what did you learn today, eric? >> ahmed chalabi and how seriously he put one over on the cia. >> off to boston for the massachusetts conference for women. will be fun. this afternoon. >> and we'll see you up there. also, "rolling stone's" year-end issue, great work as always, eric. if it's way too early, what time is it, mike? >> it's "morning joe." that's what it is. >> except right now it's time for chuck and "the daily rundown." at batch of polls show newt gingrich's lead solidifying even pull eight way in some primary states. but it's the general election results in key swing states that have the former speaker smiling. mitt romney releasing the house with less than four weeks to the caucuses, deciding to take more shots at gingrich directly and through sur galts. but the strategy comes with risk. and the clock keeps ticking

down to a deadline for a deal on the payroll tax holiday. can republicans stay together and withstand the president's political pressure? it's thursday, december 8th, 2011. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. we have sununu tsunami this morning. we'll explain that ahead. let's get to my "first readses" of the morning. as we speak, team romney is unleashing surrogate who is worked closely with gingrich back in the day to begin making the case against him. former governor john sununu will be here to explain what's behind the strategy. a new tv ad in iowa. romney uses parts of his biography that advisers believe are his key strengths as a way to underline what they believe are gingrich's main weaknesses. the multiple marriages and his often volatile tenure as speaker. >> i think people understand that i'm a man of steadiness and

constancy. i don't think you're going to find somebody who has more of those attributes than i do. i've been married to the same woman for 25 -- excuse me, i get in trouble -- for 42 years. >> the picture of ann and mitt romney together is the add a's screenshot. romney got help last night in iowa from governor chris christie, who testified to romney's character. >> politicians can be taught to fake a lot of things. you can't fake that. this is someone who i've come to know has an extraordinary heart. he loves his wife. he loves his children. first and foremost, when you look at these candidates, say is this the kind of person who's going to make me proud in the oval office and not worry will embarrass america or do something that will just make me ashamed? he just won't. >> you know, there were parts of what we saw yesterday, you thought, well, is this a subtle

pivot by the romney campaign? you put all this together, this is not subtle, folks. this is a full-fledged pivot. the romney campaign concentrating its forces on gingrich. he's the person standing in the way. closing the gap in new hampshire. he's ahead in florida. he's ahead in south carolina. he's ahead in iowa. they're trying to stop this head of steam that the speaker has. now, gingrich, he was asked about the obama campaign's relentless focus on mitt romney and made a case for his own electability. >> i'm perfectly happy for the obama people to decide they want to beat up on romney. it's a little tough on romney, but that's fine with me. when we get to the general election, if i'm the nominee after the president has those seven three-hour debates, we'll see how they feel about it. >> it will be interesting to see if you start seeing a pivot now by team obama. new poll numbers this morning confirmed that gingrich is not just the republican front-runner. he has eroded romney's central argument -- electionability. he leads by double digits in

iowa and narrowed the gap new hampshire in one poll by nine points and is dominating in south carolina by over 20, and in florida ahead by nearly 25 points. what has to worry the romney campaign this morning that gingrich is faring nearly as well as romney against the president in battleground states. in ohio, gingrich and romney are both virtually even with the president, up 43% to 42%. in pennsylvania, they both trail the president. but it's not a drastic difference. if you recall, there was a drastic difference when it was rick perry and mitt romney fighting it out of play. those were the two people we were matching them up against. romney needs electability. if he loses that, that is going to be even tougher for him, particularly when this fight moves to florida.

finally, speaking of poll, rick perry is desperate to catch up in iowa, and he's now making a frankly desperate and direct appeal to evangelicals with this new ad. >> i'm not ashamed to admit that i'm a christian. but you don't need to be in the pew every sunday to know that there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate christmas or pray in school. as president, i'll end obama's war on religion. >> well, rick perry is just the latest republican to try and capture iowa's religious and social conservatives who have yet to coalesce behind one candidate. big reason for that, no endorsement from this man, steve scheffler. he's president of the iowa faith and freedom coalition and a powerful force among iowa conservatives politically for more than 20 years. mr. scheffler joins me now. good morning, sir. thanks for coming on. >> good morning. >> i want to ask you about the rick perry ad. i know you've heard it.

