right. it's killing theountry. but he doesn't get t. good to see you. that's all the time we have left this friday evening. thank you for being with us. the news continues right here on fox. >> ckz to governor mitt romney, winner of the 2012 iowa caucuses. >> we are off to new hampshire. you think i have been on to iowa a lot? i have been to new hampshire and done more events than anybody but jon huntsman. but he cheats -- he lives thri. it won't be long until there is an election in new hampshire. believe me, this momentum is going to continue. >> this process survives because young men and women risk their lives to allow us to do this. we should act worthy of them. thank you. good luck and god bless you.

on to new hampshire! >> and this campaign's never been about me. it's about a movement of american who is are -- who see our country that's really not on the track that most of us want it to be on. >> i love the fact that this is the land of opportunity. let us restore the greatness of america and keep this land the hope of the earth. thank you so much for all of your help! on to new hampshire! >> i think in terms of beating obama, having a clearly defined, conservative is vastly more likely to win than having somebody who is confused. >> there is no place that does it better than new hampshire, with respect to the primaries. >> this is now essentially called the landslide lounge here. >> people of new hampshire don't want a coronation, you know what i mean? i they want people to earn the

vote, as opposed to sitting down in south carolina, so certain of a victory. >> it is on to new hampshire. that's the battle cry. the g.o.p. candidates leave iowa in the rear-view mirror and the setstage is set for the first-in the-nation primary. but are some already moving on to south carolina? welcome to a special edition of "on the record," on the trail. and new hampshire is the next critical road. the candidates are storming the state, scrambling in time for the primary and then, on to south carolina and then florida. the pace is picking up and it is a frenzied race to the finish. what moves should the candidates make next? dick morris joins us. >> good evening. >> greta: so far, rick santorum and mitt romney. but he is in the polls, ahead in new hampshire. what does senator rick santorum have to do by tuesday? or what can he do?

>> well, first of all, let's appreciate the uniqueness of what is about to happen over this coming weekend. on saturday night, there is going to be one debate. and on sunday morning, another debate. and that will be, to my knowledge -- i could be wrong -- i tried to think about it before i came on the show today -- that this is the first time in american history that we have ever had political debates so close to an election day of consequence. usually, into the general election, they're two to three weeks before. and in other primary science, have you not -- seasons, you have not had nearly this frequency of debates. there may have been one, but i don't recall it. but this debate which will take place within 72 hours of the opening of the poacialtion will be very decisive. and should one person score a really good -- i can say guy now that michelle's not in it, when guys really need your performance, it could turn everything around because it's

flexible. until now, new hampshire's been solid. mitt romney's poled at disport above and everybody else is in the teens. ron paul has been running a consistent second. santorum has moved past gingrich. but debating is newt gingrich's strong suit, he could do really well. santorum has to explain why he has this momentum. to simply say that i worked hard and i go to everybody's county and i show up at every lunch counter isn't going to hack t. those aren't qualifications for being the president. he has to explain how he differs from mitt romney on the one hand and from newt gingrich on on the other. and i think that you can't just go on momentum when you near a debate. let me talk about rick santorum, unlike governor huckabee who ran the iowa caucus and is an

evangelical. senator santorum goes to new hampshire as a catholic in a very catholic state. does that help him or not? >> i think it helps him eighths bit. i think actually evangelical protest apts are more conservative than most catholics are on the issues of abortion and stuff like that. but do i believe that... the problem rick santorum has is that he is not where he is now because of a great issue like herman cain with 9-9-9 or a unique demographic appeal like michele bachmann or a lot of money and a big state like rick perry or eloquence in the debate and fabulous debate performances like newt gingrich or iconoclastic positions on key issues like ron paul. he's there because he was the last one standing. he was at this time last survivor and to the extent he has another credential, he shook a lot of hands.

he has to put real substance behind him and explain why he's entitle to the momentum he's getting. otherwise, tell dry up quickly. >> greta: all right. suppose that governor romney who is expected, expected, i underline, to win this primary on tuesday, by a significant margin. support it's 4 points. is that a win? is a win a win or is it a disappointment that he disnt didn't perform as expected? >> well, some people would spin it as a disappointment. there are some people who say romney was hurt in iowa when he won. but the fact is a win is a win is a win. i believe the crucial thing then would be who is in second place? because to beat mitt romney, you have to take him on one on one. have you to get the population's almost evenly divided between romney voters and people who don't like romney. have you to go one on one and not share the vote.

