start answering why he's still in the race? we'll be back tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. eastern. 6:00 p.m. eastern is when our special coverage of the new hampshire primary starts. we'll be live all night until we drop from exhaustion or somebody wins, whichever comes first. >> rachael, it's too long a story to explain how i got stuck here today. i was headed back to new york and had to come back and buy a tie tonight. i went to the gap sale at the new hampshire mall. $10.97. my proudest price tag ever. you're missing the big sales. >> will you bring me back something, please? >> i'll find something. thanks, rachael. >> thanks, lawrence. >> exactly two hours from right now, the first votes will be cast in new hampshire which is not a minute too soon for mitt romney. >> you know, the sun may go down tonight but it ain't going to be jobs.

>> i want to get the nomination. >> this ain't the beanbag. >> if you don't like what they do, you could fire them. >> romney declared he lights fire in people. >> mitt romney likes being able to fire people who work for him. >> i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. >> i think it's a gaffe, a reel gaffe. >> it gives the impression he simply does not care. >> it's a gordon gecko like narrative. >> today "the wall street journal" reports on romney's time. >> the two enterprises i led were quite successful. >> 22% of those businesses filed for bankruptcy protection. >> some of the companies didn't make it and have a hard time? yes, they're going to attack him on what he did. >> over the last few days mitt romney is strongly attacked. >> rick santorum and newt gingrich opened up on romney. >> i got broad shoulders. >> can we drop a little of the piasbologna. >> governor romney is legitimately and authentically a

massachusetts moderate. >> can anyone stop mitt romney at this point? >> john huntsman is in on the move in new hampshire. >> i will always put my country first. >> maybe we're talking about john huntsman. >> john huntsman with momentum. >> without money, i won't matter. >> new hampshire produced surprises. >> i hope you'll be enjoy awe future that is littered with death panels, re-education camps and asking you all to answer yourself what if? >> michelle bachmann, everybody. >> good evening from new hampshire where michael dukakis and paul tsongas before him mitt romney has the commanding lead in the first in the nation presidential primary. romney was his own worst enemy today. >> i like being able to fire people that provide services to me.

>> governor romney enjoys firing people. it may than he is slightly under pressure from the economic reality we have in america now. that's a dangerous place. >> the rick perry campaign has a new ring tone for the over 70% of republicans who support a presidential candidate other than mitt romney. >> i like being able to fire people. i like being able to fire people. i like being able to fire people. >> romney tried to provide context to his comment later in the day. >> oh, you saw i was talking about insurance companies. yeah, we like to be able to get rid of insurance companies that don't give us the service that we need. i believe in setting, as described this morning, where people are able to choose their own doctor and insurance company. if they don't like their insurance company or provider, they can get rid of them. that's the way america works. >> and there was this -- >> i don't want -- there are a

couple times i was wondering if i was getting a pink slip. >> here's romney trying to explain that awful feeling of job insecurity you get after graduating from harvard business school. >> i came out of school and i got an entry level position like the other people that were freshly minted mbas. and like anybody that starts at the bottom of an enterprise, you wonder when you don't do so well whether you're going to be able to hang on to your job. and you wonder if the enterprise gets in trouble, you know, will you be one of those laid off? that's what's happening around the country to a lot of people today. it breaks your heart to see people lose their jobs. >> in response to attacks on romney's tenure at bain capital, romney's chief campaign strategist took reporters sunday. it's surprising that it's coming in the republican primary, but that's fine. we're happy to discuss it any time. we want to discuss it. disclaimer here, nbc universal and bang capital are a part

owner of weather channel which is why i think bain capital is the best private equity firm in the country ever. joining me in new hampshire, host of nbc's hard ball chris matthews. and nbc news political director and host of msnbc's the daily rundown, chuck todd and debbie wasserman shultz. anyone who has taken the oath of office goes first on this panel. we all agree on that. congressman shultz, the best campaign day president obama's had yet? the most powerful front-runner on the krotic side, republican side finally getting hit by republicans. >> well, if there wasn't already a dramatic contrast between barack obama and any of the republican field, today it was made as clear as day that there will be a very stark choice between the direction president obama's taken this country and

