group and the key issues in the 2012 campaign. later, budd darr from the cruise line association international talks about the safety of the cruise ship industry. and the former house speaker newt gingrich talks about his win in the south carolina primary and take your calls. "washington journal" is next. >> the fact is, we want to run not a republican campaign, we want to run an american campaign. [applause] >> over the past few weeks, we have seen a frontal assault on creative enterprise and we expected this from president obama but we did not anticipate some republicans would join them. that is a mistake for our party and our nation. ♪ host: is being described as a pivotal when, a possible game-

changer in the republican presidential primary would newt gingrich's double digit win in south carolina. florida holds its primary one week from tuesday. there is news overnight from the mitt romney campaign. he will participate in tomorrow's nbc debate and thursday's cnn debate, they have been critical indies -- in this campaign. it is sunday, january 22 and we'll will begin with your reactions to the primary in south carolina. lawmakers return and the president is spending the weekend at the white house preparing for tuesday as he moved center stage with his state of the union address and we will have live coverage on the c-span network print the numbers are on your screen.

we are dividing our phone number is among the four candidates. you can also join the conversation on the line on t witter or send us an e-mail. let's look in some of the headlines from the hometown newspaper, the atlanta journal constitution -- this is from "the miami herald" -- from "the chicago tribune and." from the "detroit free press" --

finally, from "the boston globe." we have live coverage last night of all the speeches and they are available on all of our website and this is part of what happened with mitt romney as he spoke to supporters in columbia south carolina. [video clip] >> for all in this great country, we have seen a frontal assault on creative enterprise and we expected this from president obama but we did not anticipate some republicans would join them. that is a mistake for our party and for our nation. ours is the party of free enterprise and free market choices. [applause] pierre republican party does not demonize prosperity. we celebrate success and our party and. [applause] that is one of the big differences between our party and our president. he leads the party of big government and believed that

ever expanding entitlements, he is wrong, we are right, and this is a battle we cannot lose [applause] those who pick up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow. host: the comments of mitt romney last night in columbia, south carolina as he goes to florida for the primary one week from tuesday. there is speculation on jeb bush. he is so far remain neutral in this race. former president george h. w. bush has endorsed mitt romney. no endorsement thus far from george w. bush. here's a look at "the washington post" --

dan balls has his sunday take and what it means -- this is the headline from florida. the new gingrich victory which came after a finished fourth in iowa, fifth in new hampshire respectively, rewrites in dramatic fashion the latest storyline of the republican campaign.

newt gingrich is making the rounds of the sunday morning programs and he will be with us at 9:45 eastern time which is a chance for you to weigh in with your calls and comments. you can send some in now on your feet -- on our facebook face or by e-mail. a supporter of newt gingrich is joining us from maryland, good morning. caller: frankly, i started paying attention to what everyone was saying and i thought that mitt romney would be my first choice. after listening today, i really

feel newt is saying all the right things. i think he has the spirit and intelligence to move forward. i will cast my vote for newt. host: a supporter of mitt romney, seattle, washington, good morning. caller: i am very nervous, forgive me. i support governor romney for two reasons. i believe he will work collaborative late with democrats and republicans. i think this country really needs that. host: darrell is joining us from south carolina. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to congratulate the speaker gingrich on his victory. i am from south carolina and i am glad the folks in south carolina he woke up. if you go back and listen to

mitt romney's speech in the iowa caucuses, is the very same thing he is doing now in south carolina. that and bring his family up on the stage in having his wife speak and tell the same stories. he may be a great guy but to me it was just canned and every time speaker gingrich comes up, he makes it different. i just want to thank him and i hope the people moving forward -- move him for in florida and arizona. host: on our twitter page -- our phone lines are delighted -- are divided among those who support the four leading republican candidates. a supporter of ron paul is joining us from teaneck, new

jersey. caller: good morning. the campaign's being run by mr. gingrich and mr. romney and mr. santorum, they are not addressing the issues. that face the majority of americans. we don't want war and we don't iran.issues with a we don't want business as usual in the white house. we of problems right now with the administration. -- we have problems right now the administration, their affiliation with wall street but the biggest problem we have here is a warmongering. somehow they believe that war and the imperial powers will somehow bring us back to some good position in the world and that is not true. host: a look at the results courtesy of "the associated press."

newt gingrich got 40% of the support in south carolina about 243,000 votes for newt gingrich and just under 168,004 mitt romney. next is donald from new york, mcgraw-of supporter of caller: i'm a democrat and have been all my life. i don't support barack obama. the only reason i supported romney is he is centrist enough for me to support. i don't think the republican party is looking towards november to wooing moderate democrats like me away from barack obama and have a candidate we can vote for it

there is no way i can vote for rick sesantorum or newt gingrich the party needs to look for as to where they are going. if they cannot put someone up that will appeal to moderate democrats, they will not wind are in host: from "the washington -- "the houston chronicle" -- jim is joining us as a supporter of run call from oregon. caller: i would have been happier if ron paul had one very i am happy that gingrich won because the establishment want to get mitt romney as the presumptive nominee and that has been stopped in its tracks. gingrich is not in the ballot in virginia in and several other states.

if you look at his favorable and unfavorable across the nation across all americans, americans don't like newt gingrich. this fight will go on and give an opportunity for ron paul people to get out the message of fiscal responsibility worth trillions of dollars literally in death. we have to real that in. ron paul is the only candidate of the four that is speaking to that in a meaningful fashion. host: next is clayton joining us from pittsburgh, supporter of newt gingrich. caller: good morning. i believe newt gingrich has more experience than any of them. from a home -- i'm from the homestead a wreck santorum and i would not vote for him. he filled our stay with casinos which we don't need. he is bragging that we waste

more money than atlantic city and almost as much as las vegas. congratulations there. i am definitely not a romney fan. go newt all the way. host: two more debates this week and a number of stores in the sunday papers about the role these debates have played in the republican presidential primary. the debate tomorrow will air on the nbc network at 9:00 eastern time. it is a two-hour debate and nbc news has given cspan the to the permission to repair the debate on tuesday. -- re-air the debate on tuesday. this is from "the front page of " the new york times."

a supporter of mitt romney is on the fund from virginia, good morning. caller: good morning, cspan, thank you for taking my call we know that a lot of us were angry but i'm not worried about what

happened last night. newt gingrich did during his campaign, he gave them what they wanted to hear, an insult attacking the government of, attacking the media and i don't see mitt romney has that ability to what needs saying. romney cannot say because he is a candidate. this guy was fighting for his life. i would not worry about it because the republicans see what is going on and they will stop newt gingrich and his stupidity and the way he is talking. i realize that one thing i learned about that state, that state will do anything to destroy america over those people don't love america. i don't think they care about america. that is why we have the gridlock we have in washington today. host: our twitter page --

the headline from "the richmond times dispatch" -- there been nine current or former speakers who have run for president but only one, james capel, was a elected to the presidency. james k. polk. we will go next to a supporter of newt gingrich in louisiana, good morning. caller: i think newt gingrich knows where the skeletons are buried in washington, d.c. and all the old republicans don't want anything to do with them and that is what we need for it we need somebody to shake things up and get them working in the right direction, thank you. host: from "the pittsburgh post- gazette" --

we know what happened with joe paterno and he was fired as head coach at penn state. he remains hospitalized on this sunday morning. clay is joining us from augusta, ga., you are a supporter of mitt romney? caller: i am really disappointed in the bible belt state, south carolina. it is really sad that they have ignored what newt gingrich's wife said about him. i believe her. it may be old news by to say something like that, to call her a liar and no one is trying to find out whether she is right or

not -- the main goal is to try to defeat romney or do feed obama. that is the main goal. it is really said that a bible belt state would not believe this woman. thank you very much. host: thank you for the call. from "the times" -- picayune" next is veronica from texas, good morning. caller: morning. i'm a longtime democrat. i think ron paul is the only one

i would switch over to vote against the democrats. he is the only one caring about united states and he looks more down-to-earth than all the other guys. he is the only one that i would change. i don't understand why they would not give him more advertising on the radio or tv. host: he has advertised himself and we have covered an extensive librar andly. caller: it seems like they give more coverage to newt gingrich and mitt romney on fox and the other networks. it seems like newt is the only one was the antichrist to take over the world. he does not have a good reputation and i think people are crazy to vote for him. host: very much. we're looking at some of the headlines and this is from "the miami herald" --

many of the republican votes in florida -- bit debate will take place tomorrow evening. the republican convention will take place in florida in late august. this is newt gingrich from last night. [video clip] >> one of the key issues is the growing anti-religious bigotry of the leaks. [applause] -- the lead to - the elite you go to my campaign side, there's a 54-page paper on the balance of power putting the judiciary back in its proper role and eliminating dictatorial religious bigots such as suchberry in san antonio who issued a ruling that if the

student's death -- not only could the students not pray at their graduation, if they used the word benediction, the word invocation, the word god and ask the audience to stand or as for a moment of silence, he would put a superintendent in jail. [boos] have speech dictatorship in america by anti- religious bigots. host: newt gingrich and columbia, south carolina and then he hopped on a point back to washington, d.c. and he is spending his home in mclean, virginia. he will appear on "meet the press" will be with us live at 9:40 eastern time and take your calls and comments write if you want to send us a question, you can do so at our e-mail address. we're also taking questions on our facebook page. the consensus 8 tweet as well. all the informational available at c-span.org.

next is jerry joining us from silver spring, texas, a supporter of newt gingrich. caller: good morning. walden.y hi, yes, -- newt gingrich should take on ron paul as vice president. host: here is another tweet -- we'll go to bobbie a supporter of mitt romney -- caller: good morning. host: what are your thoughts? caller: i don't like him. i am an 81-year-old korean

veteran and he turned the va over to the insurance companies when he was in there before. he shut down the government. his own people voted him out of that job. i would like to ask the good people of south carolina where are the christians at? how about all his marriages? there is a lot wrong with newt gingrich. i never did think i would see the time -- i would like to see somebody have to take a test to vote. host: we talked about this on thursday and chalk todd tweeted -- this is according to "the washington post" --

that all happened on one day. next is lynn joining us from new york, a supporter of mitt romney. caller: i am from nyack, new york on the hudson river. as a new yorker, we get banned as a state run by democrats. i'm not a true democrat but was i pretty good obama supporter. i listened to all the debates and i will, new hampshire, but i

have to say that i very slowly began to want to listen to mitt romney. i think he is a moderate. he can make the conservatives have been in south carolina because he is a mormon. i'm not a religious person but i respect joe mitt romney is. i have become willing to listen, willing to say that i don't like rhetoric that says obamacare. i don't like it when mitt romney -- i'm really shocked that the nation could be so full by this bombastic moment in a debate where he went on the offensive. that is his personal issue. i want to just listen to the facts. i could vote for mitt romney and i want to be able to allow the president of united states to have religious views or to

bombastic style. i think he should remain in the classroom. we have seen the divisive politics when he made that contract. it wrecked the country again. host: thank you for the call. we will be joined later in the program to talk about the christian right and evangelical vote and its impact in the general election and the primary. here is -- this is from our twitter page -- let's turn our attention to the state of the union address parity president is spending the weekend preparing for his remarks tuesday evening at 9:00 eastern time, 6:00 for those on the west coast. this is from "cq weekly" --

republicans are wrapping up their retreat over the weekend in baltimore and democrats are wrapping up the second half of this week and will have live coverage of the state of the union speech in the republican response by governor mitch daniels, republican of indiana. if we sit down with him last fall. he was featured on our "q &a" program. george from columbia, south carolina, a supporter of rick santorum. caller: that election last night goes to show you that south carolina is ranked number one in illiteracy. gingrich is a beast. you can tell he is an angry beasts. . host: we're having a hard time

hearing you. thanks very much for the call. newt gingrich will join us at 9:45 eastern time. it is your chance to ask him questions and you could do so in advance or you can call at that time. from "the washington post." two more debates scheduled in florida this week.

