not a true believer in his party. he is, in fact, a moderate republican politician who has hoped to get to the presidency by whatever course of ideology and fashion that will get him there. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics when republicans attack each other. tonight, romney's rivals pile on his record as a jobs killer at bain capital. and willard makes it worse by saying he, quote, likes to be able to fire people. oops. i think the truth popped out there. and is it jon huntsman's turn to be the flavor of the month? polls show he's surging in new hampshire. plus -- we'll talk to the voter who went toe-to-toe with newt gingrich over his disturbing comments on race.

>> will you stop using blacks, in general, as a stepping stone or a punching bag, in order to get your -- >> i didn't say what you just said. >> welcome to politics nation. i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, the bain bomb. republicans are on the attack against willard and using his past against him. but not everyone knows this. as ceo of private equity group bain capital, mitt stuffed his pockets with cash. now we're learning about thousands who lost their jobs while romney made millions as head of bain capital. nbc universal and bain are each part owners of the weather channel. "the wall street journal" investigated 77 businesses that bain invested in and found 22% of them filed for bankruptcy or closed their doors resulting in thousands of layoffs. as that happened, romney and

bain investors were getting rich, receiving all totaled about $2.5 billion in gains. this bain bomb is exploding, and it's the republicans that are doing the grilling. newt gingrich is leading the charge. >> he owes us a report on his stewardship of his private record. they apparently looted the companies, left people totally unemployed and walked off with millions of dollars. look. i'm for capitalism. but if somebody comes in, takes all the money out of your company and then leaves you bankrupt while they go off with millions, that's not traditional capitalism. >> looted companies. and again, they didn't stop there. a super pac that supports him is out with a devastating 30-minute movie that attacks romney and his time at bain. >> his mission to reap massive

rewards for himself and his investors. a group of corporate raiders led by mitt romney. more ruthless than wall street. for tens of thousands of americans, the suffering began when mitt romney came to town. >> ouch. and with all the questions surrou surrounding jobs, killing perhaps his biggest gaffe to date this morning. >> i want individuals to have their own insurance. that means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. it also means if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. i like being able to fire people and provide services to me. >> you like being able to fire people? that gave other candidates an opening to pile on romney. the now wounded front-runner.

>> governor romney enjoys firing people. i enjoy creating jobs. >> i have no doubt that mitt romney was worried about pink slips, whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out because his company bain capital, all the jobs that they killed, i am sure he was worried he'd run out of pink slips. >> nice line, rick. only wish i had said it first. joining me now is ed rendell, nbc news political analyst and former dnc chair. and michael steele, former rnc chair. thank you both for coming on. governor, let me start with you. how potent an issue is romney's time at bain? >> well, i think it's an important issue. i'm not sure it will make a difference in the republican primaries, al, but it's going to be a devastating issue for the fall. and the best thing for barack obama is that he doesn't have to be accused of bringing out a negative thing.

and if romney does survive, and i think he will. i don't think there's a plausible alternative. if he does survive, he'll be wounded by this and something independent voters, working class, reagan democrats, that they are going to consider very deeply in the fall. i'm just licking our chops. >> now, mr. steele is the governor right? is it too late for anyone to stop willard, and if it is, will it not be effective if he's running as a job creator? it makes it all the more legitimate for the democrats to raise his record at bain and to be able to say even his opponents in the republican primaries raised this and it's a legitimate, disturbing issue. >> sure, sure, reverend. three things off the top. so much for the 11th

commandment. thou shalt not harm another republican. long gone. two, i think the governor is absolutely right. short term, this is not going to weaken romney's momentum, if you will. yeah it will sting a little bit here in new hampshire. probably sting a little more when you get to south carolina and florida. but the reality is, a lot of that moment sum baked into it already. they know that. but third point, to your point, the fall is where this becomes deadly. and, you know, romney has to stop giving the opponents, meaning obama and his team,bite. i get the context. he was referring to the insurance companies and having the power to remove an insurance company that is not serving you. but that clip in the wake of joblessness, unemployment, particularly that, you know, all of this beginning in the bush era and sliding through the obama era, you can refocus the attention away from obama and back to the bush times and talk about, see, this is the

