, i did it. i ran for re-election, i got almost 80% of the vote because i did what i said i would do. and i believe that this election, piers, is going to turn on the issue of trust. it's going to be critically important. people are going to look at our track record, what we've done, where we have been, and they're going to say we have a trust deficit in this country. we have a dysfunctional congress. we need a president who will lead the charge in calling for term limits, not just talking about it, but leading the charge in this country, so we get it done. they want a president who's going to lead the charge that closes the revolving door on members of congress and file right on out to become lobbyists. >> you mentioned president there. do you think it's an ongoing problem with the republican establishment, if you like, that you've been so aligned, mainly by your competitors, to being barack obama's buddy, the guy he sent to china.

has that backfired against you, even though the experience you had that i would imagine would be rather useful for a future president? do you think that alignment with a democratic president has harmed you? >> listen, i worked for president reagan, i worked for president bush, i worked for president bush, i'm asked by the president of the united states to stand up and serve my country, i will do that. i always have believed in putting my country first. but i think you bring up a good point, piers, and that is, at the very beginning, a lot of people glossed right over us because i crossed a partisan line. that's the kind of person i am. i will always put my country first. but these same people, whether it's george will or eric ericson or other conservative xhen commentators are saying we forgot to look at his record. on closer inspection, he's the only consistent conservative in this race. he's actually got a track record that he can bring to the table. he's got a history of bringing people together.

and in a piece a couple of months ago, a piece said he can beat barack obama in any circumstances that are thrown at the race. >> jon huntsman, obviously i would love to talk to you, we know immediately what will happen in new hampshire. i'll buy you a foaming bit of bitter. i want a yes or no to this. newt gingrich, mitt romney unloaded bombs on him through the pacs. it clearly so far has backfired. if mitt romney decides you are a serious challenge to him during new hampshire's race, are you prepared, yes or no, to get down and dirty with him? will you fight fire with fire? >> absolutely. absolutely, piers. >> good answer. >> we have contrasting records. that's the only way to proceed. that's the way the game is played here in new hampshire and beyond.

the stakes are too high. >> jon huntsman, it's good talking to you, as always. and that was a good answer. thank you. >> thank you, piers. coming up next, how will the race for the white house shape up? predictions from a top republican and top democrat. [ female announcer ] splenda® no calorie sweetener is sweet... and more. if you replace 3 tablespoons of sugar a day with splenda®, you'll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year. and now get even more with splenda® essentials, the only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. just another reason why you get more... when you sweeten with splenda®.

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in a moment we're going to hear from donald trump.

but right now, it's the romney-santorum good news for president obama. joining me is congressman debbie wasserman schultz. and i was thinking watching it all unfold last night, if i was barack obama, sitting in the white house, watching rick santorum and mitt romney scrapping it out, i'd be thinking, yeah, i like this. this is -- it's not a front-runner situation. no one's popping up. mitt romney can't get past 25%. yeah, this is a good position for the democrats. >> well, piers, one thing -- first of all, it's great to be with you. i appreciate the opportunity to be on. one thing i can assure you, though, is president obama was not sitting riveted to the television watching the republican election returns come in from iowa. he's busy being president and fighting for the working class and families. >> i bet he had a sneaky look, come on. >> maybe he probably checked his ipad. that would probably be the way --

>> he was watching cnn at 3:30 a.m. i know he was. >> oh, no. i'm not giving away any secrets like that. but really, if you're looking at the results last night, and you're mitt romney, when would a win be a loss? it would be a loss when you were declaring victory the day before the caucus. when you spent $149 per vote compared to the guy who spent the least amount of money. you spent the most amount of money, and you've spent six years trying to win iowa. and you beat the guy who spent the least amount of money by eight votes. so he's limping into new hampshire. new hampshire, i have to tell you, i would say new hampshire really probably won't mean much, because most polls show he's going to win, and so that's not much of a victory there either. >> so what is important? when we look at what's coming up primarywise, what are the key battle grounds?

>> certainly south carolina is going to be potentially decisive for them in their field. and florida on january 31st, my home state, we're always pivotal. but this nomination process on their side seems like it's going to drag out a bit. because there is an obvious lack of enthusiasm for their side of the field. they're rooting around on the republican side, trying to could coalesce behind anyone. because when you're willing to say or do anything to get elected, i think most of the american people, i know for me, that would be the case. i have constituents who tell me, debbie, i don't always agree with you, but at least i know where you stand. nobody knows where mitt romney stands. that's the last thing you want in a president. >> okay. well, one thing is for sure. at the moment he stands as the guy who won the iowa caucus. so debbie, thank you very much. i'm going to move on now to senior republican john gregg,

the former senator from new hampshire, and also the former governor, a romney supporter. you've heard all that there. what do you think? it's a double-edged sword, isn't it? to a degree the democrats are right, mitt romney, i guess, with all the money he has, the infrastructure, probably should have done a better job winning quite comfortably in iowa. having said that, a win's a win. and new hampshire is looking like a land slide for him. so he goes on having won the first two battles, doesn't he? >> well, first off, what i heard from congresswoman wasserman schultz is that they're worried about romney. if she spends her whole evening trashing mitt romney, then they're worried about romney. and they should be. if you look at the dynamics of this, the president's in trouble. his programs haven't worked. he's taking this country down a path that is not consistent with the american ideals, in my opinion. he wants to put us basically on a european social welfare path.

