name your town if you wish to opine. word of the day, do not be a ninnyhammer. i'm bill o'reilly, please always remember the spin stops right here. we are definitely looking out for you. >> and welcome to the hannity vegas forum. tonight we are coming to you live from the wynn hotel and resort. over the next hour you will hear directly from presidential candidates mitt romney, newt gingrich and rick santorum. now an invitation to participate in this forum was extended to congressman ron paul, but it was declined. tonight the main focus of my questions will be on the most critical issues facing the country, the economy, and here to join us and kick things off is somebody who picked up a big enforcement today from the one

and only donald trump, and that's gov. mitt romney. governor, how are you? >> i'm fine. thanks, sean. >> big endorsement from donald trump today. >> a big endorsement. he shares my concerns about china yeah, the fact they have been able to run roughshod over many industries in this country. people have complained good but not stopped them from taking away our jobs. >> how do we get fair trade balance without starting some type of a trade war? how do you pull it off. >> you have to open up new markets. a highly productive nation like ours has to have new markets to continue to grow. but if one of those countries begins to cheat on the agreement and to unfairly attack our markets and kill jobs here you have to say whoa, whoa, you have to live by the rules of fair trade. i know there are some afraid if we hold china accountable they will fight back and begin a trade war. but don't forget they sell a heckuva lot more stuff to us

than we do to them. they don't want a trade war any more than we do. you have to stand up at some point and say enough is enough, you have killed too many jobs, you can continue to manipulate your currency, steal our designs, patents, and you can't hack into our computers, and if you do, there will be consequences. >> what can the consequences be? what if they say we aren't going to change anything? >> consequence to do with a i will do on my first day in office. i will label china a currency man ilator, and under u.s. law once that label has been affixed, the president is able to apply tariffs to any of their goods where the president believes that their unfair trade practices have cost american jobs or killed american industries. i'm making it clear to the chinese, that's where we will go if they continue the practices they are pursuing right now. >> news beginning has brought up the issue about the delegate count distribution. in other words, according to the republican national committee they were supposed to have proportional distribution of delegates until april 1st. he may challenge this.

as the rules are written, how do you interpret them? >> well, it would be nice if speaker gingrich would challenge the rules before he's lost as opposed to after he has lost. he did that in virginia. he said, look, i don't think it's fair to have to get 10,000 signatures. that's after he worked hard to get the 10,000. i got them, ron paul got them, but he didn't so he wants to change the rule afterwards. apparently he wants to change the recall in florida. we knew what were rules were going into it but now that he lost florida he wants to find some way to do better. i'm not terribly concerned about the rule process. it's going to be worked out by the republican national committee. i intend to do well and to get the delegates i need. i doubt it's going to come down to a contest of, you know, he's got six more delegates or i have eight more in this state. i think one or the other of the people in the race will end up with the lion's share of the delegates and we will take on president obama without going to the convention counting delegates. >> let's go to the race for a minute. it is fascinating, almost

unprecedented and politics is my love and i love following presidential politics in particular. going into south carolina, you come out of new hampshire, you had a double-digit lead going into south carolina. you have two debates, a double-digit leads becomes a double-digit loss. you go into florida, you are down double digits. you have two debates and you turn a double-digit lot into a double-digit victory in florida. a big victory in florida. how do you interpret this? in other words, the ebb and flow of this is kind of unlike anything i have seen. >> i have been fortunate over the last year. i have had pretty steady support. but there have been some other folks of that jumped in the lead and then dwindled down over time. the speaker got a good boost in south carolina. i think he had two good debates. frankly by taking on the moderators. he wasn't going after president obama or the other candidates, it was a chance to whack on the media, the mainstream media. that came across well, the audience loved it and gave him a big boost. when he came to florida and it was actually not about the

moderators but about the candidates, he didn't do so well. he initially said the audience in the first debate was too quiet for hip. then he said in the second debate the audience was too loud and too boisterous. then he said he didn't want to debate in settings where the moderators are members of the media. you don't get to choose what kind of debates you have. when we go up against president obama, it's the presidential commission on debates who are the mod traytors, how long the debates will be, how many there will be and i'm ready to debate president obama anywhere, any way, anyhow because i happen to know his experience has not led this country to greatness. >> i want to get to that in a minute. when you spoke the other night in florida you did address this issue. you said our opponents comfort themselves with the fact that a competitive campaign will leave us weak and divided u said that's not true. a competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us. in many ways do you think that these debates, this battle back and forth, even as contentious as it has gotten at times, has