next is jeff supporting newt gingrich from alabama. good morning. caller: good morning. we are a small town here, a dry county. some people say here the bible belt. i tell you, newt -- as i have travelled around, no matter whether you are in the bible belt or california, it is about jobs and america being strong again. we do not want someone up there talking about how will not give my taxes, i will give my taxes. we want someone who will cut to the chase and get our country strong again, stop apologizing for being america. on one of the other networks, they referred to in new supporters as old, fat, white

guys. i guess i am one of those. and as a single dad, i raise my daughter by myself. those casting aspersions toward the bible belt, look at newt. at least he has lived a real life. he was a professor at west georgia and a lot of people have worked very hard. -- oftired of running romney, that elitism out there. and the establishment that we are looking at, they are out of touch with that. host: i will stop you there. and happy birthday. we appreciate the call. from one of our viewers, saying -- steve from kentucky saying south

carolina -- rick santorum coming in third last night. he bows to stay in the race in florida and beyond. [video clip] >> three states, three winners, what a great country. we went out and all across this country, in these three states now, but let me assure you we will go to florida and then we go to arizona and colorado. [applause] host: and headline from the "detroit free press." we're taking your calls and comments. a support of mitt romney, peter on the phone from ohio.

caller: good morning. i was actually supporting mitt romney when i thought it was a moderate. but he has gone too far right for me. host: a supporter of ron paul. caller: i do support ron paul. i have given third place. there seems some concerted effort to keep him out of the people's view. and my second choice would be nuking birds. -- newt gingrich. host: as he offends their race, the former house speaker is the talk of the town. this story focusing on the voters of south carolina and switching their allegiance from one candidate to another, and the exit polls last night. more than half, 53%, of those

who voted in the south carolina primary telling those at the exit polls that they made the decision of the last couple of days. so the debate was critical and the results in south carolina's night. from savannah, georgia, good morning, liane. caller: thank you for being an independent newscaster. i support newt gingrich. i have a couple of comments. romney is a capitalist but he condones capitalism, but he faults new for capitalism. and the remarks about his second wife come from a wife scorned. a lot of people do not know that, even my son did not know it until i filled him in last

night. i was born and raised in florida and i will make many cost of florida. i live in savannah, the home state of newt gingrich. i think he has the guts to stand up to obama, and that is the main thing. host: thank you for the call. let me go back to this analysis in the front page of the "new york times."

and from one of our viewers saying that the ron paul media bias argument is so 2007-2008. that comment from our twitter page. you can join the conversation at twitter. ron paul also spoke to supporters. [video clip] >>. you should have not only the right to your life and your own practices, but you should have a right to the money that you choose. [applause] and we did have the best experiment ever. we were were the richest country to ever. we had a large as middle-class ever. and now what is changing. it has been systematically changing over decades.

we have to reverse that, because right now the middle class is shrinking. the country is poor, and the prosperity we have is based on debt. we owe so much money overseas. we have now ironically and unfortunately that chinese becoming our banker? what is going on here? why don't reproduce the conditions and the environment to invite capital and investment back into this country? that is what we need. host: his speech in from the." chicago tribune" -- he overwhelmed mitt romney to slow his singing march to the republican nomination. a supporter of mitt romney is on the phone, welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you for my taking

my call. i watched the show every day with what is going on now and getting a lot of information. this goes back a few callers ago. saying that newt gingrich is in touch with their feelings in the country. really? really? 20 years gone by when he was the speaker, and what did he do there? then he will not defend his practice of marriage but he wants to talk about christianity and having values, moral values. what the heck is wrong with people in this country? really? really, america, please welcome. the best thing you can do for mr. obama is nominated mr. gingrich. host: thank you for that call. stephen hayes, on the new fire wall. they have the characters of mitt romney playing shuffleboard and florida. they have not been just relying

on the candidate. since mid them that -- since mid december, it has aggressively reached up to 400,000 floridians who have signed up to receive absentee ballots automatically. bob is on the phone from wisconsin, a supporter of ron paul. caller: two main reasons. one is that he is the strongest of republicans. he shows himself against obama in the polls. and they underestimate that. and he is worried about the overseas empire, the source of decline of all empires. and the military spending destroying our economy and our middle class. and the third point is that he

is not a racist. being against the drug war, against the death penalty, very pro-minority position spirit and that is probably why he finished fourth in this race in south carolina. host: thank you for the call. a caller from hawaii. caller: thank you for taking my call. my concern is that newt and his wife should be in the white house, with the other two candidates, mitt romney and rick santorum, if they have too many children. can you see all those children in the white house? more household personnel, and how can a father and mother keep the focus on our nation? host: because they have more children, they should not be in

the white house? caller: we do not need that. we need a couple focusing on themselves and the nation and making our nation work. host: teddy roosevelt probably had more children than any president serving in the white house. what would you say to that? we will go on to one the next, from new hope, pennsylvania. a supporter of mitt romney. caller: hello. how could the people of south carolina want this despicable couple to be our president and first lady? this is not american idol. this couple was caught -- host: ball stop you there. a supporter of rick santorum, good morning, christina. go ahead. caller: it amazes me that these candidates are out there

running months ago, a year ago, and now this was to come out about the divorce me for this reason and that reason. why did you not come out when they first announced that they were running? this is just ridiculous. this is a nation of people that we're supposed to be forgiving people. he has done things in the past and it does not mean that a person cannot change. give them the benefit of the doubt. people vote for who they wanted. if they voted for gingrich, then that is their decision. you should not criticize them for that. they go through the process and let the thing run. when obama was running, there was things about his past, people dug into that like they did with gingrich. let it go. host: thank you, kristin. here is a point from twitter.

you can join the conversation online at twitter and send us an e-mail. or join us on facebook. the cover story of the "national journal," romney the follower. the story by michael hirsch. that is online at their website. jay from florida, a supporter of ron paul. caller: thank you for the opportunity. my question is about -- maybe not even a question. ron paul is the only one that has been on the stage the old- time that has talked about auditing the federal reserve, as well as giving people their freedom in light of the new

ndaa. i am wondering why any of the other candidates have avoided this the whole time. why have the guys asking the questions that the debate not brought that up? that is an important topic. he is the only one that says that he was for auditing the fed and giving people their freedom by. host: thank you for the call. our allies college tony from north carolina, a supporter of newt gingrich, who will join as and two hours. good morning. caller: i love your show. i have been watching see spawn -- c-span a lot more sense is holding began. i just very quickly before i talked about what i wanted to talk about, i do not think that people in south carolina voted for new because he -- they are

listening to what he has to say. they like the idea that he is one of the few conservative man that are going after the liberal media. he has the ability to be able to let people know exactly what he feels about them. he is not politically correct about it. other people, like michelle malkin and others, they are under attack from the measure -- the liberal media because of their views, and yet they continue. they are unafraid. that is what we like about newt. what i wanted to say about him was that newt has the energy to be able to go into the white house and from day one he has a

plan. i know that he will implement that plan because he did so when he was an ally house. host: thank you for the call and for all of your calls, your e- mails, and your tweets. please keep them coming. linda feldman will join us and charles bierbauer from columbia, south carolina. we would get a perspective from south carolina and a week ahead, what we can expect in the republican primary and tuesday with the president apostate of the union address. later, ralph reed and we will take a look at crosslines and safety issues after the tragic crash. newt gingrich also coming up on the "washington journal." a look if some of the other topics in guest on the sunday morning programs. the south carolina results dominating the conversation. let's go to nancy.

host: rea errors of the talk shows begin at noon on c-span radio. topics include the results of a south carolina primary and president of politics in general. the legislative agenda of congress in this week's state of the union address. we begin with me to press. newt gingrich and the republican governor of new jersey, chris christie. at 1:00 p.m., here this week on the program. rick santorum. fox news sunday rears at 2:00 p.m., chris wallace talking with house reaps speaker john boehner and a strategist for the mitt romney campaign. stated the union with candy crowley welcoming two presidential candidates, rick santorum and newt gingrich. jim demint and as a democrat from south carolina, jim clyburn. finally at 4:00 p.m., case the nation from cbs.

gop presidential candidate newt gingrich and haley barbour of the mississippi. also, lindsey graham. those five talk shows begin at noon eastern. meet the press, this week, fox news sunday, stated the union, and face the nation from cbs. listen to them all on c-span radio. listen on your iphone order by barry. nationwide on xm satellite radio, or go online to our website. >> mr. speaker, the president of united states. [applause] >> tuesday night, a state of the union address. live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern, including the president's speech, republican response by indiana gov. mitch

daniels, and your phone calls. live on c-span and c-span radio, and on c-span2 watch the speech along with tweets from members of congress. then more reaction from congressmen and senators. go online to add your comments @ twitter and facebook. >> if you have a saudi prince who is part of the royal family of saudi arabia, effectively buying one of the largest news franchises in the world, if you have to look at his motives. >> diana west talks about culture, politics, and the spread of islam and the restaurant world. >> i think there's an argument to be made that fox should register as a foreign agent, given the role of the prince in its corporate structure. >> more with this former washington times editorial writer tonight at 8:00 on c- span's "q&a."

