reminder, our primetime coverage of the new hampshire primary begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern. you can have the last word online at our blog, the lastword.msnbc.com. follow me tweets @lawrence. "the ed show" is up next. republican mutiny. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews up in manchester, new hampshire, one day before the first in the country new hampshire primary. leading off tonight you can't handle the truth. it's finally happened. mitt romney, the number one threat to president obama's re-election is under attack by his own party. the other republican candidates are inflicting wounds that could destroy romney for the general election. at yesterday's nbc news/facebook debate, jon huntsman had the line of the day after romney

criticized him for working for president obama. >> this nation is divided, david, because of attitudes like that. >> that moment recalled joseph welch asking joe mccarthy, have you left no sense of decency? meanwhile, gingrich called mitt out for what he called his pious baloney. mitt romney's pretension of being a man above politics. so the games begun. romney's biggest vulnerability of all may not be his reputation as a flip-flopper, but his years making millions at bain capital. newt gingrich is going for the kill launching a $3.4 million advertising campaign, probably all negative in south carolina, using excerpts from a brutal new documentary about romney's years at bain that point romney as a heartless predator. plus, bill daley has resigned. the obama team is now in full campaign mode. it's all about re-election, not government.

and whatever happened to the tea party? they control the house and face a vulnerable president now. and they are about to nominate -- pause -- mitt romney? if conservatives don't rally about some of the other candidates or one of the other candidates, could romney grab this from them? let me finish with romney's new clothes. his absurd -- david gregory is the moderator of "meet the press" and howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and huffington post media editorial director. we've got some amazing clips to show you from david gregory's debate yesterday here up in new hampshire. over the last few days, mitt romney has been strongly attacked by the rest of the republican field on the exact things seen as his big selling points. let's face it. his business background, his ability to create jobs and his outside washington persona. his political innocence. he was hit hard yesterday at the "meet the press" debate. it started early. let's watch what romney said about his career and then watch

newt gingrich cut into it. >> this, for me, politics, is not a career. for me, my career was being in business and starting a business and making it successful. my life's passion has been my family, my faith and my country. >> can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney? the fact you ran in '94 and lost. that's why you weren't serving the senate with rick santorum. 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. >> well, you hear the applause there. and this -- i was in that audience in our debate sunday morning. actually, my family was. i was sitting here watching it. i thought that was a pro-romney crowd largely, but they all laughed at that. they enjoyed that moment. >> and there's a couple things to it. i think what gingrich was saying was, one, give up this pretention that you weren't politically calculating and,

two, this is not a huge, huge deal because at the end of the day if you were politically calculating, that's not going to sink your nomination. but it was that idea that somehow romney's built his campaign around a narrative that he's got business acumen. so the level of distinction is i'm not a political insider when, you know, he might have been. and -- >> had he won. >> santorum would have been, hardly won in 2006. he would have been there for 26 years. i fought the fight but learned some things on the outside. you'd think romney would be able to pivot that and take some advantage from it. >> when you question him the way that the other guys did the other night or yesterday morning, the fact -- the way santorum went after him and gingrich go after him. he gets a little peeved. >> the two things. first of all, he's over-managed, over-coached and over-narrated.

i mean, they've created this story around him for a specific purpose which was a 9% unemployment rate. we're going to not talk about mormonism. we're not going to talk about cultural values. nothing but jobs, jobs, jobs. >> the plan was to talk up mormonism? >> no, i'm saying not to. >> i'm just kidding. >> my point is they overdid it. they over-manage. you can be honest about things is all newt is saying. on the other hand, yes, mitt romney is a control freak who has got a control freak for a campaign where they deliberately for the fun of it to take notice of things. when they say an event -- they put their events to start at 5:05 or 6:05. >> here's jon huntsman sitting him from another side all together. he served as ambassador to china. he had some very strong words for romney. i thought very effective yesterday morning. let's listen to huntsman go after romney. >> 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, like my two sons are doing in the united states navy. they're not asking who -- what political affiliation the president is. >> i just think it's most likely that 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 divide, david because of attitudes like that. >> you know, one of the badges you're going to wear, i think, when you get very old, david is you were there for that discourse because it was, to me, the knife that cut through the polarization of our time. when he -- whatever happens to jon huntsman in this race, that crowd reacted. they're partisans in that crowd. >> there's another side to that coin. unlike his sons serving our