been good for whoever the nominee is? if that's you, has this made you stronger? because i felt watching you in florida, for example, i felt that you really need today step up in your mind. i got the sense that you had put a lot of time and effort into saying i'm not going to lose this debate. i'm going to fight hard in these debates in florida. i thought in that sense, you know, newt gingrich might have helped you become stronger. may sound a little strange but -- >> there's no question but a primary process, all the debates the give-and-take, it allows you to hone your message and prepare for the big contest with barack obama. the mistake i made in south carolina was just focusing all of my effort on barack obama. and at the same time, my opponents were going after me and hitting me pretty hard, and i was standing above the foray. >> it didn't work. >> it didn't work and i came to florida and said enough is enough. if you are going to attack me i'm going to respond and i'm going to answer the attacks with truth and if you don't like that, that's just the way it's going to be. >> this is what the general campaign is going to be.

president obama, the democrats have have already telegraphed what they are going to do. republicans wants dirty air and water and kids with down syndrome and autism to fend for themselves. and if there's a granny to throw over the cliff, i bet a candidate like mitt romney would throw grandma over the cliff before it's said and done. how do you go after attacks like that? >> you have to be prepared for that and i am. you have to be able to fight, you have to have the facts on your side. you've got to make sure message breaks through. and i'm looking forward to debating president obama. because when he, for instance, sands up and say you are throwing the he woulderly over the cliff and runs an ad like that, i will say shame down, mr. president, you are the only president in history to cut medicare by $500 billion. and why? to pay for obamacare that we can't afford. this president is on such shaky

ground and and his record is so bad, anyone who any skill of are telling the truth and confronting another individual will be able to take them to the cleaners. >> you were reminded it was two days ago three years past, it was in february of '09 when he first became president he said if i don't fix this it's going to be a one-term proposition. you said he with are here to collect. >> absolutely. he has been a failure. no question about that. he has failed internationally. i know we will talk about that in a moment. but his failures around the world are really breathtaking. and domestically we've seen record numbers of people fall into poverty. you have 25 million people out of work or underemployed. median next have dropped by 10% in the last four years. this presidency has been a failure. and i think the president doesn't want to talk about that. but in our debates, and i hope i'm the nominee, but whether i am or someone else is, we have to go after president obama's failures. his record is the most fertile

ground for us to point out why we need to change the direction in washington. >> would you like more debates than are probably going to be scheduled, usually two, one the vice president would be three, would you like more? >> of course. the challenger always wants more debates. i will like to be able to debate the president as often as possible. his record will not sustain scrutiny. and going after him and pointing out, whether it's just in the united states or around the world the fact that we have to dramatically change course in this country. the path he has put us on is a path of decline, it's hurting the american people. it's put us in greater jeopardy scour interests in greater jeopardy around the world. we have to change course. and beyond that we have to fundamentally restructure and rebuild the american economy. and change the relationship between government, state and citizen. >> governor, stay right there. we will have more with gov. mitt romney as we come to you live. we are at the wynn hotel and casino in las vegas. also coming up newt gingrich and rick santorum. much more straight

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>> welcome back. we continue with former massachusetts governor, presidential candidate mitt romney. gov new york city every once in a while there's the controversies that have come up, you were very clear at one point in the campaign, you said, you know, i would like to have the ability to fire people in

talking about people that you -- companies that are not doing a good job. it becomes a big issue in the campaign. you were an show yesterday and you bring up the idea that, in fact, i'm not worried about the poor because they have a safety net. the headline is that you read, mitt romney said he's not worried about the poor. obviously taken out of context. but this is what you will deal with. is that frustrating to you? >> it's reality. and i misspoke. i wish i wouldn't have said it that way. i made the same thought part of my speeches over the last year or two, which is that i'm really concerned about middle income americans. i want to help middle income americans. i want to get people out of poverty, into the middle income category. but i'm concerned and worried about all americans. and i want to make sure our safety net is appropriately able to care for our poor. i'm concerned about all citizens. but now and then you misspeak. you have to acknowledge it. it was something i did not intend to say in the way it was said but i recognize that's part of the political process. >> you seed lead, follow or get out of the way.