>> "washington journal" continues. host: our sunday roundtable to welcome in washington, linda feldman from the christian science monitor. and charles bierbauer from the university of south carolina, also formally with cnn. i want to begin with this headline from the 2 q atlanta journal-constitution." what happened in your state and when did it change? guest: it changed rapidly, a 20- point swing in the last week. mitt romney had a 10 point lead at the start of the weekend he is down now by 12 points. what happened is that there were two debates in which gingrich did extraordinarily well. very combative, but also very effective. and mr. romney did not do as nearly well. a lot of voters made up their mind in the last two to three days and that the debates were

significance. host: your former colleague getting attention with the first question in charleston and as a professor of mass communications today, your reaction to the question, the timing of the question, and the response by newt gingrich. guest: i teach a class on media and the politics and you can bet that we discussed it. it was a question that had to be asked. it was front and center. i thought that john king did the right thing by getting it out first thing and then being able to move on. and he knew going end, i think, that newt gingrich, given his style, given his aggressiveness, but probably take it on head on as he did. journalists have to be -- let new gingrich attacked the bridge attack the media and then get on.

guest: i agreed that he had to bring it up because it was an elephant in the room. i am not sure that he should have a lead with a question just because it is not sensitive to the future of the country. it is a question about newt gingrich. it might be better placed in the middle. by leading with that question and getting the audience riled up against the media and for newt gingrich who looked under attack, it set the stage for a strong performance for speaker gingrich. host: let me go back to another point we have been talking about that when they write the book on the 2012 race, one chapter could be devoted to january 19. so much happened on thursday, a day that people were trying to keep track of all that. you're a ground zero in terms of what was happening in south carolina. the day began with the announcement that rick santorum had won the iowa caucuses. the party out of the race. the question about mitt romney's taxes.

and the interview with marianne gingrich. guest: that is a full day of news. i am not sure that the south carolina voters cared as much about whether santorum won iowa by a handful of votes are whether he lost it. good for santorum. but probably not a deciding measure for voters here. certainly the debate was. certainly the absence of rick perry, even though he was only polling at 5%, that it -- that is a handful of votes that have a place to go. so the dynamic was most unusual, they have that many things happening at once, and then the question from speaker gingrich's second wife about his fidelity and the approach that according to her talking about asking for an open marriage, it was a big character question.

and yet it did not seem to hurt gingrich because he turned to his advantage by attacking the media. host: charles bierbauer joining us from columbia, south carolina. and linda feldman from the christian science monitor. this headline to set the stage. what can we expect over the next 10 days? guest: the debates have been central to this race. newt gingrich has not had organization and monday, but he has remediate the maximum a bandage. mitt romney was even talking about skipping some debate. now he has to take part and he will in the next two debates. foulard is the next primary on january 30 -- villard that is the next primary on january 31. -- florida is the next

primary. in florida, you have 16% of the republican electorate that was non-white from the primary in 2008. you also have less of and evangelical vote. romney goes in back on his heels, but he certainly has an excellent shot. another thing about florida, many media markets. at least eight to 10 depending on how you look at it. you need a lot of money to compete in that many media markets. romney is well positioned to do that. host: let me take that one step forward, because you are familiar with presidential politics. the more no. you are in florida, the more south you are as a voter. and more south you are, like miami dade county, the more no.

you are because of snowbirds. describe the advantage of the politics of florida and the republican electorate. guest: you have outlined it very nicely. i am not a southerner. i do not sound like one. but for florida, -- many in the south, florida is not the south. it as southern new york, some people would say. or western cuba because of a large immigrant population that comes from cuba and other hispanic cultures. the demographics are significantly different. ford also does not have an open primary. south carolina has an open primary and about 25% of the voters identify themselves as independents. that would seem to help gingrich, but some of the presumptions have gotten from now. among those independents,

gingrich did better than running in south carolina, but he did better than him in almost every demographic except the better educated and better paid. that will not be the same set of characteristics that folks will be representing in florida. host: we are dividing our phone lines are among those who support the top four candidates. join us on facebook or twitter. here's a look to the results from the south carolina primary. a 12-point difference between newt gingrich and mitt romney. rick santorum a 17% and ron paul a 13%. let me ask you about some of the analysis last night, because some were saying that newt gingrich is better when he is behind. as he becomes the front runner, he is not, but as he moves ahead, that he tends to lack discipline. how would you respond to that? guest: i think it is true.

people talk about the good newt and the bad newt. he can become combative and exactly what the tea party people and conservatives really want third they want someone who will take it to barack obama. and when he wins, sometimes something happens and you talk about the bad newt are merging. it becomes on discipline, and he himself said that he thinks a grandiose thoughts, a grandiose image of himself winning the nomination and the presidency. and then he makes mistakes. the likability factor comes in. i think all bets are off about how this goes forward. it is not saying that he cannot win the nomination, but his history is erratic. both as a politician and a leader. host: charles bierbauer joining us from columbia, south

carolina. linda feldman in our studios in washington. a supporter of newt gingrich joins us from boston. caller: the reason why i think newt gingrich has the only chance to beat president obama is that he is the true reagan conservative. he has always been supporting the republican party and the reagan -- up rockefeller republicans and the reagan conservatives. now we have this 99%-1% debate, it will not work for governor romney. on the other hand, in addition, the issue with the media, i think newt is right to take on the media. a lot of people agree there is bias in the media. president obama was not that it all that well with his transcripts, -- vetted all that

well with this transcripts, and the birther issue, and some issues with cocaine they were not covered very well. guest: the debate that has sprung up over the occupied wall street movement, it is true that it brings out the issue of mitt romney and his personal wealth and his tax returns. the fact that this has become central to the question about mitt romney, the way that he really failed in the last two debates was to look expensive and is -- as if he was hiding something, and he has not been clear about when and how many and it makes it look like he is hiding something. when we are having this very large public debate about the growing disparity between rich and poor, i think the extreme wealth of mitt romney is central to this. host: kwame to follow-up on this

point. when do you think mitt romney will have to release his taxes? guest: the center, the better. the more he delays, it looks more like he is hiding something. he may not be hiding anything at all, but there is the appearance factor, and his responses on the questions in the debate, maybe i will do this or that, very equivocal, very much in contrast to gingrich. when he was confronted with something that had been raising eyebrows, he was head on. that is the distinction that people will look for. who is the person who can perk -- best handle crises, whether personal or national? host: on friday and yesterday trade, we heard that he should release the information about how much you earned from fannie mae and freddie mac. is that a new line of argument from the romney campaign?

guest: it parts -- it starts to put them on a more even keel. if you have economics or tax questions, let's find out what both of these gentlemen have been their tax returns. host: let me let you put on your professor hat. it gives you a sense of what was playing out of a last 48 hours. mike allen of politico pointing out in his daily playbook -- and this is available at their website. we can put it upon the screen. newt gingrich is doing every other show this morning. your reaction. guest: that is demonstrative to be sure, but it also may be petulant. as linda was suggesting, and you

can make mistakes and appear to be that way. but that the media will necessarily attack, but those are things to point out. gingrich can be very tempestuous in his temperament. guest: absolutely. he likes to take on the media and be very competitive, taking it -- combative, taking it out on abc for that interview. but i cannot emphasize this enough. he did a great piece on politico about how he enjoys hanging out with the reporters embedded with his campaign. unlike mitt romney, who steers clear of the media and does not want to hang out, newt gingrich has done multiple dozens of christian science monitor practices, as a plug to the monitor here. he has been engaging and likable in many ways. if anything, the lesson of this

campaign is that you can use free media to maximum advantage and be a winner in the primary. host: from the washington examiner. our next caller support rick santorum from las vegas. welcome to the program. you are on the air. please go ahead. we will try one on time from las vegas. caller: my name is different. i support santorum because of his religious beliefs. yes, i am with you. host: linda feldman. guest: in the iowa caucus, evangelicals rallied around present form. you had the houston meeting of religious leaders around the country throwing their weight behind nick -- rick santorum.

in south carolina, the evangelicals went for newt gingrich. he is catholic. but he is preaching the religious conservative line on abortion and other issues. perhaps the key element in rick perry's exiting the race, not only consolidating the anti-rahm the vote in newt gingrich, but also when rick perry spoke, he spoke of the power of redemption. and i am not evangelical, but my understanding is the key to evangelical thought that we are all sinners then -- and if you repent and if you are seeking forgiveness from god, then you are good to go. so to speak. so this helped newt gingrich in south carolina. host: mark, a supporter of ron paul from boston. caller: thank you for c-span.

i am a supporter of ron paul, but i have to give it to new. he handled himself massively in this debate as far as is the ability to debate. he is by far the strongest debater. his ability to think off the cuff is by far the strongest of the four candidates. the issue that should have put him on the defensive, his moral character, walking away from wife no. 1 when she is dying of cancer, and the second one, where he wanted an open marriage, you know, these are things that evangelicals -- he was able to redirect that to something more hated, the control of corporate media. people distrust that and hated even more because they see the

bias, they see the bias against ron paul. they want to give him much less time than anyone else, they talk about petty issues and not any real issues. it is quite obvious that they are telling us who to vote for. host: linda feldman, your reaction. guest: the role the media is very fascinating. many try to predict what is happening and we're trying to look at what happened in the past and what will happen in the future. that is very risky. this cycle is like no other. we've had three different winners in the first three contests. in the past, the winner of the south carolina primary has gone on to win the nomination. but allen said that is not necessarily the case this time. i think it is easy to blame the media for picking winners and losers, but i think we see

clearly that the people are striking back and they are not necessarily looking at polls and say, we should vote for mitt romney. they may be looking at polls and say, we will show them very we will go out and vote for the other guy. host: one of the themes from our face the page, some are calling at the hypocrisy of newt gingrich going after bill clinton and his own indiscretions at that time. how does newt gingrich respond to something like that? guest: i did not know that he has responded to it. i'm trying to recall if anyone has strongly confronted him with that particular question. but, yes, during the impeachment period for bill clinton, apparently mr. gingrich was carrying on this affair. that is what people are focusing on when they talk about hypocrisy.

it has not been front and center and certainly was not here. and for as much as we talk about the moral issues, but south carolina voters were saying yesterday is that economic issues are still their primary concern. we are a state that has the fourth highest unemployment rate in the country. some people were getting away from some of these hot-button issues, abortion, and where you are on the religious spectrum. i think the fact that the so- called evangelical vote was splintered with two catholics to choose from, it did not have the individual problems that perry might have seen, at that evaporated. except for the fact that there is still skepticism about the mormon faith of mr. romney. i realize i have turned the question and a different direction, but the overriding

issues here based on the exit polling are still economic. host: we're getting the perspective of charles bierbauer, a longtime reporter here in washington. is now the dean of mass communications at the university of south carrot -- columbia, south carolina. and linda feldman of the christian science monitor. you can join us on our facebook page or send us eight weeks. bop -- next we're going to william, a supporter of rick santorum. caller: i am amazed that no one has brought, that while mitt romney was governor of massachusetts, they had the biggest overrun of the project, the tunnel, the big dig, and then when he went there with a hard hat on and declared that

tunnel say, and then a piece of it fell on and kill some man's wife in a car. why don't they have that man, on and say how he feels about romney? guest: that is an interesting argument. in the main, romney gets credit for a decent job of running massachusetts in terms of fiscal matters. in the big dig, obviously that was a cost overrun which was astronomical. i'm not sure that mitt romney is to blame for that. host: a focus on mitt romney's many homes and some of the past references to money. let me share with the daily news is writing and get your reaction. he famously tried to bed rick perry $10,000, a wager far out of reach for americans. he brushed off $375,000 in

speaking fees as not very much. he had reports that he had planned to quadruple the size of as california digs -- he recently sold his $3.5 million home outside of austin. guest: those are big numbers and they are in multiples that most people cannot relate to. when people talk about having a place at the beach of the mountains, they call it a shack. never quite sure what it is until you see it. this is part of the difficulties that many voters, whether here or across the country, will have to deal with. how to relate to mr. romney who

is clearly not the 1% but the 0.1%. but the challenge is greater for him than it is necessarily for the voters. the voters can choose whoever they like in that regard. the gap between gingrich and romney baby significant in and of itself. it is much more incumbent upon governor romney to show that he is in touch. guest: this is central to the problem that mitt romney is having, he is not a common man. he was born into wealth. he is very fortunate and he does not have a good narrative, part of the problem. barack obama have a narrative. john mccain have a narrative with his years as a pow. mitt romney was born into a wealthy family, and yes, he had to live on a limited income when he was off mormon missionary in france, but his impulses is to

think that large sums of money are not really that large. in the exit poll, people were asked their opinion on his years at bain capital, which has become a problem for him lately, and 67% found that it was a positive. it is not that he is a businessman being a problem, but the way he portrays it and the way he reacts to it. host: linda feldman with the christian science monitor and charles bierbauer at the university of south carolina. more from last night, mitt romney talking about issues he has brought up in the campaign and moving ahead of florida, how capitalism and free enterprise are key to his candidacy. [video clip] >> over the past few weeks we have seen a frontal side -- assault on free enterprise. we expected it from president obama. we did not anticipate republicans would join him. that is a mistake for our party

and our nation. ours is the party of free enterprise and free markets. [applause] the republican party does not demonize prosperity. we celebrate success in our party. [applause] that is one of the big differences between our party and our president. he leads the party of big government. he believes an ever expanding entitlements. he is wrong and we are right and this is a battle we cannot lose. [applause] those who picked up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow. host: the comments of mitt romney and the analysis of jeff zeleny of the "new york times."