right now, you have a tri-section of the anti-romney vote against ron paul, rick santorum and newt gingrich. now, if santorum finishes second or ron paul does a very strong showing, that's bad news for -- that's good news for romney. even if his first-place margin gis is limited because it means he's facing three opponents in south carolina, not one. he probably can beat three. he might be able to beat two. but he can't beat just one. so the important question is who second, third and fourth? and what are their numbers? >> greta: in iowa, it seems, dick, that speaker gingrich was nuked by negative ads from the super pac -- >> he was newted. >> greta: and the super pac is second quartered with governor romney supporters. he said he's not going to go negative. now rick santorum is going to new hampshire, riding a wave. he says he's not going to go negative and maybe the others will turn on him with negative

ads. should he step it up and do negative ads? >> well i think he's made a focus of not doing negatives and people in glass house don't like thothrow stones. he would be very happy to have a no negative deal. i don't think that romney, who has been the main one running negatives, is going to do much of that this weekend because, you remember, it's not in his interest for any of these guys to lose. he wants them to lose a little. he wants to win, but he wants them to stay in contention. he wishes the best of health to ron paul and rick santorum and newt gingrich because as long as they are in the race, he will win a pluralgity and in most of the district, it is not districtly proportional representation. if some guy wins a majority, he gets the delegates. romney is benefited. you know the roman empire

slogan -- divide and conquer? that's romney. on the debates on saturday night and sunday morning, on my web site, i will be posting comments every 60 seconds about the debate. i typically post about 200 of them. you can log on and watch the debate with one eye on my web site with the other. >> greta: all right. let me ask you about the den -- endorsment from jon huntsman from the boston globe, state newspaper of massachusetts. and of course, governor huntsman spends a lot of time in new hampshire. is governor huntsman a threat in new hampshire to anybody? >> no. he's going to be out of the race the day after new hampshire. the boston globe is a democratic party newspaper. so it's like getting the endorsement of the devil in a race for heaven. >> greta: in terms of -- in terms of the ron paul, do you expect any sort of strong appearance with him? is this his audience or his voters in new hampshire?

>> i do believe he will have a strong showing. the new hampshire license plate says "live free or die," and that could be ron paul's campaign slogan. but the people of new hampshire are sophisticated enough to understand that isolationism isn't a solution. having a strong management is what defend this is country. i think that ron paul's evisceration of the military is quite the opposite of living free and dryfy anding, it's just a prescription for dying. >> greta: leap-frog to south carolina. what do you expect -- what's a good strategy going into south carolina? >> in south carolina, the three non-romneys have to duke it out. you are going to need one of them to predominate. at the moment, gingrich is by far the frontrunnener south carolina, romney is second and paul is third and santorum fourth.

santorum might have passed paul at this point and maybe passed romney. but the issue is whether it will be santorum or gingrich. both of them can't move ahead. only one guy can fit through the doorway and i think you will find newt, santorrum and paul fighting among themselves because you need only one of them to make it into florida. see, florida's where this thing may be decided and south carolina's the week before florida. so we know that romney's got a place in florida, he's like a guy in a bye in a divisional playoff. he's in the super bowl. the question is which of those three is his chief opponent? that's really going to be the subtext of this south carolina primary. >> greta: how will he do with his chief opoppet in florida? >> if it's one guy, he will have a tough time. if there are two, he will coast.

