hampshire, what will romney do to beat back santorum and what about the ominous warning coming for newt gingrich? recess appointment. the president making big news today with the appointment of the nation's first chief consumer watch dog, despite the attempt to block it by the gop, the announcement cites a key swing state. and not the first time the man accused of setting dozens of car fires in los angeles is expected to be formally charged today. there are also now questions as to whether he was responsible for a house fire last year. and it is the "news nation" gut check. back to politics where we ask if you think rick santorum's surge is real. i'm tamron hall. the "news nation" is following the first gop casualty hours after the caucuses. earlier this week michele bachmann proclaimed she would stay in the race regardless of whether she won or lost in iowa. but after a dismal showing, second to last, bachmann

announce ad few hours ago that she was us suspending her campa. >> if we are going to repeal obama care, turn our country around and take back our country, we must do so united. and i believe that we must rally around the person that our country and our party and our people select to be that standard bearer. >> meanwhile rick perry announced he is staying in the race. late last night he announced he would go back to texas to decide his next move. he tweeted the next leg of the marathon is the palmetto state. here we go, south carolina. now the focus is on new hampshire. newt gingrich said he is preparing to strike out against romney. cnbc chief washington correspondent john harwood joins us. great to see you. what a night last night. let's talk a little bit about how this is all flowing into what you're seeing in new

hampshire today. >> well, i think the question is how does this field shake out? you've had one good development for rick santorum and one bad development. the good one was what you heard from michele bachmann in that gracious speech, getting out of the race and saying our party needs to unite around one person. rick perry went home to texas with all signs he would pull out of the race. both those developments together would make it easier for rick santorum to compete with mitt romney and newt gingrich in south carolina. but perry was talked into staying. some texas republicans i talked to think it was his wife who urged him to not quit this race. so now we've got a slightly more complicated picture but in the immediate term, that means rick perry will come to the debate here in manchester on saturday. another debate on nbc on sunday. and the game is on as rick santorum said last night. >> speaking of the game, give us insight on the ground strategy for romney and santorum. we know that santorum spent all that time in iowa.

i heard several times last night about many of the people on our air that basically, he was running for governor of iowa. what is his ground game in new hampshire and also for romney? >> trying to expand it very rapidly. he had made a significant number of visits to new hampshire as well as south carolina. but he didn't have much going here. he's been in single digits in the polls. he has to ramp up very quickly while simultaneously playing a game in south carolina which is a more auspicious target for him. so he has got to play in both places at one time. mitt romney has a greater institutional and financial capacity to do that. so this is why you know, mitt romney is built for the long run. and we've got to see whether santorum can turn this around very quickly. jon huntsman is barely into double digits. he has to see if he can somehow find a path through here in new hampshire. >> i want to play a clip from newt gingrich. he was on the daily rundown talking about his strategy. we saw the real bitterness

yesterday, last night in iowa. he has this titanic bring the whole ship down with him type of anger. let's play it. >> rick and i, between us, will draw a clear enough and sharp enough line with romney that we'll go through phase 1 of making clear to the country that romney is a massachusetts moderate. we're going to be out here trying to say we're the best candidates and in the process, i think we're both going to be defining romney out of the main stream of the republican party. >> like a tag team. i was thinking about the old super heroes. like a form of bitterness for newt gingrich. can he injure anyone at this point other than himself? >> yes. newt gingrich does not have a significant chance of winning this nomination anymore. he is too damaged for that. i have to tell you i've been watching newt gingrich for a long time. he is very effective on the attack. anyone who moderated a debate this past year saw that because he attacked a lot of the moderators. democrats who he attacked on the

way to taking republicans back to the house majority know how effective he is in that. and so expect him with some credibility to, among conservatives, to really go after him. when i saw newt gingrich toward the end of the iowa campaign, i can't remember someone who looked more upset about what had happened to him in the course of the campaign and he is taking it out on mitt romney right now. >> thank you very much. let's bring in our political panel. michael smerconish, and steve is a conservative radio idaho host. and amy stoddard is with us. talking about newt gingrich, he was to say the least extremely upset. you heard john harwood categorize it as perhaps the worst he's seen after the caucuses there. what do you make of newt's veiled threat? or maybe direct. he said he's going after romney. >> what i think is you don't ever tell the smartest guy in the room he has nothing to lose. and i had dinner with newt in