attitude. and, of course, when you get into the 99% versus the 1%, i think the governor has got it dead right here. >> now, governor, it is true that he was talking in a sentence about insurance companies. but the fact of the matter is he didn't say, i like to be able to fire companies that service me. i like to fire people. so his words really set up a sound bite he will not be able to easily explain. particularly, watch this, governor rendell, when you back it up with facts. the bain bomb. >> oh, sure. >> let's look at what some companies suffered under the purchase and dealing and investments of bain capital. dade international, 1,700 jobs lost. american pad & paper, 358 jobs lost. gs industries, 750 jobs lost. so if you have him saying, i like firing people, and then directly show that graph where people literally lost their job,

due to bain while he was ceo, that is almost -- i rest my case. let the jury vote. >> well, except, al. remember this. remember how ticked off we were when the republicans took something that president obama said totally out of context and it really backfired on them because the newspeople were able to say, come on, guys. that's not what president obama said. listen to the whole quote. i forget what that issue was about. michael you might remember. we got all ticked off and it actually backfired on the republicans. if we try to make an issue out of that quote, and you go back and play the full tape, what mitt romney was saying is, he likes firing insurance companies that don't work for his employees. and i think there's a real danger in playing that game. i think the republicans were hurt when they did it to obama. michael, what was the issue? >> i forget myself. >> but you remember? >> i do remember.

>> the governor was accusing you of being part of the republicans who did that to the president. >> no, i knew where he was going. >> do you remember the issue? >> i don't remember completely. >> i think you are absolutely right. and i think that all of white house have been caught out of context would agree. the problem is the facts as i laid them out makes it even more where he has to explain it. but the real problem, michael is that it's the republicans that's jumping on his quote, not the democrats. so it backfired when republicans did it but it wasn't fellow democrats that had distorted what the president said. in this case i just showed you huntsman, rick perry. it's his own colleagues that are stepping across the 11th commandment and they are taking the quote. >> well, al, that is and to the governor's point, that's the distinguishing mark there. the democrats on that particular issue there were all slipping at the moment memorywise. they rallied around and came out and made it very clear what the president was talking about. here you don't have that.

you don't have any of the other candidates saying, hold up. put it in context. he was talking about insurance companies, not individuals. >> and the american people like firing insurance companies. >> they do. and that's the problem. when you have that context that is sort of sitting on the side and you have -- when you know, governor, when you are explaining in politics, you are losing. and so that's not the position you want to be in right now if you are the romney people. >> no question, michael, but the reverend sharpton is absolutely right. the biggest problem here is not the quote. there's danger in using the quote. the biggest problem is the facts. and the facts when we come to the general election are going to be very difficult. >> and if i were debating willard, i would almost bait him in by asking, what do you mean by the quote? let him very arrogantly explain it and then say, well, then explain these facts which would be very difficult, and he'd go from being very confident to stumbling. i want to shift quickly to another topic while i have you.

we talked about how some gop candidates have used race in the election, particularly gingrich and santorum. let me ask you, michael steele, you are a republican. you were the first african-american republican chair of the republican national committee. how do you respond to it seem league being inferred that plaques are the ones on food stamps, that newt gingrich outright says he would go to an naacp convention and tell them that blacks need to demand jobs, not food stamps. this whole kind of depicting and stereotyping blacks in poverty and in food stamps. >> keyword there, stereotyping. and that is one of the problems that republicans have systematically and always seems to back into is this stereotype about our community. and what i would say is to stop