is it depends on whether there is a decisive verdict in south carolina on the un-romney. it is not important to win for romney. if he does, it's good, three wins going into florida and the inevitability argument takes over. but if he doesn't win south carolina, it's an evangelical state, his religion works against him. does he have a single opponent or mase face three candidates? you know, ron paul has his own independent base. he may never drop out. he's the kind of guy who would just keep losing. but santorrum and gingrich, only one of them is going to make it. i don't think both of them will be standing after south carolina. >> greta: dick, thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: new hampshire is not a big state. the population's only 1.3 million, but it's a big deal. the granite state holds the first primary in the nation. voters say they take that very seriously. why is it so important to them to get the first crack at the

candidates? and why is it so important to the rest of us? grif jenkins hit the ground. >> reporter: in 1980, when he was just beginning his political career, heading up the young happen republicans of new hampshire in a fight between george h.w. bush and ronald reagan. now, he is the chair of the party here in new hampshire and one of the most historical primaries may be about to play out right here. we sat down with mcdonald and the voters to find out why new hampshire matters . >> for decades, we have looked at the candidates square in the eye and met them in living rooms and lincoln day dinners and

asked them the tough questions and we have thoughtfully made recommendations for the rest of the country. and toward that end, no one has gone on to be president if they didn't finish at least second in the new hampshire primary. >> new hampshire loves being the host of the primary. and more importantly, it does gift candidates a chance to meet the voters one on one in places like this on the street ndiners, restaurant, you name it. it's small, retail politics. that's what is important in this country. >> we are new hampshire, the granite state. we are number 1. >> it's quite a lot of pride here that you go first. >> oh, yes, there is. >> reporter: do you feel that you really do have a tradition? do you feel like what you do here sets the course for whatever nominee becomes, whichever party? do you feel like you make a difference here? >> of course, we make a difference. we make a difference because of being first, we get to ask the candidates the questions that

maitre most to people in america and get them thinking about the things that they need to be thinking about and talking about as they go through the candidacy. >> reporter: new hampshire has a history of being picking presidents. some said that iowans pick corn. but there is some truth. if you win the new hampshire primary, you have a very good chance of winning the presidential nomination and then the white house. iowa has no predictive value at all. >> reporter: the folks here tend to grill the candidates and know their stuff, so to speak? >> they like to grill the candidates and they like to reverse whatever the verdict was in iowa. it turns out pretty well for them. >> the new hampshire primary matters because of the people of new hampshire. for over 100 years the citizens of our state have taken very seriously their responsibility to vet the candidates and ask them the important question, the tough questions and make them answer and be honest and up front. of course, it matters.

we grew up in a culture where the folks of new hampshire are very accustomed to spending a significant amount of time, going to event after event after event. a couple of town halls and house parties. they look at every candidate closely. they are likely to switch from one candidate to another and they settle down for sure. but it's a cultural thing here. we take it seriously, we are engaged in the issues. we know what the important issues of the day are, and we don't let the candidates off the hook. that's the important thing. >> reporter: what's more important, the iowa caucuses or the new hampshire primary? >> that's a tough question. last week, it was the iowa caucuses. this week, it's the new hampshire primary. what is really important is that the early states get ton the candidates so their recommendation is a well-informed recommendation. >> i can tell you, i see each candidate three or four times by this point in time of it's like

iowa, but not sort of like iowa where it is not so much who wins new hampshire, i think, but i think what we do is we weed out the candidate who is don't have a chance to go further. >> reporter: ray, why does the new hampshire primary matter so much? or does it? you get a lot of national tension attention on it, but i am asking folks from your state, does it matter? >> new hampshire's the center of the earth. if it is not in new hampshire, it is not. period. when i moved here, one of the reasons i moved here is because of the intensity of new hampshire politics. everyone in new hampshire is politicallyet motivated and the people have been here for a while. i find that -- when i got here, i wasn't disappointed. >> new hampshire is about retail politics. we don't make a disoigz who we are going to vote for until we have met them three or four times. we want to shake their hand and

get to know them personally, not just on tv. >> greta: next up, south carolina, governor nikki halley is here. her stated's primary will be like no other. what makes south carolina voters different? what will the candidates have to do to woo them? that's next. and some say the real fun begins in florida. but will all the candidates make it that far? and who might get burned in the heat? and it could happen at any moment, the g.o.p. field could shrink. who would it help and who it would hurt? stay tuned to find out. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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>> it is the first in the south