the radio spots are all over the place. this kind of direct appeal going to work? >> well, i think it's a wide-open field so, you know, rick perry has probably got as good a shot as anybody. you know, nobody's coalesced around a single conservative alternative to mitt romney, and i think the iowa poll recently showed around 72% of would-be caucusgoers have not either decided on a candidate or could decide to switch to another candidate. so i think it's still a wide-open field, you know, and a lot of things could change shortly. >> if past is any guide here, it does always seem that the event g evangelical vote in iowa has proved to be very important, does usually end up for one candidate more so than any other. mike huckabee took advantage of this in 2008. in your estimation, i know

you're not endorsing, but who are the two or three candidates that have the best shot at getting a large chunk of the evangelical vote in iowa? >> well, again, i hate to be a betting man at this time, but i would say you've got people like rick perry and people like rick santorum and people like newt gingrich and -- let's see, what's the other one -- >> i know michele bachmann is making a play. >> >> yes. those four have the best shot. i suppose ron paul to some degree, but because he's a little more libertarian on some of the social issue, that might be a little less likely. >> you left out mitt romney, and there will be two questions about that. one is romney made more of an appeal for social conservatives four years ago in iowa. he hasn't done that this time. you talk to a lot of romney veterans from that campaign four years ago, and they really believe his own mormon faith

hurt him in iowa. is that still the case? >> i don't believe that that is the case by and large. i think the biggest thing that concerns social conservatives is where he was at on issues prior to 2007 before he came to iowa on issues like homosexual marriage and issues like the life of -- the life issue. and then when he came to iowa he talked a lot about those issues and then swung to the right. and now he is pretty silent on those issues. and i think another telling factor is the fact that has -- or their campaign has apparently made a conscious decision to ignore social conservatives by not showing up at their big events. but will cherry-pick smaller event where is he wants to be. you set a side that's in my view not helpful to him in reaching

out to that constituency. >> then there's newt gingrich. you mentioned he's a chance he does well with evangelicals in iowa. but you also made a comment recently saying, you know, he may not have put his moral failings, quote, completely behind him, but that some pastors in the state are accepting his pleas for forgiveness. >> no. i think that's the case. i actually sat with the speaker about a year ago with a group of pastors talking about, you know, some of his past history and, you know, he was regretful of that and asked for god's forgiveness. and i think by and large most evangelicals accept that for what it is, that they're concerned about somebody's present lifestyle as opposed to their past. so i think that's an issue that's basically only talked about by the press but is behind most of them.

>> who of the candidates in iowa has done the best job of trying to appeal to the evangelical vote? >> if you talk in terms of people who have spent the most time here, it's probably rick santorum. i still wouldn't underestimate his ability to do much bert on caucus day than some people might expect him to do. he spent a lot of time here. he connects well with people. so, you know, he possibly could be a sleeper in this race in iowa on january 3rd. >> all right. steve scheffler, one of the powerbrokers, one of the most in touch when it comes to the political power of the evangelical vote. thanks for coming on this morning. >> thank you. capital crunch time. president obama is putting the pressure on republicans to get a deal done on payroll tax cuts. we have the ex-senator here, blanche lincoln, democrat john sununu, republican. they'll give us their take on whether congress will be able to get anything done before the end

of the year. but today we've got two sununus for the price of one. former governor john sununu will be here, too, later. he's leading the romney charge against newt gingrich. we'll get the inside scoop on why romney is making this strategy and making this pivot. first a look ahead at the president's schedule today. he's got a hanukkah reception. but i think you're going to see a lot of push on his version of the payroll tax compromise. you're watching "the daily rundown." have

if the payroll tax cut is

attached to a whole bunch of extraneous issues not related to making sure that the american people's taxes don't go up on january 1st, then it's not something that i'm going to accept. >> the president threatening to veto any bill to extend the payroll tax holiday if it's tied to any other legislation, the key being about that keystone pipeline. speaker boehner said that's a fight republicans are willing to have. two former senators, blanche lincoln of arkansas and john sununu of new hampshire. okay, we have the pressure of christmas on this wonderful body that is the united states congress. senator lincoln, we know that there seems to be a lack of compromise now happening in the senate, that it seems to have shut down and now all the action is on the house. where is this going? >> well, i think you hit the point. it's not whether or not the payroll tax, any of these things. it's are democrats and republicans going to come

