>> which of these stories will you be talking tomorrow, romney rising in the sunshine state no polls show him leading over gingrich, but newt strikes back. >> the message we should give mitt romney is you know, we aren't that stupid and you aren't that clever. >> at least he got half right. >> the senate speaks out on the two year anniversary of citizen's united, what it's meant for this election and future ones. chris christy threaten to say veto same-sex marriage in new jersey. >> let's let the people decide. >> as other states move toward legalization. >> bang, boom, straight to the moon. >> we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be americans. >> how long until we can send

him there? >> "countdown" contributor on newt's lunar fantasy. all this and more on "countdown." >> good evening this is thursday january 26, 286 days until the 2012 presidential election. i'm sitting in tonight for keith olbermann. mitt romney getting help from one time gop leaders as he looks to crush newt gingrich while president obama's shot at reelection gets a boost from the economy. panic over the fact that newt might actually win and economic numbers that could mean good news for departments. president obama in las vegas today to push his energy proposals telling voters that democrats are all for success. >> we do not begrudge success in

america, we aspire to it. we want everybody to succeed. >> while mitt romney supporters are doing whatever they can to make sure newt gingrich fails in his bid for the republican presidential nomination. perhaps taking some comfort from the latest insider advantage poll showing romney gaining sharply over gingrich with ron paul and rick santorum far behind. while he plans to take on president obama in tonight's gop debate. >> we may talk about the differences between ourselves. there may be give and take, that's always fun and entertaining, i know. >> especially now that the gop's old guard is openly attacking newt. former senate majority leader bob dole saying:

>> former house majority leader tom delay remember him piling on today telling radio talk show host michael berry: >> yeah, sort of like clinton. meanwhile, romney's attacking gingrich in florida with this ad, which focuses on the former house speaker's ethics violation. >> gingrich paid $300,000, later resigned in disgrace. now pelosi said she has information so secret she once

asked her husband to leave the bedroom so she could discuss it privately on the phone. newt gingrich, we cannot risk. >> nancy pelosi states any information she has on newt is in the public domain. >> many of you probably noticed a number of attack ads and all sorts of junk and that's what it is. this is the desperate last stand of the old order throwing the kitchen sink hoping something sticks because if only they can drown us in enough mud raised with money from companies and people who foreclosed on the people of florida. >> can't say he's not colorful. i'm joined by "countdown" contributor, nia henderson.

>> great to say you, bill. >> the polls that we saw yesterday showed newt gingrich even with mitt romney in florida. tonight, we've got this insider advantage poll showing that romney is starting to pull away from newt. what happened overnight? >> i don't know that anything has necessarily happened overnight. i think since the south carolina carolina experience where literally the ground moved under our feet when it shifting so suddenly, i've got an open relationship with these polls because you can never trust them from day to day but obviously mitt romney went into florida with a loss in south carolina but had some advantage there because he'd had ads already up on the air. i think he's got $7 million worth of ad time that he's flooding the airwaves with. we know that's awfully important in florida. we've got a debate tonight.

i'm going to watch it once i get home. that can be a game-changer in the way it was down in south carolina. newt gingrich has finally settled on a populace message that may work for him. >> right but was last monday's debate a game-changer in that newt wasn't able to play to the crowd and he really didn't have such a great night and the next morning he said how dumb of me not to challenge brian williams? >> right he definitely said that. he did turn in a flat performance. >> yeah. >> tonight, it's going to be wolf blitzer and the crowd is going to be able to participate and i think you'll see a lot of these candidates play to that. i was with rick santorum down in florida a couple of days ago. he said he's going to tart piling on the media there and hoping he can get some crowd reaction and maybe traction down in florida too. i think tonight it's going to be

interesting to see if mitt romney is going to be able to sustain and argument against newt gingrich. so far he hasn't been able to. he trotted out this idea of i read the reagan diaries and newt you aren't mentioned very much in them. newt said he wasn't a part of the reagan revolution and was an independent back in the reagan era. >> it's interesting that in the reagan diaries reagan only refers to newt gingrich once and said that he would have killed our defense policy or something like that. not very complimentary though. i want to ask you about these polls. do the polls in florida reflect and can they in any way reflect the early voting in which mitt romney certainly had a head start? >> yeah, he has had an early start, i think 300,000 folks down there have already started voting. i've ran into a number of them down there. i think you're right. that's going to be a decisive factor. romney put a lot of resources getting people out to vote early