according to him, mitt romney is scoring thousands of early votes in florida as that is under way in the sunshine state. guest: it is a long haul. we're only three states down, and there are 50 of us. and appropriately so. this should not be decided this early. florida is a different kind of test. it should be a good opportunity for a greater swath of voters to make decisions, to see how well romney rebounds from defeat here. he had come into south carolina almost anticipating he would be 3-0, and instead he is 1-2 with

the rig count in iowa and the loss here. we have seen candidates stumble along the way in the early going and still survive and go on to the nomination. it is not without precedent. it is almost more the norm than to have one candidate squeak through and win it all. host: and yet we heard this last night -- no republican since 1980 has gone on to win the nomination without winning south carolina. guest: that is a very small data said. since competitive contests. an interesting fact but it is not productive. host: john from indiana, thank you for waiting. caller: first i was going to vote for mitt romney. newt gingrich, i'm going to vote for him because president obama is going to eat him up because he is a racist.

guest: the politics of race came up in a big way in south carolina with the raising of the food stamp president quote. as we move in the states that are more diverse, it is an interesting question. i'll look in florida at the latino vote. there is a large cuban-american community and three of the most cuban-american -- the most important cuban-americans in florida politics have endorsed mitt romney. endorsements have not been that effective in this country nikki haley of south carolina endorsed him and that did not do a lot of good. the immigration issue is important with the latino community. jeb bush, the former governor of florida, said he will not endorse it in the florida primary. he has warned on the immigration issue. for newt gingrich, he is at

times played the issue effectively. he said he does not favor deporting illegal immigrants who have been in the country for a long time. that is a popular position among latino voters. in contrast, mitt romney has been against the dream act, the proposal to allow young illegal immigrants to stay in the country if they go to college to join the military. -- or join the military parade the debate in florida will be very different from south carolina. i am not making any predictions. host: linda feldman has covered the united nations and moscow for the science -- christian science monitor. charles bierbauer spent years at abc before going to cnn. let me ask you about all these

debates. one of the questions as we look ahead to 2016, and as a professor who teaches this, we heard speculation that mitt romney will not participate in the two debates. the campaigns are complaining that there are far too many. it makes it difficult campaign. guest: i am not sure that should make it difficult. it should help them get a rhythm. we have seen far more debates. we have a very competitive media environment which is part of it. the network i used to work for, cnn, and fox news and nbc, every one of the networks wants its share of the debates, a good promotional tool, no question about that. it also shows there reporters and anchors has been engaged in the process. ultimately it is free media for the candidates. it is an opportunity for them to hit national markets, to be seen

nationally, as well as in the states currently being contested. and one would expect that the candidates understood that going in. they did not think that there would be quite as many, but you have to think that if mitt romney is going to rebound from this, the debates are one of the best places to do that. host: linda feldman, he used to be called the invisible primary. we did not see this in 2012. guest: we have so many debates, which has been fantastic, and unfiltered way for voters to see these candidates in action and take a measure of them. but we also have the super pac's, and because of a supreme court decision allowing unlimited spending by outside groups, which in theory do not coordinate with a campaign, this allowed the money support to

pour into these outside groups that have been in support of various candidates. this has been huge for newt gingrich. we will be watching to see whether a casino magnate does going forward. he poured a lot of money into newt gingrich's super pac, which put out the ads attacking mitt romney and his record at bain capital. the model for how to run a primary will change going forward. host: scottsdale, ariz., good morning. caller: this is been very good. i want mitt romney and everyone talks about his wealth. but the kennedys were camelot with their well. -- with their wealth. newt gets $60,000 per ft.. -- per speech. the other thing -- he yelled at

fox yesterday because they asked him about freddie mac. he got mad. and the last thing, i have seven grandchildren, three of them are girls. i would like you to ask newt when he comes, he is such a historian, has there ever been a mistress and a white house? our moral values are better in the west and south carolina. they tell us how good in morrill they are. when i listen to this, i shake. to think this is what the republic -- the republican party has always had morals over the democrats, and you look at the white house with a husband loves his wife and his children, and we are looking at new with this supposedly third wife? you think we are -- there were only two other girlfriends? america, you look at these nights. i am sorry, i cannot believe the morals in south carolina.

and they're only two debates that he will debate the president for. come to the west where we have morals. host: thank you for the call. charles bierbauer, your response. guest: i am not sure about the morals of south carolina 0.3 that was not the question being raised here. -- the point about the morals of south carolina. there was not the question being raised here. newt gingrich makes no secret that at a list of callis -- callista is his third wife. this came up when ronald reagan ran for president because he had been divorced and remarried. he was the first president who had been divorced, who successfully had been elected. there are going to be moral questions throughout the

process. that is part of what we're doing in an electoral process, examining the people who stand up in front of us and say i am good enough to be your president. i think that we'll look at them as walter mondale said with morals. if i can add one thing to what was said about the super pac's, we saw an inundation of ads from the super pac's, almost across the spectrum here in south carolina. and it was the second front of this competition, in addition to the debates. the ferocious advertising that has been unleashed. coincidentally, perhaps, two of the supreme court justices were in colombia yesterday for a south carolina bar meeting. i had the opportunity to moderate a discussion with him. i raised the question of their

opinion in citizens united, which was the case two years ago that opened up the way for the super pac gas. it was a divided court opinion, 5-4, justice scalia with them but jardine, justice breyer with a minority. justice breyer said that money in speech and not necessarily acquitted. justice scalia said that when it comes to speech, the more, the better. very divisive when the court and it will be, i suspect, as americans look at this process going on from state to state, a lot of people shake their heads and think how did we get all of this vast spending and millions of dollars, some $12 million here in south carolina, that is not as accountable as it is from the candidates themselves? host: charles bierbauer also

covered the pentagon and the white house, two decades at cnn, before that abc and now is the dean of mass communication at the university of south carolina. linda feldman here in washington. let me follow-up on this from the kit you washington post." an opinion piece. the more likely you will create sympathy, especially if that individual has been forthright in his confession. guest: right, fascinating point for that thing about newt gingrich is that he does not pretend that he had a perfect life. this issue of committing adultery, carrying on with his third wife, the woman who became his third wife, when he was still married to his second

wife, he will write off of that say, yes, i failed as a person in the past. i do not think -- first of all, the economy is way more important in this election than issues in the personal past. but mitt romney is married to his one and only y, 42 years, five children, 16 grandchildren. as people look at who their next president will be, they look at the whole picture, the whole family, the life, and people like the obamas, even if they are not happy with him as a president. they liked the picture of his family separate from his performance as president. that will help mitt romney going forward. he will place more emphasis on character in the florida campaign. host: from twitter.

charles bierbauer, urinalysis. guest: it is early, and that is what we're dealing with. we have the voting capacity is so those who may have already voted in florida will not benefit or may not even care about how the debate unfolds on monday. and i believe thursday in florida. there is some risk to that. there is greater voting participation to be sure, but it also puts into question the last-minute shift in voter opinion that we saw here in south carolina. host: eric from morocco, north carolina. caller: i am a supporter of newt gingrich and i kept hearing talking heads on fox news saying

that if he wins the nomination, the republicans will vote for someone else to run the house and the senate. can you explain to me how that happens? if i was in a voting booth voting for republican president, i will vote for as many republicans for the house and senate as possible. guest: i am not sure i understand the question. you do not vote for the entire house and senate. you vote for your member and your senator and president. people looking ahead to the november election are looking to the potential for a republican sweep, a republican president, republicans in control of both houses of congress, and i guess -- host: limit follow-up on one point from the state of the union. a look at the state of the union address and the president.

he points out the barack obama emerge from the 2008 campaign as one of the great political orators of his generation. he mesmerized massive crowds and inspired them. his message of hope catapulted him to his historic victory. but that oratory has been absent as president with notable exceptions. he has been unable to deliver speeches that move the nations, and sometimes it has seemed as though he is not even trying. tost: it's an opportunity for the president to show exactly how effective he can be. it's it is certainly interesting juxtaposition leading up to the florida primary. monday night, all of us will get a chance to see all four of the republican candidates. tuesday night, we will get to see the president.

whether it is the rhetoric or the oratorio opportunity, or the substance, there will be a close comparison. the people in florida will have a chance to look to both of them in the span of 24 hours. what are the comparisons? which one of the it republican candidates seems presidential and may be a good sparring partner for president obama? the timing is good for obama to show what he's capable of doing. perhaps he can rise to the occasion and you can see if you want any of those republicans or do you want obama back for another term because this is what he's doing. he is being the president, not out there saying, "if i'm elected." a good opportunity for him.

host: linda feldman, what can we expect? guest: it will be his rebuttal to what the republicans have been staying -- saying about him from the stump. the economy was in far greater shape and we were in a practical free-fall economically. he will say it takes more than one term, perhaps more than one presidency to get out of this long term. on his oratory skills, obama is a fascinating case. he can turn the charisma on and off. when he really gets going and the general campaign really gets going, we will see the rhetoric coming back. whether it works for him again,

it remains to be seen, but he is a better or tore than any of the other republicans, to be sure. none of them have that ability to really move the crowds in the way that obama can. host: linda feldman and charles bierbauer, i appreciate you being with us and your thoughts this sunday morning. we will talk about cruise lines, how safe are they, and what is the aftermath after the coaster concordia? ralph reed will be next, the founder of the faith and freedom coalition. and later, your calls and questions for newt gingrich. "washington journal" will continue in a moment.

