welcome back to manchester, minnesota. we asked you at the top of the show what you were doing up at this hour. john tower, what do you got? >> we've got a linda in connecticut who writes, willie, you're the tim tebow of the morning. just when you think -- just when i think you can't pull it off, you toss a mind-bending hail mary. >> thank you, john. that was very -- just rolled right off the tongue. you know, if you turned on the

news last night in manchester, new hampshire, waiting for big news about the primary they're so proud of. the lead story, tim tebow is coming to new england. i kid you not. "morning joe" starts right now. . the broncos have been in three overtime games this year, they've won them all. got him at the 40. thomas at the 50, to the 20, thomas to the 10, going on to new england! they win the first play of overtime. possession to close it out. >> good morning. wait, wait, wait? aren't we supposed to be covering politics? >> this is the politics of god. it's tebow, baby. tebow! >> good morning, everyone. >> let me just say -- let me just say, everybody always says, i mean, you know haleprin will tell you, you look in the index

of your game change book, new hampshire is scarborough country, but today it's tebow country. and also there's one freak over here that thinks it's lsu country. >> hello. >> i'm deeply disturbed, mika. >> live at j.d.'s tavern in manchester, new hampshire, where besides the fact that tim tebow is the hero of the day, the primaries. we have msnbc and time magazine senior political analyst mark haleprin and national affairs editor john heilemann. >> this is exciting. >> we were at an event. >> we celebrate democracy every time we come up to new hampshire. i do want to make a reference this morning. and you know, there are those who are not as advantaged as the rest of us. there aren't -- you know, and sometimes people -- let's just face it. sometimes you have runts of the litter that are born that aren't

quite as quick as everybody else in new hampshire. and i have to start the day off -- >> no, you're not going to insult this man. >> i'm insulting this man -- this is one of the most hateful human beings. sleazy tactics, the type of which we see in the sort of hit-and-run 30-second super pac ads. have you no shame, sir? have you no shame? >> so we're at an event last night at the university of new hampshire, we finish -- >> we invite our friend. >> chris christie was there, made a little news. >> and sam stein comes running up with a computer. we think, my god, are you working? it's 10:00 at night, what are you doing? >> and he shows us tebow. >> that was unbelievable. tim tebow. let's hear it for timmy tebow, huh? tebow time. >> unbelievable. >> are you going to be saying that when they play the patriots? >> yes, yes, because i'm on the

side of the lord. >> why do you hate jesus? seriously? >> i thought he liked the patriots. i'm sorry. >> we're looking at shots of chris christie also, and right now, of course, showing tebow. but we were showing pictures of chris christie who was there last night at the event. and mika he did make some news. and i find it fascinating. you have mitt romney and a lot of the daily tracking polls going down a point or two per day. you have jon huntsman in quite a few polls which we're going to show going up. chris christie came last night. he gave a very positive talk. somebody asked him about jon huntsman and it got pretty personal pretty quickly. and of course, john heilemann from that point suddenly tom ridge came out and started bashing chris christie. chris christie basically questioned jon huntsman's loyalty. >> integrity. >> and integrity. and there are many that are suggesting that the romney people are getting a little nervous.

>> well, i think there's no question that jon huntsman yesterday in the nbc debate had his best moment in any debate on this issue. >> a great debate. >> on saturday night, mitt romney criticized his service in the obama administration. the next day, having 12 hours to figure out a great response, he hit romney twice in sequence. first by saying, you know, i did this country first invoking john mccain to make the point he was serving his country and not serving a democratic administration and came back and hit romney a second time saying this is the kind of attitude that divides our country and there's no good in it. it took them six months, the entirety of the huntsman campaign, waiting a moment to formulate that argument. he made that point very strongly -- >> made a good point. >> and in some ways christie attacking him yesterday on it allowed them to make the point again and feel good about it. >> and i -- we love chris christie, and i'm sure they were -- they told chris, get up here and be strong and hammer

hard. but, mike barnicle, the romney team played right into jon huntsman team. i can't think of another state in the union where somebody could make the argument that jon huntsman made. i'm doing this for my country. i'm not doing this for one party or another, i'm doing it for my country where that message resinates more than it does in the state of new hampshire. and attacking somebody for working for the president of the united states in one of the toughest ambassadorships on the planet, that only helps jon huntsman, doesn't it? >> well, with the exception of that -- i don't think you have to walk very far in think city or any other city or town in new hampshire where you don't encounter people who just want all of that put in the rearview mirror. the attacks on each other. like the debate stage. the constant attacks back and forth between the candidates. most people are in a frame of mind in this state and many

other states. stop attacking one another, tell us the voters what you intend to do if you're elected president of the united states. the romney camp slipped and fell when they continued the argument yesterday. it's a non-winner for them. john and i saw governor huntsman last night. you can just sense he's creeping up toward number two. he might catch ron paul, i think. >> and we'll show the polls in a minute. i'll tell you, we asked everybody who came up here, who are you voting for? and i always do this a couple of nights before any election, because you can pick so much up from the crowd and get the sense of momentum. and a lot of them are saying jon huntsman. i'm hearing mitt romney and i'm hearing jon huntsman. >> let's show you what happened in realtime. alex, we have chris christie and huntsman's debate. okay. so this is just the background. the attack came saturday night from mitt romney to jon huntsman for his service to the obama

administration under ambassador to china. there was a question from one of the members of the audience last night at our event at the university of new hampshire town hall. and chris christie added to that criticism. take a listen. >> i would be kind of pissed if i were barack obama. i give this guy a job, he's over in china representing my administration where you know the whole part of the time he's planning to run for president. this thing did not come up organically, that's not the way it works. and all of a sudden he lands back in the united states and there's a presidential campaign waiting for him. so i wonder a little bit about huntsman's integrity. my issue is not that he worked for the president, but i understand why mitt thinks it's an issue. my bigger issue is, why was he being disloyal to the president while he was working for him? that's the bigger question. >> so i mean -- look, he went for it for sure last night.

audience was kind of quiet. >> the audience was quiet. and by the way, when he said i question his integrity, i think that would probably be an applause line in south carolina, in northwest florida where i'm from, it's not an applause line in new hampshire. >> well, we're going to have jon huntsman on the show tomorrow to respond. chris christie will be back on wednesday. here is how jon huntsman defended himself on this issue on yesterday's "meet the press" debate. >> i was criticized last night by governor romney for putting my country first. he criticized me while he was out raising money for serving my country in china, yes, under a democrat. i want to be clear with people in new hampshire and this country, i will always put my country first. and i think that's important. >> i think it's most likely the person who should represent our party running against president obama is not someone who called him a remarkable leader and went

to be his ambassador in china. >> this nation is divided because of attitudes like that. >> that was an applause line. >> yeah. >> we've got the latest polls. they're showing mitt romney having a commanding lead in the granite state with the rest of his rivals and heated contest for second place. according to the latest public policy polling, mitt romney is up 17 points on his closest competition. but at 35% support, the former massachusetts governor has not moved in the polls since mid december. ron paul holds steady at second place, followed by jon huntsman who jumped to third with 16% support. newt gingrich is in a statistical tie with rick santorum for fourth place. and a university of new hampshire poll released late last night shows romney with an even bigger lead in new hampshire picking up 41% support. but the race for second and third place is close. ron paul in second place, 24

points behind romney followed by jon huntsman, rick santorum, and newt gingrich who are all in a statistical tie for third place. >> and, you know, there are other polls that came out yesterday that showed, mark, showed mitt romney going down in the daily tracking poll, and i think it was american research poll that showed an even bigger surge from jon huntsman. so you are seeing two things happen. a little more subtle on mitt romney's part. you're seeing romney lose a point or two a day. and as we said in iowa, it is all about trend lines. and you're seeing jon huntsman going up. they are meeting in the middle. i don't think there's enough time for jon huntsman to catch him, but this is getting fascinating. >> remember why jon huntsman chose to stake his campaign on new hampshire in the first place. his demeanor and the fact that independents can vote in the primary is all very good for jon huntsman. that's why he put everything on the table here. someone is going to finish second and that person on

election night's going to have the possibility of standing up and saying i am now the alternative to mitt romney regardless of all other factors, whether they have money in the bank or other states coming up. if he finishes second -- >> and at this point, jon, as you look at the numbers, at this point, it seems like ron paul is doing in new hampshire what he did in iowa. a solid first at 21%, 22%, but slipped into third. again, we're not going to predict what's going to happen before it happens, but looking at trend lines right now, it looks like jon huntsman is about to overtake ron paul and paul looks like if the trends hold will slip into third. >> to the extent that other campaigns are doing internal tracking polls, i've heard from a couple of them that they're seeing the same thing, huntsman moving up, ron paul totally static, and i think we're finding what i thought was true in iowa is true here. and i think it was true across the country, that ron paul has a very high floor and low ceiling. he's going to be between 18% and

22% in every state in the country. one of the big questions about romney is his vote total is here. people pointed out in iowa he got basically the same number of votes in iowa he got four years ago when he was not well known. not the national front-runner. if in new hampshire he slips back to where that same point can get made and people say another state where he is -- where that didn't improve on his performance from 2008, that will be another ding against him going forward. >> and again, mike barnicle, in a field, and we have to say this. we've got to report this part of the story. because i saw a lot of giants in politics, a lot of journalistic giants walk through that door last night in this hotel, which is the center of the world politically over the next week. and they all said the same thing. they all came up and grabbed me by the lapel and whispered to me like it was some deep dark secret, this is the worst field

in the 40 years i've been covering politics. >> four years? >> 40. >> oh. >> 40. and by the way, all the giants, i don't have to say their names. you think about the best journalists who have been covering for 40 years, they all say the same thing. it's the weakest field they've seen by far, not a close second. and if, in fact, that's the case. and if, in fact, mitt romney's having a hard time closing the deal in this field, what does that say moving forward against barack obama? >> i don't know mitt romney's having difficulty closing the deal. i do think it is the weakest field in decades. it used to be up here, there was a libertarian candidate, and you'd cover him for comic relief like every four or five days, now you can cover almost the entire republican field for comic relief.

