unexpected ways on the young turks. "countdown" is next. check that out. guess what? we're going to see you tomorrow. ♪ [ theme music ] ♪ which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? romney wins big in florida. >> my leadership with end the obama era and begin a era of american prosperity. >> so that's a wrap, right newt? >> we are going to contest every place and we are going to win. and we will be the nominee in tampa in august. >> so where does it go from here. are democrats cornered? not really. congressman will join us. and next up-arizona according to

that state's minority leader . . . and phoning it in. gingrich's robot has no problem making calls. >> but newt could not manage. >> he didn't call again last night. the other candidates all called but i guess speaker gingrich doesn't have our phone number. >> either that or he doesn't know when to hang it up. all of that and more right now on "countdown." ♪ >> good evening, everybody. this is wednesday february the 1st, 280 days until the 2012 presidential election. i'm david shuster.

mitt romney has pulled ahead, and is also leading his fellow republicans though not the president in the race for campaign cash. mitt triumphs last night. but followed it with a classic gasp. >> we will hear from the democratic party, the plight of the poor and there's no question it is not good to be poor. >> so which voting block concerns mitt? >> my campaign is focused on middle income americans. you can choose where to focus -- >> i guess mitt is focusing where the votes are. >> and then mitt clarified that very poor remark a bit later. >> mitt's focus returned to florida after he was glitter

bombed at a minnesota rally. >> we just won florida. we're just going to win the white house next. >> actually there are a few more gop caucuses before the general election, starting nevada. as for the poll. >> despite his defeat and every-sliding polls, gingrich insisted he still has path to the republican nomination. >> this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader, newt gingrich and the massachusetts moderate. we are going to contest every place, and we are going to win, and we will be in tampa as the

nominee in august. >> though rick said newt had already blown his chance. >> it didn't work. who became the issue? we can't allow our nominee to be the issue in the campaign. >> ron paul's pitiful numbers didn't seem to effect him at all. >> we will spending our time in the caucus states because if you have an irate minority you do very well in the caucus state. >> the majority or at least the plurality to win an election that and stacks of cash. president obama is in the lead but that advantage could soon be swamped if it hasn't already by waves of gop fund-raising. the super pacs brought in

$51 million in 2011. mitt romney raised $57 million for his campaign and while he spent millions already he also has that fortune of his to spending on the rest of 2012. and then there is the $30 million brought in my restore our future. he received a million dollars from the koch brothers. nearly $400,000 from executives at goldman sachs. $300 thousand dollars from construction executive and $400,000 from the wal-mart family. newt gingrich has raised some $15 million so far much of it already spent. myth's super pac has raised from $12 million but nearly all of that was spent in florida and nearly all of that was provided

by one family. we're joined by nia-malika henderson. thanks for being with us. >> it's great to be here david. >> any incites on the romney campaign as tried to decide what mattered most? >> they are obviously feeling very, very good almost cocky about that strong victory down in florida and they feel like the strategy of carpet bombing newt gingrich and baiting him which is essentially what you saw mitt romney doing in those final days in florida. we would talk about how angry newt gingrich would be. and if he could bait him into this back and forth, he would get this genuinely angry newt

gingrich. but those debate performances mattered a lot to the opposition. he has these brand new coach, so he has had a very strong couple of days, obviously very damaged coming out of south carolina, but really turned things around in florida, and looked strong going into nevada. >> and yet here we are the day after and we have the that romney gasp, i'm not concerned about the very poor. are you surprised romney keeps going off of script or is that his script? >> this is his script. he sends a version of those comments a couple of times before -- i think what is surprising about this comment is, a, it really makes no sense, and b, one of mitt romney's arguments is that it's obama who is playing this game of class war fair. that he likes to divide folks into the poor middle class

very rich and that's exactly what you saw mitt romney doing in that snip it. it seems like at some point they gave him a chance to clean that up, and he really didn't. and there is no sense that the very poor, or very hard-working folks, it's not like they are sitting around getting government checks, but there was no sense from mitt romney that he wanted to be a president that wanted to help the poor gain access to jobs that allowed them to be middle class. and that is odd because he is talk about the government helping the poor and the very poor living off of the government. >> this new gallup poll which was done before the romney gasp

it may not get as much attention as florida and south carolina how concerned is the gingrich campaign today? >> they are very concerned. they are looking forward to march when there are a bunch of super tuesday states, southern states, so they are very much wishing that march would come pretty quickly. as we know newt gingrich isn't very well organized in some of these states via missouri and minnesota that are coming up on tuesday. of course nevada is expected that mitt romney who won about 51% of the vote there in 2008 that he'll come away with a strong victory there about 25% of those folks who show up to the polls or caucus on saturday will be mormon so he'll do well there. but it will be a long hard month for newt gingrich. there's note a debate until february 22nd in arizona.