country, this is a man who went to work for a democratic president as his ambassador and somewhere along the way also plotted to challenge that very president to run for the presidency. presumably you'd have it with both. you have it with republicans like romney is saying. we were out there working for the party. you are calling this guy a great leader. and then there's a loyalty issue. you are working for a guy and at the same time thinking, i'm working here, advancing your policies and i'm going to challenge you. >> howard, there's a history up here. henry cabot lodge was the ambassador at the time. there is a history of this state where they do respect public service. >> to me, the debate was fantastic and i thought when people applauded was incredibly instructive. you pointed out the first time when even though it was kind of an establishment crowd they couldn't help but applauding when newt gingrich forced mitt romney to get real.

>> admit he's a politician. >> then they applauded, again, when jon huntsman made the appeal to bipartisanship and called mitt romney out. a guy who worked with democrats in massachusetts for trying to stuff himself into this highly partisan role which people know mitt romney really isn't. >> he's the kind of guy who would serve in other administrations. >> some of the best things about him, the fact that he mixes politics and government. >> so nuanced. >> but david is right generally. you are right. in this weird case where the guy isn't the right person to be making this kind of shot. >> no. >> here's, by the way, let's get. >> a right wing attack dog which he's not. >> let's get to the integrity question. here's a new line of attack being used against romney that he doesn't always tell the truth. case in point, watch what happened yesterday when mitt was asked about negative ads about gingrich from his pro-romney super pac. legally you aren't supposed to

have a hand in writing these ads. here he is protesting too much. let's watch. >> with regards to their ads, i haven't seen them. as you know under the law, i can't direct their ads. i hope everything that's wrong is taken out. but the ad i saw said that you've been forced out of the speakership. that was correct. it said that you sat down with nancy pelosi and argued for a climate change bill. that was correct. anything wrong, i'm opposed to. but, you know, this ain't beanbag. >> it may not be bean bag but it is a question to tell you the truth. in the same paragraph he said, i haven't seen them. the ad i saw -- in the same paragraph. >> i don't think a lot of voters are surprised by all of this. they don't hold out some hope that these politicians are removed from the political experience. it's a little bit like president obama's very dismissive of the game of politics in washington. he is the game. he's the president.

and i think romney was trying to have it both ways. >> here's mitt romney. grew up very privileged. listen to what he said in an effort to differentiate himself from president obama. >> i don't think he feels it. he experiences it the way so many of you do and i do by virtue of having lived in the real world. i know what it's like to worry whether you're going to get fired. there were a couple of times i wondered whether i was going to get a pink slip. >> well, we'll think about that in a moment. today, rick perry, whether he was going to get a pink slip. this guy worth $250 million. >> 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'm sure he was worried he'd run out of pink slips. >> you're in trouble when rick perry is smarter on his feet than you are. there he is pointing out the fact this is the guy doing chop shop work with corporations, going in like any efficiency expert. and getting rid of them.