and it's a pretty sad statement about the nature of american politics today that the field is so weak that there are -- >> you take someone even four years ago, just so people don't think this is ideologically driven. mike huckabee. mike huckabee was as pat buchanan says a political athlete of the first order. wasn't a new hampshire type of guy, but that guy knew how to campaign, knew how to talk, shake hands, work a crowd, knew how -- >> connect with the base. >> connect with the base. and we're not seeing that happen this year for whatever reason. and i think that makes this race dynamic. and i -- hate to do this, but i think it's important that we do this. and i'm sure -- you, mark the other day, you said romney needed his people thought he needed to get at least 38% for new hampshire to be a success. >> that was my made up number. >> that was your made up number.

what is that number that the romney team has to hit before they start getting pounded? because as i've said before, 1968, lbj didn't lose new hampshire, he lost the expectations game. 1992, george h.w. bush didn't come close to losing to pat buchanan, but he lost the expectations game and the headlines game and it haunted him throughout the campaign. what's that number for mitt romney? >> i think he can survive with lower than 38%, but if he clears 38%, he goes to south carolina with more momentum -- >> what about second? >> depends where second is. if the person who is second can take advantage of finishing second. rick santorum finished second in iowa, gave a great speech the night of the caucuses, and i would say since then has done virtually nothing to take advantage of having finished second. hasn't driven that economic populous message. he's had some big crowds, but i

think you can beat expectations, pat buchanan beat dole here and then didn't take advantage of it. you've got to take advantage of a strong showing. >> who's in the position, john, to take advantage of the strong showing against romney? >> well, going to the questions of expectations and how the media and others interpret what's going to happen, i think the most fascinating thing about the huntsman -- possibility of a huntsman second place is there's really an audience of one in the country who is going to evaluate how jon huntsman did here who matters more than anybody else and that's jon huntsman senior. he's going to be looking at whether his son -- to have him suddenly be financially viable in south carolina, florida, and everywhere else in the country. if that happens on wednesday or the equivalent, jon huntsman can go anywhere in the country with the aid of his super pac and get on the air and start to take big

chunks of mitt romney. if that check doesn't come forward and the money doesn't come in, he could come in second here and it won't matter at all. >> let me tell you who else is going to be watching closely other than jon huntsman sr. >> who's that? >> people at america elects. the third party team. there are a lot of people there that love jon huntsman and want him to run as an independent. >> and feel he belongs there more. >> a strong showing in new hampshire launches him at least internally inside that group, which would put him on the ballot in all 50 states. >> launches him into that game. >> if he is strong here and an independent-minded state like new hampshire. >> well, the polls still showing mitt romney has a strong lead. but if you look at what the campaign's saying, there's data worrying them. they're focused on him. they're talking about -- >> are they worried about huntsman? is that why chris christie has come up here? you're smirking.

>> is that a stretch? >> they pounded newt gingrich when newt rose up a little bit. pounded, killed him with those super pac ads. they haven't gone after santorum because they don't see him as a threat. but they've been worried about huntsman for that while. >> did what rick santorum did in iowa in new hampshire. he lived here. >> they're paid to worry. so anyone who represents a threat, they'll speak out against. i find in their dismissiveness of him, genuine feeling. i don't think they're talking him down. they think he is no threat whatsoever in the long run. doesn't mean he can't do well in this primary, but they don't believe he's a threat in the long run. >> who are they worried about most going into south carolina? >> perry and gingrich, long-term. >> and what kind of days did gingrich have? how was gingrich's day yesterday? >> did good events, but he's still not framing things the way he needs to. there's this fight over bain capital that's the emerging story line with him.

>> john? >> he continues to muddle along at single digits. he doesn't seem to be having any impact on the polling so far in gingrich's case. >> mika, he is about -- and we are going to talk about this today. he's about to throw a hail mary, newt is. >> oh, lord. i want to see that. >> no, he is. as a small government conservative that believes in capitalism, i know there are a lot of people that are scratching their heads wondering why he's about to put all of his chips on attacking bain capital. but that's exactly what he's going to do. and it's an economic populist message. it may work, it may not. we'll see. >> the south carolina argument. >> is it a good south carolina argument? really? okay. coming up live from j.d.'s tavern in new hampshire, chris matthews will be here, lawrence o'donnell, mike murphy, and andrea mitchell joining us and up next, mike allen is here with

an exclusive look at the playbook. but first, let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> good morning, everyone. talking about new hampshire and the primary tomorrow. the weather looks ideal. iowa was perfect. that was an "a" plus, this is maybe an "a" minus. snow showers up around berlin and whitefield. all the bigger cities to the south, no problems at all. no snow on the ground. no excuses weather wise. as far as other areas are concerned, this is texas, the green on this map is all rain. texas is still in the midst of a horrible drought, so this is actually good, but it's a wet morning for your kids and you heading out the door today. louisiana, texas, alabama, mississippi, and atlanta. now around the carolinas and d.c., light rain possible late today, maybe even a snow flake or two later on tonight in d.c. but the middle of the country is still mild, still well above average. temperatures, but things are going to change. after we get past wednesday, all the cold air comes down and

winter will return for the eastern half of the country. you're watching "morning joe," we're brewed by starbucks. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go

an ipod, a phone, and an internet communicator. an ipod, a phone -- are you getting it? and we are calling it iphone. today apple is going to reinvent the phone. >> that was the late, great steve jobs five years ago introducing the iphone. welcome back to new hampshire. it is great being here.

and -- it's all right, you can applaud. it's okay. >> it's early. >> it is early. >> john, five years ago, can you believe it's only been five years ago that the iphone is with us, and there's the late, great steve jobs saying we were going to revolutionize the cell phone. and they did more than that. they revolutionized the way the world talked. >> it's an incredible thing. 23 years before that, steve jobs introduced the mac and people, the interface was the first time computers ever looked like that. and six or seven years after that, every computer looked like the mac intosh. smartphones didn't exist, touch screens, and now five years later, nobody buys a phone that doesn't basically try to imitate one way or the other what this phone does. the imitators tell you about the power of the invention as the thing itself. the fact that everyone else in the industry is trying to do the

same thing. that tells you how much power it's had. >> many try to imitate, but there's only one. >> i read the ads too, joe. it is amazing how quickly we make these things part of our lives. and you can't remember your life before them. that was only five years ago, i don't remember the year of itunes, but ten years ago i wasn't using itunes, i was putting cds and going for a jog and it was skipping while i was running -- >> i put the big headphones on there. >> and now you can't imagine your life without itunes. but it happens so quickly. >> no doubt. and you know what i can't imagine my life without? >> what? >> politico. >> and mike allen. look how cute he is. >> he's revolutionized the way we read "politico." >> the "morning joe" of politico. >> the steve jobs big idea, give people what they want before they know that they want it. >> that's it right there. which is what you've done with the politico playbook.

>> who knew they wanted me? >> we're still -- >> oh, it's mika. >> we keep forgetting, it's all about morning mika. >> you call new hampshire this time around the land of make believe. what do you mean? >> yeah, for the very reasons that we were just talking about, people are looking beyond new hampshire to south carolina because that's where we're going to decide. is this going to be a sweep for mitt romney? or is there really going to be the tough contest that you were outlining how it could happen? so mitt romney has this big lead in new hampshire. but the signs of worry that you're talking about, i went to his event yesterday out in rochester, new hampshire, and for the first time, being very defensive about bain capital. explaining, this is venture capital. venture capital, and he did a very simple sesame street language. venture capital is where we take other people's money and start or try and fix companies. so he's insulating himself.

>> it's a lock box -- that's a little al gore thing where he kept explaining. when you strip it down like that, you're in trouble. i'm not saying mitt romney's in trouble at all, but i will tell you, you went to the event, and others went to the event. i heard from -- again, every reporter at the event, they were surprised by the lack of enthusiasm. yes, people were there. yes, they've showed up. if you ask them afterwards, a lot of them said they were going to vote for mitt romney, but just a remarkable lack of enthusiasm. the only reason i'm saying that, i'm not picking on mitt, i'm not picking on the team. i like them all very much. but when you hear it 30 times in about a -- when the reporters get around and you hear one after another coming up to you and saying there's no enthusiasm for him. then that's when the warning flags go up. >> my favorite thing is a couple of times at events, governor romney has said, hold your applause, no one's applauding.

>> -- for mitt romney, because there is a poll out right now that shows him up 18 points right there. >> yeah, willie, this is really surprising. for a year we've talked about mitt romney's 25%. he's sort of locked there and he suddenly burst beyond that and in south carolina the most unlikely place for him, a place where religious conservatives are very important, a place where if rick perry, if newt gingrich were going to make a move, that's where it would be. his team now feels very good about south carolina. he gave -- >> that's great news for him. if you see mitt up at 37% in south carolina, obviously if that held, that's game, set, match. >> and they don't believe those numbers, but for the first time they do think they could go 3-0, which was something nobody would dare to think three weeks ago. >> and they have the incredible luck right now of the fact that all these conservatives are staying in the race. rick perry by all rational metrics should've gotten out. >> what is he? 1% now? >> very low in south carolina.

newt gingrich, if he finishes in single digits here, you would think, he could finish in fifth place again in new hampshire. for a normal candidate they'd be like, okay, i'm done. newt gingrich doesn't see any reason to get out. he's number two in south carolina, he's the only other republican besides mitt romney who has 90% name i.d. across the country. he can campaign without any money in the bank. gingrich sees a long -- why on earth should i ever drop out? >> and that underlies the truth of the politico story, they're waiting for south carolina. if rick perry finishes in single digits in south carolina, he's out, and he knows it. if newt gingrich finishes in single digits in south carolina, he knows the same. >> and the romney folks are still loving the santorum surge. they call themselves pro-santorum. they're worried about others, santorum not a -- >> let's look at the poll we put up last night. again, a suggestion of possible trend lines as we move forward. t.j., it was the poll you just

put up. thank you. >> there we go. >> mitt romney at 40%. he's plus five in this poll. mitt's going up in this poll and down in others. jon huntsman, 17%, up four, ron paul, minus 5%, and santorum up 11%. what's happening in new hampshire with ron paul? is it that people that like him from afar start focusing on some of the -- >> reality? >> well, the reality and also some of the things that he's saying in the debates. and also he's taking on -- he's been a one-man wrecking ball. going after everybody saying some really harsh things. is that hurting him here? >> well, and a lot of his supporters are not voters. you go to -- we went to a ron paul rally out at the national airport here. and it's like a fish concert both the way people are dressed and the fact that they follow him. >> very nice. >> so you look at a ron paul rally, it's all out of state

plates. >> could you do our friend, the lsu cap a favor. don't use hip cultural references. >> grilled cheese for a buck. >> mike allen, politico playbook. >> great week. >> thank you, mike. >> postgame reaction from tim tebow after the mile-high miracle they're calling it against the steelers. complete highlights and some downright biblical stats when we come back. plus, kristen wiig and snl say a fond farewell to michele bachmann. brad, where we going? just a second. just, just one second. ♪ what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up?