>> some would say we are reactionary. others would say we stand for socialism. there will be the inevitable rise that it is time for a chance for both. we will hear many of those things, but we will hear nothing that we have not heard before. >> with a backup 40 men who ran for the office and lost. it-- we look back at 14 men at c-span.org/thecontenders and had a lasting impact on politics. >> let them stand with the status quo while we seek to refresh of the american spirit. let the opposition collector $10 million in the secret money from the privileged few, and let us find 1 million ordinary

americans who will contribute $25 each, a 1 million member club of members who will not expect special favors for themselves, but a better land for us all. >> c-span.org/thecontenders. for more resources, use the c- span campaign 2012 web site to see videos of the candidates on the campaign trail come see what they have said on issues important to you, and read the latest from people like you on social media sites. c-span.org/campaign2012. "washington journal" continues. host: running as now is ralph reed, the founder of the fate and freedom coalition. thank you for being with us on c-span. let's talk about the results

from south carolina last night and what it means for newt gingrich, mitt romney, and this republican field. guest: it was a very impressive when. to carry 43 of the 46 counties when he was all but given up for dead one week or 10 days before that election is pretty impressive. i think if you look at the exit polls that we have, it is clear that while he won across the board, men, women, every income group except those over making $200,000 per year which voted for romney, every education subgroup except for those with post-graduate degrees. he won the catholic vote, tea party, independent. it was an across-the-board victory. if you know south carolina, and

i have worked there in ever cycle since the 1980's, what really drove this were the evangelicals, who were 65% of all voters, even higher than four years ago when mike huckabee was on the ballot and they voted for nuking rich by a 44% -- newt gingrich by a 44% margin. what's fascinating to me is that romney came in second. within the margin of error, he got 22% and rex santorum got 21%. the tea party has a huge overlap with the evangelicals and they voted for gingrich by about a similar margin. the tea party group, the fiscal

conservative tip of the spirit among the grass roots of the party, and the evangelicals, this was an overwhelming, across the board win. we have now for the first time, since the rise of the modern we have had970's, three different winners in the first three primaries. host: let me go back to some of the candidates in an event to organize in myrtle beach. you introduced rick perry and rick santorum. you called senator santorum, " the most effective legislature of this generation." why has not not been able to -- he had not been able to get more of the evangelical vote? guest: he got 33% of the

evangelical vote in iowa, and i cannot explain why he did not do better. he not only came in third among evangelicals but among roman catholics. not a big group of voters in that state compared to the northeast dermot atlantic, but still an important group. in the end, what happened, i guess we will have to go back and wait for the history books. i was in the audience in myrtle beach when gingrich had that exchange with ron williams. and in my career, i have never seen a reaction from the audience like a did at that debate. it was not only a spontaneous standing ovation, but they were standing on their chairs chanting his name. what people are looking for is a fighter. rick santorum want to be authentic to who he is. he said, "if you're looking for the guy with the best one-

liners, the best skilled debater, that's not meet." me."at's not i'm very proud of the job that santorum has done in this. host: you can join the conversation on our twitter page. on the phone, a supporter of mitt romney in ohio. conservative supporter of romney, and one of my good friends is a supporter of gingrich. i've been trying to get him to make the transition and he keeps telling me that when gingrich talks, my head is nodding up and down. his big bet on the other night was when gingrich took on the media. if i were romney, i would call for a press conference and i would discuss tax returns.

i would give the five years of tax returns, my passport, my college transcripts, my birth certificate and require the media to have anyone running for high office to do the same thing with the same documentation. thank you. host: ralph reed, your response? guest: the tax return issue i think caught the romney campaign a little flatfooted. they always intended to release them as past practice has dictated. if/when romney was the nominee. i think they got a little ruffled when the game rich people release their campaign. it will take them time to get ready for release.

whenever he is going to do, he ought to say it, be unapologetic. he should not be defensive. with the larger question of his personal wealth, he should say, "look. america is great because anybody can rise as by a -- as high and as far as you want. i will not apologize for becoming a person of wealth and means because that is what makes america great. i want to reserve that for everybody else." the best thing he could do it is to use this as a jujitsu move, take the course of the blow and push it back on him. when he was questioned about his

previous marriages and divorces by john mccain, he used that to hit back and the best defense in politics is a good offense. host: after winning the iowa caucuses, george bush lost in new hampshire to 19 points and then won the south carolina and that became his fire wall. is there a page that met romney can take to apply for florida? guest: i was part of that campaign, as you know. we lost new hampshire very big. south carolina became the tiebreaker. i think this time, you have had three different winners in the first three primaries. interestingly enough, and memory tends to be short on this, but this nomination did not wrap up

four years ago after south carolina. even though mccain had won at new hampshire and south carolina, guiliani was very strong in florida. florida became decisive. that could very well happen again. florida could play the kind of role for romney that south carolina played for bush in 2000. it to play the kind of role for him that it did for mccain. florida was too close to call four years ago until on the friday before that tuesday, charlie crist was overwhelmingly popular not only among all floridians voters but all republicans and he endorsed john mccain and catapulted into a critical victory. if romney were to win, he would be very hard to stop. at romney were to lose florida, all bets are off.

host: a gingrich supporter on the phone. good morning. caller: it's interesting the discussions that are going on about gingrich's marital problems, oratory styles, and so forth when people should be painted the substance of what these people are saying they're going to do. the thing that is compelling about gingrich's message is that he has specific actions he plans to put in place to start decreasing the size of the federal government and putting power back to the states which is what a lot of people think needs to be happening and that the problem with the obama is used doing exactly the opposite. his administration has been one on abetted huge spending bill passed, a power grab for the presidency, and passing laws to

try and force immigration laws that they're not doing anything to enforce. how a particular candidate is able to give up and -- get up and give a tory speech means nothing, and in my opinion. gingrich's plan is the one that will bring us back to a viable state and not continue us down the destructive path that obama has clearly set us on. in my opinion, the rise of the tea party has been a direct reaction to his outrageous auctions. host: thank you for the call, mary. ralph reed? messageewt gingrich's has been a threefold.

number one, look at what he accomplished as speaker, the deepest and broadest tax cuts and the only four balanced budgets since 1969 under his tenure as speaker. everyone knows that did not happen because of bill clinton but it happened after multiple clinton vetoes. the most sweeping reform of entitlements since the great depression with welfare reform moving to million people from welfare to work and from dependency to independent. that's his message, he's done it before. the second message that the caller was on to is his very forward-looking reform agenda if he became president. i was at the march 2011 forum for the faith and freedom coalition which kicked off the iowa caucus campaign. it was one of the largest

evangelical maggot churches in west -- megachurches in west des moines. he said as soon as he took the oath of office, he would walk into an anteroom and these executive orders that he would sign. he started ticking through them. restore the mexico city policy that prevents the use of tax dollars to promote abortion overseas. an executive order moving the u.s. embassy in israel from tel aviv to jerusalem. that is the capital and that is where our embassy should be. thirdly, revealing and revoking every part of obamacare that he could. he went through like seven executive orders that he would do on the first day. when i mentioned earlier, it was

demonstrated through his debate performance, but he's not afraid to take on the media, take on obama. that very much captures where the grass roots are. the challenge for romney is to try and channel that kind of intensity being felt that the grass roots, but to do it in a way that is authentic to who he is. i do not think you can go out there and just rip off somebody else's lines, but he needs to tap into that more than he has. host: 1 question of the facebook, in light of citizens united, how you deal with the amount of spending in 2012? guest: this is the first presidential cycle that we're going through dealing with the new reality of the citizens united decision and the emergence of the so-called super

pac. the law stipulates that they cannot be in coordination with the candidates but can give unlimited amounts of bonds in order to find advocacy independent of the actual campaign on that candid its behalf. we saw northward of $3.50 million spent by the romney super pac, most of it attacking gingrich, and it was very effective. chose not tongrich spok respond. i think that was a big mistake and it caused him to come in a distant are the field in iowa. c was up inh super pa south carolina, and i predict we will see it continue.

what is interesting to see that, as often is the case, you can reach a point of mutual assured destruction. if they have to dollars or $3 million in florida and the gingrich pac users a same amou nt, they cancel themselves out. i do not think any reading of the florida early voting result would say that this would really be a decisive factor. host: ralph reed is a familiar face to our c-span viewers. he was the chair of the georgia republican party. he is the founder and chairman of the faith and freedom coalition. we have covered many of your events over the years and it's available on our website at c- span.org. all of twitter, a lot of reaction.

reaction? guest: i do not agree. republicans have the type of year that they are capable of, and certainly nine or 10 months is a long time in american politics, but if they told the house and gain control of the senate, and a mathematical odds of that are pretty good today, and they are able to elect a president, i think it's that only likely but almost certain that no matter who the republican nominee is, maybe not on the first day, but in very short order, they will restore the mexico city policy and romney has said he will grant an immediate waiver to every state in the country to the provisions of obamacare. i have said, as i have moved

around the country not only update and freedom of dense but others, but if there is a republican house and republican senator, which is a very strong likelihood, that before the new president is ever sworn in, the congress comes in on jan. fit than the president is not sworn in until january 20th. they could pass legislation but in the first several days repealing obamacare because the house has already done so. the house has already repealed it. they will only need 51 votes to do it because the democrats, in order to pass it, because they did not have the 60 votes as a result of scott brown winning massachusetts, they had to pass it under reconciliation budget rules. it passed with less than 60

votes summit can be repealed with less than 60 votes. it's possible that the new president could walk off the platform of the inaugural parade, go into the white house, on and signed a bill repealing before they go to the inaugural ball that night. host: from "the weekly standard ." he says gingrich will stay in the race matter what. guest: the rules make it more possible. for the first time, the republican party has adopted the proportional delegates, so this was an attempt, a largely failed attempt, by the way, to try and encourage states outside the traditional early voting states

of iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina, to put their primaries back later. it did not really work. florida, as you know, is being denied half of its delegates as a result of having theirs when they will. anybody who goes in february or march will be awarding their delegates proportionally. it is mathematically impossible to have someone get to the required number of delegates, something along the order of 1441, or in that range, prior to april. having said that, jimmy carter's press secretary once said something that i think remains true today. he said he did not be presidential candidates. you bankrupting them.

a candidate, whether it is romney, gingrich, santorum, if they fail to win anywhere in florida, michigan, nevada, colorado, if someone could win all four of them, the other candidates even though they have technically stayed on the balance, if you are not winning, you run out of oxygen in this business. ego from a nice private jet to driving around in a minivan. you may be on the ballot, but you will not be viable. they will have to win somewhere. that was the case for ragan in 1976 when you is challenging gerald ford. if he had not won the north carolina primary, he would have run out of gas. host: john from kansas, and ron paul supporter. caller: i have a question and comment. i have been hearing that ron

paul is having the iowa delegates taken away and they're being split between romney and santorum. i was just wondering if that was true and how they could justify it. host: there not selected until june or july in iowa, correct? guest: the actual delegates are selected as you move through the caucus process. who the process -- who the delegates are will be determined later, but by law they will be in awarded proportionally as to who won in the caucus. i had not heard that about ron paul being denied delegates. host: i want to this next sound bite into perspective because it came part of the story went abc interviewed marianne gingrich. when newt gingrich telephone

looking for a was divorce, around may 1999, when he delivered a speech on faith, religion, and values to a republican crowd. i want to get your reaction in a story that will likely to mount in the days ahead. [video clip] >> we have had an experiment in a secular assault on the core values of this country. we should not be surprised that eventually they will appeal the back for it because they are bad seeds. they make no sense as a society. for 35 years, god has been driven out of the classroom and we have seen the result in a secular atheistic system in which god is not allowed.