it. why don't you take the time and go into the community and have a conversation before you start making grand pronouncements. i don't care who you are. about what you are going to do for the community. we're not all on food stamps. we're not all on welfare. we're not all standing in line waiting for the government to hand something out to us. we're entrepreneurial. we're investors. we've got billionaires, millionaires and those who want to be billionaires and millionaires. so there's a broad swath of the community that gets left to the side because we focus on those part of the criminal class, those who are part of, you know, the social safety net or trying to move themselves up. and we paint this broad picture of african-americans that, quite frankly is insulting. >> so you are saying, michael steel, as the former chairman of the republican party, the immediate past chairman, you are saying to them, stop it. >> stop it. because the -- >> i like that republican sound bite. >> no, but i'm saying there's a conversation, reverend, that we can have as republicans to talk

about job creation, wealth creation, ownership and entrepreneurism without having to classify people and assuming that they are at the lower end of the spectrum. a lot of folks are in the middle trying to get to the next level. that's why i think we have the greatest opportunity instead of doing the stereotype, as you said. >> we're going to be talking to a voter in new hampshire that confronted mr. gingrich on it. let me ask you just for the record, governor rendell. you were governor of pennsylvania. mr. santorum was a senator of pennsylvania. isn't appalachia in pennsylvania that has a lot of poor whites? it's not like santorum doesn't know there are poor whites in this country. >> al, what is so amazing to me is it shows how out of touch both of these guys are. because in pennsylvania now, more than 1 out of every 10 pennsylvanians on food stamps, and believe me, they are not all african-americans. 1.2 million people. there are plenty of poor whites, latinos, asians. right now it's your neighbor that's on food stamps because

he's out of work. >> right. >> well, on this one, michael and, governor, we agree. so let's leave while we're ahead. you all come back now, you here? governor ed rendell and chairman michael steele. thanks for coming on the show tonight. ahead -- willard likes being able to fire people which means he's right stepping today's gop, no matter how he said it. how will the obama team run against the party of the 1%? plus -- voters are calling out newt gingrich and rick santorum for their racially charged rhetoric. >> do you think that blacks represent an american problem? >> the man who confronted newt joins us exclusively. and a long way from new hampshire, scott walker shows just how scared he is. you won't believe what he's doing now. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. this is an rc robotic claw.

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he thinks corporations are people, and he likes to be able to fire people. willard mitt romney. is he bad for the republicans? that's next. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way.

learn more at keller.edu. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. welcome back to "politics nation." it's likely this election will be fought over the issue of jobs. and that's why mitt romney is saying in whatever context he likes to fire people is so potentially bad for him.

60% of republicans believe he will get the nomination. willard is the poster boy for the 1%. but he's not alone. take a look at this. all the candidates favor tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. they all want new tax cuts for corporations. they all support ending medicare. they all support cutting social security. and they all oppose the buffett rule. their extreme views on full display this weekend. gutting medicare and food stamps and changing social security. this is the new republican party. and it's being led by mr. corporation or people himself. joining me, richard wolffe. the author of "revival: the struggle for survival in the obama white house."

richard, let me start with you. is willard winning anyone over by saying these things that he likes to fire people? people are -- corporations are people. who is he playing to and who is supportive of this? >> well, there's a difference between those two comments, but they are both illustrative of something bigger. romney has argued consistently that corporations are people so he's got to live with that. he's chosen to stick with it. the firing people thing, let's face it. we've criticized the romney campaign for ripping the president's comments out of context. the context here is important. he's talking about getting rid of an insurance company. but the way you and me would talk about getting rid of an insurance company, we might say we were dropping our insurer or switching to another insurer. and i think the choice of words here is illustrative of something bigger. and when you think back to elections, john kerry being for something before being against it or john mccain not remembering his houses, those comments were not in themselves explosive.

it was how they spoke to a bigger mind-set. yes, it's a problem when people are worried about jobs and about being unemployed that you have someone with a corporate history in bain. someone who doesn't seem to care about working folks in the same way. and that's where the comments become really damaging. >> and i think you're right. i think that the context clearly was insurance companies, but i think that the phrase so matched the record at bain and so matched some of what he's saying that that is what's disturbing. and the choice of words is interesting. but perry, it is not only willard. let me show you what all of the candidates are saying and how extreme it was. it was on full display in the two debates over the weekend. watch this. >> food stamps is another place. block grant it, send it right back to the states. same thing with medicaid. those three programs. and including housing programs, block grant them, send them back to the states. require work and put a time limit. >> i agree with the ryan plan.