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welcome back to j.d.'s tavern. we're going to pause for sports. if you turned on the news last night as i did when i was going to bed, waiting to see the lead story about manchester, first in the nation primary. this is their moment. you wait for four years, turn on the lead story with banner, it's tim tebow is coming to new england. that was it.

we're in the grips of tebow mania. leading a comeback for the broncos last night over the heavily favored pittsburgh steelers. broncos 8-8, sneaked into the playoffs because another team lost last week. nobody giving tebow much of a chance against that steelers' defense which is number one in the nfl. starting the second quarter, steelers up six, airs it out hitting thomas for 51 yards. remember that name, it'll be important later. tebow again for the air to eddie royal, nice catch. what a pass. good throw and catch. falling inbounds for the score. broncos take a one-point lead. >> holy cow. >> broncos get the ball again, tebow finds his favorite man, thomas, over the middle, 58 yards before he's dragged down. that led to tim tebow in the shotgun. this is looking like florida all over again. takes the snap and into the end

zone. >> can you believe that guy is doing that in the nfl playoffs, willie? >> the thing they said he couldn't do. broncos scored 20 unanswered in the second quarter. steelers get to within seven, roethlisberger hobbled, gets out of trouble, makes a beautiful throw and a nice catch. >> whoa. >> that tied the game at 23 with under four minutes to play. and we go to overtime, broncos win the coin toss. >> this one's going to take a long time because you've got two defenses -- >> here is the first play of overtime. >> what? >> the broncos have been in three overtime games this year, they've won them all. got them at the 40, thomas at 30, 10, denver's going on to new england! they win it on the first play of overtime! >> i can't even believe that. >> that's thomas, again, nice stiff arm, thomas again in the same draft class as tebow, they came in together. that was the quickest ending to

an overtime game in nfl history. steelers are stunned, tim tebow throwing for 316 yards, couple of touchdowns. thomas finished the day with 204 receiving yards. denver beats the steelers 29-23, here's tim tebow after the game. >> we just tried to step up. we knew that, you know, it's win or go home. and you know, this team wanted to fight and we wanted to get -- play another game. we were playing a very good pittsburgh steelers team. and you know, they came out and played hard and we played hard and it was a great game and i'm very thankful that we were able to get the win and first and foremost, i want to thank my lord and savior jesus christ. he's done so much for my life and also want to thank my teammates for the effort they put out there. >> tebow is famous for displaying chapter and verse on his eye black. he did this in the bcs title game, john 3: 16. did you hear about the numbers

last night? >> stop it, willie. >> he threw for 316 yards -- wait, there's more, his average yards for completion, 31.6. ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ >> i'm just saying. unbelievable. >> let me tell you something, the amazing thing about this kid. he's just a winner. they asked who his favorite player was, he said he couldn't run, he p couldn't throw, he couldn't do anything but if you needed eight yards, he'd get you nine. if you needed 14 yards, he'd get you 15. the kid is a winner, and this tim tebow guy, he is a winner. he should not be playing in the nfl. he's not good enough to play in the nfl, and yet he's one of the nfl greatest leaders. >> you can't argue with winning. he's not -- no one has seen a quarterback like this before, and yes, yesterday he threw a

couple of bounce passes to wide open receivers. >> it happens. >> it's not pretty. things get much more difficult next week. come here to new england to play tom brady and the patriots. >> does john elway finally like him? >> no, he jumped a mile high on the sideline after the completion. mike, the guy's a winner. he just wins. >> and he has both his offensive unit and his defensive unit believing in him. he's got the team believing in him. and what else do you need in the nfl? >> you look at how the broncos started. yes, they had an 8-8 record. what were they 1-6 when tebow took over? >> 1-5. >> this is one of the great turn arounds in recent nfl history for any team. you've got to put it all -- he makes -- yes, did tim tebow kick the field goals? no, but great leaders make everybody around them better. and that's what he's doing. >> and makes for a great story. one of the highly anticipated games in recent memory.

prime time next saturday night tom brady and tim tebow in new england. the saints will play the 49ers on saturday afternoon, giants go to lambeau, as i said, the game everybody's talking about broncos/patriots saturday night 8:00. it should be a great one. >> i'm going to have to cheer for the saints because i feel so sorry about what's going to happen to another louisiana team tonight. >> yeah. >> in the super dome. it really hurts me. you know, i do think, though. i don't want to knock lsu -- >> this is going to be ugly -- >> no, i think there is one team they may be able to beat after alabama is finished with them. if we could get the camera right over here on this booth. it's, of course, the national championship game tonight. alabama crimson tide versus the other team. but maybe -- >> oh, yes. >> maybe they can beat the williams elves?

>> east. >> east nation. >> who do you like tonight? >> that's a vintage sweatshirt. >> who do you think is going to win? >> i like alabama's defense. >> what do you think, john? >> alabama. >> alabama's actually one-point favorite in new orleans. >> roll tide. >> you guys are so nice. >> harold ford jr. is going to join us next. live from j.d.'s tavern in manchester, new hampshire. this new at&t 4g lte is fast.

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>> hey. >> hey, dave. >> mr. dave... >> dave? >> 'sup, dave? >> dave? dave? >> dave? >> dave! dave? >> hi, dave. >> oh, dave's looking for you. >> [singing] >> hey, dave. >> [loud] yo, dave! >> announcer: in a small business, it's all you. that's why you have us. at staples, we have low prices on everything your small business needs. staples. that was easy. all right. welcome back to "morning joe." we're live at j.d.'s tavern in manchester, new hampshire. we have a full house this morning. and joining the conversation, msnbc political analyst and visiting professor at nyu, harold ford jr. >> impressive. welcome, harold. >> yeah, we're up early this morning. it's time now for the must-read

opinion pages. we're going to take this from joe mcquad. conventional main street republican wisdom holds that mitt romney has the best chance to defeat president obama. on the contrary, romney may be the worst candidate for one thing his claimed record of a fiscally conservative governor is as much of a sham as his flip-flops. and that's always bad when that happens. lights go out in the tavern and we can't read the must reads. but here we go. i can read it up on the monitor. let's see -- >> let's go ahead and go right now, though over to mark -- >> calls him a nice, rich man. >> mark, how powerful is joe mcquaid and the union leader? because we've heard before that he's going to lean in and this is certainly leaning in. >> not the manchester yellow pages.

they make a difference, they speak to a lot of the conservative voters of this, but they're not the power they once were, and they're backing a candidate who is not on a roll right now, at least not by the standards of the polls. it probably helps mitt romney because anything that strengthens all the other candidates a little bit helps mitt romney in a crowded theater. >> but a disaster as a nominee? is that fair? >> and harold, you have heard the argument and hear it a good bit, the most moderate guy is going to be the best in the general election. but in this case, is that the truth in this case? because if you look at the republican industry, the bob doles, john mccains, those are people who don't win elections. >> i think joe mcquaid is a good guy. he endorsed differently in this race. i think this helps romney for a couple of reasons. people have said and mark and i were discussing earlier,

romney's not lost and had to recover. he's faced criticism and incoming from significant leaders in the party, elected officials in the party. he's been able to overcome each one of them. i think the most interesting part of this is where he stands according to the polling in south carolina. to be running 15 to 20 points ahead in south carolina, in a state which you and i know from the south there are questions about whether romney's politics or positions on issues will appeal to voters there. i think he finds himself in a much stronger position than i thought he would be a day before this primary. and certainly i think probably much stronger position. >> you know, south carolina is often misunderstood by the national media as a knee jerk right wing conservative state. and yet time and time again, they've been, willie, the establishment state. they are always the fire wall for the establishment republican candidate you look at those

numbers, and it would happen again, if mitt romney wins here and goes down and wins south carolina, i'll say it, game over. south carolina would've done again what they do every four years, they pick the winner. >> and we hear from people in the national press that while his faith is going to be a problem in south carolina, if you look at those numbers where he's up 18 points doesn't look like it's a problem at the moment anyway for a lot of these voters. i guess the problem is, the press has been talking about this coales this. it seems to me, though, mark, it's too late. >> it is too late. over the weekend you saw stories about his effort to coalesce after new hampshire. too late. too late. and you've got rick perry going forward, newt gingrich given the super pac and what they plan to do in south carolina. going forward, rick santorum will go forward. so this notion that you're going to see dropouts that make it harder to -- easier to beat mitt

romney isn't going to happen. >> the other good thing for mitt romney, all the criticism. the flip-flop in every which way, questions being raised about bain capital. all of these questions in a lot of ways make it easy for him to answer now. in some ways makes it a little harder for democrats from my party to make these arguments. he gets more practice and gets these answers out. >> i believe we have some news you can't use. might not be able to use it. >> stay ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] when kelley blue book's kbb.com gave the 2012 camry a best resale value award, we were delighted. ♪ when it received a 5-star overall safety rating, we were ecstatic. and when camry became the number-one selling car in america 10 years running,

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>> you haven't blinked since this campaign started? >> i have not. >> would you like to now? >> i would love to. oh, there it is. those babies were dry. do you mind if i shut them again for a second, seth? >> sure, of course. >> you don't mind? >> no. ♪ this is how we do it >> any final message? >> simply to the iowa voters i want to say thank you. i so enjoyed my time with you and in turn i hope you enjoy a

future that will be littered with death panels, reeducation camps, and forced immunizations all ending in an iranian nuclear bomb that will bring about the rapture, saving me and leaving yourselves to ask, what if. >> michele bachmann, everybody. >> kristen wiig, michele bachmann not taking the loss there. still to come, david gregory, good friend, chuck todd will also be here. we'll be right back. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool.