the direction that any of the republicans but particularly a shockingly out of touch with mainstream america and working families mitt romney is. >> chris, you watched a lot of frontrunners take income. finally at some process this seems to be romney's moment. how's he doing? >> well, romney's getting hit where he was strongest. this is karl rove strategy. go after him where he's strongest. i get blushes whether you come out with a become and now rick perry are giving blurbs to the democratic campaign in the fall. all the quotes are going to come back in video form and insightful and incredible. they're going after this guy like a gordon gecko. they nailed him. they have taken away his greatest bragging point. they said oh, no, you're a chop shop runner. and you're the enemy. and so it's all in the record

now. all they have to do in chicago, piece together the real. they get it done. >> chuck, it is surprising to be coming from republicans. i want you to listen to rick santorum because i think he shows you what a difficult dilemma this is for republicans. rick santorum talking to sean hannity about this. >> what do you think of that criticism of bain? do you think legitimate that mitt romney was saying i would expect this from democrats, not republicans. >> i tend to sort of agree with him. you know, this is capitalism. i just don't think as a conservative and someone who believes in business that we should be out there playing the game that democrats play saying somehow capitalism is bad. if you get a bad deal, that's one thing. let the press handle that. >> there's the dilemma. santorum clearly feels, wait a minute, there is quick sand here. >> a little bit. i also think that santorum is realizing newt is going to do the dirty work. in south carolina, remember when two people start to attack the third candidate you can benefit that as well.

>> this is what primaries do sometimes. al gore does that and eventually it make its way into a republican act. but i want to go to what chris brought up. the idea that your greatest strength becomes this weakness to the point of you don't know how to deal with it. john kerry saw this the hard way with the swift votes and his veterans. it turned in the whole rational for his candidacy in a year that was going to be a national security year started to wither away. he suddenly couldn't talk about his vietnam experience. all of a sudden the most important phrase that mitt romney has been saying is private sector experience. he said it in every stump speech leading up to iowa. they clearly focus grouped it. it responds well. this is what voters want to hear. you take this away from him, he's suddenly undermines the rational for the entire candidacy. >> and look at the people he appeals to potentially. white working class. non-college people vulnerable to

every accordion industry that hires and fires in the business cycle. there is a wonderful story about this older woman who voted against barry goldwater. she said i'm going against barry goldwater who ran for the republicans in '64 because he's going to take away my tv. and the commentator explained to her, no, he's going to privatize tva. >> she said well i'm not taking any chances. if the word gets out that this guy is a job killer, he then has to defend it in every conversation half of which he'll lose. you know that's -- >> i have had obama campaign people tell me, i sit there and say romney expands the map. going to do well in the midwest and the president very much has a tunnel weakness in the industrial midwest in particular. they ok'ing so me, you don't understand. wait until we get to run against romney. it's harder to run against somebody else other than mitt romney in the midwest in their minds. >> do you have any doubt that mitt romney is the one they don't want to run against?

>> if they have the trust? >> i think they just -- they'll be shocked if they're running against anybody other than mitt romney. >> time to listen to rush limbaugh because he has you all figured out. he has the democrats all figured out. let's listen to what rush had to say. >> the line that's supposed to come out of the democratic party is they're scared of romney. the line is oh, no, romney is the toughest guy. that's the mind. the democrats are afraid of any candidate they have sought to destroy. and you can start with sarah palin. you can move on to santorum. any conservative who has shown any interest, the democrats set out to destroy. that's who they're genuinely afraid of. they're not hammering mitt romney at all. >> you are not hammering mitt romney at all. you're afraid of santorum. >> admit it. >> well, i think all of the