i think i'm the only one standing up here who has embraced the ryan plan. what i like about it it says there will be no sacred cows. medicare won't be a sacred cow. >> my trillion-dollar proposal to cut spending doesn't immediately deal with social security. it's to try to work our way out of social security. >> so there you are. even jon huntsman who appeared to be the more moderate of the group is embracing the ryan plan. so it's like the whole stage of the republicans that are left running for the nomination seem to have the same kind of policy when it comes to working class and middle class americans. >> i think this tells wrus we are in the primary process. these guys all watch the tea party rise in 2009 and 2010 and now they are trying to court that vote. the next big primary where they all have a chance is in south carolina. that's where all that rhetoric is aimed for. south carolina conservatives who haven't committed to romney yet. and who are open to their

candidates. that's the message they are trying to reach those republicans with is this kind of small government message, a very intensely small government message. >> now, richard, the dnc rips romney for, quote, bogus math on his claim he created 100,000 jobs at bain. look at this. listen to this. >> we helped create over 100,000 new jobs. over 100,000 jobs. 100,000 jobs. ♪ ♪ >> i've read some analysts who look at it and say that you are counting the jobs that were created but not counting the

jobs taken away. is that accurate? >> i'm a good enough numbers guy to make sure i got both sides of that. >> now aside from the dnc, richard, greg sargent in "the washington post" did this study and let me show you the conclusion. he said he did the math. and if you take mitt's rule's job creation, he created 100,000 jobs. if you use that same measure, then president obama created 2.3 million jobs. so are we going to count mitt's way for mitt and another way for the president or are we going to use willard's standard across the board which clearly works to the president's favor? >> well, we should be honest about it. take the net position, only during his term. that's the traditional measure for presidents. traditional measure for ceos and for people who are in venture capital. the problem for mitt romney is it gets to this idea of

trustworthiness. is he being slippery. again, it's a character thing. nothing wrong with venture capitalists or people investing money. although i think there is a real difference in people's minds between entrepreneurs, people who risk their own money rather than investing other people's -- risking other people's money. so, you know, mitt romney has an education point of view. an education challenge to teach people what he was actually doing. but beyond that, he's got to be honest about his own record, whether it was as massachusetts governor, being for climate change measures or the individual mandate. he's also got to be hon best his time in the private sector. >> i think you are right. perry, from what you can ascertain from your sources, is the white house concerned about willard romney? >> yeah, the campaign is definitely -- i think they prefer to run against rick perry because of what we've seen or newt gingrich. they started attacking romney pretty early, which is a sign they think he's a viable nominee and someone who could be a

challenger. they've attacked him on -- about his bain capital record, about his flip-flopping. they've talked about him being someone like george w. bush in terms of economic policy. he's definitely a legitimate candidate, more than the other republicans are. at the same time, he's make something mistakes in these last few weeks coming toward the new hampshire primary. >> wouldn't a mistake, richard, and i just want a quick answer to this, but wouldn't a mistake be he's choosing something that he's vulnerable in, like you said, there's nothing wrong with investing. there's nothing wrong with venture capital. but if that is your background why would you choose to run as a job creator when you know that people can raise questions? why don't he use something else as his major platform or the things that he wants to appeal to american voters? >> because i think he's running a consultant-driven campaign and job creator is what they now call millionaires and billionaires. everyone is a job creator that they want to look after. to pick up on something perry

said. the republican campaign has driven all of these candidates to the right in a way democrats didn't have to do in 2008. that's his biggest mistake, not his language. >> thank you for your time tonight. >> thanks for having us. ahead, new numbers are out. coming from new hampshire it is time for jon huntsman to have his day in the sun. i'm serious. a jon huntsman surge. do we have a new flavor of the month? plus -- newt's under fire for racially charged comments, and he's getting connecticut fro -- confronted on the trail about it. the man who asked the question joins us. and scott walker's pretending to help students. say it with me, everyone. we got you. next.