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well, if his record was so great as governor of massachusetts, why didn't you run for reelection? if you didn't want to run on your record? if it was that great, why didn't you -- why did you bail out? >> run again? that would be about me. i was trying to get the state into the best shape i possibly could. left the world of politics, went back into business, now i have the opportunity, i believe, to use the experience i have. you've got a surprised look on your face. wait, it's still my time. >> are you going to tell people you're not going to run for reelection for president if you win? >> it's still my time. >> i'm asking. >> i'd like to see term limits in washington. as the president of the united states, if i'm elected, of course, i'll fight for a second term. >> mitt, i realize the red light doesn't mean anything to you

because you're the front-runner, but can we drop a little bit of the baloney. the fact is you ran in '94 and lost, and you had a bad reelection rating, you dropped out of office, you didn't have this interlude of citizenship while you thought about what to do. you were running for president while you were governor, you were going all over the country. you've been running consistently for years and years and years, so this idea that suddenly citizenship showed up in your mind, just level with the american people, you've been running at least since the 1990s. >> welcome back to "morning joe." live at j.d.'s tavern in manchester, new hampshire. the primary this week right here in new hampshire. the showdown. and joining us now the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory, and political director and host of the "daily rundown" chuck todd. and still with us, harold ford

jr. >> david, there were a couple of moments yesterday. it seems like it took the republican field six months to take the gloves off and go after the front runner mitt romney, who in some polls is looking really strong. and in others, losing a point or two. that one-two punch from santorum and then gingrich about the baloney. that was a one-two punch. we'll see if romney -- >> i think this is the point. i think the preamble to the question is it. he wins iowa, he's up here, he's up in south carolina. i think that these republican candidates knew this could be it. if you want to make the case about why he shouldn't be the nominee, this was the opportunity, the last high-profile opportunity. and they went for it. and it did seem to be a little bit more personal, certainly a lot more highly charged than we've seen. and, you know, it was a circumstance where we talked about what was going to happen. romney was really the target

from everybody up on that stage. >> chuck, how did romney's team feel -- how did he hold? >> they weren't ecstatic. they weren't happy. look, he showed a little bit of pressure. whenever he's playing time keeper at these debates, you know he's not feeling good about where he's at. but they also feel good in that -- they're also not unhappy that gingrich sort of popped back up again. anything they can do to keep all of these dc. >> keep them in. >> we've got a couple of different divisions right now. you have paul and huntsman are fighting for some of the independent vote and then the conservative consolidation that's not happening in santorum and gingrich. so gingrich's comeback here is actually not such a bad thing for romney. so in that respect, if they were glad that it wasn't just santorum that landed all the punches. >> so a day before voting begins, do you think romney's holding his own? >> i think romney's holding his

own. the question i have, i think the conservative vote will be somewhere between 30%, 35%, are gingrich and santorum sort of splitting that in half? well, then they'll both be in the teens. does one pick up more momentum, more steam in the end over the other and get that person into the 20%, 25% range? we'll see. >> the independent. >> paul has been the one that's been doing much better with independents and huntsman. and if huntsman's going to get any sort of surge out of here, he needs to overtake paul in order to sneak into second. >> i just talked to some people yesterday who had watched the debate. not all of whom were real politicos. and i thought they had some observations that were telling. in a couple of these cases they thought romney didn't come across totally authentic, but in the end they thought he presented really well. are there some nicks for him? does he have for some voters an

authenticity problem? does it ring true as a conservative? but yeah, he seems like a guy who is a very strong candidate. that's a narrative that holds for a lot of people. >> a few days ago with santorum into iowa was going top find some traction. what do you attribute that to in this final day? >> the thing that a lot of these candidates don't understand is once you get to new hampshire, it ain't june in iowa. if you hold a press event a day after you win iowa and you decide to pick a fight with new hampshire college students on gay marriage and you get a chance to move on, but then you say, no, no, hold on a second. i want to keep talking about gay marriage in new hampshire. come on. let's debate these social issues that nobody wants to talk about right now because unemployment is at 8.5%. if you decide to use your moment like that, then you can't expect to do well in new hampshire.

now he was in south carolina last night -- >> right. >> and he had 500 people at an event. i heard reports from friends down there that it was electric. maybe it pays off in south carolina. but that sure as heck is not the way to pivot as you come into new hampshire. >> fourth place finish here, he can still keep it going in south carolina. >> i think just like perry, i think it's -- i think it's fairly irrelevant what happens to him here. this race is all about mitt romney, i think. mitt romney and jon huntsman. does he quit after new hampshire or live to fight another day? and we're looking at mitt romney's numbers. if he's 35% or above, it's a win. >> we'll get to the polls and talk about the factor. jon huntsman has campaigned here much like rick santorum campaigned in iowa. there could be some sort of surprise and you get a sense they're looking at him. >> am i going to get a steak from senor?

>> you might. >> a commanding lead in the granite state with the rest of his rivals in a heated contest for second place. according to the latest public policy polling, mitt romney is up 17 points on his closest competition. but at 35% support, the former massachusetts governor has not moved in the polls since mid december. ron paul holds steady at second place followed by jon huntsman who jumped to third with 16% support. newt gingrich is in a statistical tie with rick santorum for fourth place, and a wmur university of new hampshire poll released late last night shows romney with an even bigger lead in new hampshire, picking up 41% support among likely primary voters. but the race for second and third is close. ron paul in second place, 24 points behind romney followed by jon huntsman, rick santorum, and newt gingrich who are all in a statistical tie for third place. the latest american research poll shows jon huntsman jumping to second place in the granite state with 17% support.

and new numbers out of suffolk university show mitt romney's new hampshire lead on the downturn dropping four points. that brings us to the huntsman effect. >> they're going all over the place. you see some of these polls, you see jon huntsman moving up, ron paul going down. what are you sensing out there? >> looking at that list, it's very interesting. we do have three mini primaries going on. this is what santorum talks about. the conservative primary, the establishment primary, and the libertarian primary, the independent primary. you've got huntsman, paul, santorum -- again, for romney, he likes to see this. >> it's great for romney. because, chuck todd, without the conservative primary splitting things up, he's challenged by one conservative. without ron paul in this race jon huntsman is probably up in the mid-20s.

>> this would be '96. we'd have three guys challenging for first place when it was lamar, buchanan, and dole. all four of them were jumbled together, buchanan sneaks up to victory. one of the reasons new hampshire surprises us, it's a difficult state to poll because you don't know the make-up of the independent vote. you don't know if it's 40% or 30%, is it going to be a little bit more of a moderate turnout ideologically? a little bit more of a conservative turnout? every time we've had the shockers on the democratic side, buchanan, when mccain won by 19 rather than the neck and neck race we all thought it was in 2000. >> in 2000. >> each time, all of it turned out, the pollsters, you know, it's a science. are you turning your independent number up -- >> always surprises -- >> nobody ever is quite sure who turns out. >> can i make one point about yesterday? >> no, we don't do substance.

>> what do you -- >> i want to talk about your ties. >> they're purple. >> some campaigns talk about there's not enough substance in the debate. one of my favorite moments was i asked what kind of austerity, what pain would you ask the american people to deal with -- >> good lord, rick perry said i'm going to make them pray to god and balance the budget. come on. >> that'll make conservatives uncomfortable. but the other point too where i said what tough choices would you make? and he said let me just say about dr. paul. the guy's never accomplished anything, but i'd like you to come back to me so i can answer your question. >> are you going to answer? >> that was really one of those, mika, how dumb does he really think we are moments when rick perry said he was going to really cross republican orthodoxy by supporting a balanced budget and praying to jesus every day. >> he can't say this about the

debate so i will. what was fascinating about rick perry because normally when -- in every debate we're, oh, well, there's not going to be candidates getting as many questions. and when you're 1% of the polls, normally those candidates complain. rick santorum was a big complainer, newt was a complainer at the time. rick perry, he didn't complain. he was just sort of like, i've got a couple of lines -- don't over ask me anything. >> so the story that wound its way through saturday night's debate made it to your debate sunday morning, david, and our event last night had to do with jon huntsman. saturday night mitt romney criticized jon huntsman for serving as ambassador to china under president obama. on sunday morning, he responded on "meet the press," but we had an event last night where chris christie showed up, made a wonderful guest appearance, the audience was very excited, gave me a big hug. >> making me uncomfortable. >> yep. >> but he also went after jon

huntsman, as well. so first -- we have mitt first, we have christie first. so this is what chris christie said at our event last night. >> i would be kind of pissed if i were barack obama. i mean, i give this guy a job. he's over in china supposedly representing my administration. when you know that the whole time he's -- at least a good part of the time he's planning to run for president. he's got this whole -- this thing did not come up organically. that's not the way it works. and all of a sudden he lands back in the united states and there's a presidential campaign all there waiting for him. i'm sure he knew nothing about that over in china. i wonder a little bit about huntsman's integrity. my issue is not that he worked for the president. but i understand why mitt thinks it's an issue. my bigger issue is why was he being disloyal for the president while he was working for him? that's the bigger question. >> okay. so chris christie makes a

compelling argument. but here's how jon huntsman defended himself at yesterday's "meet the press" event. >> i was criticized last night by governor romney for putting my country first. he criticized me while he was out raising money for serving my country in china, yes, under a democrat. i want to be clear with the people here in new hampshire and this country, i will always put my country first. and i think that's important. >> all right, well -- i think it's most likely the person who should represent our party running against president obama is not someone who called him a remarkable leader and went to be his ambassador in china. >> this nation is divided, david, because of attitudes like that. >> that was an applause line for sure, david gregory. i'm not sure we had it there, might not have had enough time. talking about his son serving. like his sons, i was serving regardless of his affiliation. >> there was a degree of piety

in huntsman's answer. it might be fair to scrutinize just like people do with romney. things he believe and how his thinking evolved and whether he was a progressive and this type of thing. he did call the president a remarkable leader, served under the president. and at some point he decides he's running for president against the president he's serving. so there's a measure of calculation here. i don't know he's as pure on that. but i think it ended up being a good moment for him. >> and to explain to our listeners at home that didn't hear chris christie in total context. chuck todd what he said time and again that would've offended him as an executive was the fact that while he was working over in china supposedly working for the united states of america's best interests, he was planning to run for president of the united states. and chris christie said, hey, you know what? if you had any questions about that, you should have come home and assembled your team instead of landing one day in new york