together and figure out solutions that are going to put this country forward. that's the biggest issue. a payroll tax, there are a lot of hardworking americans that are on the edge, and if this doesn't happen, i mean, this is the patient. we've put a tourniquet on it. that's what we did when we did the payroll tax cut, was the tourniquet. >> right. can't get it off yet. >> you can't. the patient is still bleeding, hemorrhaging. our economy is hemorrhaging. if we don't do something. that's got to happen. people have to come together and work and make it happen. >> senator sununu, everybody seems to be in favor of doing this. the question is how do you do it. and it does seem as if there are some senate republicans that are basically -- their patience is running out and they might be more willing to sign on to something democrats come up with. >> certainly true. but two chambers, the house and the senate. payroll tax cut, tax measure, they start many the house, so that's part of the reason for deferring to the house action. the house is almost certainly

going to put other items in this job creation package. >> mm-hmm. >> besides the payroll tax cut. those are measures that are going to have some bipartisan support. and whether the president likes it or not, some sort of clarification to move forward, help facilitate the investment, the job creation associated with both the construction of the pipeline and the expansion of access to north american energy, that's -- there's a good chance, not certain, but that could be in the package. and what usually happens, house puts something together, it's got a few items in it, not all will be loved by the senate, and that's when the negotiations start. >> what's your sense in the senate -- the president, he did a veto threat because we said he did a veto threat, but actually he didn't really -- it was sort of -- i thought he was actually carefully wording it, which tells me there may be some bipartisan agreement on the keystone pipeline in the senate. and that thing could end up on his desk. >> it should. there's no reason it shouldn't. i mean, you look at claire

mccaskill and sue collins. they've come together to figure out how to do the payroll tax and pay for it, which i think is very responsible. we can't keep doing these things and not paying for them. and i think there's certainly a reasonable compromise to be had on the pipeline. those are jobs. those are huge jobs in that area. and much needed. >> you know, it's interesting. it does seem to be the president punting. you had secretary clinton i think it was six months ago essentially saying, yeah, because it's across another country's board teshgs state department had regulation over this, and she was inclined to aprove it. everybody seemed to be for it, then the president didn't want to pick a fight with part of his base, which, by the way, is a familiar thing with what he did yesterday. >> yes. >> kryou know, sort of punting. >> and picking a fight. >> do you think that's smart politics? >> i think unfortunately it's all politics. and that's not what people are looking for right now. people are looking for results. i mean, the fact is we want to

look for science-based decisionmaking, and that's what was yesterday, that came out fda. and then just out of the air we threw away the science-based evidence and rule making and -- >> but, senator, that's sort of the politics of this. this is the plan b. this would have been the decision to take e is essentially the morning-after pill for women under 16. secretary sebelius, their argument is the science may be there, but do we know that a 14-year-old would know how to take this pill? >> the senator says, as you point out, it's politics, right? and i think what you've got is an administration, a white house that's committed themselves to the campaign process, both of the kinds of speeches the president is making on the road, decision on keystone, this decision yesterday on plan b. and they're going to continue this political approach to all things until they have some evidence that it's not working or that the public is wearing

thin, the public is getting frustrated by it. i think the public doesn't really want to see it. they want to see a little bit more action, a little bit more focus on the economy. but the president seems committed to a political agenda. >> but senator lincoln, when you have your opponents, at least on the other side, who would have taken an issue like this plan b and just used it to try to create a rift with catholic democrats, for instance, pennsylvania, wisconsin, ohio, oh, by the way, swing states, did they have much of a choice? >> well, i think one of the things that's so important to realize is, one, we are clamoring for science-based evidence and science-based decisionmaking. i think it's critical to put certainty to the things like regulations right now. i've been working really hard on looking for sensible regulations, particularly for small businesses, so there's some kind of certainty. it's a great way to grow jobs that doesn't really cost a whole lot. i think the point here is, is at