>> i continue to marvel at the tendency of almost every politician to embellish. they just can't help it. but the difference here is this guy is a 37, 38, 39%. he's trying to close it out by winning the new hampshire primary here. and so people, the other thing that surprises me is they think that people aren't paying attention. that people actually aren't going to -- >> well, we are. >> i know. we are. everybody is -- >> he is so far ahead that he may be losing the tendency to campaign within himself. he should not be out there trying to say i identify with concerns of people like you. he is fashioning himself as a guy with business acumen who can better handle a distressed economy. that is his calling card and suits the moment. it's not do i really connect with you. >> david you cover this like we do. is it today so important that you act like the average person and have to assume the garb of the average person. i've faced firings, too, like a

lot of you people. is that some requirement that you have a wealthy man like him. can't he just say i've been privileged. >> i think it's any instinct to try to connect. romney has been better when saying, if you are looking for someone that grew up poor, that's not me. but i think voters are pretty sophisticated. they get it. they don't expect mitt romney to understand their journey through life. he's got his own path. >> why would he do it then? >> i think because rick santorum got good reviews for talking about his coal miner ancestors. again, david's right. on the one hand, i think romney's too scripted at times and they are trying to make him fit a narrative he doesn't quite fit into. then when he gets on his own for a few minutes, he makes it even worse. >> it was one of the great debate groups got it riveted up to the level they had to think quick on their feet. they weren't able to rehearse. >> if the "meet the press" debate happened last wednesday or thursday as opposed to

yesterday, the dynamic in this state could be different. >> congratulations. great work. david gregory, howard fineman. coming up, newt gingrich is on a last chance mission to hit romney. you almost might call it like a kamikaze party. he's going right into this guy. he's going to hurt himself but he may blow up mean may possibly blow up what looks to be the insurmountable position of romney. here's a republican attacking republican for business. you're watching "hardball" from manchester on the eve of the big new hampshire primary. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪

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welcome back to "hardball." mitt romney is under increasing attacks.

and today, a pro-gingrich super pac called winning our future unveiled a new video calling romney a predatory corporate raider. a predatory corporate raider. this is a republican saying this. it interviews people who lost their jobs as a result of romney's former employer bain capital. take a look. mitt romney became ceo of bain capital the day the company was formed. his mission, to reap massive rewards for himself and his investors. >> mitt romney and them guys. they don't care who i am. >> romney took foreign seed money from latin america and began a pattern exploiting dozens of american businesses. >> i feel that is a man that destroyed us. >> wow. newt's support is coming from an old friend, a las vegas billionaire and the money is already being spent. $3.4 million already committed to his south carolina ad campaign. already committed to. will these attacks on romney bring the front-runner down or is gingrich setting the stage

for what the democrats will use later this year. john harris is politico's editor in chief. also, nbc universal and bain capital are both part owner of a weather -- of the weather channel. let me ask you about this thing here. if you wanted to do a really good pregame for president obama, you would have a republican spend millions of dollars claiming that this job creator, romney is a job chopper and destroyer and a predator at that. john harris? >> chris, it's obviously not a new charge. but it's one that is potentially devastating for mitt romney if he does not answer it effectively. if you look at the various charges that have been leveled against romney. he's a flip-flopper on things like abortion or gay rights or what have you. those don't hit the bone. because people could say, well, mitt romney probably doesn't even care about those things that much. this is the essence of who he is as a man.

>> isn't this attack the strength. right, glen? go after the strength. go after the main bragging point of the guy and smash his face on it. >> if you think about the scale of these ads, we're talking about $3.7 million being dumped in south carolina. that's about what mitt romney dropped on newt gingrich, his super pac in iowa. it had a devastating effect. then rick santorum nipping at him, too. they think that south carolina could put this away from them but it could be a tough state for them. >> let's get to the point of what the ad said. here's another excerpt of that video going after romney from a pro-gingrich super pac. let's watch it. >> they fire people, they cut benefits. they sell assets. what did he do when he was the ceo of this holding company? >> 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. >> i just want to suggest something. maybe i just thought this up, but i think it's right. the president has been running a sharp campaign saying it's okay to make money if you are building something and creating jobs, like steve jobs or steven spielberg or iacocca. anybody that makes things and puts people to work is a good thing. the people that make money off of money are not good people. i don't particularly like this. we all try to make interest on our money. we all try to get a dividend now and then. and here's a direct case made for that. mitt romney has not made his money by creating jobs or building anything. he's created by a chop shop. one of these companies that goes in, chops up parts companies, gets rid of their inefficiencies, creates a lot of debt and watches them go broke down the road. >> he's not a real businessman in terms of building something. he's essentially a manipulator