and getting his message out way ahead of newt gingrich and certainly before he could claim a w. in south carolina. i think you're right. these polls that's why i'm not believing these polls until we get closer to the contest tuesday. >> what about this attack, newt gingrich now saying the entire establishment is coming after me right? the democratic establishment and the republican establishment. i mean if he's not part of the establishment, can this really work with volares or is it working? >> i mean it seems to be working. how is the that newt gingrich who lives in virginia was a congressman for three decades is a consultant, lobbyist, cant, call it what you want, functions as a lobbyist, somehow has been able to essentially make the same argument against obama that he's making against romney, they are both representing the establishment and essentially

that they are not american in the way that ordinary americans are americans. you go to these crowds, to these rallies, newt gingrich, folks chanting u.s.a., they have somehow newt gingrich has managed to be somewhat of a political chameleon and do the bill clinton feel your pain and resonate with these crowds. it worked very well for him in south carolina and i think to certain crowds in florida he's going to have an advantage over mitt romney. >> i ever to say you have to give newt gingrich credit. he has a certain skill in getting ann coulter tom delay bob dole and mat drudge to all come out against i am. >> that's right. >> washington post national political reporter and "countdown" contributor, knee i can't malike henderson. i'll see you on the radio tomorrow morning. >> that's right 7:00. all righty, see you. >> more good news from the penalty tonight from an nbc wall

street journal poll. 37% think the economy will improve over the next 12 months compared

selling primaries to the highest bidder. marry franks is marrying his long time partner in

massachusetts where it's legal. should they wanted options, new jersey, washington and maryland might become available. dan savage joins us. since when did presidential debates start sounding like the maury povich show? >> knut in outer space? reports that some science fiction authors agree that gingrich's ideas about it began on the internet ... progressive politics with an edge. these are the young turks: unique voices ...

a common goal. they took their message to the streets and started a movement. now, there's no turning back. the number-one news show on the internet meets the only independent tv news network. the young turks on current tv. >> well, if nothing else, a gig campaign could prove a single individual can keep an entire candidacy afloat. the individual is not newt gingrich. if the pattern holds, billionaire casino mogul can propel newt

gingrich to the candidacy and beyond. meanwhile, a group of democratic senators decry the supreme court decision that made it all possible. the beneficiary of aidle son's money, the pro gingrich super pack winning our future says it's spending $6 million on television ads and other media in the current primary battleground state of florida where the adelson gift has helped bye seven times more ad space than the gingrich campaign itself. adelson, and his wife miriam have given $10 million this month alone to aid the gingrich campaign, $5 million this week $5 million in january. those two contributions are among the largest known political donations in u.s. history. >> in south carolina, the current front runners, gingrich and mitt romney each spent or had spent on their behalf about $5 million.

the difference, gingrich's campaign actually put down the least of the four gop candidates competing in the state. the super pack supporting him did all the rest to the tune of nearly $4.4 billion. this isn't adelson's first time aiding gingrich. adelson, the eighth richest person in this country gave more than $7 million to the former speaker's former political group. they met in 1995 when gingrich was house speaker and backed legislation lobbied for by adelson to move the american embass in israel to jerusalem. the pros was made legal by which the super packs have been able to spend all their money was referred to with words like disastrous and appalling.

new york's senior senator chuck schumer said the decision should be blamed for "undoing our democracy." >> one of the foremost needs of our society is for a fair, functioning democracy where there's some semblance of equality that each people's votes has the same weight. >> the citizen's united decision represents one of the most destructive changes in law that has occurred in recent memory. >> speaking of gingrich's super pack, i meant to say $4.4 million, not billion, it's a lot of money in politics. you get confused sometimes. joining me, hey, brian, good to have you with us. thanks for your time tonight. >> thanks, bill. >> who is sheldon adelson and why is he giving so much money to understood gingrich. >> he is the eighth richest man

in the country out of nevada big into gambling. >> owner-operator, right? >> yes, and also betting on candidates, apparently. he and gingrich go back to gingrich's speakership. they became close over the issue of israel. adelson found a very powerful ally in newt gingrich and been a loyalist ever since. i don't think it's an issue where adelson like some donors have a particular problem with mitt romney, but newt's his guy, so newt is reaping the benefits of that. without it, he would have been dead in the water after iowa. >> as far as we know just to make clear, what he is doing is perfectly legal under citizens united, correct or under current campaign law. >> exactly. >> is there any reason people should think if this guy gives so much money now during the