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welcome back to "politics nation." it's winter in new hampshire. but the gop is hotter than ever. a sign jon huntsman is moving up on romney. just one day before the gop primary, the candidates are racing across the state trying to hug every baby and shake every hand they can find. new hampshire's been mitt

romney's to lose since day one. but now he ne poll shows willar dropped 10 points since last week going from 43% to 33%. that's ten points in just one week. meanwhile, huntsman, ron paul and newt gingrich are going up in the polls. >> but right now, what i'm worried about is winning in new hampshire and hopefully having a margin larger than iowa. >> in my dreams, second place. whatever the expectations are come tomorrow night, we'll have to clear that hurdle. i'm not sure what they're going to be, but it seems to me that every passing hour, today, going into tomorrow, the expectations are changing. >> our goal this week was to make very clear that romney cannot campaign with a straight face as a conservative. that it's not plausible. i'm pretty comfortable once we get to that point that we'll do very, very well in south carolina. >> joining me now from new hampshire is dana millbank,

political columnist for "the washington post" and erin mcpike, a reporter for "real clear politics." thank you both for joining me. >> thank you. >> good evening, reverend. >> dana, let me start with you. does romney need to win by a certain amount, and if so, what is that margin? >> well, you can't really put an exact number on it, but certainly romney needs to win and win by more than seven or eight votes, as he did the last time. you see the beginning of this huntsman surge. it doesn't feel like that kind of mccain thing when he overdook george w. bush in 2000, although he does have the same strategist mccain had back then. and it still has the feeling that romney is where he needs to be here. but it needs to be convincing. it needs to be more than a couple of points in order for him -- people in south carolina in florida in nevada to just say, all right. look. it's inevitable he's the

nominee. let's hold our nose and go with him. >> you are saying you do not feel a surge for jon huntsman as some were saying. >> it's a surge. the poll you were just putting up there, he's bumped up four percentage points or something. would be an exciting thing and jon huntsman could do some good things for the republican party. to the extent he's surging it's probably left leaning independents who are going to be voting for huntsman in the primary here. that won't help him a whole lot, even if he does well here when you get to south carolina and the other places. >> erin, you've been making the rounds, going to events. i believe you just left an event for newt gingrich. what are the size of the crowds, and who seems to be gaining a momentum or getting a larger turnout as opposed to the others? >> i wasn't surprised, actually thaerkt gingrich event earlier today in hudson. the crowd wasn't very big. bigger than some of the crowds

i've seen for gingrich but it was probably about one-third of the crowd that mitt romney had the day before. an exiter when he had kelly ayott, the senator here and chris christie, who was campaigning with him yesterday. so the crowds aren't as big as you'd expect for newt gingrich. for mitt romney and ron paul, they're still pretty big. even if his support is dropping in this state he still has a sizable base of support to count on. >> let me show you this. a lot of this will be decided, erin and dana, by undecided. according to this last poll, there are still 12% undecided, 24% saying they might change their mind. now with this whole negative attack on willard, if a sizable portion of the undecided and some people change their mind, it could at least make it close and a little embarrassing for

willard, couldn't you think, dana? >> yes, it could be. the problem, it's not exactly clear who these people would be coalescing around. there's too many people in the field. there's not an obvious alternative like john mccain was there to george w. bush in 2000. you know, as was just pointed out, there are some pretty substantial crowds here. i'm judging they are about half of the crowd in each of these events that i've been to. it's just the media. so it's not clear to me there's a whole lot of enthusiasm for any of these guys right now other than from, you know, all of us in the press. and from the united states and around the world who are just jamming around these candidates. even the more obscure ones who have no chance of winning. now let me ask you, erin, about enthusiasm. if you look at the polling, the flavors of the week, gop voters on presidential field in january, 51% felt the field was