august right around the straw poll. and every one said he was out and he had lost his team to rick perry. and he came roaring back. he sort of had that eye of the tiger look that your previous guest was discussing. and i think you can see he has that look again. and whenever newt feels backed into a corner, that's actually from a conservative's perspective, when he is at his best. >> backed in the corner. when you come out, you have to come out swinging with something. does he have anything at this point that will propel him back to the top? or is it simply a strategy to destroy romney? because what does he have that would bring him back? >> first of all, gingrich is still by far other than romney, the most organized and well funded candidate in south carolina and florida. the states that are actually going to determine this nomination. and sure, he has ammunition against romney. his record. from romney care to taxpayer funded abortions to what he did to marriage in that state to all the lies the guy tells, to all the flip-flops the guy has. there's lots of ammunition

against romney. >> why didn't it work in iowa if he has so much ammunition on the ready? >> because frankly, newt made a foolish tactical error by saying i'm going to run a positive campaign. don't ever say i'm going to stay positive against a self-financed rhino with a lot of rich friends who don't give a rip about the country. i think we learned that lesson in iowa. >> you say he made the mistake of saying he would remain positive. he made the mistake again because he said it again last night. that he will remain positive but he has the right to tell the truthful he's not taking your advice. let me bring in michael smerconish. you know rick santorum very well. you are from pennsylvania. you have strong opinions on whether or not, he has the ability to go the distance here. >> i don't think that he does. i think for all the reasons, tamron, that he did so well in iowa, and by all accounts, this ought to be regarded as a santorum victory, not as a tie, not as a second place finish. i give him all props for having had that strong showing in iowa.

they loved his ideological purity. they love about rick santorum that he walks the walk and talks the talk. they love that he's prepared emotionally to take the fight to barack obama in the way that they want which is really, for all those reasons he is ill suited to win the independents who hold the cards in november. if he should become the republican nominee, he is not a guy who can carry suburbia. >> let me play what he said in the speech. everyone said it was amazing, from the heart. let's listen to what he said. >> if we have someone who can go out to western pennsylvania and ohio and michigan and indiana and wisconsin and iowa and missouri and appeal to the voters that have been left behind by a democratic party that wants to make them dependent instead of valuing their work, we will win this election. >> so there was an article today asking if santorum is the class hero. how do you answer that? >> he lost pennsylvania by 17

points in the 2006 election. so the glass is either half full when people will say well, he represented pen pechnsylvania. it's true but he lost by an enormous margin in the last go-around. and i don't think has changed where he can come back and win the state. if he can't win his own state, i don't think as he viable candidate nationwide. >> i've been handed a note. jon huntsman responding to senator john mccain endorsing mitt romney. we saw that in the last hour. huntsman said i have great regard for senator mccain. i love the man but it is another example of establishment piling on. it seems all the rest, nobody cares. nobody cares about this. that's what huntsman is saying about mccain endorsing romney. we know it is all or nothing for jon huntsman in new hampshire and he seems to be ready for the fight. >> so interesting that he is still aiming his fire at mitt

romney when i think he needs to aim it at rick santorum who is trying to take the fight there riding his momentum from a win in iowa or a tie in iowa. i don't like at iowa like a mitt romney victory because it was within eight votes and he got fewer votes than he did last time. but jon huntsman needs to know, if you're for an anti-romney choice know you're at mitt romney. he's done tons of events. 130 or something. he is getting larger and larger crowds. he is growing his vote in new hampshire and he needs to focus at the anti-romney voter and try to make sure that he can consolidate those voters in new hampshire and keep them away from rick santorum and stop aiming his fire at romney. >> with that said, it seems huntsman has run away from his conservative resume. he is playing largely to liberals, as it said on the east coast, in the northeast, and hasn't touted those conservative values that he believes that might help him out.