that's a state that obviously has had a lot of issues around immigrants, so that might be a good showing for him. but arizona, michigan will come up on the 28th of february and that should be a state where mitt romney won last time so he should have a strong showing there. >> nia-malika henderson always great to have you on the program. thank you. >> thank you, david. >> we're joined now by joe williams. the fec reports that just came out seems to have cleaned up 2011. is the obama campaign happy with these numbers? how much more do they hope to raise before november. >> this puts them on pace to get ahead of where they were in 2008. and a lot of those numbers came from small donors less than $200 came from about $400

people. so that's right in their keeping of trying to get small donors access to the campaign trying to get a lot of their contributions from people who don't have the big fat wallets to get them going. that was a huge part of the fund-raising the obama campaign did a few weeks ago. is there any concern the money won't come in like it did last time? >> they expect a bigger push for money and bigger rainfall if you will, once the republicans have settled on a nominee. right now you have several candidates. you don't have a guy who you can point to. so they are anticipating a

bigger flow of money as the republicans get close to making their choice for 2012. >> how important are the super pacs for president obama? >> they are quite important. they are not crucial at this point, because the administration has proven that they can raise money on their own. however, when you have an opponent who can drop $15 million in florida alone, one primary state and has more to spare when you have cross road's cps raising american priorities two to one, that's a lot of reserve power that mitt romney can draw upon. a lot of money equals a lot of advertising. a lot of advertising equals a chance to get your message out on a broader scale. certainly while the white house is not wiggling its hand they

are paying attention to. you see the tumble weeds rolling down the gingrich campaign because when the money dries up so does his juice. one doesn't go without the other. his campaign has raised in the teens, but they are in debt by almost as much and that's only after one primary. their are anticipating as nia said the turn towards the south. where gingrich lives and his populous message resinates a lot more. then you'll see him pick up more money. until then it's up to sheldon to decide whether or not gingrich

goes forward. >> looking ahead any less sons that the political [ inaudible ] have done in washington that you have learned from think the -- eye nileation? >> this is like newt gingrich having anvil dropped on him and squashed him. not lost on anybody, particularly president obama. but also how much money got dropped on one primary. we're talking $15 million. and that's enough -- if you and i were $15 million, that would buy one middle school, 375 teachers, 51 underwater homes, fund a year's worth of unemployment insurance, and buy

437,000 tanks of gas. that's a lot of money on one primary. and the way mitt romney is spending and raising it there is more out there. >> joe we're out of time. but if this continues you and i ought to go into the television ownership business. >> absolutely. >> thanks as always. >> sure. my pleasure. >> does political etiquette require a call to the winner? you're you're watching "countdown."

republicans think they are democrats cornered on the pipeline. today indiana ball game the first state to pass right to work legislation. and planned parenthood is fighting back after a key done for convinced a national cancer research organization to stop funding the group. and in florida newt gingrich threw everything at romney including the kitchen sink but he is no scholar. and you've seen the movie, the war room, well that's what we're calling this. it is a battle. it's a battle for the future of the country, it's not quite the same kind of combat when you think about war, but it is war, nonetheless. we want to make sure that we arm our viewers with the ammunition that you need

to be able to be informed in battling yourselves across kitchen tables across america, on the internet, you name it. we want you to have the latest and greatest. we strongly believe that this war room has a purpose, and the purpose is to make sure that citizens have the information, but also have motivation to change the world. it was just 15 months ago when house democrats suffered a crushing defeat. they will need to regain 25

seats to take over the power. there is new polling that is giving democrats high hopes. and that is the fight against the oil pipeline that runs through the united states. that's a stark contrast to what voters thought would happen soon after the republicans gained control. a recent poll by voters by an 11-point margin, voters say they preferred democrats to take control of the house rather than see republicans maintain control. >> the democratic congressional campaign has an effort to offer assistance to what they have dentfied in the most competitive campaign in their, quote, drive