primary, south carolina. and the palmetto state will be a key test for the g.o.p. candidate. mitt romney's already campaigning there and the fight for the socially conservative voters may be his biggest challenge yet. what are south carolina voters really looking for? will the candidates have to do anything differently to get their vote in nikki halley is here. hello, governor. >> hi, greta. >> greta: nice to see you, governor. i know you have endorsed governor mitt romney. but i want to ask you a big-picture question about your state. how is your state's voters -- how are they different from new hampshire and iowa, do you think? >> you know, i think you will find the issues that affect south carolina are the issues we are facing across the country. it is job, spending and the economy. people want to upon that elected officials remember who they work for. people want to know that government understands the value of a dollar. they want to know that there is a president that is going to go into washington, fix the chaos that is washington, d.c. and get people back to work. those are the issues that south

carolina cares about and the issues that the country cares about. >> greta: you know, we generalize about states and people say that new hampshire's more moderate. but your state is far more conservative, which create ace bigger risk for the moderate members of your party. do you think that that is a fair generalization about your state? >> we have a conservative state that really pays attention to the,. they understand that spending caps matter. they understand that keeping your fiscal house in order matters. they understand that job and it is economy and allowing the private sector to work, matters. that's why we have been campaigning with governor romney until the past couple of days. we started a couple of weeks ago and we're getting the message out that here is a man who has taken broken companies and fixed them. here's a man who took a failed olympics and made it a source of pride. he went to the state of massachusetts, cut taxes 19 times and balanced their budget with an 85% democratic legislature.

we need somebody who has not had anything to do with washington. he fits that mold and he fits the issues. >> greta: how about the tea party in south carolina? sth this is new to the election cycle. we had it in the mid-terms. but is the tea party an influential element of the vote this time in south carolina? >> the tea party's always going to be influential. but what people need to understand, they are a combination of republicans, democrats and independent who is have had enough of washington. they are tired of the old washington that doesn't listen to the people. they are tired of spending that is out of control. they want to see their friends and families get jobs again. that's what you are seeing. they do care about the value of the dollar and conserveatism. so they are always going to have a strength in south carolina and the country. in terps of population and south carolina, any sort of feeling of the percentage of republican and democratic and what would fall in that category of independent? >> i think it's about 55/45.

it's about a 10% higher republican population. we are at 5 million. we gaped a new congressalg seat. so south has changed a lot. but it's people who love their country, love their military and want to see washington bring us back to the country that we used to. they are looking for a strong president. but they are looking for somebody with courage. they are looking for somebody who will bring pride back to this count reach they are not going to settle. so we are excited about the huge crowds in south carolina, the energy in south carolina has just been amazing the last couple of days. so we are excited about what's going to happen. >> greta: in terms of strategy, do you think that governor perry's decision to stay in the race, does he cut into senator rick santorum's vote? if he left the race, would that be rick santorum or mitt romney or speaker gingrich, do you think? >> i don't know what that is. i am not a political analyst. so i am not going to try and do

that. we have good candidates in the field. now's the time where they are really listening to the issues. they are payings attention to what they are say. i think you are seeing the polls in south carolina and the polls that came out show governor romney in first place and it's because his message is resonating. we will see the candidates fight hard. we will see all the candidates give their -- give their talking points and really meet the people and shake their hands and that's what they should do. no candidate will have an easy ride in south carolina. you come to south carolina, have you to work by shaking hands and proving that it is not what you say it's going to be what you do and results matter to the people in south carolina. >> greta: what do you think has changed? i know you endorsed governor romney. but he came in fourth in 2008. now he is doing well in the polls, fleeting, it seems to be fluid. but what do you think is the difference this year from four years ago for governor romney there? >> people have seen the trauma

of president obama. they have seen what happens in the extreme. they have seen what happens when you vote somebody based on the permit. they don't want that. they have seen in the state of south carolina how we tried to protect boeing jobs and president obama continued to try to take them away. they have seen that we are a strong right-to-work state and they are trying to push the unions in. they have seen the fact -- what all of these mandates are doing. what we are seeing with governor romney, this is a man who said he will come into south carolina and the first day he becomes president, he will give a waiver to the people of the state and every other state and repeal mandatory health care. he understands, we are fighting illegal immigration and the department of justice is telling us know. we are fighting to get voter i.d. and the department of justice is telling us no. and governor romney is saying he believes states should have the right to make at this time laws themselves. south carolinans and the country