a time when for once in i don't know how many years our teenage pregnancy rates are going down, you know, we've got an opportunity here to really make a difference, and, you know, using that science-based evidence and letting agencies do what they are supposed to do is a critical part of what we've got to get back to. >> apparently it may have been the first time in the fda's history that the secretary used his powers. >> yes. >> quick political question for you, senator sununu. speaker gingrich was asked yesterday about this idea that he may -- when you were a senator, that speaker gingrich encouraged you to take a position on a freddie mac issue, which, of course, would be a form of lobbying. did that happen? >> me? no. i never talked to newt about it at all. i introduced legislation with chuck hagel in 2005 to toughen the regulation of fannie mae and freddie mac. we knew they were going to unleash lots of lobbyists. we certainly didn't realize that newt was one of the paid hands. i don't know of him speaking

directly to any member and asking -- >> no evidence. >> -- to take a position. he was clearly out there advocating, supporting, acting as a booster for their business model. and, you know, the suggestion that he told them their business model was insane is really ridiculous, because they weren't paying anyone to tell them to change their business model. they had people like me telling them to do it for free. and obviously, you know, the cost of the taxpayer has been huge. >> i believe you have not endorsed anybody in the presidential race. >> i have not. >> hopefully we'll have that. senators lincoln and sununu, nice to have you on. thank you. all right. so can wall street pull off a fourth straight day of gains? by the way, did you know that ben bernanke is way more popular than anybody in europe these days? and missing millions. jon corzine will be in the hot seat on capitol hill just moments from now. and he's not going to take the fifth.

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time. it's all because of things we think the europeans are saying and when we get different interpretations, it turns the market around. looked like we were going to open about 90 points on the expectation that the ecb was going to say things that sounded like maybe they'd be open to buying some bonds. that would give us the beginning of a solution for europe, or at least that's what the market was thinking. then he started talking and we got a little deeper into it, and it turns out he is not interested in buying bonds. at least those are the headlines that have been coming out of the news interpretations from his press conference this morning, and that turned the futures around. now it looks like we'll open down by about 65 points when the opening bell rings in a few minutes. it will be all about the eu in the next couple days. i'd be remiss if i didn't point out the jobless claims. a little better than expected for jobless claims in the united states. it was 381,000, which is below the 404,000 from last week. key is below 400,000, and it was below the 390,000 that was expected. but it's all about europe.

we'll keep listening to this. >> very quickly, i saw an investor poll that gave bernanke a 71% approval rating. >> really. >> he's become, you know -- the fed chair is a punching bag in my world, in the political world. >> yeah. you listen to what congress wants to do to the fed, you certainly believe that. i'm surprised by those investor approval ratings, too. >> little higher than you thought, huh. >> yeah. better than congress' rating. >> that's not hard. >> yeah. becky, thanks very much. >> see you. the presidential race. gloves are coming off. the romney campaign is going on the offensive today, hitting gingrich where he's weakest. our second sununu of the day will be here to discuss the campaign. and it looks like democrats now believe they have the upper hand to win the fight to win back ted kennedy's former senate seat. ♪

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you're looking at live p pictures right now of capitol hill, where attorney general eric holder will be appearing momentarily before the house judiciary committee. he's going to be testifying on that botched gun sting plan known as operation fast and furious. also going on right now, the house agriculture committee is about to hear testimony from jon corzine, the former new jersey governor and democratic senator about the bankruptcy of his former financial firm mf global. investigators are searching for more than $1 billion, with a b, that went missing from the firm's books and. in his prepared testimony, he's expected to apologize and say he just don't know where the money is. a few other stories making headlines. in a new umass/"boston herald" poll, elizabeth warren is leading the incumbent scott brown in a high-profile massachusetts senate race. warren gets 49% to brown's 42%. interestingly enough, there seem

s to be a lamming among brown's supporters that he hasn't been able to support bipartisan legislation in the senate. speaking of the senate, they'll vote this morning on a nomination to lead the new consumer financial protection bureau. he is not expected to be confirmed today given republican complaints the new agency itself is too powerful. there are hints that may be there is a recess appointment if somehow the senate does go into full recess. the obama administration is overruling, as you heard us talk earlier, the fda's initial decision to make the plan b morning-after pill an over-the-counter drug. the health and human services secretary, kathleen sebelius, wants to continue the status o quo, which requires women younger than 17 to get a prescription. that is drawing criticism from reproductive rights activists, one of the first ever that an hhs secretary has overruled the fda. in 71 days, disgraced illinois governor bin ladfverno