candidates, the whole selection of them are doing a real great job destroying themselves. i mean mitt romney said today he likes firing people. he also tried to say that he somehow empathizes with people who have been fired because he worried about a pink slip at some point. he's claimed he has 100,000 jobs as head of bang capital. really what he did is outsource jobs to other countries, fired people, bankrupted companies deliberately. i mean this is the record that he's surmounted and we should put in the white house to get the economy turned around? >> chris, talk to us about rich guys running for president in the age of television starting with john kennedy forward. i don't remember any of them. trying to claim they experienced some kind of economic insecurity. >> back before the age of television in 1946 jack was running the primary in massachusetts. that was in summerville. he went to a candidate's night. one said, you know, i was born

poor. after kennedy listed five of these guys. it turns out that harvard kid stands up and says i'm the only one that didn't come up the hard way. they loved it. he also had a great telegram he manufactured from his father going into the gridiron dinnerment and his father said only spend what you have to for this campaign. damn if i'm going to pay for a landslide. so he constantly threw back at the reporters who loved this. the simple acknowledgment that he was rich. you know? and great jay rockefeller once again this -- >> senator is from west virginia. i don't know how much money he gave to hank morris. he went into the thing and said to the congressional dinners at the old women's press club. and he said, you know, don't feel bad those of who you paid $75 here to come here tonight,

it cost me $12 million. the press loved jay for saying that. be honest about your wealth and you're forgiven. >> this shouldn't be an stewart stephens was showing that was a moment of truance. they did not expect this. i want to borrow something from my good friend over at abc. i ran into her this morning. she said, a year ago, would you have believed that in the day before the new hampshire primary we would be debating mitt romney's bane capital experience or his health care plan? we all would have bet romney care would be the thing that will be tearing him down and it's bane and a republican primary. it's oddly shopping. >> there are examples of mitt romney sticking his silver spoon back in his mouth. in florida, he said he understand what's it is like to be without a job because he's currently unemployed. >> yeah. >> it's just unbelievable. >> that is going to be the last word on this segment. chris matthews, chuck todd and debbie wasserman shultz.

thank you all for joining me. coming up, why finishing third and fourth place tomorrow just might be the biggest news of the day. andrea mitchell will join me on that one. later, a leadership change in the white house as the obama re-election campaign gears up. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future.

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the president is going to have to beat edward o'donnell. >> you're on the ballot with president obama challenging him in the new hampshire primary? >> that's right. but my goal is to run third party in the fall. >> so a setback. >> it's nothing. correct. there's $800 billion in the bank account for our nation's charities. you take 20% of that, i --

>> who takes it? >> i -- the president -- >> he takes from the charity? >> no. persuades them to voluntarily. >> so it's a bully pulpit? >> i've run a charity for 36 years. i persuaded them to do things. i've persuaded. you take 20% of that and hire every unemployed person, homeless, prostitute, pick up litter and that's the only solution to unemployment. and the unemployment rate is three times what the government is telling us. >> i don't know. the litter in manchester, there is no litter. there is none. >> but in philly. >> oh, okay. yeah. >> there will be some sometime. >> do you have any bumper stickers? >> no. >> no obama for president -- no. >> how much will it cost you to make some? >> i don't know. i'll work on it. >> yeah. >> i'll make a campaign contribution.

>> let's do it. >> enough for your family and my family. >> my nieces. >> yes. >> your nieces, my nieces. >> it's a winner. >> ed o'donnell is no relation to me. and he is from delaware. and i got so caught up in my policy with that o'donnell that i forgot to ask if he's related to christine o'donnell. talk about blowing the interview. [ snoring ] [ thunder crashes ] [ snoring ] [ thunder crashes ]

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every step along the way i heard the same thing. something is happening up there. something is happening. i have no idea what it is it going to mean tomorrow. i do know this. we're going to surprise a whole lot of people in this country tomorrow night. >> with a big lead in new hampshire and second place in the polls going to the 76-year-old candidate who has been running for president even longer than front-runner mitt romney with no possibility of winning the nomination, where will that leave the third and fourth place finishers tomorrow? what will they need to do to keep the credible campaigns in new hampshire? joining me now are andrea mitchell host of "andrea mitchell reports."