campaign that he would have an impact on god forbid, a newt gingrich in the wide house presidential policy. >> for the one issue that adelson seems really passionate about, it's hard to imagine, he and newt are sort of of the same mind frame. it's not like he's buying newt's views on this. you can imagine a megabillionaire who found a candidate who didn't necessarily share his views, gave him the money he needed to win the presidency and that candidate would feel sort of compelled to adhere to those policy views once he won the office. i don't think that if in the end newt gingrich somehow manages to become the president he's going to adopt a whole new set of views about israel, because he already shares those. you can imagine a different situation exactly what you're talking about happening. >> they get invited to a lot of nights in the lincoln bedroom,

probably. [ laughter ] >> we think of people like richard melon or the koch brothers. adelson is not the first individual that likes to get in politics and throw his money around. what makes i did different now under citizens united before citizens united if anything? >> it's indirect. citizens united direct impact was on corporate and union donations to independent expenditure groups. back in 2008 or 2004, you saw wealthy donors making direct expenditures on behalf of candidates, they could bye they are own ads, give to these groups, 527 groups, the swift groups. there was also a legal cloud of suspicion hanging over that kind of activity, sort of unsettled. what citizens united, it released a safety valve on that, it basically said you can give

as much money as you want to a super pack, whether you're a corporation, or a labor union or an individual or any combination of the three if mitt romney is the one designating what the differences are. >> i wanted to ask you if in terms of like a level playing field, these opportunities have been made available by citizens united, are democrats taking advantage of those as well as republicans? >> they are. you know, they didn't really want it to be this way. when barack obama won the nomination, a lot of outside democratic affiliated groups wanted big dollar democratic donors to help them fund basically an outside game for obama. obama shut that down. he wanted work to be done through the traditional democratic channels. once citizens united happened, they sort of reluctantly came to the view that they needed to play against the republicans in

this terrain, and they weren't really happy about it. it's not what they want. there aren't nearly as many adelson's on the left as are on the right, so they're at a cash disadvantage. there are outside groups on the democratic side but not as vast or well-funded yet. it sort of remains to be seen how much after this cycle of republicans are really interested after newt gingrich is throwing their guy off his game whether they want to keep you know, thal chemist citizens united in place. >> if you can't beat them, join them. thank you very much. >> bill in new jersey state senate legalizing same-sex marriage is set to pass. how is chris christy going to get out of this? don't worry, he's got a plan.

>> barney frank plans to marry his

partner. soon their marriage may be recognized in more states. first, the sanity break, australia day, the official national day of australia celebrated annually on january 26 commemorates the 788 arrival of 11 british ships at sydney cove and proclamation of british sovereignty. work on those crocodile dundee impressions or any australian think you can think of. throw a shrimp on the bash be, of course. >> the weather report in seattle is reporter james lynch. >> there are times when only a big ass tow truck will do.

this is one of those times. >> yes, sometimes you need a big ass tow truck and sometimes you need somebody to read over your script before you broadcast it live on t.v. from the dumb politicians say the dumbest things department, here is east haven connecticut joseph mature. after his police officers were charged with using excessive force against undocumented immigrants, the mayor had this to say. >> what are you doing for latino community today? >> i might have tacos when i go home. >> that's not really the comment to say. >> i might have spaghetti tonight. if you're of italian descent. if i was going to have mexican dinner or italian, it's jim material. >> i was asking what are you doing for the community and you responded immediately i'm going to have tacos probably tonight.

>> i could again, if i was going to go out and have tacos, i'd go to the -- >> that's not the point mayor. i asked you what you're doing for the latino community. >> whether it be tacosar any other meal. >> did you tell me that you were going to have tacos tonight. >> i said i might, yeah. whether i have tacos with the latino community or spaghetti with the italian community. >> he apologized the next day and referred to the incident at a gotcha moment. quote sarah palin, mr. mayor that ought to help your case. time marches on. >> dan savage on same-sex

>> now quick marriage announcement. canning man barney frank influence marry his partner of five years in his home state of massachusetts. in our third story, they may soon have more options for a destination wedding with more states now considering legalizing same-sex marriage including the stated of washington, maryland and if legislature can get by chris christy's political pat is it youring, new jersey. a bill passed new jersey senate judiciary committee, moving to the full senate where it's expected to pass.