blagojevich will report to prison. he was convicted on corruption charges related to trying to sell president obama's former senate seat. as you heard former louisiana governor say yesterday louisiana hasn't sent a former governor to prison in a while. trying to make the case somehow louisiana is not as corrupt as it used to be. the romney campaign is waging an all-out offensive today against newt gingrich's growing momentum and surge in the polls. just moments ago, the romney campaign hosted a conference call with media outlets attacking gingrich's record. former new hampshire governor and chief of staff under george w. bush joins me now. you worked with newt gingrich back on high-profile fights when he was one of the leaders of the conservative movement on capitol hill. is this personal? >> no. look at what he did to paul ryan. paul ryan is the conservative republican -- a conservative republican leader in the house.

he worked with the republican leadership there. he put a plan together to deal with the deficit and resolve some of the conflicts and problems we have with the entitlements. it was the plan that republicans were counting on in this legislative session. and frankly in an effort to promote himself and to sound a little bit more clever than his republican friends, newt gingrich threw him under the bus with his phrase about it was conservative social engineering. that's what people are upset about newt gingrich about. it's not personal. it's about the way he deals with issues in a way that is more about him than about the principle behind the issues. >> a lot of republicans are trying to distance themselves from the paul ryan plan. a lot of republicans in the house, a lot of republicans in the senate, a lot of republican strategists are trying to distance themselves. >> but the true conservatives are sticking with paul ryan, and that's the point. mitt romney supported the paul ryan plan -- >> so it's his plan. >> -- romney put forth his own

version of entitlement and reform that paul ryan praised. they are really putting forth the same kinds of principles and a pair of plans that could be the framework for solving our major problems. the fact that paul ryan recognized the value of mitt romney's plan and mitt romney has said he'll sign paul ryan's plan suggests there's a great team there to help solve america's problems. >> one of the difficulties, it seems, for governor romney has been to appeal to conservatives. in our own polling both in iowa and new hampshire, most republican voters who call themselves conservative view him as a moderate. is that why suddenly gingrich is able to surge in the polls? >> well, i think there's been a series of looking for alternatives. but what we're talking about right now is a contrast on issues. this is the season where candidates get contrasted. and that's why the paul ryan situation is such an ideal example. look at the way the faux

conservative grich haingrich hat and the real conservative mitt romney handled it. >> you believe newt gingrich is a faux conservative. >> all he cares about the newt gingrich. that's why you're getting peter molinari -- tom coburn, class ig conservative in the senate, was in the leadership with gingrich, is appalled at what gingrich has done to ryan. these kind of things make a difference. when you take your friend's principles and turn your back on him, off problem. i don't think newt gingrich cares about conservative principles. newt gingrich cares about newt gingrich. >> what is it, then, mitt romney has to struggle to do to convince conservatives he's one of them? hoo we >> well, what he did in massachusetts was convert deficits into surpluses. he cut spending. he cut taxes. i go back to what i started with. he supports the conservative package that's the most fundamental package for

conservatives to solve the deficit and the entitlement problem. right there and there -- then and there you have the biggest, most important contrast that people should look at in this campaign. >> you believe the paul ryan plan should be the litmus test for conservatives on who they support in this presidential race. >> it is one of a number of litmus tests that newt gingrich has failed. >> there's a tv ad we've been playing that started today in iowa and new hampshire where governor romney emphasizes his 42 years of marriage. is that an attempt to contrast with newt gingrich? >> i think it's an attempt for him to talk about his own constancy. i don't think they mention newt gingrich in there at all. if they wanted to run an anti-gingrich ad they'd run an ad based on paul ryan's plan. >> governor ryan -- governor sununu, thanks for coming on. >> had my son on this morning. >> the plural of sununus? what is it? >> a palindrome.

>> thank you very much, sir. we're fresh out of sununus, but our political panel will be here next. but first, as always, the white house soup of the day, chicken tortilla. i can promise you this -- this is not a leftover soup. this is not made of leftovers because they serve nod chid no last night. [ male announcer ] xbox 360 with kinect, this season's hottest games and...sweatbands. [ grunting noises ] ahh! this is gold. [ mom ] woo! [ game ] snaps up the ace. i'll never be popular. [ game ] next game decides our winner. [ male announcer ] get low prices on this season's hottest games. like kinect sports season 2 for xbox 360 with kinect. rated e for everyone. backed by our christmas price guarantee. save money. live better. walmart.