and having your team -- >> all sorts of -- a lot of ceos make their way to china. and there was a lot of questions, i know, that team obama was wondering about which was how many times was the pam b ambassador to china going out with a ceo? were they talking about recruiting mega donors for a presidential campaign? there's a potential of using the position you had. let's talk about this in a totally superficial campaign way. i'd like to respond to something from last night. ten hours later you come up with your zinger. hey, i've got a zinger and i've slept on it. >> i wasn't offended by that, that's fine, but that is the -- they've always felt a step too slow. he's always felt a step too slow. he's always felt -- it's like a campaign that's almost there,

but it's not. >> and by the way, harold, we're talking about sunday morning, and it's a darn good thing for huntsman that was the last debate. because saturday night when somebody questioned whether he was too close to china, he spoke in mandarin. and i just saw my steaks flying out the window. and i was like what is he doing? that purple tie talking mandarin in a debate? >> he's one of those guys you use a sports analogy who runs a four-four on paper, 80 receptions, 1,000 yards in college -- >> division three. >> and the can't keep up with the worst player in division one. he's unable to do it. one question that's a little different. i watched ron paul. i heard you talking about how he can't get below a certain number. does paul run as a third party? do you think he runs or doesn't run? tell me why you think he

doesn't? >> i think like a lot of people, i thought he was going to run as a third party candidate, then i went to the event with rand paul in iowa. and i stood there. and as a father, i said, oh, my gosh, he wants to pass this all to the son. this isn't about ron paul winning this year. this isn't about a third party. this is about passing the baton to rand, and the last thing he's going to do is blow up the republican party and finish his son's political career. he will not be running as an independent candidate. do you agree? >> i'm sorry. i can't believe you criticize jon huntsman for knowing mandarin and -- >> i didn't criticize him for -- >> because he's actually smart compared to some of the guys up there. are you kidding me? >> you know, seriously? is everybody in here an lsu fan? or do you just love the comies in china?

>> you know a lot of things we keep to ourselves in the heat of a 90-minute debate. let's see how mandarin sounds as it resinates through the hall. do we have this clip? i'm just saying, if i'm in northwest florida and somebody asks whether i'm too close to china, i don't respond this way. >> listen, we have the most important relationship of the 21st century with china. we've got to make it work. of course we have challenges with them, we've had challenges for 50 years. >> i'm sorry. governor, you were the last two years implementing the policies of this administration in china. the rest of us on the stage were doing our best to get republicans elected across the country and stop the policies of this president being -- for being put forward. >> i think it's important to note as they would say in china, mitt --

[ speaking mandarin ] >> he doesn't understand the situation. >> and there goes my steaks! >> what? no. are you kidding me? who has a problem with the fact that he's intelligent and multilingual? >> come on, that's not the point. >> it's just the idea that he thought it was a good idea to make that reference there. >> you know, ron paul can explain the details of delivering a baby, but you don't want him to do that on the stage. i mean you keep some things to yourself. >> what are you -- you know what? i don't want to know what you're saying because i'll get you in really big trouble. you're wrong. >> they have a saying -- >> sing the alabama fight song. >> no. >> rama-jama yellow hammer -- >> massive international experience and expertise in china, our number one challenge in the next decade. we wouldn't want that, though. no. >> and as chris matthews said

yesterday over and over again, great job. you did a great job at the debate. chuck todd, predictions for tonight, who is it? >> as confucius says -- be careful of the honeybadger. >> i'm scared. >> david gregory, chuck todd, thank you. coming up, mike murphy and andrea mitchell. also ahead, chris matthews, lawrence o'donnell, and sam stein. you're watching "morning joe" live from the bar in manchester, new hampshire. when i grow up,

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governor, i wish you would calmly and directly state it is your former staff running the

pac, your millionaire friends giving to the pac and you know some of the ads are untrue. say that straightforward. >> well, of course it's former staff of mine and of course they're people who support me, they wouldn't be putting money into a pac that supports me if there weren't people who support me. and with regards to their ads, i haven't seen them. and as you know under the law, i can't direct their ads. speaker, hold on a second. i can't direct their ads. if there's anything in it that's wrong, i hope they take it out. i hope everything that's wrong is taken out. the ad i saw said you'd been forced out of the speakership, that was correct. it said that you'd sat down with nancy pelosi and argued for a climate change bill, that was correct. anything wrong i'm opposed to, but this ain't the -- >> i do think the rhetoric, mr. speaker, was a little over the top. >> you think my rhetoric over the top? but your ads were totally reasonable? i'm taking his advice.

you know, we started to run his commercial from 1994 attacking teddy kennedy for running negative ads, we thought, no, that would be wrong. instead, i agree with him. it takes broad shoulders to run, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen, when the movie comes out, i hope it's accurate. and people can watch and decide for themselves. >> welcome back to "morning joe," live from j.d.'s tavern in manchester, new hampshire, where republican political consultant and columnist for "time" magazine mike murphy has been hanging by the bar for 24 hours now. but he slumped his way over here and is in the chair now. how are you feeling, mike? >> good. we had to stop barnicle at seven. >> we saw you here last night. >> i was here last night. >> nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell joins us, as well. she was not at the bar last

night. >> no, she was not. >> she was working. >> i want you as a republican consultant, former republican consultant to give your advice here. newt is going to be taking a risk. he's throwing the long ball, and he's tearing a play from barack obama's populist play book. he's going after bain capital, attacking mitt for engaging in hard core capitalism. does that work? >> you know, there's a populist -- but when you start doing barack obama's act in a republican party. it's tough stuff. >> explain that. >> it's the same cue the obama guys are doing. and for newt to echo that and the primary voters are pretty smart in a position of weakness. >> it may not work in new hampshire. but as we go south to south carolina and then you look at these states that are coming up super tuesday around there, alabama, mississippi, louisiana, texas, oklahoma. that's really what he's aiming

for. >> when i start seeing a map of the southern states where they change their name, i'm going to believe that campaign will work. he's got a bigger problem, which is perry won't get out and santorum had a bump out of iowa. he's alive in south carolina. as long as there's three guys fighting over that hunk of the vote, which is bigger in south carolina than it is here, it's still a bit of advantage for romney. >> tell us what you've been seeing in new hampshire so far. >> the most interesting thing is that rick santorum gives one of the best election night semi-victory speeches ever, especially compared to mitt romney's which followed by minutes. and he comes to new hampshire and just completely loses message, throws it away, gets in a fight with kids who can't vote instead of saying thank you very much for coming. >> not only gets in a fight with kids who don't vote. i remember when i was running, i knew i had the pro life vote,

the gay marriage vote. people would say what's your position -- i'm pro-life. you move people along, rick didn't have to do that, but andrea, he kept them there in new hampshire and provoked more fighting. >> and engaged it. >> and he had great crowds at first. still drawing crowds, but people getting angry, fighting with, you know, with kids, with college kids who are very politely -- these are not folks protesting. and one of the things he does a 20-minute lock box argument. seriously. here is the trust fund, this stellar bill, and here is -- my pen is bonds, and put the bonds in this pocket and the trust -- >> he'll have a power point by next week. >> the thing is, though, mike, i heard the same thing over and over again in iowa. rick santorum doesn't deliver a tight political speech, but he had a year to go out and introduce himself to people and they like him.

you come to new hampshire, you've got four or five days. >> i've worked a lot of iowa politics, 40% of that caucus is social conservative. it was more of a case of them finding santorum than santorum finding them because everybody else got knocked down. here, there aren't the social conservatives. the economic side of that speech after he won iowa, i was betting he'd get second and not going to happen. >> the hands of his grandfather in the casket -- let me ask you this question, was his speech to those new hampshire students that couldn't vote not for us, not for new hampshire, but the people he talked to last night in south carolina. 500 people packed into a room, electric. was he playing for south carolina? >> i think that was the first day he was here. and he had a real opening here in new hampshire. going into south carolina, he still could've done that play for south carolina a little later in the week as he did last

night, but he could've had much more momentum coming out if he had been number two, now he's struggling at the back of the pack. >> and the real purpose was not to stop romney. romney's going to be there. it was to hurt newt, perry's already gone, he could come out of here and go to the conservative movement. unite behind me or it's nominee romney. >> another thing, dr. richard lam, the baptist leader, i interviewed him on friday and he said we're all on the phone, looking for the non-romney, we're going to have a meeting in texas next week. and they were prepared to come together around santorum and go to newt and say you've got to get out. and now that's much less -- >> newt has $5 million new dollars. and shelly adleson paying for newt with $5 million. as long as the candidates have money and microphones, you're

going to need, you know, one of those lion hypodermic needles to get them out of the race. otherwise they go until it's over. >> speaking of hypodermic needles -- >> not my area of expertise. >> you've done that lot of these things. the atmosphere, maybe not fair to compare it with 2008 when there was so much in the air, but there was not a lot of energy, not a lot of people talking about it. they're talking tim tebow and the football game. is that the case of a disappointing republican field? or is he up by so much? >> three things. one the closing, there was a place, you know. second, i blame the internet. the kids and their web net. half of the campaign is digital, you don't have to go to anything. third, you've got a guy next door they know and like running. so will romney get 34% or 40%? that's not exciting. >> does it say anything about the field, the larger field?

about northern new hampshire? >> not really. what we don't have is another strong regular republican to challenge romney in a silo anymore because pawlenty couldn't make it through ames. still probably a losing share of the party. and we'll always have these conclaves, the generals get together down in dallas, a lot of orders. troops don't follow orders. so they keep going until they've lost so bad there's nothing to coalesce. >> this is a lot like tom harkin in 1992 in iowa. it's no news until harkin does badly. or bob dole in '96. >> and mitt romney is, you know, so far out in front that there's almost no way that he cannot come out of here. so the question is, who is going to be number two? ron paul or is the huntsman momentum that people are identifying -- you do feel it out there. is there any way -- i talked to rand paul yesterday and he said that after south carolina if they haven't made a dent, that

they would consider not going on to florida. >> yeah, there's -- you look at some of these polls, don't trust them. i'm going to get 40 calls a minute from the campaign, it's hard to get a poll call through. you can make kind of a theory, huntsman's moving up, but the only state he's in, he's put everything here. and he's not going to beat romney. if he comes in second, he's got a strong story, but then he goes to south carolina where he's on the menu and doesn't have the fun money for florida. and mitt's the only guy with millions of dollars lining up in florida. >> let's talk about the rules of politics, okay? there are some, and this is what we've been saying all year when people have been saying, oh, herman cain's going to do or michele bachmann is going to do it. there are basic rules of politics like physics. rule number one, if you win iowa and you win new hampshire, everybody else needs to get out

of if way. i don't care. >> if he wins by 32%, he still has won iowa and new hampshire. he's steaming toward the nomination. >> mike murphy, thanks, go back to the bar. >> back to work. still ahead, chris matthews, lawrence o'donnell, and sam stein. we're live from the bar in manchester, new hampshire. progresso. it fits! fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less.