expanded the government dramatically. passing huge debts on to our kids. the economy is a disaster. so if he gets an opponent who can run on the issue of economics and fiscal responsibility, which mitt romney can, i think he's in serious trouble. they obviously think that or she wouldn't have been on the air being so aggressively attacking him for the last four or five minutes. >> talking of aggression, mitt romney's been very sly, some would say, in deploying these pacs to launch his attacks on opponents. he's killed newt gingrich almost stone dead in the last few weeks by pounding him through his buddies in this sneaky way. my view is, in an election campaign, all is fair in love and war. why not whack each other down until the last man is standing. others think this is overtly negative and goes against the grain. what do you think? >> well, i think we have a real problem in this country relative to campaign finance, which was created by people who tried to

reform campaign financing. in the word, for the purposes of doing good, it's turned out to be very bad. you had the soros group in the last election which spent hundreds of millions of dollars, or tens of millions of dollars. moveon.org, they were called, attacking republicans. now you've got the president raising over $1 billion. we have no idea how that's going to be spent or who gave the money. and obviously these independent packs packs pacs are a problem in my opinion. the independent pac is independent. mitt romney cannot control it, he cannot even communicate with it. i know from my own personal experience that it's frustrating. >> but we weren't all born yesterday. when these so-called independent pacs are all run by his former staff and buddies, certainly to wash your hands -- >> no question, they have an opinion as to how they can help their candidate. and it's unfortunate, in my opinion, that these pacs are not transparent.

i think they should be. and i think that the president's billion dollars, we should know where that's coming from, and where it's going to be spent. that is a classic example of trying to do something that is a do-good proposal, and it turns out to be much worse than the present law at the time. we're stuck with it. >> okay. senator, thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. coming up next is donald trump. people say why do you keep having donald trump on? you know why? because he's always calling it like it is. he's also the man receiving every republican candidate right to trump tower begging him for endorsements and advice. what better man to ask about republicans as they stand now. passport? here you go. driver's license. past five years' tax returns. high school report cards. and i'm gonna need to see

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new capzasin quick relief gel. (announcer) starts working on contact and at the nerve level. to block pain for hours. new capzasin, takes the pain out of arthritis. this is campaign night where america wins. we're going to change the white house and get america back on track. >> with your help and god's grace, we'll have another fun night a week from now. god bless you. >> mitt romney and rick santorum, both came out of the iowa caucuses with something to crow about. donald, welcome. >> welcome to you. >> so what do you make of last night? the thrilling political evening.

obviously i was in atlanta at cnn hq, in the early hours it was 99% of the votes cast. santorum ahead by a single vote. the closest we've ever seen in iowa. what do you make of the fact that it was so close and santorum came from nowhere to get as far as he did? >> well, i think bob vander plat really helped. he's a great guy. he's a friend of mine. he's a fantastic man from iowa. whether you like him or don't like him, he certainly didn't give up. he was mireed at 1%. it took a lot of courage. you know, most people said what are you doing. and all of a sudden rick went up like a rocket ship. so you have to give them both a lot of credit. >> and also, rick put murdock interestingly in one of his

first tweets several times, endorsed santorum. indeed, today. said something like, well, it just goes to show that real values do matter. which i thought was a very interesting observation from one of the world's most powerful media man. >> i think it's a great endorsement, getting it from rupert, absolutely. >> what do you think rupert meant by values do matter? and does santorum represent now, do you think, the core traditional values of the republicans, perhaps better than any other candidate? >> well, he really is a very conservative guy. everybody will say that. he's very, very conservative in so many different ways. his stance on between birth control and gay marriage and lots of other things, life, i mean, he's definitely over there. there's no question about it. and there's a group of people that find that very, very appealing. and bob was one of those people. and, you know, that endorsement was great.

somebody like rupert murdoch is somebody who i have a lot of respect for. he's an amazing guy, a great guy. that means something. i think it means something to a lot of people. >> mitt romney, yet again, is hovering around 25% of the vote. and he only got just a few less than he got last time in iowa. so he can't seem to break this 25% barrier. what does that tell you, donald, about mitt romney's standing with his own party? >> well, i think he did a very good job, piers, no matter how you cut it. he won. winning is winning. if you win by one vote, it's like you play golf, if i win by one stroke or 20 strokes, winning is winning. and he did win. you have to understand, he was way down in iowa, a lot of people thought he shouldn't even go to iowa and now he comes out with a win, and he has a lot of people, including you saying, oh, gee, he should have done better. the truth is, he will be the first to say, he would like to start cracking into the 30s and 40s.