"the daily flashback," this day in 1993 when president bill clinton signed the north american free-trade agreement into law, nafta linking the u.s., canada, and mexico into one trading bloc. leaders promised the deal would create millions of good jobs, but even nafta's strongest supporters believe accord hasn't lived up to all of its goals. if you'll recall, bill daley, now chief of staff, played point man for president clinton on

rounding up the bipartisan votes they needed to get that thing past. new jersey governor chris christie is one of the romney surrogates making romney's electability argument for him. >> he is the only person who i believe can legitimately take the fight to barack obama this november. and so as republicans, we know we love our party, but i will tell you that if you're looking for the candidate who agrees with you on everything, buy a mirror. okay? buy a mirror. >> reischea pero, white house correspondent for npr and also the president of center for american progress join us. welcome all. electability argument, ari, shapiro, we have all these polls out today showing romney is running a little bit better but not a lot bert and suddenly if the electability argument goes away for mitt romney, that's not great for those last-minute swing voters who may be looking

for a conservative they connect with on a gut level. >> that's right. in terms of connecting on a gut level, yesterday i was at the yu jewish republican forum where six candidates spoke and people i spoke to loved gingrich, said he connected with them on a gut level. in the next few weeks as we see retail politicking in iowa and new hampshire, you'll see that play out and some undeseeded voters will make their decision based on who they personally liked, at least based on the jewish forum yesterday. they liked gingrich a lot. >> you spent a lot of time on capitol hill. one thing that the romney campaign is contemplating is just to bring as many members that worked with newt gingrich as possible to sort of serve as anti-testimonials. we've got some members of the establishment, dan quayle this morning on the "today" show, you heard from governor sununu, senator sununu, who's not committed, even tweak, the speaker there. but newt gingrich has what i would argue a pretty powerful pushback on all these.

he was asked, for instance, about tom coburn's criticism. here's what newt said yesterday. >> tom coburn. look, i wish everybody had loved me, but i'd rather be effective representing the american people than be popular inside washington. >> the risk of going after -- of going after newt for not having -- for people that worked with him not being happy with them. there's some risk. >> i think there's a little bit of risk if he wins and he's the nominee for these members of congress. there is a huge crowd. romney doesn't exactly have his work cut out for him finding members of congress who served under gingrich who will come out against him. every day i talk to a republican house member who said gingrich's speaker tenure left a terrible taste in their mouth. >> your side is starting -- it looks like you're starting to turn the aircraft carrier and say, okay, we've been effective hitting romney, and i think there are a lot of republicans who believe that the democratic machine has taken a toll on

romney. are you starting to get nervous about newt? >> no. look, i mean, i think newt is in many ways a really good candidate. he really speaks to the anger in the republican party. >> one could argue channels it better than anybody running, whether the president or others. there is a lot of anger out there. >> absolutely. he channels the republican anger. one of the reasons he's doing so well smit romney's criticism of obama was targeted towards, you know, independence, like he's a good guy but he can't -- you know, he's just over his head, really. newt gingrich has an argument against obama that is entirely focused on the republican conservative base, which is filled with vitriol and hatred. i think the challenge -- i mean, he's -- i think that will ultimately turn out independents. but i will say that, you know, it's enjoyable as a democrat to see this level of squabble and see republicans turning on each other this viciously.

>> ari, in many ways, though, this was inevitable. getting closer. 26 days from there. mitt romney got some help today not just from a governor sununu or talent that did that call. the wall street editorial board beat gingrich up over his stance on medicare, which seems to be where the romney people want to go. they want to make paul ryan the litmus test, which, by the say, woman republicans won't be happy about that. >> right. >> let me read what the editorial board said today. the contradictions of mr. gingrich's entitlement plan reveal part of his character, the grand yoes nature of his rhetoric. he might achieve more if he spoke more softly and carried a bigger stick. same argument you heard governor sununu trying to make, sort of tie the ego to the policy. >> right. what's interesting so me the they talk about republicans turning against each other. gingrich has made a promise not to turn against romney or other republicans in the primary field. as we start to see all these