and we have a msnbc political analyst. let's take a look at the latest poll in new hampshire. romney 33%. paul at 20%. and then it gets interesting. huntsman 13%. gingrich 11%. santorum 10%. really bunched up tightly there. and rick perry at 1%. it's all about third and fourth. that's where the suspense is. is john huntsman right? is something happening? >> something is happening out there. it could be. and it totally feels that way. he had a very big proud tonight. >> he is going around to this campaign events. and we see a lot of undecided's. >> john, talk to me about ron

paul. is there softness there? >> besides the poll that you cited, lawrence, the public policy poll that came out this morning which is an important poll that's been very accurate on new hampshire in years past, hit the race tighter. huntsman is moving up, paul falling. there are other internal tracking polls that find the same trend. there's no doubt that there's going to be a surprise. the big surprise tomorrow night, predictable sur prize is huntsman leaping past paul. that is the most likely surprise scenario. >> i was going to say, the paul supporters are much more dedicated, much more passionate than any of the others. >> look, he has a high floor. he's not going to drop 16%, 17%.

i think that is true across the country. huntsman could end up 12% or 13%. he could end up 22% or 23% tomorrow. that gives him more range. there are a lot more people soft supporting huntsman. >> i spent the day around here complaining about what happens to the massachusetts discount. it used to be when you had a massachusetts candidate in new hampshire, everybody kind of ignored the outcome. you know, here we have paul tsongas. no one thought paul tsongas was a winner. now we're treating the new hampshire guy being in the lead as if it's a big win. >> first of all, i think bill clinton so cleverly when he declared himself the winner. and he just had more maganytichl about it. and the fact that he had been in so much trouble for all of the

other personal issues that he had come up during the primary, the win was surprising. that's what he then carried out in florida. >> we thought he was going to be left in the snow banks. >> let's give romney credit for this. if he wins iowa, then he'll be the first chicagoan to win both u.s. contests. that should be the lead on wednesday morning to give him his due. >> okay. >> that is a hard thing to do. >> what has to happen in two, three, or four to change that lead? >> there is one other piece of volatility. there is going to be reaction to this about the pink slip controversy. it's happening at a perfect time. >> and a pollable time. we won't know the infect until the voters tell us the effect. >> i think people may react to that. so romney was already sliding. he had gone down ten points since iowa.

the trend lines are not in his favor. others are going to be close behind. >> john, the romney slip up in firing people came at the same time that hillary clinton shed a tear four years ago here and people believe that that helped change the dynamic in her direction. >> yes, although it worked for opposite direction. this goes against romney. >> yes. a lot of people in the first hour thought that hillary clinton thing -- >> it was gender. it was a saturday night abc debate where obama said, i like you. and that line, as you know from game changer, your book, that line let a lot of women had sort of a gasp of recognition. that was so patronizing and followed by the tear and the combination and the timing. >> lawrence, the problem in this

case is there is no clear beneficiary. there's not a republican running as the tribune of the working class. blue collar voters, who do they go to? there is not a pat buchanan in the field where anxious voters says mitt romney is not for me, i'm going for x. >> we have got to go and move on. i'm very sorry. i think those will go to barack obama in november. andrea mitchell and john heilman, thank you both very much for joining me. we'll see you a little later, john. i have more stuff for you. coming up, the supper pact invasion of south carolina. mitt romney's super pact may have finally met its match. next, a few words about my friend tony blankman. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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in 1995, newt gingrich became the first republican speaker of the house in 40 years which meant that his unflappable and dapper press secretary tony blankly became the first republican press secretary for a speaker of the house in 40 years. tony was born in london where his father was winston churchill's accountant. but when tony was 3, the blankly family moved to los angeles where tony began to develop his poise in front of the camera as a child actor. growing up in an accented family, left him with a lifetime

trace of an english accent. i got to know tony well when he held the republican chair across from me on the mcglocklin group. no matter how loud our debates came with, tony, it was never personal. off stage, we never had an even slightly uncomfortable moment. tony's dignity and witt never failed him. i had the pleasure to recommend tony for the wright position on the public radio show left, right and center. if you go to kcrw's podcast archive, you can hear a sampling of the most civilized left-right discussions i have ever had. each made more compelling by tony's voice and thoughts. on the eve of the first in the nation republican presidential primary with tony's former boss in the running, tony blankley would be my first choice of guests on tonight's show.