if he goes head to head with rick santorum and he is hiding behind the post with his record with conservatives, how does that help him? >> he hasn't been anticipating a rick santorum victory. and jon huntsman, as you are correct in pointing out, is playing to a more libertarian, more moderate republican electorate in new hampshire where in a contest as you know, independents will be able to vote. that is a contest that rick santorum is not well positioned for. he is well positioned for south carolina. jon huntsman is conservative on several issues. he has an unquestionable pro-life and pro gun record. and he touts himself as a fiscal conservative in his time as governor in utah with balanced budgets, et cetera. he will have to take that case to the voters of new hampshire and south carolina and say that he is as conservative fiscally at least, and on a life and gun issue as rick santorum. i don't think he was ready for the victory last night but he'll be his speeches in the days to come. >> politico is reporting exclusively that there has been an invitation sent out to

conservatives to meet in texas, a part of it says you and your spouse are cordially inslighted to a private meeting with national conservative leaders of faith with the purpose of attempting to unite and come to a consensus on which republican presidential candidate or candidates to support, which not to support. that is happening in the great state of texas where rick perry fled last night but he says he's coming back to south carolina. what do you make of this call for these religious conservatives to stand behind someone? >> i think it's about time. i think we need to stop doing high school where it's your click and my click and start being grownups. real pies four years ago we saw mike thompson and mike huckabee split this vote. we're heading right down the exact same roet road again unless we coalesce in front of one candidate who has a national resume and the ability to organize and raise money in the states that will determine this which is south carolina and florida. and right now, i think that candidate is newt gingrich.

>> steve, thank you. a.b., thank you as well and michael, always a big thank you to you. thanks, michael. >> and this sunday, david gregory will mod trait final presidential debate before the new hampshire primary. the debate will air on a special edition of "meet the press." also on msnbc, 9:00 a.m. eastern sunday. you heard we're a bunch of knee jerk reactionaries. >> coming up, i'll talk with the man who created this youtube video trying to fight iowa's conservative stereo type. but now that the caucus results are in and conservatives help propel rick santorum to a neck in neck battle with romney, what does this guy have to say now? on the chopping block, leon panetta set to unveil the military's new slashed budget. what he says the military will no longer be able to accomplish. plus, mariah carrey asks for prayers for her husband after a

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defense secretary leon panetta is planning to lay out plans to cut nearly $500 billion from the defense budget over the next decade. but he is expected to make it clear the pentagon will not be able to maintain its ability to fight and win two wars simultaneously with the cuts. nbc news correspondent jim miklaszewski joins us live. what more do we know about these cuts? >> defense secretary panetta tomorrow will not lay out the specific nitty gritty details of those budget cuts. he will talk about a new strategy that is going to have to be put into place.

the one that is getting all the attention is a change in the military strategy to be able to fight two consecutive wars at the same time. two major ground wars. but in fact, the reality has been that the u.s. hasn't been fighting two major ground wars at the same time in some time. even though waging wars in iraq and afghanistan. many military officials will tell you that the u.s. was actually fighting aggressively a war in iraq and just marking time in afghanistan. to the point where the taliban, while during the iraq war, was able to resurge and reclaim a lot of the territory they had lost in the initial invasion of afghanistan back in late 2001, early 2002. one of the other issues that is likely to attract a lot of attention is the fact that military benefits are going to be on the line. the u.s. military, the pentagon, pay about $74 billion a year in

health care and pensions, and while secretary panetta says those already receiving those benefits are going to be grandfathered in, they will not lose any of their benefits. in order to balance the budget, the military will have to give up some of those, what are considered sacrosanct benefits that have been extended to the u.s. uniformed military for decades. >> all right. thank you very much. we'll see what he has to say tomorrow as well. thank you. and coming up, president obama hits the battleground state of ohio and bucks republican opposition by announcing his appointment for a new consumer watch dog. plus, new details on the man suspected of more than 50 arsons over new years weekend. why he was under investigation in his home country last year. first in today's money minute. here's a look at the markets. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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the german man accused of setting straining of fires in los angeles is also under investigation for arson in his home country. a german official said harry burkhart is being investigated into connection to a house fire in frankfurt days before he traveled to the u.s. pligs say there is evidence connecting him to the fires in los angeles including fire starters in his vehicle. mike taibbi joins me now. originally we thought he would be formally charged today. as i understand it, the investigation is continuing. >> the investigation is continuing. but it's a pretty complicated case and a lot of components put together. there are 52 separate fires and at least a dozen of them also scorched adjoining buildings which were inhabited with mostly sleeping people. 2:00, 3:00 in the morning when these fires took place. in order to build a case for the most serious arson charges, that is to say arson against a