excellent to good. january of 2008, it was 68%. only 44% in january of this year. in '08, 31% said they were fair to poor. so you get this sense that people are really saying the field doesn't excite us. >> that's right. but they have been saying all year that the field doesn't excite them. and it's actually pretty bad for the republican party that the enthusiasm level has gone down rather than up. as the primary season has gone on. so, you know, i agree with that, that it's a problem. i've talked to a lot of voters here who say it's a foregone conclusion that mitt romney is going to win in new hampshire. probably will get the nomination and he just doesn't excite voters. mitt romney will have a lot to handle if he does get the nomination in trying to not only unite conservatives behind him so they don't launch some sort of third party candidacy, but also to get the base excited enough just to come out and support him on election day

rather than stay home. >> when you look at the union leader, erin, in a front page editorial, influential, very conservative paper who has endorsed romney. in a front page editorial they say that he's -- supported gingrich. i'm sorry. not romney. they say romney may be the worst candidate. his claim record as a fiscally conservative governor is as much of a sham as his flip-flop on social issues. i mean, this is stuff that dnc operatives live and breathe for. but let me ask you, dana. we leave new hampshire after the polls close tomorrow night and head south. who wins south carolina? >> well, if romney wins by a substantial margin here, everyone assume he's just rolls from here and that becomes a whole lot less interesting, but, you know, what's becoming clear is the longer this goes on, it's mercifully appears to be a short one for romney, but every day he's causing himself more trouble, whether he's talking about his -- in his pleasure at firing people or this supposed

entry level job he has. a lot of self-inflicted wounds he's giving himself each day out here on the trail. so from romney's point of view, he can't wrap it up fast enough. >> erin, what happened to rick santorum? he came out in iowa. he made an excellent speech, an almost victory speech, you could say. certainly was better than romney's. and then he sort of didn't know how to follow it up. it's like he had his opponent dazed and he couldn't come -- not with a knockout punch. he couldn't even rattle them anymore. what happened? >> well, he said himself that he is too socially conservative essentially to win new hampshire. so he went straight to south carolina after the nbc debate yesterday morning. campaigned all day in south carolina and came back up here to campaign before new hampshire today. but he's polling in about fourth place right now. it doesn't look like he's going to be able to change that and will probably end tomorrow in fourth place in new hampshire. doesn't mean his candidacy is

over. he may do very well in south carolina. but rick santorum peaked very late in the process and didn't really have the kind of gusto to take it forward with him. if it had happened to him in early december, maybe he would have learned to get with the program early enough. as far as romney is concerned, i would agree with dana on that point. people have been saying that mitt romney is so disciplined. yet when he campaigns a lot and is under the microscope, it's harder for him. so maybe this right now is a test for him that will make him a stronger candidate in the general election. >> erin mcpike and dana milbank, thanks for joining us tonight from new hampshire. >> thanks, reverend. ahead -- newt gingrich and rick santorum's ugly talk about race and poor people on the trail. >> will you stop using blacks in general as a stepping stone or punching bag in order to get your nomination? >> i didn't say what you just said. >> that man who confronted

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and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back. we've been talking for weeks about this ugly story line emerging in the gop presidential race. the continued use of racially charged rhetoric by newt gingrich and rick santorum that aims their ugly words at minorities and the poor. here's what rick santorum said last week in iowa. >> to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money, i want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn their money and provide for themselves and their families. >> recently, newt gingrich took it a whole new way and to

another level. >> if the naacp invites me, i will go to their convention and talk about why the african-american community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps. if the naacp invites me to come speak, i'm going. if any of the ethnic groups -- if a latin american group invites me to come speak, i'm going. >> both candidates are falsely promoting the idea that black people are the biggest group of food stamp recipients in the country. we know from government reports it's just not true. and now voters are speaking up. >> why do you have a problem against black people? we are the only ones who need aid? >> i understand that. >> that was a new hampshire voter taking on rick santorum on saturday. and on sunday it was gingrich's turn. >> do you think that blacks