and he has to do that at some point. but he did have a win. and it was a good win. and it was a place where a lot of people thought he shouldn't even go. and i actually suggested to him about a i was talking to him, i said you should really go to iowa because you can win iowa. sort of interesting, all of a sudden he went there and he won. i think it was a great victory for him. i think it was great for rick santorum, absolutely great. and those two guys really came out on top. >> the only other candidate that has any real money behind him is rick perry, who looks like he's almost hit the buffers. he's carrying on. a dismal result last night. romney's got this huge double advantage, one, he's been there, seen there, and he's done this before. he knows how this works. he knows how to run a campaign. he's well-organized. more importantly, he's massively well-financed. can any other candidate really compete in a modern political battle against someone like

romney, given the results he has in. >> the answer is yes, because i've watched them go up and down like yo-yos, everybody, you have this one, that one, every week a different candidate that goes up. some had money, some didn't have money. some were terrific people. herman cain is a terrific guy. i liked him a lot. i got to know him. newt is a terrific guy. i mean, you have peopling they go up and they go down. a lot of them had money and a lot of them didn't have money. you know, it's interesting with the money thing, if you are good with media, if you get a lot of coverage, i'm not sure money that is important. it does buy you an organization if you know what you're doing, if you have managerial ability and ultimately that's going to be very important. so i would certainly say that mitt has the advantage, he's got great knowledge, great experience, and let's see what happens. it's going to be tough. i think that nobody's going to win easily, south carolina's going to be interesting. i think he's going to do great in new hampshire.

south carolina, florida, will be reinteresting. and probably not that easy. >> take a little break, donald. i want to talk about a tweet you sent last night, referring to michele bachmann as a disloyal and terrible boss. [ beep ] [ mom ] scooter? the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

last night the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so i have decided to stand aside. >> as michele bachmann today dropping out of the race for the white house after her disappointing sixth-place finish in the iowa caucuses. it wasn't the only bad news for miss bachmann she drew the ire of donald trump. this tweet you sent last night surprise immediate because you called her a disloyal and terrible boss but your praise wor think about her in your book. what happened? >> first of all, i do like her. i think she's a very good woman.

she did the right thing by standing aside, no question about that, because it wasn't going anywhere. but you know she came up to trump tower four times, which was allowed at her request, and asked me do a call. they call it a robocall where literally thousands and thousands of people were on the call, the biggest call they ever made a fund-raising call, and even though i made it plane i'm not endorsing her, she asked me to do it, i did it. it took an hour and then some. during an evening, my wife said, why are you doing this? just relax. you work all day long, now you're doing this call. but i did this call, took a long time, it was a very successful call. everybody was happy. and then when newsmax asked to do a debate she said no and i thought that was somewhat inappropriate. i felt, what does she have to lose? by that time, it was a couple of weeks ago, she wasn't doing well in the polls and what do you have to lose? newt agreed to do it, rick agreed to do it rick santorum, and they did the right thing.

but she said no. and i was very surprised because i actually did quite a bit for her. i didn't endorse her, and i wouldn't have endorsed her, i let them know that, i let her know that. i thought she was disloyal and it was unfortunate. at the same time, i think she's a very good woman. she worked so hard. i mean i actually told her, four or five weeks ago, go home, relax, take it easy, it's not going to happen. but she worked so hard. she was so dedicated. and i respect that greatly. >> she certainly did work hard, you've got to give her credit for that. let's move to the remaining contenders. you can see almost with newt gingrich now, a simmering volcano because romney has chucked the kitchen sink with him with the pac-sponsored commercial hammering gingrich down the polls. donald, you're a guy, if somebody did this to you you would take the gloves off and whack him back.

why isn't your friend, newt gingrich, doing this and do you think he will now change strategy because he has no choice? >> well i think he is now. again, i'm very friendly with both. and i was a little bit surprised that newt didn't fight back a little bit. and he told me, when he was in my office, i want to keep my calm. i'm not going to fight. he really wants to fight obama. i think it's got tonight a point, not only with mitt i think with everybody where he wants to really fight, but in particular with mitt romney. he's not happy with the way he's been portrayed. i didn't see the ads. were they accurate? were they not accurate? he's very angry. i think he's going to fight back. if somebody goes after you, you go after them. he made a concerted effort not to say anything bad about any of the candidates that said bad about him. i think ron paul hit him harder than anybody, frankly. and mitt really held it back. and in a certain way i respect that but i believe you have to fight back and i think this is

proven because his polls were insurmountable two weeks ago and they started going down. >> from what you're saying tonight, donald, i'm getting a sense that you're warming towards possibly an endorsement of mitt romney. am i misreading the lines here? >> yes, i think you are. i'm looking at it very seriously. i'm looking at different candidates. i've got tonight know most of them. i think that the important ones i've really gotten to know. and i respect them. i want somebody that's going to beat obama. obama has done just an absolutely, and is doing, a terrible job. this country's in serious, serious trouble. and it has such potential, if somebody would release that potential, it has such enormous potential to do great and to be great again. and it's sort of interesting. i have millions of people that want me to run, they want knee run as an independent, they want me to run as anything, they formed a party out in texas, make america great. and i said, boy, what a great name for a party. that is a great name for a party