are feeling what happen when is you have a heavy-handed president that thinks that government's the answer to all things. so the people across the country have seen what president obama has discontinue to it. they know we can't afford to have it four more years. >> greta: any interest in being vice-president on the ticket? >> i am very blessed to object governor of south carolina. there is no interest by me to be vice-president or hold any cabinet position. i am doing this because i need a partner in washington. i am doing this because i know the hardest part of my job as governor is dealing with the federal government. i want someone who will allow me to bring more jobs into my state and grow our economy through the private sector. i know that governor romney will help us do that. >> greta: if anybody's been to charleston, it's a beautiful little town. i will give you a plug for your state there. governor, thank you. >> thank you so much, greta. >> greta: coming up, the presidential race moves to the

sunshine state. and stunning changes could be? store there. what will the candidates have to do to shine? it may sound bizarre, why would mitt romney want to keep the g.o.p. field from shrinking? g.o.p. field from shrinking? rick klein is here to tell

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>> florida, some say is where the real fun begins. the issues could be a lot different. who will be left standing going into florida? and who will be left standing after? tallahassee writer says the state's primary could be the most decisive in years. he joins us. good evening, bill. >> reporter: good evening. >> greta: okay. you say it's the most decis 95 years. tell me why? >> reporter: why, i don't think the florida primary has been decisive because of the timing. it's always been in march, pretty much always inform 1976,

jimmy carter stopped george wallace here. since then, we haven't really been that important... last time around, they moved it to january 31, where it is again this year. the state paid the penalty on john mccain and mitt romney came in second and rudy guiliani, who banked everything on florida, came in third and dropped out of the race that nies night and joined the mccain campaign with an endorsement. this time i believe the polls indicate as the governor was just saying that mitt romney certainly is in good situation in new hampshire, is leading in the poles at this point in south carolina. so when they get here, on january 31, i believe this will be the most decisive state because it's a conservative state, probably not as conservative as south carolina.

evangelicals are not as important here as a voting bloc. ago the tea party influence has been strong in our last election cycle. but i would think that after florida, it's very likely to be romney and the alternative to romney. as last time, it was mccain and huckabee, after florida. >> how about the south florida vote, which i guess is a two big categories, the cuban-american vote, as well as the jewish vote? which way do those two voting blocs seem to be leaning this year? >> reporter: the cuban-american votes is very much republican, of course -- >> greta: but who among the republicans -- in the republican field of cuban americans, who are they more apt to favor? >> reporter: i think romney. there is an smeamentarrianism, not to sigh that people are easy easily led or that they always go with the frontrunner, but in

the state so far, our former republican chairman, john thrasher, a state senator and former house speaker, was an early endorsement for governor romney. he had several other big-name backers throughout the state, sort of the grownups, if you will -- probably want a nice way to say it, but the leaders of the republican party in many ways, newt gingrich today was endorsed by former congressman -- former attorney general and congressman, bill mccullom, who served with gingrich in the house. governor scott has been friendly to rick perry, has spoken well of him, but remained uncommitted officially but has said that he may, like charlie christ, that he may endorse and marco rubio would be another endorsement, i am sure all of them are going to be very much seeking. i would think that if jeb bush,

marco rubio and rick scott line up behind one candidate, that would be extremely important, among not only the hispanic republicans in south florida but many of the mid-western and new york retiree who is come down here and remain fairly moderate republicans. >> greta: one quick question, not going to ask but 2000, but 2004, the republicans wonorf the democrats, 2008, the in thees, president obama won over senator john mccain. any prediction whether florida will be in the general election, in the republican category or the democratic? >> reporter: i would think eya tossup state at this point. of course, it's obviously going to depend on the nominee and how they campaign. president obama in the polls, quinnipiac and mason dixon have shown the president upside down in the approval. is the country head in the right direction? at this point. but the democrats are going to

have a very well coordinated campaign. they are working to salvage bill nelson's senate seat. he is an acknowledged, terrific campaigner. he will have a stiff challenge. but i can see, as they did in '04 with kerry, although it fell short, a coordinated campaign and the democrats have a lot of money, work hard on the senate race this year, try to pick up some legislative and congressional seats. i would think, it's a tossup state. i would think slight advantage for republicans if they don't go too far to the right and nominate someone too far out of the mainstream. >> greta: bill, thank you very much. hope you will join us again. it's been a fascinating year. thank you. >> reporter: okay, thank you very much. >> greta: coming up, can senator rick santorum beat theudas and take his luck all the way to nevada? there is a new sign that he thinks so. what do the candidates have to do to make it to nevada? super tuesday and beyond.