weapons trained at gingrich and romney and the wall street editorial board firing away at gingrich, i wonder if we'll see the gingrich campaign keep that promise not to fire back at romney and the other republicans or whether they will decide, you know what, we've got to return fire and go after romney and attack him after all. >> the only thing i would say about that is, look, you know, i think it's helpful to have all these people attack him, and i think it's going to be hard. i think as a front-runner you near the best position, when everyone is attacking you and taking on the president, i think he'll be strengthened by this and it will weaken romney that he has to go negative. there will be a negative reaction. >> there's talk the gingrich folks want to start rolling out members of congress that will support him and blunt these attacks that are coming that -- the whisper campaign coming from the class of '94. >> they might have some hout. wes moreland endorsed gingrich. romney' list of member ep dorsment is very, very long. it's hard to see anyone catching

up with him at this point. >> shira, ari, neera, stick around. trivia time. the answer is jeanne shaheen of new hampshire. not only the first woman to be elected to both. she's the only one. and by the way, she tweeted in the correct answer. we're not sure whether we're going to give her credit for being the first correct answer. we'll be right back. you're watching "the daily rundown." ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups.

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♪ good morning, welcome to "morning joe" 6:00 a.m. on the east coast. let's bring back our panel, ari shapiro and neera tandin. there used to be front-runners in the race, the governor of texas here's what he said about all of the polls showing him in single digits. >> we've got our own internal stuff that shows us with a nice path to victory in iowa. i just saw a paul as we were coming in that had me in second

place. it was off the internet i think, hot gas was the sign. >> a national poll? >> just iowa. it is a very, very fluid race in iowa in particular. polls are fun and interesting things, but iowa caucus is really different. >> i think he was referring to hot air, but that's pretty fun he said hot gas but it anyway, shira tuplets he's making this direct appeal at evangelicals and if the elite here in washington may roll their eyes about it, but it can be an effective strategy in the state of iowa. >> absolutely. asked mike huckabee about iowa. they have their own people who turn up to a caucus. >> not influenced by fox news or the "wall street journal" editorial. >> exact he will. perry's campaign in many ways can't touch the network that could turn out for the right

candidate from evangelicals. >> i have a gut feeling third place in iowa will mean something. >> it's going to be an accumulation of delegates from one state to another and quite possibly a long, drawnout campaign that right now everybody is expecting that it comes down to romney/gingrich. >> ron paul has a effective large base. >> a lot of moving pieces and three weeks left until the iowa kauss is a lot of time. >> you were a veteran of the clinton campaign and i want to talk to you about battleaxes. yesterday gingrich got on the ohio ballot, only three republicans made it, ron paul was not one of them, perry, romney and gingrich. the virginia deadline comes up, everybody had a hard time getting on the virginia ballot four years ago. explain why it's so hard? >> it aches a lot of resources and you need to actually have a campaign infrastructure to be able to do it and that's something that gingrich really

doesn't have. >> you think this will be the fairest test? >> it's a totally legitimate test and on the other hand my view of these things is these states will go in waves and our race four years ago we lost virginia because there was a wave behind obama and so i think the thing is for gingrich, people talk about organization, the message is the most important thing in the races and he's got the message right now. >> got it in spades. >> hello to my family in israel who just got msnbc on their tv out there. >> look at you, total joint plug. neera? >> i'd like to plug think progress, they found reagan talking about the warren buffett rule and a lot of people are using that these days. >> the band pink martini has an album "joy to the world" in starbucks everybr. i sing a couple of tracks to so go get it. >> really? >> it's true.

>> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." see you back here tomorrow morning. coming up next on msnbc, "jansing & co." then at 1:00, don't miss andrea mitchell reports. i'm filling in, among our guest also be andrea saul, the u.s. postmaster general, and more. in an unknown sky. their safety systems built of brain and heart, transforming strange names from tall tales into pictures on postcards home. and the ones who followed them, who skimmed the edge of space, the edge of heaven, the edge of dreams.

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. not just the flavor of the month anymore, newt gingrich is proving that he's pulling away. so check out these new quinnipiac polls. three battleground states, all of them, florida, ohio and pennsylvania he is beatest his biggest challenger in double dimities. with the clock ticking, romney is picking their differences. >> imenot a creature of washington. i'm a creature of the private sector, a business guy.