host: newt gingrich talking about values and religion at the same time he was asking his wife for a divorce. can you put that in perspective in your reaction? guest: i do not think my reaction is much different than what newt gingrich's has been. he and knowledge and he made terrible mistakes in his life and at the end of his marriages have been the biggest mistake of his life. it is one that he regretted, what he needed to go to god for forgiveness. as rick perry's in the of the day when he was endorsing him, he is not perfect, but none of us are. subsequent to that time in his life, and he has obviously converted to catholicism. i am not his pastor, priest, or rabbi, but we have been friends for over 30 years and i've seen

a real change in his life. i've seen a remarkable development of a christian character. i think the message of yesterday in south carolina, and message that is more than political, i think it is a spiritual message. it is one of redemption, one of forgiveness, one of second chances. ironically enough, 73% of all the boats that gingrich received yesterday came from born-again evangelicals. contrary to the stereotype of this constituency, they do not judge others. they recognize that everyone, as the bible says, falls short of a glorious god. we all need a savior that will forgive us and have mercy on us. this is not new in american politics, by the way. .

caller: i would like to make a comment on the caller's credentials for the presidency. i think he was from rockford, illinois. i would say here, here to that. then, the other thing is i'm sure you will enjoy the comments that were made last night on fox news by brett bare

and megan kelly in regard to santorum should be dropping out. this is steering the american public through the news media. what's your comment on that? host: i'm not sure if you were watching fox last night. hopefully you were watching c-span. but your reaction to what he heard. guest: i was going back and forth between the two. host: safe answer. guest: look, i would not be critical of somebody else who calls on somebody to get out of a race. it's a free country. i guess anybody can say anything they want in a campaign. but i have never been in the business of telling people that they ought to get out. i've spent my entire adult life certainly since i became a very committed christian in the early 1980s but even before that encouraging men and women

of strong moral character, of faith and conservative beliefs to run. and i'm glad rick santorum ran. he's been a friend of mine for over 20 years. i urged him to get into this race. i urged newt to run. i urged a lot of people who didn't run to run. i urged mike huckabee to run. i thought sara palin ought to give it a shot. so i'm in the business of trying to get people to run. i think we're better off if we have more quality men and women of strong faith in god, conservative convictions, core beliefs, and experience in the ability to lead to run. and i think the more of those people who do, the better off we are. so i guess other people can do that. but i would never get up and tell somebody to get out of a race. i think that's between them and their spouse and family. and their -- you know, their campaign team. >> zphroo let any go to another issue of religions and another number of comments on our

twitter page. your response. guest: i think it's out there. but i think it's kind of like what we've been talking about, a very different issue of course with newt gingrich's personal past. i think there are some women voters who are not going to vote for newt gingrich either in a primary or general election because of that past. there's nothing that he or the party can do about that. you can't go back and change what happened. and romney is a member of the church of latter day saints. that's not going to change. and there are some voters who will not vote for him because of that. everybody knows that. just as there were some voters who wouldn't vote for john f. kend by because he was a roman catholic. john f. kennedy was elected regardless. and i think if romney is the

nominee i think he can win regardless. and i think it was a cnn poll, it might have been a ppp poll. they asked voters in south carolina again 65% of whom were evangelical born again christians whether or not romney's mormmon faith was an issue for them. and 83% said it was not a factor at all. i think this election is going to be determined based on the economy, jobs, and the abysmal and failed record of this president and his administration to create jobs and get this economy moving again. i think there will be a lot of other issues, national security, particularly with a run on the threshhold of having a nuclear weapon. the moral issues with play in. there will be a lot of issues. but i think overall it is going to be a referendum on the failed policies of this administration to create jobs and generate economic growth and opportunity.

and i think if romney is the nominee he is very well positioned between his record in massachusetts, cutting taxes, and creating jobs. and his record in the private sector creating jobs to be a strong advocate for conservatives on those issues. and i do not believe that the issue of his faith is going to be either a disqual fir or a major factor in the campaign. host: the running meat will be determined based on who is on the top of the tibet. but as you look at this race, whoever it is, who do you think would be on your list for running mates? who would be acceptable to the evangelical vote? guest: well, i think there's really an embarrassment of riches. at the top of everybody's list, if you were drafting, if you were an n.f.l. general manager and you were the political equivalent of that and look forg a number one draft pick, at the top of everybody's list is senator marco rubio in

florida. i'm a big fan and friend of his. he's somebody who would resonate among conservatives, among tea party voters, among social conservative voters and evangelicals, among catholics and among hispanics. that's a lot of appeal. but there are many others. governor bob mcdonald of virginia who is also a great friend and i think one of the most effective and successful governors in my lifetime in virginia. chris christie of new jersey. sue sana martinez in nume. either john or rob in ohio. i think the list is going to be pretty long. so we'll just have to see what happens. i know it's going to be a big par legislator game, steve, but i'll just say this. i can't speak for the democratic side of the aisle though this may be true there, too. there's never been a time in my career where there haven't been surprised and i've been shocked. this is a very personal

decision. remember that you're choosing somebody who is going to be a full partner in governance. the vice presidency, which used to be in the words of john garner who said it wasn't worth a warm bucket of spit, as a result of first mon dale and then later quail, gore, and especially cheney, this is a full partner in governance. this is a very important office. you're one heartbeat from the presidency and you're choosing somebody if you're the nominee if you want to be at your side fully engaged in governing the country for hopefully eight years. so it's a very personal decision and it's not a game. it's really hard to figure out as an outside observer sometimes. >> and some his attorneys just said you just cleaned up his quote about the vice presidency. but we'll leave it there. >> well, it is a family show. >> we'll go to mike joining us from north carolina, support of newt gingrich with ralph reed.

good morning. caller: always, as is the case when i call this program, i have so many thoughts in my mind, i can't articulate them. i would like to say that as far as everybody criticizing gingrich about his past, we need to look back -- and this is not going to be a sermon because i'm not qualified to do that. but as we look back at the bible and see what jesus said to the woman who was caught in the act of adultry and the one she was living with was not her husband, whatever, he proclaimed who is without sin cast the first stone. what i want to say is the fact of the matter is we need somebody that will take the fight to obama, that's not an establishment, pre-picked candidate that i feel romney is. we need somebody that will get down in the dirt and get dirty. and i don't mean physically. i think this president as i've stated before long ago is a

diabolical agenda. i don't think he has meark in his heart of heart. i don't think he's american based. he loves america like he should or could. we need a true american and not a european to discussed president. host: i'll stop you there. thanks for the call from north carolina. guest: well, i think that call rear really captures what i was talking about earlier when i talked about the reaction that newt gingrich got in myrtle beach on monday night. when he had the exchange with williams about obama being the food stamp president and he wanted to be the jobs president. and juan's point of his question, which i thought was a legitimate point, was -- it was a perfectly legitimate question to ask, is do you think by saying somebody's the food stamp president, do you not feel that's racially insensitive? now, what newt didn't say and what he could have said is a

majority of food stamp recipients in the country are white. and so the answer is no. it is in no way a racially insensitive comment. it is a comment -- this was said about conservatives during the welfare debate. imple when we were trying to reform welfare and we were going to take people into the street and take food out of the mouth of infants and we were racists and we wanted people to lose digget and self-worth. i think what newt does is he not only pushes back but he lays out a very strong case that what made america great was not having more than half of all the households in america seaving a monthly check from the government. what made america great was faith in god, the centrality of family, hard work, risk-taking, entrepreneurship, self-reliance. this is what made america great. and we've got to rediscover that ideal. so the caller is expressing

that. and i don't know who the nominee is going to be. this is going to be -- this is the most spirited, the most wide open disaggregated fluid process that i've seen in my career. and i don't know who the nominee is going to be, but i'll tell you this. whoever it is, they're going to be a better candidate against barack obama for having gone through the rough and tumble. host: we have about a minute left. can you imagine a scenario in which this could go all the way to tampa and the republican convention? guest: i would say going back to my earlier answer, i think florida is going to determine that. i think if romney were to win florida, he's going to be very hard to stop. he's going to michigan. that's home cooking for him. nevada where he's very strong. and colorado where he was strong four years ago and remains strong. so if rick or newt gingrich wants to stop him, and wants this to go all the way to tampa, florida in a way is sort

of a new south carolina. host: the founder and chair of the faith and freedom coalition joining us from atlanta on this sunday morning. thanks for your time. guest: thank you. host: it is sunday morning, january 22, and we're going to continue the conversation. focus our attention coming up in a few minutes on the regulations facing the cruise line industry in light of what happened. and later, in about 35 minutes, your chance to phone in with your comments or e-mails or tweets to republican presidential candidate newt gingrich will be with us live from mcclain, virginia. south carolina politics dominating politics. all which can be heard on c-span radio. >> tv talk shows begin at noon eastern time here on c-span radio, topics today include the south carolina primary, the legislative agenda in congress, and this week's state of the union address. we begin at noon with nbc's

meet the press. david gregory welcomes newt gingrich and the republican governor of new jersey. at 1:00, h hear abc's this week guest today include republican candidate rick santorum. hear fox news sunday. chris talks with house speaker john boehner and stewart stevens, campaign strategist for the mitt romney campaign. at 3:00, state of the union and host candy croleie welcome two candidates. also, south carolina republican senator jim demint and south carolina democratic congressman james clay born. finally at 4:00 hear face the nation from cbs. bob talks with g.o.p. candidate newt gingrich, former governor hally bar bor. and south carolina republican lindsey graham. again, reairs of the five network tv talk shows begin at noon eastern time with nbc's meet the press, 1:00 abc's this

week, at 2:00 fox news sunday, 3:00, crn nn state of the union. and 4:00, face the nation from cbs. list ton them all on c-span radio on 90.1 fm in the washington, d.c. area. list on your i phone or blackberry or nationwide. channel 119. or go on line to c-span radio.org. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. >> tuesday night, president obama delivers his state of the union address. live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern including the president's speech, republican response by indiana governor, and your phone calls. live on c-span and c-span radio. on c-span 2, watch the president's speech along with treats from members of congress. and after the address, more reaction from house members and senators. throughout the night, go on line for live video. and to add your comments using facebook and twitter.