rick klein is here. and new hampshire voters get to send a big message to the rest of the nation. what issues will influence their vote on tuesday? and are they the same issues that influence yours, too? that's coming up. capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ] but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian, and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has

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but >> from america's news headquarters, i'm marianne rafferty. a texas teen, reportedly deported to columbia has

reunited with her mom at dallas fort worth international airport. she was deported in may, after claiming to be a columbian woman had she was arrested for theft. the family is questioning how the girl, who is a u.s. citizen and not fluent in spanish, could have been deported. the u.s. navy coming to the rescue of iranian fishermen held by pirates more than a month on friday in the northern arabian sea. they got the iranians out safely and arrested the pirates. the rescue comes amid tensions between the u.s. and iranian republic. now back to "on the record." for your latest headlines, go to foxnews.com. you are watching the most powerful name in news, fox newschannel. irvetion the presidential race is picking up speed. super tuesday will be here before you know it. but before that, the nevada

caucuses. it is a sure bet that some candidates might not make it that far. so when wee might we see a two-man race? rick klein is here from the state of new hampshire. nice to see you, rick. >> reporter: great to be here, greta. >> greta: you had a big night tomorrow night, on abc with your debate. but looking beyond the descbait tuesday, who is staying in? what's the prediction? who is going beyond new hampshire? >> jon huntsman has the most on the line. he has to do well. beyond that, everyone will stay in, other than huntsman, through south carolina. that's going to be a critical moment. that's when the field has to be winnowed if a romney alternative will emerge. the best-case scenario for romney is to split the field through super tuesday and beyond, if that happens, romney is overwhelmingly likely to win. if people drop out, you have a chance to see the anti-romney

votes coalesce. that's the chance that a lot of conservative who is want to stop mitt romney have to make that happen. >> greta: you're in new hampshire. and you are on the ground. being outside of new hampshire, give me a sense who, is the momentum on the ground there? >> reporter: remarkably, mitt romney has kept the momentum. he is closer than expected in iowa. he won by the narrowest of margins, but he's the man of the moment here, the polls have him in a very strong position. rick santorum is getting big crowds and ron paul is vying for a second-place finish here. but the attention is on mitt romney. this is his state to lose, it's his back yard. he will win and win big. that's a head of steam. you win iowa and new hampshire and he is doing well in the polls subsequent to that. right now, mitt romney, even in the days since iowa, solidified his position as the man to beat. >> greta: enthusiasm means a lot. you said he's going to win big. what if he just wins a little bit?

is that still -- does that take the wind out of his tailsails? >> a win is a win. but not all wins are equal. if he doesn't exceed the expectations to trounce the other candidates, if there is a close second finish by newt gingrich or rick santorum, then you are empowering someone to believe they can beat mitt romney. he suffers from the expectation that he's going to win big heesmg can't win by 8 vote this is time around. that's fair to say. he can't win by 8 points. he has to have double digits to keep the sense that he is the inevitable nominee that will take on barack obama. anything other than that, he has to stop the folks with legitimate shots from mounting something that looks like a serious candidate. >> greta: early march, super tuesday, the expectation that it will be down to two candidates? or not? >> reporter: it doesn't look like that right now. you don't have anyone saying they have it all on the line. i think that south carolina will be critical for governor perry.

if he doesn't do well. he came close to dropping out. i think that south carolina would be the end of the road for him. but other candidates, if they can keep the momentum, they all are saying the same thing, someone is going to emerge toa take on governor rom nerks they want to be that person. you could see it last through super tuesday and beyond. >> greta: tomorrow night, we will watch the abc debate, amazing to have the debate so close to the primary. thank you. >> reporter: thank you, greta. >> greta: straight ahead, before they go anywhere else, they have to get through new hampshire. the voters are going to put them to the test. to the test. grif jenkins goes to new this new at&t 4g lte is fast.