>> yeah. >> it's time to get out of the way, talking about president obama. >> yeah. >> not going to be an easy task. not easy to defeat a sitting president. what do you think the biggest failures, and where do you think he has gone wrong, is it his ideology, does he listen to other people, is he lazy as he says, or where has he gone i don't know. >> he's gone wrong for thinking washington is the source of our answers and the source of our strength. he follows a long tradition of people who go go to washington, spend their time there and think they have the answers for america's needs. what america needs is not a president who wants to expand washington but instead a president that wants to dramatically reconstruct the way washington is built. by that i mean taking what washington does, in some cases cutting off programs, just ending them, stopping them. the test i have is this program so critical it's worth borrowing money from china to pay for it? on that basis i'm going to get rid of programs.

and number two, i'm going to take a lot of what washington does and send it back to states and to citizens and private enterprises. get washington out of the business of medicaid and probably food stampches and housing vouchers and get that back to the states and i'm going to shrink washington. i'm going to take what's left and cut employment. and you do those things, and you have restructured the way washington works in a fundamental way. it has to happen. and then, of course, there's international but i'll stop and let you jump in. >> no, no, you went so far as to say that this election is about a battle for the soul of america. >> yeah. >> all right. so you want to shrink government. here's the problem i think you will face as president. 47% of americans don't pay packs taxes. 47 million americans are on food stamps right now, dependent on the government for a check. jim demint said the other day half the country is paying for the other half in some way, shape or form and that number will go up to 40% paying for

60%. if seems like an entitlement mentality has set in in the minds and hearts of a lot of people in this country. how do you convince them that you need to cut a trillion dollars in spending to balance the budget in washington, that that's a good thing for people? that it's better that you go out and work and participate in society? it's going to be -- is that a difficult sell to people who say, wait a minute, government is taking care of me right now. >> that's why i call it a battle for the soul of america. we have to decide who we are as americans. are we going to become a nation with declining incomes, with increasing weakness around the world or will we remain the land of opportunity, will we be the most prosperous nation in the world with the prospects of a brighter future and that's the course we are going to have to choose, one or the other. my view is that the american people recognize that america is unique and exceptional. recognize that the freedoms that we enjoy, the opportunity we

enjoy to pursue our own dreams makes husband prosperous and happy and fulfilled. and even people who are not paying taxes will say, you know what, i want america to stay the land of the free, the home of the brave, the greatest nation on earth. i'm a patriotic american. i will vote not to have government guide our lives but let free individuals pursue their course in life. >> and there were dire numbers this week that unemployment will stay at about 9%, higher in the year 201. they expect 9% around election day unemployment. we've had four consecutive years of trillion dollars deficits by barack obama, and the national debt now is head today $22 trillion or more. mention nothing about saving social security and medicare. how much do you realistically think you can cut from the federal budget and how long would it take you, in your mind, if you become president to get to a balanced budget and put social security and medicare an path to solvency. >> in my first year and probably

in the first 100 days i will take the steps to get america on a pathway to solvency. that means finally reigning in the excesses in future payments in medicare, medicaid, social security. not changing it for current retirees but for young people coming along we have to make sure the promises we make are promises we can keep. and i will also get rid of programs immediately. eliminate programs. that will save money immediately, and down the road as thoset( programs aren't goi, we get ourselves to a balanced budget. this has to happen. america is on a pathway to becoming greece or italy or spain or france -- >> bankrupt. >> bankrupt. and the consequence for us and for the world is hard to imagine. it's catastrophic. we have to take dramatic action to change the course of washington, to reconstruct what has happen to washington, to return the citizens their power and return to the states their power under the constitution. >> we have to break. last question. i know because i talk to people on the radio, i'm on my twitter

account everyone day, and people want to know, and this is the one thing they want to know more than anything else, if you are elected, will you be that bold that you will drag this country and you will say we must balance this budget oregon we will be bankrupt, and i will stake my presidency on it? >> that's the reason i'm running. if someone just wants someone just to kind of physician around the edges, lots of people can do that. my career has been doing bold things. it's tough and bold to start a business. it's bold to take over a business in trouble and turn it around. it was bold to go out to the olympics. tharpe in difficulty and turn them around. it's bold to be a conservative governor in massachusetts, all right in i don't do easy things. >> that's probably the boldest thing you ever did. >> this is a critical time in america's history. and the reason i'm running is because i believe the experience i have had and the vision that i share with people who love the constitution is what america needs right now. and i'm going to get america on the right track because i believe this nation must remain