building which is inhabited, it takes a little time. he's not going anywhere. he is downtown in jail being held without bail. they'll build a case and present it to the d.a. for prosecution and arraignment when they can do that. it might happen by late this afternoon. it might not, we haven't got a definitive word. we're also learning about his mother who has her own crime problems, or alleged crime problems. she is a fugitive it turns out from 19 criminal charges filed in germany for embezzlement and fraud. i read the complaint. a lot of it doesn't sound all that serious in terms of major crime. she didn't pay for breast augmentation surgery she had in 2004. she pilfered security deposits from tenants. she collected for buildings she didn't own. but they qualify for extradition according to the treaty between the united states and germany. it was that process that set the son off last week. within a day those fires overnight started one after the other. a toll of 52 in all.

as i said before, he is in jail, she's in jail, they're both facing huge criminal problems and the investigation leading to a formal charge against them for all these counts. we're still waiting for that. >> thank you. and coming up, developing news out of texas. a stunning story. an eighth grader is shot and killed by police inside his school after someone saw him carrying a weapon. we'll have the very latest there. >> plus, rick perry announces he is moving on to south carolina despite his fifth place finish in iowa. we'll take a look at perry's strategy, if he has one at this point. and later in our gut check, do you think rick santorum's surge is real or will it be short-lived? we'll tell you how you can weigh in. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. the calcium they take

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blocked this is because they don't agree the law that set up a consumer watch dog in the first place. >> starting 2012, defying the gop. president obama makes a recess appointment naming a new consumer watch dog despite republican opposition. on to south carolina, rick perry tweets, the leg of the marathon in the palmetto state is continuing as he moves his campaign forward, despite his fifth place finish in iowa. >> you think we're all hill billies. four of the five of us live in cities. >> and iowa's so-called myth buster. i'll talk with the tv host who set out to break the conservative stereo type. what does he think about last night's caucus results and rick santorum's surge? and president obama went around comingal republicans. he announced richard cordray. he made the announcement about an hour ago during the visit to the key swing state of ohio.

>> for almost half a year, republicans in the senate have blocked richard's confirmation. they refused to even give richard an up or down vote. it's wrong. and i refuse to take no for an answer. >> nbc's mike viqueira joins us live. it was early yesterday that there was some doubt this would take place, that the president would take this step and he has proven the doubters wrong this time. >> absolutely. and he did it in ohio. the home of richard cordray. he was the attorney general. remember the senate led by republicans had blocked the confirmation of richard cordray to head that consumer financial protection bure officially many on the left hoped that elizabeth, the bureau itself is a brain child of warren's, there was too much opposition there. she did not, the president did not appoint elizabeth warren. she is of course running for senate in massachusetts. he stepped forward richard

cordray but no go there as well. now the president has done something that has enraged republicans today, tamron. they're calling it an illegitimate abuse of power. but what they're calling it in democratic circles, or at least how they're portraying it, the president standing up for what he believes is right, procedure and nice at thises of the senate be damned. this is what we're talking about. this is a recess appointment. the trouble is the senate which is in charge of confirming these appointments, of course, is not technically in recess. they come in every three days. they bang the gavel. they call it a pro forma session. today the white house communications director has called that a gimmick and a sham. only one problem with that argument. democrats used to do it, too, during the bush administration. you remember the fight over the u.n. ambassador john bolton and how he ultimately became a recess appointment as well. all presidents do it but no president has done it quite like this president has done it today with congress not even technically in recess. richard cordray will take his seat as the head of that board.

likely going to end up in the courts. >> thank you very much, mike, for the update there. now to the republican side of decision 2012. texas governor rick perry is continuing with his campaign, despite as you know by now, placing fifth in the iowa ucuses. he spoke to reporters a short time ago. we have the latest comments from perry. let's play it. >> we're going to go into places where they have actual primaries, and they're going to be real republicans voting. and not that there aren't real republicans in eye wax the fact is, it was a pretty lucy goosy process. and you had a lot of people who were there, that admitted they were democrats. >> nbc deputy political director mark murray joins us now. we're both texans so we speak texan. lucy goosy? i don't get what he means by that especially when governor perry was not saying that while trying to court the people of iowa. >> what he appears to be saying is that the process wasn't closed just to republican