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you know what that music means? >> it can mean only one thing. >> alabama/lsu. >> a full-scale debate about contraceptives -- >> no, we're not. >> no, that's the abc debate. >> today is the game of games. crimson tide lsu tigers, the rematch. the two teams met in early november, lsu won 9-6 in overtime. if you're a fan of college football, you know that game was on monday night. you've marked it on your calendar. but on saturday night, it's a

debate, the candidates seemed confused about when the national championship game was being played. >> speaker gingrich. >> i'd be watching the college championship basketball game. >> football game. >> i mean football game. >> thank you. >> i'd be doing the same thing with my family. we'd be huddled around and watching the championship game. >> i'm afraid it's football, i love it. >> they were asked what they'd be doing saturday night. they said they'd be watching the big game. apparently they were thinking of the other game. >> the mustangs are back. >> 6-6 pitt game. >> we've got chris matthews here, and i'm going to ask chris when we come back why it is on that debate stage they focus so much on contraceptive and gay marriage and all these social issues. and then they turn around and go, why are the republicans always obsessed about social issues? and that's all they would talk about. >> saturday night 11:00, i'm

home not practicing birth control with my wife. >> okay. you know what? >> really. >> it's an obsession. it's crazy. >> taking a break. >> we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day

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like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. from the very beginning in 1994, i said to the gay community, i do not favor same-sex marriage. i oppose same-sex marriage, and that has been my view. but if people are looking for someone who will discriminate against gays or will in any way try and suggest that people have different sexual orientation don't have full rights in this country, they won't find that in

me. >> when is the last time you stood up and spoke out for increasing gay rights? >> right now. >> i would be a voice in speaking out for making sure that every person in america gay or straight is treated with respect and dignity and has equality of opportunity. that does not mean i agree with certain things the gay community would like to do with respect to marriage and adoption and things like that. >> what if you had a son who came to you and said he was gay? >> i would love him and be as good a father as possible to him. >> all right. a lot to talk about. here with us now, host of msnbc's "hardball," chris matthews. he's the author of the best-selling book "jack kennedy: elusive hero." a lot of people had it at our event last night. and we also have financier and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner with us, mike

barnicle back from the bar, as well. so before we go -- >> these ethnic slurs have been coming out of the -- >> mike murphy goes to a bar, he goes to a bar. what do the polish do at 11:00 -- >> we go to the bar. we're good. >> you got an e-mail from dan senor. it has the menu. he likes the black angus filet, he says it's pricey, but if your guy keeps speaking mandarin on stage -- >> i had a bet saying he would get double digits in new hampshire. if you look at new hampshire, is this a question of how well romney does and whether huntsman can go on after new hampshire? that's what it boils down to -- >> yeah, but it's a hard thing. to me the magic moment was what huntsman said to romney yesterday when he came back at him about there's something wrong with serving the president

of the united states when he calls you to duty. and you spent years over there as a mormon missionary and you're asked to do it and there's something wrong with that? i think -- i don't think that gets you elected, but certainly excites me, the fact somebody can still stand up for civic duty against the clown show that's been going on in this country left and right. i think romney's been sort of dog trained to say certain things. i don't have any idea what he believes. i have no idea what he believes on anything. i know he's dog trained himself to say certain things like you have to be a right-wing republican, you know, and you have to be against serving a democratic president. and he learns these sort of dog tricks. but i have no -- >> is he by the way a moderate massachusetts republican or a right-wing republican like he's pretended to be? what is the guy? and they ripped that armor off him yesterday when newt came up with a perfect line. baloney. it was brilliantly written to put in every newspaper.

put those words together and it sounds like this is the biggest fraud there's ever been and i'm calling him on it. and i think that was one of the great lines we've heard in this campaign, that and huntsman from different directions. these people finally got fed up with this. we have to be formal with mitt because he's formal. and he acts and dresses a certain way, and we have to act that way so we can get into his club. and they finally said yesterday we don't want to get in your club. we want you out of it. and i thought it was an interesting little -- well, revenge of the nerds if you will. >> oh, my lord. >> they started -- >> only getting worse. >> by the way, i was rooting for the nerds because this guy -- what do you call the mom jeans or whatever? >> chris, stop it right now. you're being mean! that's not nice! >> what is that costume he wears? what is that costume? nobody wears those clothes. >> hold on now. we've heard about dog training and moms jeans and this that and the other, we're going to let

you respond to some of what you've heard. >> i heard the phrase the other day. tell me what they are. >> hold on. >> what are they? well, if you don't know, don't grab my arm. >> chris. >> go ahead, go on. >> go ahead, steve. >> steve. >> i can't match chris's excitement or his eloquence, but he's right on the substance. what does he stand for? he was a moderate republican, we know that, and now he's trying to be a conservative, and there is no principle. the one thing i want to say about hundredtsman and his serv. the issue was not what was huntsman doing the last two years? john kerry, hillary clinton, all of these people ran for money whi while they were running for office. >> christie made that point, but romney's not -- he went to work for him -- >> you should have seen last

night. >> i'm saying chris christie's point is the better point. how do you work for a president and turn around and run against them? >> we're going to -- this is after your event at ours last night. here's what chris christie said. >> here's what chris christie said. >> i would be kind of pissed if i were barack obama. i mean i give this guy a job, he's over in china represents my administration, and you know that part of the time, he's running for president. this thing did not come up organically, that's not how it works, and all of a sudden he lands back in the united states and there's a presidential campaign waiting for me. i'm sure he didn't know about no when he was in china. my issue is not that he worked for the president. mitt thinks it's an issue. my issue is why was he being disloyal to the president while he was working for him.

that's my question. >> i think it's a nonstarter in terms of voters interests. first of all governor christy who we all like. he gave this guy a job. huntsman wasn't out begging for a job. i don't think it works in terms of voter's perceptions, if you're living in berlin, new hampshire, and you're worried about job security, you don't care if the guy was in beijing three weeks ago, what's he going to do for me now? i can't get over dog trained. >> he's saying it as an executive. i can understand an executive saying that, if you appoint somebody and they spend their time running against you. but that attack doesn't work in new hampshire the way it might work in south carolina or northwest florida or more conservative areas, right?

>> i think this state of new hampshire voted for henry cabot lodge when he was serving for our ambassador in vietnam. he had been appointed by jack kennedy but he worked for linden johnson. he was serving a democratic president, he won a republican primary here. this state is right willing to reward public service even if it's under the administration of another party. there's no precedent to make an attack like that. henry cabot lodge was a hero when he won that primary up here, beating goldwater. the idea in this crazy environment if you're between the 40 yard lines there's something wrong with you. there's something wrong with being a moderate republican is if you're proud of it. the trouble with romney is he's not proud of staying in any position. he's all across the board. he will be whatever you want.

it's like the movie "kloot" remember that movie? >> let's talk about a bigger picture on huntsman, and that is the idea of putting every egg you have in bun baskone basket, thinking of rudy giuliani waiting for the floor to come to him. got one delegate at the end of the day. even if huntsman does well here, then what? >> i think he's got a lot to do here which is the independent elect. he could get in all 50 states. much better for him to do well in new hampshire and then use that as a launching point to say, just what chris said, the system's broken. if you aren't on the 20 yard line on this side or the 20 yard

line on this side. i think the pressure for him if he does well in new hampshire to ru run as an independent candidates opposed to going to south carolina is norm mouenormous. >> we have to leave it here. chris, are you staying? i'm scared. >> he's dog trained. >> we'll be right back with more from new hampshire. we all have internal plumbing.

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well if his record was so great as governor of massachusetts, why didn't he run for re-election? why didn't he want to stand in front of the people of massachusetts and run on your record? why don't you bail out? >> run again? that would be about me. i was trying to get the state in the best shape i possibly could. i went back into business and now i have the experience. you have a surprised look on your face. >> are you going to tell people you're not going to run for re-election for president if you win? >> i'm just asking. >> i would rather see term limits in washington, as the president of the united states, if i'm elected, of course i'll fight for a second term. >> i realize the red light doesn't mean anything to you because you're the front-runner. [ laughter ] but could we drop a little bit

of the pious bologna? you didn't have this interlude of citizenship while you thought about what to do, you were running for president while you were governor, you were going all over the country, you've been running consistently for years and years and years and this idea that suddenly citizenship came up in your mind, you've been running since at least the 1990s. >> host of msnbc's "the last word" lawrence o'donnell as we zoom in here at j.d.'s tavern in manchester, new hampshire. >> showing some clips from the debate yesterday, david did a great job in the debate. but lawrence o'donnell, it was a moment a lot of people have been

waiting for. nobody's attacked the front-runner. >> i think it's been understated how long he's been running for president. he's constructed his whole life to run for president and even confessed that, he said my father told me, get rich first, don't run for office if you actually need the salary that the government pays you, get rich first and i'll help you with that with inheritance. the reason he did not run for re-election in massachusetts is twofold. because he saw the 2008 presidential campaign coming up and he didn't want to be a sitting governor, he saw michael dukakis as a running governor. and there was a distinct possibility he wouldn't be