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>> the economy and jobs, those are the issues that top most americans. are new hampshire voters any different? griff jenkins talked to a representative on jon huntsman 'campaign. >> reporter: what do the voters who go to see huntsman speak, what are they saying? >> there are people who have questions about pet issues, like nuclear energy or illegal immigration special a lot of folks are asking about foreign policy, iran or china. but the big thing is the

economy, even here in new hampshire, where the unemployment rate is a lot lower than nationally. people are really concerned about the economy and jobs. and that's what they are asking about the most. and that's what they say they are going to be voting on. >> reporter: and within jobs and the economy, is there any sort of, you know, aspect that seems to be getting traction, you know? that you are really paying attention to? some facet of that? because people will say job, economy and then it's this large thing. >> it's a huge issue. i think people connect with lemes like the tax code, talking about health care reform, talking about regulatory issues, that's something a lot of candidates talk about and a lot of people, especially when you go to events that are business owners, small business people, you hear a lot of stuff about regulation and the tax code and that's something they want to know where the candidates are coming from. >> have you seen in iowa, we saw a lot of evangelical christian

group and they had the more social conservative issues -- do you see that the evangelical christian presence here as much as we did in iowa? >> new hampshire is not... as religious a state as iowa is. and i don't -- there are voters making their decision on social issues like abortion and gay marriage, but i don't think that's where most people are coming from. it's not a huge segment of the electorate. economic issues are really big here. i think that's a legacy of new hampshire being very focused on fiscal policy. >> reporter: the voters are pret leversed, they know their policy, they can go deep face to face with the candidates, yeah? >> this is a state where there are 200-some towns that every year, the votedders get together and they go through the budget, line by line and ask questions and vote on it. you see that in the town halls with presidential candidates, they want their candidates to be

fluent in budgets and foreign policy and really know these issues because a lot of them know their issues and their towns really well and are involved in their government. so it's nice. i mean, you get a lot of really well informed voters. >> reporter: is there pressure on the candidates to object get stumped by some of these voters? >> there are definitely people who will ask pretty obscure questions and test the candidates and either they do well or they are good at turning the question to something they do know about. they don't get stuck on the fisheries policy or the wood system. >> reporter: health care, or more importantly, obamacare -- that's an issue? >> that's something that most of the candidates are talking about regularly on the stump here and it's something that voters are responding to. it's a republican primary, people are not that fond of the health care reform law. that's an issue and more importantly, a lot of voters are asking, okay, you favor repealing obamacare, what do do you next? and the candidates have to talk

about their health care plans and that's interesting to see them go beyond the first answer to the second and third sentences in that issue. >> reporter: have you found with the voters as they listen to the candidates, have you found the message is king or is at this time retail politicking of the candidates selling the message that's king? >> i think it's a combination of the. two new hampshire really values its retail politicking in the events. the candidates start off the race, doing house party, talking to groups of a dozen people in their living rooms and move up to being able to answer questions in a town hall or doing rallies toward then, but people of new hampshire do value that sort of thing. but there can be candidate twhos don't get that much traction if you don't have a message and connect with the people. i think that that, you see there have been so many debate this is time of around that people have been looking at those as well as the more traditional, go toure

your neighbor's house and ask rick santorum six questions. >> greta: coming up, our special on the record, on the trail, continues. we have more on the fierce fight for the white house. stay with us. jenna shared her recipe with sharon, who emailed it to emily, who sent it to cindy, who wondered why her soup wasn't quite the same. the recipe's not the recipe... ohhh. [ female announcer ] ...without swanson. the broth cooks trust most when making soup. mmmm! [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson.

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every vote counts. it is a tight race. every pole is paint egg different picture. let's take a look at some of the key dates, coming up. as we said, new hampshire is next, next tuesday, january 10. then south carolina on saturday, january 21. the florida primary is tuesday, january 31. the nevada caucuses, saturday, february 4. and the list goes on with the voters casting ballots across the country and the big super tuesday landing on march 6. now, of course, we will be following every twist in this constantly changing race and take you along on the campaign trail. "on the record" will be live in new hampshire, starting monday night. governor jon huntsman and donald trump will join us on monday. you will not want to migs miss it. thanks for joining us for the special edition of "on the record." we will see you monday night, live from new hampshire. go to gretawire to let us know what you thoughou