but this weekend in washington at sibly memorial hospital, cancer took tony. he leaves his wife linda davis and his three children spencer blankley, trevor blankley and anna blankley. tony blankley was only 63 years old. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover.

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you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. i am going to draw a very sharp, very clear contrast between a reagan conservative and a massachusetts moderate. we're going to straight out contrast campaign and i think in south carolina people are going to decisively repudiate the culture that produced dukakis, john kerry and mitt romney. >> the action moves to south carolina on wednesday where assumer packs are poised to

overwhelm the republican presidential primary campaign. the pro romney super pact restore our future has made a $2.3 million ad buy if is being which has been outdone by the pro gingrich superpac winning our future which is pouring in $3.4 million into gingrich advertising in south carolina. this weekend the gingrich superpac announced it raked in the high dollar chips from las vegas casino tycoon sheldon aid wilson, conservative billionaire gave $5 million to the pro gingrich superpac. and some reports say he is willing to spend as much as $20 million over the course of the campaign. the latest "time" magazine/cnn poll of south carolina taken after the caucuses shows mitt romney in the lead. romney has 37%. rick santorum as 19%. newt gingrich has 18%. and ron paul is at 12%. 6% had no opinion. rick perry at 5% and john huntsman has 1% in that poll.

joining me now are time columnist joe klein and rick tyler, a senior adviser for the pro gingrich pact winning our future. rick, first of all, we go from newt gingrich saying this negative campaigning is awful to enter the superpac. why am i wowing about this in campaigns in this country where hundreds of millions of dollars change hands? in south carolina, in 2008, the winning obama campaign spent $1.5 million. the second place clinton campaign spent $1.5 million. you're going to spend more than both of those put together for one candidacy? >> that's right. we are rising to the occasion. newt is down. he is hurting iowa. and we intend to bring him back up to even and win south carolina. >> joe? first of all, i want to congratulate the both of you for looking the most new hampshire. >> i planned it. i went to the gas station.

>> it's out of the good well will. >> i wouldn't call this rising to the occasion. but people have talked in the past about there's a way in which advertising can overwhelm the voter and you can overdue it. >> the two interesting numbers in that poll are the 6% who have no opinion. that's not going to last very long. number one. and the guy at the bottom, huntsman, if he does well enough tomorrow to stay in, and who knows? he could -- and if he goes directly to florida and if the state is out of this negative blood bath, this is going to be an unprecedented bloodbath. then he may come out seeming a little clean. >> rick, i know legally you talked to newt in the campaign. ask him through that camera what does he really want? is it -- did romney incur gingrich hatred to the point where the number one thing that

newt wants to do is stop romney or is newt still in the winning business? >> he's the only candidates because of his name id. you mentioned huntsman going to florida. they don't know who huntsman is in florida. they know him. he wondered around a little bit. >> they know he doesn't like firing people. >> he doesn't like firing people. >> only mitt romney likes firing people. >> and that it didn't work for freddy bhak. everybody else is going to know those two facts. yeah. you're going up against another super pac that is going to be delivering a pretty strong message against newt. >> are you going to be writing new spots during the ten takes you have before south carolina? >> absolutely. >> on a day by day basis. >> we will to rewrite the invite. it's not necessary to fire people. but who likes to fire people? >> what about the old notion

that negative campaigning hurts the negative campaigner. >> it hurts your target. >> well, that's one of the really insidious part of superpacs because you don't have to put your name on it. we always used to make fun of i'm mitt romney, a prove this message. >> there are exits on saturday night live. it was a valuable thing. i noticed that ron paul is still doing it on his negative adds which is brutal. the campaign is brutal in this state and hilarious. okay. >> rick, where do you -- by the way, do you have information about how much aid wilson is prepared to pour into the superpower? >> i don't know. >> what about the word that he can put $2 million in.