there's one large road block, governor chris christy has threatened to veto the bill not necessarily because he disagrees with it but because he doesn't think elected officials are the ones who should decide. >> i think this is not an issue that should rest solely in my hands in the hands of the senate president or the speaker or 118 members of the legislature. let's let the people of new jersey decide. >> so instead of wasting time with the democratically elected legislature legislating, he wants to push it off to citizens so he doesn't impact a future presidential run. other politicians have shown more backbone. in maryland, governor o'malley presented a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. in washington state, a similar

bill is poised to pass as a majority of legislators have come out in favor of the bill. >> gay marriage opponents have announced plans to seek referendums overturning the bills in november in washington and maryland if they pass, believe it or in the. joining me now is dan savage who writes a syndicated column savage love and is author of the book the commitment and co project. we should also give you credit for entering a certain senator's name on google and making us all chuckle. >> i am the google santorum problem, and proud of it. santorumville filed quite viciously and graphically comparing my 17-year-old marriage to my partner to child rape and dog rape. we thought that was disgusting

so we came up with a disgusting definition for santorum. >> and said it's not healthy behavior. the guy is hopeless. i want to ask you about chris christy. he's really afraid. >> he's willing to let it happen as long as his fingerprints aren't on it. >> he's watching what happened to mitt romney and the trouble that romney is residing over his objections over massachusetts at the time. he was the governor when gay marriage was legalized. it happened on his watch. he's been roundly criticized by the conservatives. what's idiotic about it, the social conservism, cain is out, perry is out cantor rum, who's going to be dropping out soon, it's tough getting anywhere with gay bashing. it's really on its last legs. even if the republican party the old gay bashing part of their base is

dying. young evangelicalses are not gay bark. catholic churches won't have to marry same sex couples just as they don't have to marry couples of differing faiths. >> your home state of washington, i met the governor the other night. she has had a turnaround. >> she has evolved. she used to say that washington state isn't ready. it is now ready, thanks to the efforts of one of our openly gay elected officials, he had murray who had three domestic partnership bills come through which chopped up the rights of marriage and presented them one chunk at a time.

they all passed. the governor signed them into law. the state saw you could extend all the same rights to same sex couples without the sky falling and now people are ready for marriage. democrats like obama who say they support civil unions but not marriage but don't act on civil unions, the there was no movement to move a civil unions bill through. that's what we did in washington state and now will get full marriage rights. >> if the governor was able to evolve, part of the white house press corps, the question often comes up where is the president on this issue, he's considering it or thinking about it. you think there's a chance that before november of this year that president obama. >> no. >> will evolve? >> no, christine is in her last term of governor. oddly enough, she doesn't have to stand for reelection and made the leap.

>> i expect the president will make the leap in his second term. the president was devaulting, a supporter in the mid-90's. when he ran for national office, he wasn't supporting. expect him to devolve. >> do you believe that it's just a matter of time? >> absolutely. >> that time is on your side and america is moving in the right direction, but slowly. >> moving the right direction, but slowly. social progress in america always drags. great britain got rid of slavery four years before our civil war with a vote in parliament. despite the home of the free rhetoric, i expect we will get there. the referendum pushers and bigots don't realize it's not

over until we say we win. we're going back to ballot in maine. washington state had a state white referendum and we won at the ballot box and we will win in november. >> i don't have to tell you to keep up the good fight. good luck. we're all with you. believe it or not, republican debate number 19 is now underway in jacksonville.

>> presidential debates are looking more like game shows. this must be the boldest campaign promise ever, newt will put a colony on the moon by 2020. (vo)the young turks are here. >>win! >>cenk uygur and his team take the headlines head on. >>i accuse you because i have the numbers.

>> i'm sure you're as excited as i am about tonight's gop debate happening as we speak. number 19, more than any halfway sane human being needs to see of the candidates and t.v. anchors. most attention will be focused not on the candidates but the audience. will they go berserk ago they charleston? i was there in the audience before the debate. a cnn producer encouraged the audience to make as much noise as possible which they did when newt was asked if he had asked his wife for open marriage and

knut attacked the media. >> your ex-wife gave an interview and the story has now gone vile. in it she says that you came to her in 1999 at a time when you were having an affair, she says asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take some time to respond to that? >> no, but i will. i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, attract decent people to run for public office and i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. >> standing ovation.