to 25. the keystone xl oil pipeline. president obama rejected the plan. but on sunday with polls showing a strong majority of americans supporting the pipeline john boehner said its party is going to continue its push. >> if it's not enacted before we take up the american energy and infrastructure jobs act, it will be part of it. >> as the maneuvering continues today, josh fox was arrested while trying to film a congressional hearing on the environmental impact of frac-ing. republicans objected to filming, and instructed capitol hill police to arrest fox when he did not leave. an abc news crew was also denied access.

joining us now, steve israel, and thanks for your time tonight. >> good to be with you. >> a poll just conducted found that 64% of americans support the pipeline 22% oppose. and 13% undecided. i appreciate the environmental concerns, but is it wise politically for the democrats to fight this thing? >> i would imagine if you polled the american people before the oil spill in the gulf of mexico the majority of the american people might have supported that, and then when the well

erupted, the vast majority said wait a minute, maybe we shouldn't go that fast. you have to prove it is safe. let me give you my second point. these republicans, this is why they are so -- they are sliding down this hill. this is why the bottom is dropping out of them, because they are hypocrites. when in the history of tax cuts did the republican party ever condition a tax cut on an oil pipeline or on anything else -- >> right, but they are now backing away from at tachg it from the whole issue of tax cuts. boehner is saying we'll attach it to the energy bill. >> this is why the american people no longer trust them. this is not an issue. this is not how you expand an economy. this is how you try to arrest your freefall in the polls. this is a political stunt by the republicans. they started specifically by saying, we only do a tax cut by

for middle class and then they got burned on that. >> given the stunts that obviously they are going to try to poll, your drive for 25 what are the issues you want those competitive lawmakers to try to complain on? >> job creation, and reinvesting in the middle class. we are in the business of reigniting the american dream and we have work to do. the republican party has proven time and time again since they took the house that every time they have a choice between the privileged and private sector they choose the privileged. they have made choices every step of the way to end medicare. so take medicare away from seniors in order to fund tax breaks for big oil companies. so we're focusing on how you

reignite the main stream. >> what kind of candidates are you hoping for in those races? >> we need 25 seats to take the house back and this house is in play. i'm not saying we're going to win the majority but it will be razor close because of the quality of candidates running. we have seats in play all over the country, and our consolidates are problem solvers, mayors police chiefs. we have a guy running in california, who is the son of migrant workers, didn't speak english as a child. applied to nasa, got rejected and finally became an astronaut. we have the first african american police chief in orlando. they aren't about left or right they are about moving forward

rebuilding the middle class, and solving people's problems. >> let's assume the democrats -- the strategy, the drive for 25 works, and you take back control of the house. what do you think should be the top legislative agenda a year from now. >> here is the formula, it's very simple. you cannot reduce debt without growth. and republicans believe an economic strategy is taking away medicare from soon yours, our believe is getting people to go to college, putting people back to work and reducing our deficit. >> there are a lot of lawmakers out there who would not want the job given the approval ratings the president has had to deal with. how is it going?

>> have you watched the republican debates? every time they debate each other, not only does the president do better but house democrats do better. also our battle space in our drive for 25 in some cases it overlaps with the president, in other cases we're going to run our own campaign. when faced with a candidate who was willing to take somebody's medicare away from them in order to fund tax breaks for big oil companies, people will vote for somebody who is going to protect medicare and rebuild the middle class. >> steve israel runs the dccc, thanks so much for joining us we appreciate. >> thank you. >> coming up if you think the union bashing has been bad, just wait until you see what they are planning.