that mean the gingrich candidacy can stay alive beyond south carolina no matter what the results are. >> i think we made a substantial buy. i think this may be the single largest buy in south carolina political history. you just went through it. >> it's astronomical. >> off the charts. let me just say, i think the superpowers are ridiculous. i think we should return all the fire to the candidates and put their name on it. i'm in agreement with that. >> this is as good as it gets. a guy running a superpac comes on and tells members of television. so you got a gun coming into your store has a gun. >> that's the way it works. >> you know be rick perry had a whosnat done ago interesting single or intelligent thing during this whole campaign finally has done something smart by making fun of this whole thing with his ring tone, you know, romney saying i love firing people.

he does have a sense of humor. >> that's the best joke of this show tonight. thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> coming up, big changes in the white house and a new book about life inside the white house with a special focus on the obama marriage. and later, the very last word before voters go to the polls here in new hampshire. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day,

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simply i want to say thank you. i so enjoyed my time with you. in turn, i hope you enjoy a future that will be littered with death panels, re-education chapel camps and forced immunizations that will bring about the rapture, saving me and leaving all to ask yourselves, what if. >> michelle bachman, everybody.

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[ sighs ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. i want to thank bill for his extraordinary service. but also his extraordinary friendship and loyalty to me. it's meant a lot. i want to congratulate jack on his new role. i know he's going to do an outstanding job. >> bill daley is out and jack lu is in as president obama's third

chief of staff in three years. and his first chief of staff not from chicago. jack lu who currently serves as budget director will officially take over at the end of the month. joining me now are national affairs editor john heilman and political columnist for salon.com. gentlemen, what do we make of the white house switching to a chief of staff during an election year who has no presidential campaign experience? daily does. daily has been in the operations on the campaigns. >> i think the campaign that daily experienced with or the one campaigns he has experience with is between 1996. i think what this is a lagging indicator of is there that the white house model to follow to get re-elected for obama in 2012 is not the same model to follow that bill clinton used in 1996. that's why daily is brought in. it was going to be triangulation and try olive branches.

now it's going to be a recognition of the republicans are both unwilling and ip incapable of working with the democratic white house right now. i think this is a lagging indicator of that. >> the clinton model was first of all pray that colin powell doesn't run and then do everything can you to help bob dole get the nomination. is that going to work this time? >> clearly not. i actually think that the '96 -- bill daley's experience is not primarily in 1996. it was in 2000 when he was al gore's campaign chairman. so he was in congress in 1986 and had a direct role in running a campaign in 2000. steve is right about the politics that the white house thought it was going to practice going forward. i do think that what this signals is that there is a lot of this encampment. it didn't work from the beginning of the time that he

came in until now. he never established i think a close relationship with the president. i think there was tension between the people on the president's re-election campaign. not that bill daley didn't get along well with david axelrod, but i think they had different ideas about how the politics should proceed. i think that it was an ill -- a star-crossed relationship from day one. i think what jack lu looks like is to go back to 186 again and bill clinton bringing lee on panetta. someone there is going to run the white house while leaving the politics out to others on the campaign trail and have jack lu stay out of the picture. >> lee on panetta one of the best white house chiefs of staff came from jack lu's current job. >> and a similar guy. >> he was also a elected official of the white house of representatives. he had a wide range of experience as a budget director. this was done as a dump knowing it would be drowned out.

we couldn't get to it until, what, 45 minutes into the show because it's new hampshire primary eve, right? that's why you picked to day, right? >> sure. i think it's something that is sort of confirm what we've known for a few months now. it is kind of fitting i guess because we're at the starting line of the republican primary season now. this is what the white house is putting out for the general election campaign. i don't think it's actual significance because we already knew the direction. >> i will say this about actual governing which by the way still will occur during this election year. a white house chief of staff who has been the budget director understands what every single person is saying who comes to him or her saying we need this or that. they can actually have a real discussion which saves everybody else in the white house an enormous amount of time. which could be a valuable thing in the re-election year. jack lu will cover governing issues in the staff and white house and let the campaign people do their stuff.