represent an american problem? and if you don't think that, will you stop using blacks, in general, as a stepping stone or a punching bag in order to get your nomination. >> i didn't say what you just said. >> joining me now is the voter you just heard in that video, ivan. he's a haitian immigrant and father of four grown children who says he's never been on food stamps. mr. lamont, thank you for your time tonight. >> you're welcome, al. thank you. >> you made a point of going to that event on yesterday. just to ask that question. why was it so important to you? >> well, when i heard it, i was actually very mad because it's not true. it's not fair. and it's not accurate. and, you know, the best way to answer that question is to tell you my story. i came up to new hampshire in 1973, and i started to work at a

juvenile school, and three months after i got here, the school got closed. so i didn't have a job. i didn't have any money, and i didn't have a place to live. and my wife who was seven months pregnant was due up here in about a week. so i had to scramble to find a place to live. and, you know, get -- i had to go to the salvation army and beg for $20, $30, in order to have something to eat. and i eventually found a job at the new hampshire state hospital forensic unit for the criminally insane. >> so you worked your way up from nothing is really what you're saying, yvan? >> absolutely. i started at, you know, minimum wage and eventually got my masters degree and then put my four children -- helped my four children get through college. one is currently a doctor practicing medicine in new jersey. another one works as an executive in chicago for a wireless company. and all my children went to college. >> so -- >> and i've worked all my life.

>> so you and your children are really american success stories. and to be depicted and stereotyped in this way, is that what led to last night? >> absolutely. and, you know, it's not like black people walk around with microphones to be able to respond to broad character assassination like that. so i felt it very important for me to track mr. gingrich down and basically address that issue. basically, it's not true. and he shouldn't go around and saying that and get away with it. >> so now you are not a member of a group and for full disclosure, you aren't a member of my organization, national action network. you aren't a card-carrying activist. you are just a man that worked his way up. had came here. had problems. never went on welfare, food stamps, raised your children. they're successful. and you were offended? >> i live a quiet life in the woods of new hampshire. and it's a great state. and i love being here. but, you know, it's like i picked up some of the yankee spirit. when people say things that are

b.s., we don't put up with that. >> now let me show you -- let me show you mr. gingrich's answer to you. watch this. >> clearly as somebody who has served with colin powell, someone who served with condy rice, i have a fairly good sense that in fact, african-americans have made many contributions to america and somebody who co-sponsored martin luther king jr.'s birthday on the first day i was sworn in back as a freshman congress pn who comes from atlanta and understands the role of dr. king, i think you and i are probably fairly compatible. >> quickly, let me ask you, how did you feel about his answer? >> well, mr. gingrich did not really answer the question. basically he said he never said what he said. he and rick santorum basically have said the same thing as you pointed out earlier. i would point out that apparently we're no longer black people but blah people which is a different breed i'm not familiar with.

but he didn't answer the question and to be honest with you, i didn't he think would. that would put him on the spot if he did. >> thank you, mr. lamothe. thank you for coming on the show. yvan lamothe, thank you. ♪ ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪ ♪ side by side, one, two, three ♪ ♪ count the birds in the big old tree ♪ ♪ la la la [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest

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tomorrow is the new hampshire primary. the scene of many memorable moments over the years. back in 1972, ed muskey teared up, or did he, over attacks on his wife. >> attacking my wife, he has proved himself to be a gutless coward. it's fortunate for him he's not here on this platform beside me. >> reporter: eight years later, ronald reagan got emotional in a different way. >> would you turn that microphone off, please.

>> i amming for a this microphone. >> bill clinton wowed the crowd after his second place new hampshire finish back in '92. >> i think we know enough to say with some certainty that new hampshire tonight has made bill clinton the comeback kid. >> and while muskie's tears hurt his candidacy, by 2008, times had changed. >> some people think elections are a game. they think it's like who's up or who's down. it's about our country. it's about our kids' futures. it's really about all of us together. you know, some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds. >> many said that emotional moment of ms. clinton's helped her win the state's primary. willard's line about liking to fire people may not cost him new hampshire, but it could hurt him down t