the exceptional leader of the world and this president is taking us in a direction of weakness and decline. it's unacceptable. >> governor, great to see you. thanks for being with us. we really appreciate it. >> thanks, john. >> thank you for being with us. we will have the governor with us tomorrow night. we will talk foreign policy. and coming up our forum in las vegas prince the wynn resort and casino. coming up, newt gingrich and rick santorum. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition...

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>> welcome back to las vegas, nevada. our forum continues tonight. the main focus of the questions is the most critical questions face you and your families, and that is the economy. still ahead we will check in withsen rick santorum. i am joined by presidential candidate, newt gingrich is with us, sir. >> how are you. >> good to see you. let me start with where we are in the campaign. this is pretty fascinating. you started out before south carolina. you were down double digits coming out of new hampshire. within a week, two debates later you were up by double digits. up by double digits in florida. debates, and changes, you won by the same amount you won in south

carolina. with how do you describe the volatility of this race? what's going on. >> i think it depends on what the voters see. in south carolina where we won, the romney people reached the conclusion and the new york times report it had that if they didn't destroy me, they couldn't win so they outspent us about five to one in florida and i don't care how good you are, at five to one it's a challenge. we didn't fully come to grips with how to deal with the attacks and with things that are just plain false. we are gradually changing some of that. i think the encouraging thing to me was when i won in south carolina, the vote went up. when romney won in florida, the vote went down. in florida in the counties i carried, the vote went up. the counties he carried, the vote went down. negative advertising to suppress votes may be clever, but it's a terrible long-term strategy. i like a positive, big solution, get people to come out and vote approach. and i think that we are beginning to prove it really

works. >> it is very interesting to me because i thought those two bait performance you had in south carolina so defined this election that it was obvious to me that a lot of work went in behind the scenes prepping, research, practice by governor romney because you -- you put them in a position that they had to raise their level. >> yeah, twice now -- >> you might be responsible for his good debate performances. >> twice now we put him in a place where he had to do something radical or be defeated. going into iowa i was ahead by 12 points in the gallop. run an entirely positive campaign with no money and nationwide people said they like the new social security for young people, they liked my tax program that the wall street journal said was the most aggressive job creating program. they like the idea of a 15% flat tax. all these things were working so romney threw in 3.5 million in negative ads and stopped me in

my track. we took new hampshire to think it through, came back in south carolina, the biggest margin beat. and then in florida they tried to destroy newt and he used the word "destroy" which i thought was a little strange in a primary. and i was so grateful to the thousands of people who volunteered because we had a people power versus money power primary and we were still standing with i is not what they intended. here we are in nevada. >> all right. now that this has happened to you tweaks you've had to withstand pretty strong attacks in iowa, it pays off. negative advertising, we have done this with frank luntz, anytime you poll it, people say they don't want it -- >> but it works. >> it works. and now it's happened in florida. and i would anticipate that barack

america. >> the other thing that became obvious in florida, the historically interesting, is that the entire republican establishment became unhinged. and i mean, when you have a guy as smart as abrams writing an article that's so false that rush spends two hours taking it apart, it's repudiated in national review. >> actual the american spectator. >> and the american spectator,

and a former ambassador to switzerland and former top aid takes it apart you shall get some flavor ever how frightened the establishment is that i could win. >> i thought there was supposed to be proportional distribution of delegates up until april 1st. it was train you may challenge. >> it's not me, it's the delegates in florida. bill mccull let me, who was the attorney general in florida and was my campaign trail this, is a lawyer fight and i'm a historian. he said as a lawyer, there's no question. michael steel who was chairman when the rule was adopted said there is no question, florida will be proportional represent taking. that means that romney's advantage instead of being 50 delegates will be about ten and that's makes a huge difference. i expect there will be a fight somewhere between now and there. but i'm told by the lawyers that it's pretty clear that it's supposed to be proportional. >> we will take a break. we will come back. we will have much more with the former speaker of the house and senator rick santorum, he will

step into the vegas forum. don't go anywhere as we continue from the wynn resort and