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coming up the victory in indiana. first a sanity break, lisa marie presley was born on this date in memphis, tennessee. she went on to have a recording career of her own briefly married to michael jackson and nicolaus cage. he was clearly interested in troubled talented geniuses and nick cage.

time marches on. we begin with a dormant door mouse. this sleeping mouse sounds pretty relaxed. [ snoring ] >> sort of sounds like rush limbaugh walking up a flight of stairs. and we need to find slightly larger quarters to take the load off. that box would be better for a smaller box like maybe a boxer. get it boxer? he is just too big for the box, he looks like you know, rush limbaugh trying to fit on to a queen-sized bed. and then we'll join a table tennis game in progress. he is getting quite the work out trying to stay with the action. sort of how rush limbaugh -- oh

sorry. i don't have a rush joke for this one. time marches on. just ahead this has not been a very good day for planned parenthood, but next the union busting effort continues across the country, and now they are targeting police and firefighters. seriously?

we bring you "countdown" live each day. the republican war on organ niced labor have slowly moved across the country. indiana became the 23rd right-to-work state. the reaction by hoosier republicansened up pailing what gop lawmakers are considering in

arizona. the vote was 28-22, and the protesters in the galleries, and jammed outside the state house chanted shame. and then marched to lucas oil stadium home of sunday's super bowl. the governor signed the bill behind closed doors saying this won't be a magic answer, but we'll be far better off with it. but being a right-to-work state is apparently not enough for some lawmakers particularly those in arizona. that government is doing away with collective bargaining but knew bills would ban all collective bargaining including

firefighters and policemen. the bill would prohibit automatic payroll deductions for union dues. all of this after the governor offered state employees the first pay raise in years in exchange for giving up certain protections. one of the groups that has been instrumental in crafting the anti-union bill with the conservative think tank, which just so happens to be a member of the exchange council also known as alec. alec has played a role in union-busting bills in ohio wisconsin, and indiana. joining us now is tim dickenson. thanks for joining us. >> good to be with you. >> is the republican control over the legislature just going to bulldoze these bills through?

>> the republicans have a really dominating majority in the legislature in arizona. it's hard to see how this gets stopped. but going after police and fighters and teachers they are going to have a lot of foot solders on the ground that will raise a stink about this. it's hard to see just playing the numbers how this will get stopped in the legislature. >> if unions focus a lot of money fighting these bills in arizona, i suppose it is going to help president obama in the sense that democrats are just -- and it's hard to see how the majority of american would be against that. >> it is happening in arizona that obama is wanting to put a republicans on the defense there. he is hoping to make them spend money to keep that a red state.

so this is i think going to be a bad development for firefighters in phoenix but perhaps good for the obama campaign nationally. >> scott walker got the recall which is underway so why have governors chosen to essentially pick this fight? >> we're seeing a delayed consequence of the 2010 election. democrats got shellacked nationally and at the state legislatures. they are having a narrow window to push their advantage before 2012 comes along and the environment changes quite a bit. so i think they are seeing this window closing and deciding if this is where we're going this is time to move. >> tell us about the council which has been behind these anti-union efforts. >> it is a top to bottom

republican agenda to bust unions. if you bust republican party unions, you are diminishing the democratic base. plus you are making it easier for corporations to pay lower wages and extract more from their workers. so it's sort of a two-for republicans. so this has been -- with the help of alec and the cross road's group, this has been part of the national agenda. >> and with indiana being the 23rd right-to-work state and the think tanks, it is only a matter of time before this essentially becomes an nation-wide issue? >> i think it will be an nation-wide issue in 2012. dr. king called it one of the great frauds that had been perpetrated on the american people. really the assault on the freedom of collective

bargaining. the democrats are trying to push that republicans are hand made and corporate power, and the democrats are fighting for the rights of firefighters and folks. so i think this will be part eh the national campaign we'll see roll out over the coming months. >> thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> the newt gingrich campaign made thousands of calls saying that mitt romney was insensitive to dietary conditions. and planned parenthood. this is "countdown." we're going to have guests that are very smart and very interesting, so i hope you'll tune in become part of this war room family.

the susan -- newt gingrich said romney -- it's time for aer is month from rabbi shuster. ♪

as an old saying goes politics is a rough business filled with personal and often unfair attacks. on election night, political opponents usually put the nastiness aside at least for a few minutes. that didn't happen in florida. mitt romney had double-digit victory, and newt gingrich did not concede a thing. first he refused to mention romney by name. >> it is now clear that this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader, newt gingrich, and the massachusetts moderate. voters of florida really made that clear. >> and it's clear, newt that you are steamed at romney. i get it. according to an independent analysis, they ran 13,000 ad against you, and they essentially bought the florida election. so it's understandable you would be infuriated.