>> i think this makes very clear that there's a distinction between chicago and washington for the president. and there was, you know, there was some kind of pretend thing going on for a while where they were going to try to run the campaign from chicago but there is a lot of stuff going on in the white house. you have a white house that david accepted and largely focused on what little governing there is going to be in 2012. that's where the energy is going to come. >> that's it for chicago and washington. we're going to get back to new hampshire after this break. steve and john, just hang in there. coming up, predictions. how long will republican campaign go on? we hope it goes on for a long time. grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band.

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i love this country and we're going to do our very best to do everything we can to keep america strong and free together. you're going to make a big statement tomorrow. let's take it to the next state after new hampshire giving the boost i need and i hope. thank you so much. >> we're back with steve fernake of salon. in your book you talk about the obama marriage and other things. the timing is unfortunate for her. it looks like she has real news in this thing. >> she's getting drowned out by prior. >> steve, give me predictions. what do you think about? what does it look like? secondly second, third, fourth. >> you mentioned earlier that michael dukakis, i think is the least presidential primary.

here's where there could be a consequence and it doesn't have anything to do with who is going to rocket out of here. i think in the next decade there is going to be a regular with tea party christian conservative activist who's hold sway. they realize this state plays an outsized roll with our presidential field every four years. this state is far too secular and moderates. it is far too conservative to the pat buchanan wing of the party. the force that's all the national conservatives want to marginalize. new hampshire marginalizes the outcome. i don't think the story is that john huntsman surges and becomes a contender, the story is national conservatives and saying new hampshire, your time passed. >> john, is there a better laboratory for the republicans to use?

>> you know, i think if you take connect collectively. i'll just go steve went way up here in the high brow. i'll go to the low brow. >> please. that's why you're here. >> in john huntsman does come in second, to me, there is an audience of one. that is john huntsman senior. the campaign counted on to write a big, big check. it was a superpac will that make him a viable candidate. many people speculate about why. >> come on. you have casino guys dropping the chips off to newt and here's his father. >> if john huntsman comes in and stages a big surprise, does john huntsman senior write a $10 million check to the huntsman superpac? it doesn't make him the nominee but makes life very difficult for mitt romney of $10 million of negative adds dropped at his head.

now he's getting hit from the right and left. he is getting hammered on the air for a potential game changer. romney has not had to take that kind of -- >> is there a better use for the $10 million? >> please! pay every single republican voter to forgot the john huntsman worked for president obama. then he has a chance in the 2012 republican party. >> how about florida? how available is florida to any challengers against romney? >> you must have money in florida to compete, as you know. this is the first big state and our media markets, there has got to -- someone has to beat romney in south carolina. if a conservative or john huntsman, i don't think that is likely, but if a conservative beats mitt romney. there's going to have to be a lot of money into his could haviers. rick santorum doesn't have that money. newt gingrich has to raise that money right now. they have 12 days between south carolina and florida. that's the only way they can be

viable against mitt romney. romney has a lot of money and a lot of forces on the ground in california. >> steve, romney has a big lead in the latest poll. so how do we define beating mitt romney? can you beat him in south carolina the way bill clinton beat paul tsongas here? >> no this was the first contest. >> south carolina can lead someone by beating them? >> romney put together the 1-2 punch. if he goes to south carolina where it's 60% evangelical christian and 15% in 2008 that, is like john mccain in 2008, a win is a win is a win. >> i think if mitt romney wins south carolina, the race will be stuck. >> we have to keep this race alive. you're done. i don't want to have to -- >> i won't say over. it just will be very, very hard to someone new. >> she's sorry. thanks a lot. we've got to keep this race going. thank you both for joining me