voters. the iowa caucuses, you could end up having democrats and independents, as long as they signed up that day to participate. and of course, a lot of those folks are independents and some democrats were actually backing ron paul last night. the one problem of rick perry's logic is that south carolina's primary that occurs on january 21st is an open primary which means that democrats and independents, yes, can also participate there. so it is a little lucy goosy as long as they decide they're going to participate on the republican side and not on the democratic side. >> let's talk about his strategy here. we had with us steve dais, a support he of newt gingrich. and steve like rick perry really touting south carolina as perhaps the breaking point for newt gingrich. you hear a lot of confidence being expressed by rick perry in that state. why do they believe somehow they can have success there? >> well, they believe that you end up having south carolina, very similar to iowa. that there are strong

evangelical voters. a lot more very conservative voters. not as much in new hampshire. a bit more moderate folks. that's the reason why you have mitt romney being endorsed today by john mccain who is more of an independent, moderate up in new hampshire. so all of these republicans on the conservative side think that south carolina can be their fire wall. rick perry thinks it can be his fire wall. newt gingrich, the problem that they have is that if they are all competing, we could have a very similar result that we saw in iowa in which newt gingrich, santorum trul and rick perry end up dividing that conservative vote which would allow mitt romney to get a win out of south carolina. something he wasn't able to do four years ago. >> and romney has been endorsed by the governor, nicky healy of that state. but handicapped that state for him in your opinion for romney. >> it will be a very tough state. just like iowa was. but all of a sudden, 20%, 25% is all you need to be able to win there, it is very doable for mitt romney. so that is his strategy all

along, being able to split that conservative vote. it is worth pointing out that john mccain would have never won the south carolina primary four years ago if fred thompson hadn't taken away votes from mike huckabee. because fred thompson was taking away votes, that allowed someone like john mccain to go in and win. that would be mitt romney's formula as well. >> and real quick, we were talking about the president prior to your segment. he is in ohio. certainly not staying out of the spotlight or out of the news cycle while we talk so much about the gop field. >> right. we're seeing a new persona by the president. this started in september when he gave his jobs speech. he is much more progressive in his rhetoric and language. he is fighting with congress and this seems to be a strategy that the white house wants to be able to have. it moves into its re-election phase. president obama isn't really mixing one the romneys, he is mixing with republicans in the senate, the republicans in the house. >> all right. thank you very much.

we greatly appreciate it. now to a story we've been following. police shoot and kill an eighth grader in texas. they say the young boy was armed. that tops our look at stories around the "news nation" today. the shooting happened this morning at cummings middle school in brownsville, texas. the officer opened fire on a 15-year-old after finding him in the hallway with a handgun. police are investigating. still trying to figure out why the boy would have had access to a gun that he could bring to school. mt. rainier national park will reopen on saturday nearly one week after the shooting death of a park ranger forced a lockdown. the new years day murder of margaret anderson led to a massive search for 24-year-old benjamin colton. his body was found in a snowy creek at the park on monday after succumbing to the elements. iowa may have put rick santorum on the national pedestal. another name not on the ballot has gotten a fair share of attention online. as a result of the iowa caucuses, and the debate over whether iowa really represents

the nation. scott started in the video called iowa nice. his plan was to buck the perception that iowa conservative -- or that iowa is very conservative and that its residents are mostly farmers. >> you heard we're a bunch of knee jerk conservative reactionaries. i guess that's why we went democratic in five out of the last six presidential elections. how do you like me now? did your state legalize gay marriage before us? probably not. the first woman in america to become a lawyer was in iowa in 1869. iowa has the sixth lowest unemployment in the nation. ranked the richest metro in the country and the second happiest. i guess you can't have it all. >> scott joins us live now from des moines. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> before i talk to you about the results, what has been the reaction to your youtube video? >> oh, boy. first off, from an iowa front,

the messages that we've gotten the apply has made people proud of iowa. and that the words that were spoken in the piece were something that everybody has been thinking. and they didn't feel like they had a voice in the national media at that point to be saying those things. and to remind people, this is just the republican part of the state. and the democratic side isn't getting highlighted right now. which makes sense from a media perspective. but it was still frustrating. >> we know that iowa certainly is key to anyone winning the presidency in the general election, 2008, president obama, 54% of the vote. mccain, 45% of the vote. 2004, bush, 50%, kerry, 49%. back to your point about the focus of last night which was of course on the gop. 99% of those who caucused were white, 64% of them supported the tea party. 64. 57% consider themselves