>> we are coming tonight from las vegas, nevada. this is the site of the hannity vegas forums where the candidates are sitting down and talking about their plans to getting the american economy back on track. we are continued to be joined by former speaker of the house candidate newt gingrich. you said in your speech the night of the florida primary, you said we are going to everyplace we will be the come knee in kampa, we are going to contest everywhere and you said it will be people power defeating money power in the next six months. how do you get to where you are tonight to that goal being the nominee in the republican party? >> i this he first you keep arousing people. we have over 160,000 donors and we have people everyday joining us and 90% give less than $250.

you develop big issues. a personal social security savings account for young people, a tax cut program that includes a 15% flat tax, a program of replacing the environmental protection agency with a brand new solutions agency. the kind of steps necessary to balance the federal budget. the things that unable people, you know, repealing dodd-frank so you can help small business and save independent banks. as people look at these kind of aggressive programs, they begin to say here's a candidate who actually knows what he's doing, knows how to do it, and who would not just defeat obama, but would actually change washington. >> said if obama is re-elected it will be a disaster for the united states of america. i don't know if you have had time. i know you are on the road, i know you have been busy and this has been a primary week but the cvo came out with a report with devastating numbers. taxes will go up 30%. by the end of this month unemployment is back at 9%. next year it will be higher.

they project trillion dollars deficits as far as the eye can see to an area of anywhere between $22 trillion and $25 trillion. you get the nomination, you win the presidency, how do you even begin to contemplate, you know, paying down that debt? >> first of all, you have to run as a team this fall because you want to elect a republican senate, you want to elect a republican house, and you want to be elected on a commitment that in the first two weeks they will repeal dodd frank, repeal obamacare. and as president on the first day i will go through a series of executive orders, including abolishing all the white house stars, issuing the permit for the keystone pipeline. so the canadians will wait until january 20th, and we will build the pipeline to houston. >> they make a deal with the chinese before that. >> that's why i'm being open in saying give us a few months. it's less expensive to come to houston than go across the

rockies. it's better to have an american partnership an a chinese partnership and i think it's important to send those signals. you will see a series of those steps the very first dayism think we can dramatically turn the government around. it took us three years to get to a balanced budget when i was speaker and as president it will probably take five years because of this president. but i think it can be done pretty rapidly. >> you talked about a lot. managing decay. and referring to mitt romney. if you want a manager, he would manage it. the one issue, when i meet people and i walk around and i read twitter and i read e-mails and i take phone calls on radio, the one thing that is constant is people saying they want a dramatic change. >> right. >> and it seems to be more challenging because half the country is getting a check from the government. >> right. >> we have created an entitlement tote. this is -- it seems to me almost inevitable, unless -- unless bold change is -- i don't think

half measures will work. let me put it that way. >> half meshes are irrelevant. the reason i describe managing decay versus fundamental change to get back on the right track is simple. i served with reagan. very dramatic change. when i was speaker we did things as big as welfare reform. two out of three people went to work. biggest reform of your lifetime i think i have a good notion of what large scale change is like and we did welfare reform with a democratic in the white house. start with the difference, when romney was governor of massachusetts, he not only did not change the culture of massachusetts, or the politics of boston, but in fact he was -- he was the third from the bottom in job creation, he raised taxes substantially, he got romney care, which and the precurser to obamacare, and the result was there were no new jobs. >> we are running out of time. after iowa and florida, you will not -- you will not allow negative ads to define you, and you feel you have a strategy to combat that. >> i think it is very possible

with a lot of work and discipline to keep communicating new ideas, new solutions and to bring together people who want to really change washington so that we have a movement across the country. and that's what future.org is all -- that's from newt.org is all about. >> good to see you. >> good to see you. as we continue,