>> or will they be on their best behavior as admonished last monday by brian williams. >> we've asked our invited guests to withhold their plows any verbal reactions to what they hear onstage so as to assure this is about the four candidates and what they have to say. >> the next morning gingrich attacked williams for stifling free speech and vowed not to appear unless the audience was allowed to scream and shout like a high school basketball crowd which tells you he's not such a good debater, but a good actor who thrives on the cheap shot of audience reaction. we've gone from the lincoln douglas debates, kennedy-nixon, the dig any ofified obama mccain debates to the jerry springer show where it's not who says the smartest things that counts, it's who gets the most laughs or applause from the audience which

isn't going to help newt gingrich. if he ever makes it to the big leagues, no audience applause is going to be allowed so newt will [ jody ] four course feast. man it's great. the guests love it. [ male announcer ] red lobster's four course seafood feast is back. get soup, salad, cheddar bay biscuits, dessert and choose one of 7 entrees. four courses for only $15. offer ends soon. i'm jody gonzalez, red lobster manager and i sea food differently.

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and good luck. ♪ >> it all started in the 1950's with one man and simple idea. one of these days, bang, zoom, straight to the moon. nasa started and that dream was realized as man walked on the moon. since then, nothing major has happened in space but in our number one story tonight, one man seems destined to reignite america's fascination with the lunar surface, newt

gingrich. today gingrich challenged past space visionaries like j.f.k. >> by the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will [ applause ] >> but the modern day captain kirk didn't stop there. he looked beyond the moon to our sister planet, mars. >> by the end of 2020, we will have the first continuous propulsion system in space capable of get to go mars in a remarkably short time, because i am sick of being told we have to be timid and we have to be limited to technologies that were 50 years old. >> of course there's a big difference between being tempt and having a lack of funds for an incredibly undertakeling. >> he is running on the ability to get people to believe just like he did 26 years ago when he

said tourism in space is coming. it looks like he was as correct then as he is now. let's bring in derrick, good to see you tonight. thanks for your time. in talking about this moon colony by 2020, is newt gingrich a visionary or just plain nuts? >> i think i'm going for the latter on this. unfortunately, you know, i can understand his enthusiasm and idea that he wants to sort of put out this great idea of something that can be used to spark a technological development here in the u.s. but the fact of the matter is that we don't have the technology available right now it's going to take us much longer than 2020 to get to where we can actually establish a base on the moon and besides that there is the issue of funding. it takes a lot of funding to do that.

the biggest impediment to this is what he's done is spoken to a congressional district that has space industries and they love to their that. would he make that same argument in another congressional district without space industries? those people don't care about that. >> he's going to have to get to the point of how much this is going to cost. do we have any idea? talk about all that equipment you'd have to put up there, not to mention the vehicles to get there and what would be necessary to support life on the moon? >> it would be tremendously expensive to do this in the period of time that he's talking about doing it. in fact, what would have to happen is we would have to completely refocus all of our intentions in this country from things like international terrorism and the economic problems we're having in the u.s. right now. we would have to look specifically at this and then at the same time, devote a great deal of our national economy to making this work. it would equal the amounts that

we've been spending in iraq and afghanistan on those wars to actually try to make this work. >> if we got there and were able to establish this base, what would we get out of it scientifically? what would we learn. >> there's a lot for us to understand about the moon and the origin of the moon and earth. if we were expecting as newt indicated that there's a possibility that commercial companies might take this on there has to be a financial benefit for them. you know what no there is none. >> you know, derrick, newt gingrich when he was in congress, he also introduced a bill called the northwest ordinance space plan or something which said if you get up to 13,000 residents on the moon, they can apply to congress for statehood. [ laughter ] >> we could be looking at two senators from the moon, right? >> you know, and the real issue here is i hope we can get one of

those senators there early. i won't say which one. >> right. well i frankly think we already have a couple of senators from the moon, maybe jim demitt for example. quickly, mars the shutting back and forth, possible? >> what are coming down the pike or better propulsion systems for rocketry. that if we expect to shrink the solar system, we will have to come up with better methods, one already in use but based on very long distance travel. hopefully we will come up with something that will cut the travel time to mars soon. >> sign me up, beam me up. thanks for your time. that is "countdown" for tonight.