at c-span.org. host: we want to focus on the safety and regulations of the cruise line industry. bud dar the director of the environmental and health programs for the cruise lines international association here in washington. let me ask you about the public policy aspect as congress takes a look at the cruise line line ind. what regulations does congress have authority over? and what questions do you think will be asked? guest: well, if you're speaking about the events from last week, first, i just really want to say how deeply saddened we sincerely are and i am personally for the events of last week and our heartfelt condolences go out to the survivors and families, or those who lost their lives or may still be missing. there's a very robust system of regulation already in place and it has multiple layers. both in international

regulation and in national regulation. here in the united states, the u.s. coast guard has the principle responsibility for enforcing those regulations. but they're one of about 20 federal agencies alone that regulate this industry. and when you layer on top of that that there are additional state regulations as well, if you take the united states as an example, it is in fact a very heavily regulated industry. host: we're going to get to your calls and comments. and if you've traveled on a cruise, we want to hear from you. we're dividing our phone lines based on democrats, republicans, and independents. we have obviously the video and the scenes off the coast of italy. and from your advantage point, how could this have happened? guest: well, again, it's a tragic event and it's one that's caused the entire industry to certainly pay a lot of attention to what those causal factors are. but the one thing i really need to stress is it's important not to prematurely rush to judgment

until the facts are developed. the responsible authorities are investigating on several levels what the factors were. it's a little complicated because there is a criminal investigation. so where as if there weren't, you might have more ready accessibility to detailed information such as elect district equipment or charts. the prosecutors have possession of that so the facts are a little slow to come out in detail but certainly once those facts are known more thoroughly this industry will respond together with governments to ensure that operational safety is improved yet again and again which has been the history of this industry. host: can you explain the flag that the ship flies on and the jurisdiction that governments have over those vessels? guest: sure. there are multiple layers of safety nets that regulate shipping and cruise shipping in particular, which is why you've invited me here today. and the flag that the ship is

registered under has the principle responsibility for enforcement of the international and domestic laws for the ship. in this case, that would be italy with the ship. but it's important to note that it's not exclusively the flag that has jurisdiction just because they have the principal responsibility. port states such as the united states in the case of the north american market, or canada, or european countries where ships call on those ports can also exercise jurisdiction to enforce either the same international regulations and conduct oversight over the primary enforcers, or in some cases they may enforce their own national laws, which is the case to some degree here in the united states. host: congressman mica asking a lot of questions about what happened and why. and i mention that because bloomberg in its reporting said that there were gaps in terms of the safety measures that the ship needed to have that may

not have followed through. guest: i'm not sure we have enough specific facts to address that exactly. but i can tell you that generally there are multiple things in play here. but it does appear that most of the reporting in the media and the statements by the owner is focused on operational safety factors rather than design factors. so it does seem that the principle focus of the lessons learned, the bulk of it may lie where we can do the most benefit, most quickly, to continue to enhance the safety of our ships will be in those operational areas. those operational areas are typically controlled via a ship's safety management system which is required under an international convention. and that lays out detailed procedures and provides guide post for the crew including the master to follow, both in routine and emergency operations. and that's certainly one of the areas that not only the

operator of this ship but the entire industry will be having a look at, together with governments, as we see what we might learn from this particular incident going forward. host: when you talk about those layers, explain, there are obviously maritime rules, the captain staying on the ship is a long tradition for any vessel in the navy or anywhere around the world. and then there are international regulations. how do they vary country by country and what impact do you think they could have moving forward? guest: well, the fundamental conventions that govern shipboard safety is a maritime organization treaty called the international convention for the safety of life at sea. we typically refer to that as solace. that convention, that is a technical body of the united nations of which there are 170 member states. and they drive regulation both prementively and responsively over time they've got a great history of doing it.

the original convention was actually a result of an early marine casualty and over time they've shown they could be very responsive. we participate in that process. the cruise lines international association, on behalf of the cruise industry, to provide technical input. that's not exclusively the regulatory regime because there are regional and national regulations including those of flags and port states which layer on top of that. host: our topic safety and the regulations involving the cruise ship industry here in the u.s. and around the world. barbara on the phone from arizona. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to ask a question. how often are there incidents on cruise ships? and i want to know why different cruise lines don't tell you when there are incidents on cruise lines. i'm a platinum member with royal caribbean that had two incidents on these ships one where there was an explosion on

the ship a week prior to me getting on the ship. and 9/11, my family and i were on a cruise ship and hit a tropical storm. it was called tropical storm evil. but people never ever hear anything unless there's something major like this. i happened to find out that the cruise ship that i was going to go on had an explosion a week ahead of time just because someone had taken a cruise on that ship and told me, you may not want to go on this ship because there was an explosion. and several people, including the physician was killed on this ship. so why don't we hear about it more often than we do? host: thank you. appreciate the call from arizona. guest: thank you. and i think that the fundamental answer to your question is you don't hear about it more often because it's extraordinarily rare that there are major qualities involving modern cruise ships. they do occur. but to give you an example, gp wild which does detailed

analysis of a variety of industries but especially focuses on the cruise industry, they found that from 2005 through 2010 there were 100 million passengers carried on cruise ships worldwide. and out of those 100 million carried, although no fatality is acceptable in our business, it's simply not, the truth is there were 16 recorded fatalities attributable to marine casualties. that's a pretty good safety record that we're proud of and we're looking to continually improve. obviously this incident has a significant impact on that safety record. but just as we have in the past we will continue to enhance the safety of our passengers and crew because nothing is of a higher priority to our industry. it is absolutely fundamental to what we do. host: we said it was a multibillion industry. for the u.s. based companies, carnival and princess, how many people are employed by the industry and in terms of annual

revenue what are we looking at? guest: rather than to speak to annual revenue, i'll give you a snapshot. there's approximately 350,000 people that are employed because of the cruise industry in north america. and there's a approximately $300 million -- i'm sorry, $35 billion in economic benefit because of that. on any given day we carry approximately 300,000 passengers on the members of the cruise lines international association. so about 350,000 people employed, $35 billion a year in economic impact, and 300,000 passengers per day carried. >> host: my daughter bud dar with the cruise lines international. caller: good morning. and thank you for taking my call. the question i have is most

ships and the merchant marines, at least united states in delaware, it's my understanding that there's only one ship registered in the united states and the cruise line industry. and that's to keep wages down so that they don't have to meet minimum wage standards, safety standards, and other things. and allow a ton of foreign workers, probably poorly paid, ill trained, to go ahead and staff these ships. and is there going to be anything done to improve the standards of safety training, education, that the typical coast guard american ship would be subject to? host: thanks for call. guest: thank you for your question. i am a graduate of the merchant marine academy so certainly your comments resonate with me. however, i have to say that the fact that there is currently

one deep draft u.s. flag cruise ship i don't think is necessarily directly related to the points that you raised. but it's a far more complex scenario than that. but to go specifically to training and certification and oversight, the standards that are applied, whether it's a u.s. flag cruise ship or a foreign flag cruise ship are actually quite similar and they're principally driven by the convention developed through the organization. and the earn forcement of those standards quite honestly in the united states market, the u.s. coast guard conducts extensive oversight irrespective of the flag. so i don't think that's particularly relevant factor here because the standards are essentially the same and the u.s. corte guard is equally involved. with regard to training and certification of ship board personnel, certainly that's something that will be getting a lot of attention as we move forward here and look for some lessons to be learned out of this particular incident and maybe just existing practices. but that's true whether it's

the u.s. flag fleet or other fleets. those standards are typically governed under the i.m.o.'s organization's convention on standards of training and certification of watch keepers. it's an sprags standard that's also applied by the united states. certainly these thingless get a hard look. but it doesn't mean that the standards or the enforcement of those standards is necessarily to any lesser degree on a vessel that's not u.s. flagged. host: our next call teddy joining us from los angeles. safety and regulation issues. go ahead. caller: yeah. my name is teddy. i would like to say hi and congratulations. i love this show. sir, you said you were from -- you graduated from a merchant marine academy. i would like to know which one. and i am a merchant marine. a lot of the regulations that go on when u.s. companies

foreign flag the ships out are not the same as when you regulate them with a u.s. flag. i'm a seaman. i know. so a lot of that stuff you said is a lot of bologne. host: thanks for the call. we'll get a response. guest: thank you for your question. i went to the federal merchant marine academy in new york. and i also have a lot of inspection experience on both u.s. and foreign flagged ships. both in new york and overseas. and i can tell you that it's not necessarily dependent on flag what condition you find a particular ship in. and irrespective of who the regulators are, in the cruise industry this is absolutely essential to the guest experience. the guests must feel safe. this is very important. so with or without the regulatory authorities, this industry would continue what they've done in the past, which

is to over time enhance safety standards to ensure that they're keeping pace with the development of more and more complex and interesting ships. host: missouris from florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm an xo operational officer on board with the cruise lines in miami. and my question is, when a cruise ships comes into the port at the station on arrival, the local port authority pilot nave gates the ship through the channel until it docks. but when it is leaving the port, there's lots of celebration and it's just a matter of the ship, who is navigating the ship back through the channel into the international waters. my question is, why cannot it

be done in international level all around the world because the cruise industry is going into a mega operations making mega money but on the saving of time when the parties are going on, it's just a matter of there's officers and crew on the bridge who are sailing out of the port and they are just doing it themselves and the local port authorities have got nothing to do until they get into the international channel. host: thanks for the call and sharing your own personal experience. based on that, again, it goes back to your earlier point, various layers of regulation authority and jurisdiction. guest: i appreciate that question. and if i understand it correctly, you're suggesting that there's a pilot on board who advise it is ship's crew on the way into port but your experience has been that on the way out of port that's not the case. i have to say that's not my understanding of the pilotage

rules in the united states. one thing to keep in mind is pilots are just that, they are advisers for the shipboard crew. and with very few exceptions around the world, the master or the captain of the ship continues to maintain responsibility for the operation and navigation and safe pilottage of the ship but he may be under the advice of a local pilot. if in fact what you say is true, sir, and that pilots are not utilized on the way out in your experience, well, that's something that's certainly could be considered by regulators. host: what do passengers need to know and when do they need to know it when they get on board these vessels? guest: we really asked ourselves a lot of questions about existing practices on that as well. and in the last week. but not just in the last week. over some time. and there's a framework of basic regulation. but then i would like to make a comment about things beyond that. and the essential parts of that is that a passenger, when they come on board, immediately

before or immediately after sailing has to be provided with instructions. and that can be done via public address, it can be done via a lecture but it has to be done personally and in a language that they're likely to understand. there's a separate requirement that within 24 hours after embarking that a passenger must have the opportunity to participate in a muster or a muster drill, which would be not just for evacuation purposes. but if you had a shipboard emergency where you needed to get all the passengers in one place and then make decision that is might ultimately lead to an evacuation, that's what the muster is for and to make sure that the passengers are all aware of what they're supposed to do, what they're supposed to bring, and where they're supposed to go. those are the regulatory requirements. in practice, a lot of times that information briefing which is required immediately before or after sailing, is combined

with the muster. and those that have cruised in north america can attest that's norm little the case and it normally occurs prior to sailing. but that's a little beyond the regulatory requirement. but one thing itch to emphasize, what is do passengers need to know. and one thing the passengers need to know is the opportunity to really soak in that very short amount of very important information comes and goes rather quickly. and we would urge all of our guests to please participate in those sorts of training experience, whether it's an informational briefing or the muster itself and pay very close attention during that short period of time. we're not asking for their attention for too long. but that relation in an emergency situation could be really scritcal and it's important that the passengers do their part as well to make sure that they're listening and asking questions as they might come up. >> host: our conversation with bud darr. our last call is coming to us

from st. louis. matthew is on the phone. good morning. caller: hello, c-span. i've enjoyed listening to bud darr. my question for you is, is there a way -- how would a person go about joining the merchant marines or getting involved with that kind of thing where, cruise ships safety. thank you. guest: thanks for your question. as someone who has dedicated most of their professional life to the sea, i'm demrad to hear you express the same sort of enthusiasm. i think there's no more honorable profession than being a sea-going shipboard person. there are a variety of ways to do that. with the cruise industry, they all advertise publicly both through agents and also through their own lines and you could seek employment through there. both for short side and ship

positions. . . hour, our live news program. he will be joining us from columbia south carolina giving us a democratic perspective of the results in south carolina. former house speaker, newt

gingrich, who won the south carolina primary. what is next in florida in the gop race? if all that ahead on "washington journal" this sunday morning. mr. speaker, the president of the united states. [applause] tuesday night, president obama delivers his state of the union address. live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. including republicans response and your phone calls. live on c-span and c-span radio. on c-span2, watch the president's speech. after the address, more reaction from house members and senators. throughout the night, go online for live video. add your comments using facebook and printer. -- and twitter. >> if you have a saudi prince who is part of the royal family

of the saudi arabia who bought one the biggest franchises in the world, you have to look at, what are his motives? in a west writes about culture in the world. -- diana west writes about culture in the world. more with the former writer and a syndicated columnist, tonight q&a.:00 on c-span's host: winning with about 40% of the vote. also the headline this morning from "the new york times" and up said from -- offset by gingrich

shifts the gop campaign. a dominant, surging, and energized rile. that is this morning from "the new york times." newt gingrich will join us in just a couple of minutes. we want to get your calls, comments, and reactions to what is next in florida. we are dividing our phone lines. for those with a support mitt romney, newt gingrich, or ron paul respectively. you also send us an e-mail. or you can send us a tweet. some of the other headlines -- "gingrich wins, remakes race." "gingrich reshapes grace."