but you refused to even make a phone call to romney. the call just between the two of you where you acknowledge the voters had spoken. romney was rightfully bewillered. >> newt didn't call after ohio or nam sure. i called him after south carolina. he didn't call last night. i guess speaker gingrich doesn't have our phone number. >> your campaign had the numbers of hundreds of thousands of florida voters. you couldn't be bothered to call ramny, and yet you bothered many voters. particularly in jewish communities by delivering this message.

where is mitt romney's compassion for our seniors, particularly those who keep kosher. you see that claim about seniors having to eat non-kosher is a bit misleading. the funding was never eliminated. nonetheless i get your point. perhaps romney showed he is insensitive to certain religious traditions. given the call you didn't want to make to mitt romney i have a solution. i'm about to give you an opportunity to satisfy the politicalet indicate thing and reinforce your view for jewish voters. call romney and say hello mitt

this is newt. how is your health? what is happening with the grandchildren? mine are starting to become doctors. i wanted to call about florida and say congratulations, good luck in nevada, god willing the rabbis in vegas won't touch as much as that one in miami. seriously newt if you are going to pander at least be consistent. when you want to appeal to religious tenants trust me that is what really matters.

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good job. we'll explain what that means when we come back.

the south has now become the latest casualtive. national breast cancer organization announced yesterday that it's breaking off its partnership with planned parenthood. the move will eliminate financial grants to hundreds of thousands of low income and uninsured women rely on around the country. komen insists it is merely following a new policy. a audit was launched last september by republican representative cliff sterns of florida. conveniently the halt comes less than a year after komen hired his new vice president. she launched an aggressive

anti-abortion campaign. even though abortions are funded through medicaid programs, ak coring to dependent analysts 90% of the services are unrelated to abortion. it spurs responses on the hill yesterday. >> ceo of the planned parenthood in southeastern virginia told the ap, quote . . . let's bring in comedian and

co-creator of the daily show. many are applauding the decision. >> what kind of message is the right sending with this sort of reaction? >> i think she said herself, when she said i don't support the mission of planned parenthood. and the mission is to a provide affordable healthcare for low-income women. and if you don't support that i don't know how you can call yourself pro life in the least. and last year, this woman who was running for governor and she got sarah palin's endorsement, the same year this legislation is in congress. and susan komen's new edict is

we can't support this. where are those dots? it does seem like conservative person needed to put a piece of legislation in place so that she could conveniently withhold funding. >> we're not talking about a justice department criminal investigation. it's win republican in congress. it's not that difficult to launch an investigation if you are a member of congress. >> planned parenthood has to submit so much stuff every year. their tax records. so basically what is congressman is doing forcing them to resubmit this stuff at the cost of the american taxpayer. >> the affiliate has withdrawn from the national organization. obviously planned parenthood is going to recoup will komen

recover? >> if komen is making this decision, i really feel like i'm for planned parenthood. if komen wants to shoot themselves in the foot as -- right before i went on one of your producers came up and said planned parenthood has raised $650,000 in the last 24-hour period. i'm tired of waking up every day and having this assault on women's healthcare. and so i think this is a wake-up call to all women that supporting women's healthcare is something we have to do every day. like wipe our butts and go to the gym. >> planned parenthood $680,000 last year from komen, and as you just mentioned they raised even more than that already. the komen foundation in 2010

they brought in $400 million. so they are cutting off such a small part of that to make a political point. >> 0.016. this is about breast cancer. making sure that well can well. 170,000 women got breast cancer exams because of the komen money. now more will. but it's because women have stepped up and said woe. and i don't make any bones about how i feel politically about things, and i have been very vocal on twitter all through the night. i have not gotten one person -- and i always get haters -- not one person said how dare you take on these people. oddly enough the documentary launching tomorrow that is

called pink ribbon, inc. and they are really looked into the komen foundation and others to see what it is about. >> there are so many women that participate in the race for the cure, is this an opportunity for planned parenthood to remind everybody who participates in the race to say we need more screening? >> that's what they were doing. and they have the facilities, and infrastructure to do it. they are already in your neighborhoods and towns providing it in strategic locations, so to pull it out, where is that money going to go? to more pink toasters. we're aware there's breast cancer, and now we're aware that susan komen doesn't care about curing breast cancer. >> thank you for being here.

>> thanks a