re-elected so there would be that failure on his record. so it was all calculated. >> what do you think of that argument that if i ran for re-election it would have been about me. i don't know if that rings particularly true to a lot of people. but it was -- that moment all of a sudden became so much more personal, it's as if so much had built up and i think the point of starting the debate that which was to say, look, that's not made out of whole cloth here, there's a debate in the party that romney is cruising to the nomination, it's forever hold your peace here, is there a reason he shouldn't be the n nomin nominee? >> i didn't see it as effective on newt gingrich's part because it was newt gingrich calling names. it's like newt gingrich calling someone a liar, it doesn't really work because it carries

the same issues. >> here's the thing, romney sort of sets it up in a very formal setting, he's very formal in his behavior and he instructs the other candidates for behaving that way. >> why, chris? why do these republican candidates meekly obey mitt romney when he tells them to stop talking because if somebody did that to me in a debate, i would roll my bank over them. >> stop talking. >> maybe he has a commanding presence over them. >> if you have a front-runner telling you to shut up, it's time to talk, right, chris? >> the lack of politeness in that scene that you did not like is exactly what shook romney out of his very controlled dog trained behavior. >> here we go again. >> the guy can only do certain things. he can't stand a wide open

scramble of argument. it has to be formal for him. in certain lines he's trained himself to repeat. and certain behaviors he has to show. i am a conservative christian conservative. don't shake me out of this straitjacket. and obama can beat him now in debate. >> these are obviously the critiques of romney, that he's prepackaged, he's programmed, he can't think on his feet. and every time you start believing that, even if i start believing that, oh, come on, then somebody will ask him a question, when is the last time you spoke out for gay rights, he said right now. there are times that romney shows you that he's not the robot that his critics think he is. >> he's running .300 on that, which means two-thirds of the time he gets it wrong. debates aren't going to be where this things working for romney,

it's all about his massive war chest and his ability to go on television like no one else. >> there's a body of work here in these debates. he's been very strong and the reality is that you can pick apart these things, as i said, earlier on in the program. some of this stuff doesn't ring true, he still plays very strong and looms larger than some of the other figures on the stage. >> and mike, let's just face it, mitt romney is not a guy that is going to be beloved. not beloved by the press, not beloved by the conservative base, but there have been many mornings after republican debates where we have talked around the table and everybody's been surprised by mitt's performance. >> there's a couple of times where you just said he's into the league by himself and he knocked everybody else out. >> first of all, he's much funnier than people give him credit for. when he said well, it would be

about me, that's funny stuff. secondly, he's made tremendous strides as a candidate, just teen iowa and new hampshire, just off of what chris's saying, he's been dog trained. thirdly and most importantly, romney can't wait to get to september. that's his biggest problem, he can't wait to get to september when he can be more romney than he is now. by that i mean, in september he can then carry out a campaign based upon his knowledge of the american economy and by saying, barack obama's a wonderful guy, he's a terrific father, he's a nice gauy, he's in way over his head and here's why. >> his political pedigree over time that he's developed more of a centrist republican. i think one thing that's overlooked. i think santorum had a good debate. that line against ron paul was

very effective too. and he had a good mix of being on the attack of being substa e substanti substantive. >> what did nixon always say, you go to the right in the primary, you move to the middle. and once he is freed to win states like california, alabama, mississippi, texas, when he moves back to the middle, the political field looks pretty good to romney. >> obabarack obama is not a brilliant debater either. it's going to be what kind of a room they walk into, if they walk into a room where the unemployment rate is above 8%, it's going to be romney. if it's below 8%, it's going to be obama. we're going to debate the country we live in and whether he want to change it or not.

if we want the pitcher off the mound, we're going to do it. >> that's one of the biggest mistakes that washington politics makes, they think everything happens inside of a vacuum. nothing happens inside of a vacuum. chris is right, if unemployment is under 8%, it doesn't matter what happens. >> don't forget, 2004, i always remind people president bush got a second term and there were no weapons of mass destruction in iraq. it became about who do you feel comfortable with in an age of terror. and if we're still in a financially insecure place, who do you feel most comfortable with in the vision for the future. >> you touched an important point when you asked the question why none of the other candidates have really said anything and romney says, you know, please, it's my time, don't interrupt me. it's because all of them, i

think, come from a world that is not a real world. they come from this incubator that's washington, that's politics and washington and congress in the house. if you were having the discussion with anyone here and you said to me, don't interrupt me, it's my time, i mean, please. >> the i say something about the two debates? saturday night and sunday morning, night and day. night and day. >> because of him, because of david gregory. >> it was fabulous, absolutely fabulous on sunday morning and without knocking what anybody does, because debates are very tough. >> yes, you're mocking him. you can't do anything without mocking him. >> i can talk to you, and even though you're a progressive, you'll say socialist, you'll agree with me on this, isn't it fabulous and hilarious that on a debate on saturday night, you'll have moderates that obsess on social issues, on gay marriage,

and on contraceptives, and they just going and going and going. and then the next day they'll go, you know, the problem is the republicans focus on social issues way too much. let's get the picture of the gay guy that's serving this country proudly overseas, put the republicans in a difficult position and then go why do they obsess about social -- when republicans don't want to talk about social issues, that was a funny debate saturday night for all the wrong reasons. >> and the candidates go where they want to do. they can do one sentence and say now i want to talk about jobs. they do it all the time. i think david was a big difference, there might have been some kind of energy difference of some kind, but whatever the moderator did saturday night, the candidates failed. they still had a platform and

they could have taken any one of these questions and gone wherever they wanted to. >> when mitt romney tells them to be quiet, they're quiet. when somebody asks me about connecticut, if you guys want to have a nice debate. let me tell you how we get people back to work in new hampshire and then i talk about it. these guys don't know how to do that, david. >> i want to say something a little bit more mundane. >> please do. >> the whole business with the lights, i was up terrified how am i going too deals with the lights there's magenta and what is hot purple? and there are these lights, it's like you're in amsterdam, you're like what are the lights? >> i don't understand the reference. >> you did good either way, even if you were confused by the

colors. >> and newt gingrich took it over. >> he said obviously because you're the front-runner, you don't have to worry about stopping. >> it was david's success and one of the great successes is you have to be engaged in the discussion. you have to be engaged and think it's important. what you did on sunday morning is tell the people watching, this is important, this is intense you sort of grounded the candidates to be equally intense. it was growth. it just didn't work as well saturday night. >> i thought mitt romney did extremely well, he had sort of an amused con decision to all the people that were trying to attack him and what would be the value of getting into some sort of a wrestling match. >> i thought mitt did well, he kept it in the middle of the road, it was just the first time

the republican candidates were actually attacking him. i want to ask the people around the table here, what is the number that mitt romney meets? i know a lot of people say, oh, you know, they're too deep in the weeds and this is just a parlor game obsession. i have said it before, it was 1968, lbj beats mccarthy up there and moves out. 1992, george h.w. bush's re-election campaign was destroyed. george w. bush will still say pat buchanan beat his father, not bill clinton. so what is that number chris matthews that romney needs to walk out with a win. >> i think 30%. it's going to be a 5% to 10% spread. >> wins the new hampshire

primary, 33. it's got to be significantly better than 33. no one in the media thought paul songus. >> i thought he wants to be double digits above second place and have that kind of spread if he's able to say, look, i took advantage of all the time i had here and all the advantages i had. >> i think he needs to go high 30s and he has to have a 15% to 20% spread. a great line about that primary listen by the late great -- mur -- he never thought he would see the day when the draft

dodger would be the medal of honor recipient in the new hampshire primary. >> i think it's going to be mid 30s and i agree with david, he better beat huntsman or the second place challenger by at least 10, 11, 12 points. let's find willie, he's in the bar somewhere. willie, what's coming up? >> i found a couple of people who woke up at 3:30 in the morning and drove up here to where with us. what do you think about the field this year. >> i think the republican field is tremendously weak. they don't show a lot. they don't have great ideas. they're just tremendously weak. >> spoken like a massachusetts democrat. >> what are they talking about in your town right now. >> economy and jobs and we haven't heard answers. that's what we're listening for, what we haven't heard it yet.

>> the next question can tim tebow come up and win on saturday night? >> i think he can. >> we'll be right back, tom collins and joe kline, he already arguments that mitt romney won the weekend and likely has won the nomination. [ ma le announcer ] lately, there's been a seismic shift in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense?

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one of the reasons people like congressman paul is his economic plan. he's never been able to accomplish any of that. he has no track record or being

able to work together. >> the problem is what congressman paul can do is that he can on day one do what he wants to do, and that is to pull all our troops out from overseas and leave them here in america. the problem with congressman paul is all the things that republicans like about him he can't accomplish and all the thing they're worried about he'll do day one and that's the problem. so what we need to do is have someone who has a plan and has experience to do all the things republicans and conservatives would like to do. >> all right, welcome back to "morning joe," here with us now, columnist for "time" magazine joe kleine along with political bringer for the "huffington post" sam stein. we also have harold ford jr. and mike barnicle back with us. >> we have a variety of red socks fans around here. >> we do. >> let me read from joe's latest

piece. i couldn't agree more. here's this, there was a reason for romney's success and it pains me to disclose it. he was well prepared by his consultants. none of the candidates seemed to have prepped at all. they had their moments. they seemed amateurs, romney is a professional. you have to work at being a good debater, a good candidate. and he has clearly done his homework. you say at the beginning mitt romney won the debate and most likely the nomination. >> this is a professional mainly in the field of amateurs. >> totally amateurs. the interesting thing is that all of these debatiing points

that you guys mentioned in the last secment is that -- nobody attacked him on his health care plan in massachusetts, santorum didn't get off his populist anti-wall street bailout message, they didn't attack him on flip-flopping on social issues, it was all you didn't run for a second term, or your highest bologna which really is a great phrase. you're really a politician but they didn't intend to be one. the other candidates didn't know how to deliver a message, didn't know how to deliver an attack and don't know how to respond to an attack. >> sam stein, one of the biggest surprises to me in this campaign is that there is not a conservative that can lay a glove on mitt romney for being the father of the individual mandate in the republican party. i mean he gave the obama administration the blueprint on