"gingrich course to win in south carolina, of ending republican contest." "gingrich gets a decisive win." good morning. where are you phoning from? you're on the air. go ahead. caller: this is a question for mr. gingrich. he claims to be a conservative and he has religion now. but all this time he went through three marriages. i know what that is like to be cheated on. it happened in the past and that is supposed to be overlooked. how many of those jobs did he create? the at that they put out on bain capital, they had two men saying that they got raises under bain capital. if he has so much integrity, he wants the tax return romney put out. what about his season the

republican congress when he was there? what happened there? we do not know that. you for the call. florida rights -- -- flordia writes -- from virginia. brian is on the phone. good morning to you and welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning and thank you for having me. i see this election coming up more in a historical sense. it appears to be one of the appeasement as opposed to standing up for a country that

is ravenous for resources. i think we will have a choice between a neville chamberlain and the winston churchill. the past two weeks i have begun to look more to speaker gingrich as somebody who speaks more of a churchillian tradition. host: thank you for the call. we will pass it on to the speaker in a few minutes. good morning, your on the air. good morning. where are you phoning from? you are on the air. caller: ok. excuse me? host: you're on the air. go ahead. caller: volcker, raton. host: caller, we can hear you. please go ahead. caller: i am sorry?

host: please go ahead. caller: i would like to ask, you heard on mr. reed. you had mr. reed on earlier, and my concern is that there are these republicans, unlike santorum, who claim to be the party of the family. i would like to -- there was a very famous " by mark twain who said that evangelical christians are those persons who need nothing as much as the reforming of other people's inhabits. i am surprised that mr. reed and mr. gingrich who had such a rich and checkered career of disingenuousness, of cheating, of all of these things.

and somehow they get this vote of the evangelicals. i cannot imagine it. host: thank you very much for the call. last night, the former speaker of the house winning the south carolina primary. taking aim once again at the news media. here is a portion of what he had to say. [clip] in the two debates that we had here in myrtle beach and in charleston were people reacted so strongly to the news media, i think there was something very fundamental that i wish the powers that be in the news media would take seriously. the american people feel that they have believed to have been trying for the past century to force us to quit being american and become some kind of other system. [applause] host: the comments of newt gingrich last night taking aim at the media. joining us live, thank you for being with us. guest: it is great to be with

you speak -- steve. host: will this be more of your criticism? guest: well, no. i think that only comes up when it comes up. it depends how outrageous the media is. normally, what i am going to focus on in florida, is a big solutions for a big country. able speech on the space coast for example about the future of man and space and the united states and space. health, contrasting obamacare with romney care. i'm talking about the basic principles. we will have a speech on cuba and latin america. i hope, really, once a day to do something very positive and very clear about positive ways of moving forward as a country to get back on the right track. the florida debate could become a very interesting, very positive dialogue about what would be best for america of's

future. host: our listeners amble -- enjoyed talking with you. phyllis is on the phone. caller: good morning. yes, we are working for you. i have friends in florida who are already passing out fliers. they support you. keystone pipeline -- it should be coming through illinois and it has the largest oil refinery next to texas. we deliver oil to nine different states. right now, we are out of oil. i would like you to reply on that. also, how about an import tax so we can get our jobs back? thank you, sir. guest: you raise a really good point. the fact that the president vetoed the keystone pipeline, the canadians are going to produce more than enough oil in central canada than they can take care of.

it makes no sense for president obama to have a veto that. if he is forcing canada into a partnership with china. i would have thought that was inconceivable. how can our inext-door neighbor fine china to be a more reliable partner than the united states? the answer is a barack obama. every time we turn around refine some new way that barack obama is killing jobs. if you just give us another example. thank you. and by the way, thank you for your friends in florida. i hope everyone who is watching will facebook or e-mail or call everybody they know in florida. we need help -- we need the people power to offset romney's money power. host: next is a viewer from wisconsin. mary, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to just make some points here.

this country is broke. we have absolutely no means out here to rebuild our country. we are so in a debt that we can not even seem to create jobs. we are thrown under the bus by the current administration and that is a big point. can you put into terms how you plan on putting this country back together? when your pockets are absolutely empty? thank you, sir. host: thank you. guest: thank you for that very sobering a phone call. i must say, if you are in kenosha, i have a son-in-law in at chabot again. -- in showboat in. let me just say, we have to, i think, go back to the basics. what you would any family or

business would do in these circumstances. i would apply a new management system that would allow us to save $500 billion per year. i want to apply new payment systems for american express, visa, and mastercard that will save between $60 billion and hundred and $10 billion a year in fraud that went to crux in medicare and medicaid. you will save billions more. that will help us get out of trouble. i want to control spending. i just want to pay off interest groups. i do not want to give away money to cronies like solyndra. we should either abolish or shrink departments. we do not need a department of energy. we need an energy policy. if we had a pro-american energy policy, we are going to be in a position to actually increase government revenues. when you develop oil and gas on

federal land, there are payments made to the government. you actually raise revenue without taxes. i have a very aggressive jobs plan which you can see at newt.org. you'll see a number of steps i would take to create jobs. if we can get unemployment back down to 4.2%, which is where it was when i was the speaker, a number of people will be taken off of food stamps, medicaid, unemployment compensation, welfare -- and put into were paying for their family and taxes. that be an enormous step towards a balanced budget. we have a lot of those plans at newt.org. i think you'll see that i'm very determined to get america back on the right track. host: we have a tweet from one of our viewers -- if health care

is one of the drivers of our national debt, how would you reform health care? guest: we developed many good ideas. we're still working on, although i left to work for president. first of all, you want to go back to the doctor. the patient. the pharmacists. the nurse, the dentist. that group that actually knows the person. not a washington bureaucrat or an insurance company bureaucrat. second, we need to look seriously at port reform. we did a study where we survey of doctors. the answer we came back with was that $800 billion per year is a just defensive medicine. giving you a test that you do not need but a doctor once encased of being sued. that is about $1 in every $4 of health care. taking the truckers out and putting the doctors back in. neither obamacare nor romney

care moves in the right direction. i think it is inherently destructive. that is why we need a new approach. host: victor is on the phone. caller: good morning. i met you at the world science fiction convention back in 1983. i was the blind guy that showed to the first talking calculator. guest: this was in baltimore, right? caller: well. you have a good memory. theconcerned about environmental wackos. i call them "watermelons'." i want to know if you become president, how are you going to stop these people from trying to turn the united states into one gigantic part? and keep up the good work. i love the way you told the media off. guest: that speech at the world

science fiction convention in at 93 led to my publishing window of opportunity in 1984 where i outlined a chapter on space. -- in 1983 led to my publishing window of opportunity in '94 were outlined a chapter on space. let me just say, we have a proposal at newt.org with a plan to replace the entire epa. i agree with you. the environmental protection agency is still the people who are against american jobs. they are against local communities. they believe in a radical vision of the world. last year was the most expensive gasoline in american history because of president obama's policy which are anti-american energy. now we discover with that epa has a proposal that would raise the price of gas even more. you have to be totally out of

touch with the american people to come up with these kind of radical ideas. that is why i do not think the agency is fixable. i think we need to replace it with a brand new solutions agency that applies common sense, uses science and technology, fell emphasizes innovation an entrepreneur ship and collaborates with local communities -- does not dictate to them. host: marks from maryland, good morning. caller: i have met you twice. once was about at four years ago. to runif you're going for president -- i started lecturing you. it is just amazing to me that we have got to this point were you actually are now very possibly going to be president of united states. we were headed to a shoe store and talk for one minute. i listen to every word she said. i walked away and that was it.

i met you a year later at a bookstore in virginia. all i ask is, i believe that your faith is strong in god. i believe you really love god. i just pray and wish that you really push that part of what is going on in america. we have some broken families. i come from a broken family. it ruined my life. we have so many problems with homosexuality, immorality everywhere. i did pray to god -- you are so smart. i wish i could give the $25 million. i called her campaign headquarters and said i want to give this guy $25 million. of course, i do not have it right now. god bless you. go all the way. but please, pushed the morality issue that god forgive all of us. guest: listened, thank you. i am glad i listen to you that day in the shoe store.

your voice counts. your facebook page counts. you do not have to have $25 million. you can have a lot of things on that help get us both. i am grateful and supportive for your involvement. i think this core question about whether or not we're going to recognize that our rights come from our creator, as we say in the declaration of independence. and therefore, we have obligations to our creator with those rights. i think that is a very central part of this campaign. that is what america is all about. i think that is a very good phone call you just made. host: let me get your reaction from news this morning. mitt romney saying that his campaign mistake that he did not release his tax returns. he says there will be released on tuesday. guest: i think that is a good thing. i commend governor romney for doing it. as far as i'm concerned, that

issue is behind us. i rather go on to bigger and more important issues. i did think it was important to set the precedent. jackson, his father first said in 1967 that it should become a tradition. host: one other point that is that romney said, there's only one reference review in rolla reagan's book. guest: this is one thing that i do not understand about the romney campaign. they pick fights in the zones they do not know involving fights they do not know about. he did not want to go back to the reagan-bush years. he will be glad to explain how many times i was involved in helping. there has been two books about the reagan campaign. howl be glad to explain

many references there are to me. how often i worked with the reagan team. i think if you talked to bud mcfarlane, who was the national security advisor for reagan, he will tell you how often i worked closely with them on a whole range of issues. this is another example of why governor romney has a problem. he does not know what he is talking about. some consultant gave him a clever line. they did not look at the larger truth. the larger truth is i first met with robert again for an hour in 1974. if he talk with me about how to meet speeches. -- how to make speeches. i was -- i introduced into the republican party dinner in georgia in 1979. i campaigned with him in 1980. i helped organize an event in september of 1980 which was written about as the first time ever that the presidential candidate was on the capitol steps with all the house.

in 1981 i reached out to democrats to pass. if governor romney picked a fight to understand -- to see who understands reagan better, i mean, he should not get involved in a fight he does not understand and a president he did not support. host: newt gingrich, thank you for being with us here on c- span. and by the way, newsmaker is coming up at the top of the hour with jim cliburn. washington journal continues tomorrow morning. for those young the west coast, here on c-span and live on c- span radio. thank you for joining us on this sunday. hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. weekend.