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everybody says i've got a friendly disposition and they love my spinach dip. 5 foot ten. still doing a little exploring... on it. my sign is sagittarius, i'm into spanish cheese, my hairline is receding but i'm getting a weave. (falsetto chorus) getting a weave. who wants some ronald tonight!? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. >> welcome back to las vegas, nevada. we are coming to you live from the win hotel and casino. you have heard from mitt romney and newt gingrich. and joining me now is former pennsylvania senator, presidential candidate, rick santorum. how are you? >> i'm doing great. good to be with you. >> you said you have a little bit of a cold. you have been through a little rough time here. >> we went through a rough time with our daughter, and i got her cold. you know, caring for her and being with her for a couple of days. you know, look, it's part of the process of being a dad, you know. kids come in and they get sick,

you get sick. she's home today. we feel very blessed. want to thank everybody, including you, sean, for your outpouring of support and prayers. i have no doubt that made a difference. she was in rough shape. >> i know you don't want to talk about it, but it was pretty bad? >> well, she has a disorder. she's not -- there's been some rather maddening articles written about her condition. and she has a disability like downs syndrome. it's a chrome sownal disorder. she's not gravely ill in the sense she's chronically ill. she's not. she doesn't have a terminal condition. she's someone who has a disability. and as a result of that disability, there are certain health risks. and one of them is respiratory. that's the big threat to her because her lungs are not particularly strong and airways are limited, things like that. so when she gets sick it's a very, very serious event and she got pneumonia this time, and it

was a serious, you know, serious time and we thankfully got her in the hospital and the doctors did a great job. they were able to open up her airways and create that breathing that was necessary to help bring her back, and she did great and she's doing fine now. >> glad to hear that. >> and she's a wonderful, joyful, happy little girl who loves her dad and mom and all of her siblings beyond be leaf. >> she doesn't have enough siblings, i think she needs a few more brothers and sisters. >> she's surrounded with love 24-7. >> all right. to florida. newt may contest the idea of whether or not there should be proportional distribution of delegates. >> yeah. >> the rnc said that was going to be the case until april 1st what was your underring in do you think newt is right? what do you think? >> look, what i was told when we went down to florida was that it was winner-take-all unless someone contested it at the convention. and the rule is that april 1st

you don't have winner-take-all. >> prior to april 1st? >> prior to april 1st and that someone could contest. the idea was it's winner-take-all unless there's an open convention. in other words, we don't have someone with the majority of the delegates to win and then you can petition to have this state aportioned. i think that's the case with florida and it should be the case with arizona and others who claim to be winner-take-all before april 1st. >> you, for the most part, have stayed out of the big battle that's going on between gov romney and speaker beginning. >> yeah. >> although you seem to be getting into it. you released a new ad yesterday. i watched your speech after the florida results came in, and you talked about a melee of negativism that exists, a mud wrestling match where everyone walks away dirty and not in a position to proudly represent the party. then you came out with new ads today. you are going after newt saying you had your chance and you are not a true conservative, and you are wrong on these issues. you are getting involved in it as well? >> i think it's different.

if you look at my ad, it's on issues. i talk about issues on positions he claims are different than what he said. i factuallily represented his issues and they are different than my. the mud wrestling i talked about is the personal attacks on newt working for freddie and fanny or mitt romney having, you know, having companies that went under. and, look, people are allowed to go out and make their money and neither of them have been accused of anything unethical in the work that they did in the private sector. but to bring that up as if somehow or another this taints you, and to be so personal and nasty about it. and, you know. >> you think they both have crossed the line? >> i think they crossed the line because they gave the impression that was this somehow, you know, seedy behavior, it's unbecoming of someone who wants to be president and because you owned a company and it went under you

don't care about people or you went out and helped a company with advice after you were speaker. >> but it works. that works. >> i can tell you, it may work, but the long-term for our democracy, the long-term for us as a party, it's a negative thing. i'm happy. and they should go after each other hard on the issues. i'm going to go after them hard on the issues because that's what you will mattly i believe this election in the fall is going to be about. having the best person who can take on barack obama on the issues. because if it's personal we are going to lose. because people like barack obama. i mean, you may not particularly love the man, but if you look at his personal ratings, people think he's a nice man, people think he's a -- >> we will talk more when we get back. because i don't see the barack obama in 2008. you can't run the same campaign. >> that's true. >> because he's a known entity now. he now has a record. he didn't have a record in 2008. >> go after the record. that's my point.