evangelical. 47% very conservative and 42% between ages 45 and 64. what do you make of this surge? >> it's definitely interesting. i think iowans like to reward hard work. even the other candidates in the field, if you had them in a private moment might tell that you rick santorum worked his butt off more than anyone else in eye wax i think what's more, what's most important to remember about this state is that though we may not have the diversity and ethnicity that maybe other states in the union do, we do have a wide diversity of opinion in this state. and i think last night you did see that. it fell from what i've understood, from the results from last night, that turnout wasn't quite as high as it has been in the past. which i guess makes sense with not having both sides of the aisle really being represented. there was a democratic caucus as well. but essentially it was irrelevant. so -- go ahead.

>> to your point about the number, i think the comparison is the enthusiasm gap. there is a concern that people in iowa may be reflecting the lack of enthusiasm from the gop field because the number were not as high for this gop primary or caucus as it was for the democratic caucus in 2008. that is the comparison people are making. that there may be an enthusiasm where you is a you the turnout for hillary clinton and john edwards, you did not see that enthusiasm last night except for make rick santorum. >> yes. one of the things about a caucus is that it is really a commitment. you have to go there. not just going in to pull a lever. you have to be committed to the process and of course, i would love to see these caucuses and even, heck, the election day that comes in november get moved to saturday or a sunday when those people aren't working or even making an election day, a national holiday. that would seem to allow people

to be more accessible. of course in this economy, people don't want to be skipping out on work. >> they do not. your video caught our attention and the attention of a lot of people. we wanted to chat with you. thank you so much. >> i appreciate it. thank you very much. there's a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. the state department is upgrading its counter terrorism office into a new full fledged bureau. officials say the move is a strong signal at home and abroad about america's commitment to fighting extremism. secretary of state hillary clinton promised the upgrade last year as part of an effort to integrate counter terrorism into a broader agenda. spike lee is throwing a fund-raiser for president obama in manhattan later this month. the new york post said lee and his wife will host the commander-in-chief at their home with a dinner reception for 60 guests. the cost per person, $38,000 plus. the president is adding insta-gram to his social media

circle. the photo sharing service said it is excited to have president obama as a member. this behind the scenes snap shot is the first photo the president shared on the spot. those are the things we thought you should know. and straight ahead -- look at that body. david beck hal becomes the latest celeb to team up with h and m. this is not just an excuse to show his body. this is a retail story. an economy story and it is coming up. [ female announcer ] water was meant to be perfect. crisp, clear, untouched. that's why there's brita, to make the water we drink, taste a little more, perfect. reduce lead and other impurities with the advanced filtration system of brita.

coming up at the top of the hour, next stop, new hampshire. what a day on the campaign trail. bachmann out, perry in for now. an endorsement for mitt that may come back to bite him and newt poised to attack. plus, president obama himself makes a bold move in a battleground state. now back to tamron. i didn't realize, tamron, that you had such a crush on david

beckham. >> what woman doesn't have a crush on david beckham? and a crush on martin. a new report out today shows an imperfect economy is leading americans to buy more cars and trucks. last year americans purchased nearly 13 million cars and trucks. that's a 10% spike from 2010. industry analysts say easier credit and a desire to place aging vehicles is behind the surge. the momentum is expected to carry on into this year. phil covers the auto industry for cnbc and joins me live from chicago. is there one automaker that is standing above the rest at this time? >> at the end of the year, number one will be general motors. number two will be ford. toyota will be three. attention will be focused today on the number four automaker. that is chrysler. sales in the month of december for chrysler up 37%. admittedly, this is a company that is practically coming back from the dead over the last couple years but there is no doubt that chrysler has momentum now under the owner ship of fee at. you look at jeep, chrysler, all

of them in much better shape and it is just beginning for them. so that is some of the attention today. >> this is good news in that people feel confident to at least try to go get some credit and purchase a vehicle if they need one. >> and definitely, credit is easing. that's good. people should look at that and say that's a bad situation. what we're seeing are people with lower credit scores being able to go into a dealership and saying, can i get a lease or buy a car with a payment of $250 a month or $275? six months or a year ago, it might have been touchy about whether you could do that. now you can. >> rolling out that good news. and bridesmaids star kristen wig reportedly makes a bombshell announcement about the future sequel of a very popular movie. a health scare for mariah carey's husband and pictures of david beckham's new ad. you are in for courtney. good to see you.