romney care and -- but as joe is saying, they're obsessing on process. >> i think it's multifaceted, joe's right, whenever that comes up, he's deflected. and the candidates have been unwilling to do it. it goes back to tim pawlenty, when he was talking about obama care and he fails to actually deliver it to romney's face. it was very odd to hear him say behind romney's back and then not debate it. one more point with the c consultants, that was the basic point of a campaign is they actually qualified for delegates and no one else but romney and ron paul -- >> let me just say this, because i get so tired of saying, oh, you guys are obsessing, you guys obsess on the process, on who's the most prepared for debates, on who looks the most

presidential, that matters, it matters when you're actual governing that you know how to boil down a message and get it out to the party, get it out to the country, get it out to the world. discipline matters and right now on the republican side, i think we all have to agree with joe kleine, the most disciplined guy out there by a long shot is mitt romney. >> i would agree, there's nothing wrong with being prepped, mika's point earlier. as a senior partner in my law anyway was saying, think about his candidates, everyone's a little flawed. gingrich has been criticized for his representation of freddie

mac. rick santorum has been criticized for his earmarks. >> and there's also the $7 million medicare drug benefit problem. if you are santorum and you try to attack romney care, you say, rick, he supported a $7 trillion expansion of medicare that you didn't even both tore pay for. >> you know what? seriously, that's like saying, yes, insteered the behinden berg into a horrible disaster, but you know what, the wood grain on the steering wheel, exquisite. the most reckless piece of legislation fiscally over the past 20 years, if you just look at the numbers is the bush medicare drug benefit plan. $7 trillion. >> the second round of bush tax cuts, but that doesn't actual $7

trillion, does it? >> it's up. we get too caught up in the question too, my favorite question of the entire weekend was talking about how the federal government was cutting back on home heating oil subsidies for the elderly up here and asking them specifically, how do you feel about that? and the reason why it was a great question was it involved a specific act of withdrawing government support and number two it gave them a real opportunity to broaden out and talk about their philosophies. you'll remember that huntsman is the only one who mentioned the old people even in passing. mitt romney went directly to sending this back to the states. it's important for the public to know, any of these republicans, a lot of these programs that they're counting on now will come back to the states and states may or may not continue it. >> do you think, mike barnicle, that john huntsman had a strong

debate on sunday morning? >> i think he did have a strong debate, only because of a couple of moments in the debate which is all that matters. i think he had his strongest performance by far. romney -- >> wait, wait, you went to an event last night with huntsman, we're talking about this -- i have heard this same complaint about huntsman here that i heard about santorum in iowa, a very undisciplined speaker, he can't stay on message, he roams all over the place. >> this was at the king state college over in king, new hampshire, a terrific crowd, he had about 300 people there, and i'll cut him some slack for weariness, late on a sunday night at the end of a grueling -- >> we have been hearing this -- >> five or six months, but it was like you were watching a candidate in a town hall performance and he went on far too long, 35, 45 minutes and he

did not know when to end. when you're there 20 minutes and you get a crescendo of applause, get out on that applause. >> even running for congress, i had the same speech, you give the same speech and you keep giving it until everybody on your staff is so sick of it that they want to throw up if they hear it again and at that point, and this is serious, at that point, anybody who knows anything about politics knows, that the point you are just beginning to get your message through. and that is something for some reason these candidates running for the president of the united states do not know. >> in 1968, robert kennedy's running for president, and he had his basic campaign speech, he had it down really well after giving it like two times and it always ended with a quote from

t tennyson. as george bernard shaw once said, and he looked at the assembled media, run for the bus, meaning the speech was over. >> 1980, reagan gave the same speech time after time after time and the press got together and we thedesignated a person t watch him to see if it changed and we all went out in the hallway. >> they're trying to tamp something down, they're going after his character and his integrity, at an event that we had last night, chris christie came on after him and questioned his character. so it must be that they're worried about him. >> they're showing that he's losing a point a day, which if you're up 25 points that's not a problem. but in new hampshire, sam stein,

it's always unpredictable. one point can go to two points torques five points. >> the rest of the field is either stagnant or going down. we saw rick santorum at this college convention. and after that, the tracking poll showed him going down three points, because that's just not a new hampshire message. hunts man lived in the state, he's given the message, sometimes in mandarin chinese. that's a problem. but if there was a candidate to worry about, it would be huntsman. >> i think huntsman also to mika's point, if he runs as a third party, it's got to take some of these strength away. if americans elect him, what else does he have to do? >> there's not going to be a thir third party. >> the history of voting in this country can be summed up by

this, it's always, i like him but. so the assault on huntsman, i like him but, if you take the but out of the equation in people's minds, i like him, maybe i will vote for him. there's no more butt. i like him but he'll never win. take out the but. >> the republicans speaking mandarin at a debate. >> i thought it was outrageous. >> who talks about china more than anybody else on television? and about the concern about china? you. >> and i talk about it in american, in american. >> well, it's nice to know someone has had experience outside the united states perhaps even a country that we consider a focus of our concerns. >> we're going to bring in the publisher of the new hampshire

le leader. we're back in a moment in new hampshire. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go

the broncos have been in three overtime games this year, they won them all. got him at the 40s, it's thomas at the 50. to the 30s, to the 10, denver. >> that was about 8:00 eastern time, the very first play of overtime. tim tebow, the guy who can't flo throw, we're told, throws an 80-yard touchdown pass, we should point out a couple of things here, tim tebow throws for 316 yards, he's famous for throwing the john 3:16 emblem.

>> 31.6. >> amazing grace, how sweet the sound. sam, you're a big football fan, is it time to say tim tebow is a good quarterback? >> tim tebow and i have a lot in common. i would say yeah, he's pretty good. he still can't throw. >> 316 yards against the pittsburgh steelers defense. >> that's the best defense in the nfl. >> was. >> now the scene shifts. >> that is a question of how does the best defense in the nfl on the first play in overtime collapse up the middle on a basic slant.

>> okay, as we move to new hampshire, tebow to new england. >> tebow, tom brady, 8:00 saturday night in prime time. monstrous ratings, it's going to be huge. coming up, joe mcquaid, another scathing up said about mitt romney today. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪

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i'm sorry, governor, you

were in the last two years implementing the policies of china. the rest of us were trying to stop the policies of this president to be put forward. >> as they would say in china. [ speaking in native language ] he doesn't suns the situation. >> you know what he just said to him in chinese? >> he just didn't need to go there in a republican debate. >> with us now, we have got the publisher of the new hampshire union leaders. you mind if i still call it the new hampshire union leader? joe mcquaid is here also the chairman of the new republican state committee wayne mcdonald. joe, let me start with you. i was just commenting earlier, it was surprising to me as a small government conservative, that the guy who's in charge is not really having to defend the fact that he was one of the a

archite architects, one of the early architects of the original mandate. but the obama team picked it up from romney. >> yep. >> but he's not having to defend that that much on the debate stage, why not? >> i don't know. he's been getting an awful lucky turn and a free ride and he's got a lot of competition that rises up and falls back. i think the answer to your question is that the republican establishment in general wants so much to get rid of obama that they are following the party line that romney is the one and only guy who can -- >> you don't agree with that? >> not at all. >> in fact an editorial saying he may be the worst choice. >> a couple reasons, one issues change. two years ago romney is the guy to beat obama, it's economy is in the tank. and romney has focused strictly on, i'm the businessman, i can

fix the economy. i think for a lot of people in the country, there's more that needs fixing than just the economy. obama is going to beat him with hey, you're the 1%, i'm the 99%. >> you often hear from the main stream media that you want to get the moderate republican because they can win nationwide, and yet you look back, jerald ford in 76, the moderate loses. in '96, bob dole, the moderate loses. in 2008, john mccain, the moderate loses. choosing the moderate is not always a safe bet is it? >> it's not always a safe bet, but as party chairman, i'm not supporting anyone. >> you love them all, don't you? >> you think this is the strongest republican field, perhaps, that you have ever seen? >> one of the strongest, absolutely. >> god bless you. >> somebody's got say it.

>> speaking in the context of mitt romney and his candidacy and his potential as a nominee. it was summed up at a lincoln day gala when he talked about mitt romney cutting taxes 19 times in massachusetts, about mitt romney opposing the supreme court decision on same-sex marriage, about mitt romney standing up for pro-life. he said after his hand came off the bible, he was a conservative. speaking in the context of mitt romney and certainly newt gingrich has been an outstanding conservative leader, he brought the republicans back to the majority in the congress in 1994. but mitt romney i think is reputation as a moderate is probably not accurate. >> mike barnicle. >> joe, the endorsement, the union leader's endorsement has always about pivotal.

>> how does that endorsement process work? is it your decision alone? is it an editorial board? and what does the endorsement mean today? >> it's more legend than fact. we have always had a loud voice, i think it can be pivotal in a close election with a few percentage points to make the difference. but to answer the first party question, we don't have an editorial board. we don't work that way. it's myself and my editorial writer. i do solicit the opinions of a lot of people as time moves on, what do you think, et cetera. and one of the strongest ones i got was from my son who's kind of apolitical, but just romney? are you kidding?

with young people, they don't trust him. >> what's happened to the state, huntsman was here for months and months. if anything, huntsman is moving up. why is he suddenly moving zplup because people are still looking for an alternative to romney. and i think the worst thing about this campaign has been the 12 or 15 so-called debates. wayne and i were talking about this before. it's cut into the retail politics and the time spent here and the intention spent on new hampshire. so people are just now focusing attention, in the last week, we just had christmas and new year's. now the attention is on. i wish huntsman had had the fastness of mind to say how about that guy judd gregg, isn't he working for obama too.

>> there was an advertisement in your paper a couple of weeks ago questioning all these from the red state and george will about the true conservative in this race being john huntsman. let me ask you as a small government conservative as well. why does huntsman have the best conservative record, most consistent through the year, but he's not doing well in the debate. why didn't you give him your endorsement. >> i think he tried to position himself as a moderate over the conservatives. his record is more conservative than the way he introduced himself. >> any predictions, joe? >> well, romney, but not by as much as anybody says, and a real close shot for second. >> and wayne, you love this field. tell me, wayne, who's going to win it. >> the polls are the polls, but i remember in 2000, john mccain and george w. bush in the closing days were neck and neck

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it's time to talk about what we learned today. >> i learned if you go on a drive with mike barnicle, let it be a bunch of skittles. let him get arrested. >> you need bail money. >> one more kid has turned bad by a bag of skittles. what have you learned, will? >> i learn