>> but he's going to say rick santorum is going to throw granny over the cliff. >> and i'm happy to go out there and tell him why he's the that you know actually is going to cause granny to go over the cliff by not doing anything to -- >> poor granny, either way these going over the cliff. >> granny and everybody else will go over the cliff if we don't get our fiscal house in order and that's the problem. >> thanks for being with us. don't go away. we have much more with presidential san tore rick santorum. we are on the saying the employee of the month is... spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles

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>> tonight we are in las vegas in nevada and we are speaking to republican presidential candidates. still with us, we continue with former senator and presidential candidate rick santorum. all right. let me ask you this, senator. walk us through a path to victory because this has been you win iowa -- first you didn't win iowa but then you won iowa. new hampshire goes to mitt, south carolina we saw literally a 25-point shift in the policy in a week. same thing in florida. 25 point shift in the policy in a week. walk me through what you think is your path to victory to get the nomination. >> you know, it's hard to predict the path to victory because anyone has predicted the

path to date. what i will say is we will go out and compete in every state. our intention is to be in this thing to the very end. and we believe eventually, and i don't know if it is this week or next week or super tuesday or after soup tuesday, eventually the race will move in our direction. we are the candidate best able to beat barack obama. we have the least amount of personal and professional baggage. we have the right track record from the standpoint of where i come from in western past to win the key states. i have the right policies to be able to attract the reagan democrats that can help us win the election. once that realization comes that not only do people like me, and you saw people in 1/2 we had the highest ratings of anybody in the state of florida on election day and yet we didn't win. why? well we really like you but you can't win. >> you didn't spend one pen my in florida. >> not one. well, travel expenses. >> i mean ads. >> not a penny. >> you didn't go up on radio, tv

or spinning. >> and we got almost 14% of the vote. it's almost half the vote newt got. and we stopped campaigning in florida on friday. we've been out here out west. we had the crowd last night in colorado spring works he had 2,000 people at a rally we put together three days ago. and a thousand people in another county next to colorado springs. we feel like there's a growing energy. the last few days for our campaign we raised half a million dollars in two days. people are beginning to realize that my and newt are not that different, that this mud wrestling they have been involved in is not going to be good for either of them as far as contrasting with barack obama. and that their candidacies are flawed, mitt romney on policy and newt on a combination of policy and personal. >> let me ask you, isn't there an up-side to what you are calling mud wrestling? in people are defining it as ultimate fighting. in as much as that's barack obama's campaign.

not just granny over the cliff, you want dirty air and water, you want kids with autism and down syndrome and the elderly to fend for themselves. these are all things the president himself has same he can't run a positive campaign. >> i agree. >> is this a good proving ground in terms of what you will deal with if you are the nominee of the party? >> i will say that it's not for me because the attacks are really personal attacks. they -- the policy will lead to grandma being thrown off the cliff or children with autism not getting care, they weren't that, they are you are a crook, you are a fraud, you threw people out of work. >> is there anything saying a paul ryan lookalike saying throwing grandma over the cliff? i don't think it gets worse than that. you don't care about kids with down syndrome and autism. >> they will have a hard time saying that to me. >> i don't think so at all. the audacity of the whole thing about paul ryan, i think they will say anything. >> they will say it, but, there's one thing to say it.

and there's another thing make it stick. and i don't think it sticks to us. >> i asked this question of both gov. romney and former speaker gingrich. walk us through, you become the president of the united states because i know people want bold change. i don't think this is a time for half measures. you saw the cvo report this week, the economic numbers are atrocious. walk us through your 30 days in office, what you can accomplish, executive orders, legislatively, how dramatic, how bold would you be if you are the president? >> the first thing you can do is open up energy. energy is going to be a key to getting this economy growing again. and opening up leases, opening up opportunities for us to build that pipeline. you know, get this economy going again. regulars. the obama administration has set a record for coal fired power

plant the next few years. y one that goes out the door. obamacare, repeal every single obamacare regulation. go out and move forward with the congress to repeal obamacare. if we have 60 votes or close in the united states senate we can do it. if not, we have to go through -- there's one executive order we can put forward that will -- that will, in fact, slow down obamacare and its implementation and then we will use reconciliation to repeal theert rest. that's corrects, i can go a long time but we don't have time. there's a lot we can do to get the economy going again. >> all right, senator. glad your daughter is feeling better and good luck with your cold. >> i feel great. i'm happy to be out on the road and enjoying anytime. >> that concludes tonight's hannity, vegas forum. i want to thank the people here