we're starting off. i think everybody in the room looking at the internet screen. >> some of her co-stars were saying, the studio has to get her signed up before we'll get signed up. the hollywood reporter has a story out where she says i'm not working on a bridesmaids sequel right now. i'm writing something else. this is not shocking. oftentimes studios will go on and do a franchise without the main star. we'll to have see what happens. >> if you've seen the movie and i know you have, she is the movie. >> her character is hilarious. the movie made over $288 million. it did huge at the box office. so fingers crossed and she comes back. >> or maybe she's wise. after hangover, and i thought that was so fun, hangover ii was kind of a letdown for fans. >> and she didn't do her feature role until she was 37 years old. at this point she knows what she wants. she's paid her dues. >> mariah carey's husband? >> he is suffering from kidney failure. that's the picture of them in the hospital. they're in aspen, colorado.

she is snuggling up with him and they have the twins. >> they tweeted this from the hospital bed. >> is he okay? >> she's standing by her man. she said she is ready to leave aspen but the fact is that they're all together with their twins so he'll be all right. >> i hope so. we've left you plenty of time to discuss martin bashir's favorite story of the day. >> david beckham, yes. >> that's what martin bashir looks like. that's who i thought it was. >> could be martin. is that martin? >> i think that is martin bashir. >> look at that body. >> so david beckham has done a line for h & m. it is underwear, it will be t-shirts, the ad campaign was finally released so we see a couple of pictures of david in his briefs. >> i'm confused because h & m usually do a designer look but at a more affordable price. why the underwear? they're not that expensive. >> they've done lines with madonna and with kiley.

the underwear line, i think they want to capitalize on all that is david beckham. so you see him in the ads. you want to get the beck hal look and there you go. >> and there you go. okay. we're not going to giggle it up too much. dona donald trump was on the "today" show. >> teresa was in her ap studios. >> clay aiken. >> why? >> i didn't expect to see him on the apprentice. >> he's been laying low. his prime was a few years ago. you look at the lineup. you've got debbie gibson. arsenio hall. this will be a very intense season. bring it. on it should be fun to watch. we'll see what happens there. i think clay aiken and victoria goti. >> i think they go head to head. >> thank you. >> my pleasure. >> always good to meet my sister. >> the twin. >> that's what everyone says.

logon to scoop.com today. today's "news nation" gut check. we're not asking in martin bashir has a better body than david beckham. we're asking if rick santorum's surge is the real deal. do you think it will last? our gut check up next.

you can tweet us any time. time for the "news nation" gut check. rick santorum is holding a town hall meeting in brentwood, new hampshire tonight. he is hoping to keep up the momentum after losing to mitt romney by only eight votes. santorum declared, quote, game on. >> we will be in new hampshire. we'll leave tomorrow. we'll spend our time there. and with your help and god's grace, we'll have another fun night a week from now. god bless you.

>> santorum's surge from last place in the polls just weeks ago, thanks to a strong support from evangelicals and social conservative who's play an important role in iowa's republican politics. but what does your gut tell you? is rick santorum's surge the real deal? go to facebook.com/newsnation. and take a look at what they are saying about the gut checkful will the candidate who wins iowa win the republican nomination? we know the winner was romney, 9% of our viewers said yes. 91% said no. that does it for this edition of "news nation." thank you for joining us. i'm tamron hall. you can catch "news nation" every weekday at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. martin bashir is up next. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

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good afternoon. it's wednesday january 4th. here's what's happening.

mitt is it. >> out of new hampshire. let's get the job done. >> by the slimmest of margins, just eight voters decide -- >> i offer a public thanks to god. >> we're essentially three winners. >> trust me, you ain't seen nothing yet. >> i do reserve the right to tell the truth. >> i'm more conservative than i was ten years ago. >> three out of four republicans once again repudiated mitt romney. >> those are the same people who cling to their guns and their bibles. thank god they do. we begin with the republican field scrambling to new hampshire after a razor thin victory by mitt romney in iowa. just eight votes over rick santorum. each with about a quarter of the total. but if the close finish in iowa did not end with a clear front-runner,