of money. >> right. >> for his own advantage, not for the greater good. people generally like the idea of businessmen in positions of leadership. he's not really a businessman in the way we think of it in terms of creating jobs. mitt romney has got to answer this. he's tried to at various points on the campaign. >> in answering it, john, you are the head of politico. in answering it, doesn't he bring it to the fore of debate. doesn't he make it the focus of the campaign? i'm not a job destroyer is his slogan. glen? >> one of the problems, too is this is the kind of thing that resonates with voters. you know, the whole reason mitt romney is running right now, he's talking about how jobs haven't been created. the people out of work right now, a lot of them got put out of work by people who went in and laid off a huge number of people. they can identify with the criticism of this kind of corporate raider strategy that's now being used. >> kenny once said it's hard to kill a whispering campaign when it's true. if it's true he's cost people jobs, how does he deal with it?

>> he's got say there have been some job losses but a lot more job gains. he's got to deal with it. mitt romney is never going to be a bill clinton-style, i feel your pain. what he can say convince league is i want more people to be successful like i have been successful. i want more opportunities. >> mitt romney's response to this new negative campaign from the pro-gingrich group. let's listen. >> gee i thought he apologized for going after my record of -- wasn't that just a couple of weeks ago. so he apologized for that and now he's decided to make that a centerpiece. i'm not going to worry about that. as we'll find out, free enterprise will be on trial. i thought it was going to come from the president and the democrats from the left, but instead it's coming from speaker gingrich and apparently others. that's just part of the process. i'm not worried about that. i've got broad shoulders and i'm happy to describe my experience in the private economy and the fact that if you take all of the businesses that we invested in

over our many years, over 100 different businesses that collectively they net-net added over 100,000 new jobs. >> and to one extent you think this is kind of a suicide campaign for newt. how does newt gingrich so up on the republican platform should he lose this fight and endorse this guy? >> it's a good question. this is like all in for him. you know, it's not his committee. it's a pro-gingrich super committee but they are dumping a bomb on -- they are dumping a bomb on the potential nominee of the party. not something people are going to easily be able to forget. >> here's romney putting gasoline into the fire speaking about being able to fire people like insurance companies. i'm not sure this is fair, but it's a bad tone for him to be striking right now. >> i want individuals to have their own insurance. that means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. it also means that if you don't like what they, do you can fire them. i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. you know, if someone doesn't give me the good service i need,

i'm going to go get somebody else to provide that service to me. >> i like being able to fire people. jon huntsman responded later. this is another republican. this isn't someone like kucinich coming after him. let's watch. >> it's become abundantly clear over the last couple of days what differentiates governor romney and me. i will always put my country first. it seems that governor romney believes in putting politics first. governor romney enjoys firing people. i enjoy creating jobs. >> governor romney enjoys firing people. now i was watching, you know, billy daley left as chief of staff today, as the president's chief of staff. a pro-business guy. is this wheeling out the cannon saying this is going to be a big-shot business guy, anti-wall street campaign? >> for sure. >> both sides know it but here the republicans are joining the fight against the man who will probably pick up the pieces

here. and have to defend it. >> no surprise the president goes out to kansas a couple of weeks ago and delivers an elizabeth warren anti-wall street speech. this is really where they feel the american people are and how they can speak to them. >> is this a fifth calm in the republican party against wall street. >> it's obviously at some level. you might even call it pious baloney because the republicans, as a party, are not apposed to what bain capital -- >> to predatory business. >> there is a bit of hypocrisy. it's devastating. you have republicans, democrats and the news media reinforcing the message. >> you are an ad writer for the president and his party. i saw a couple of great bites there. he likes firing people. they are great ones. thank you john harris and glen johnson. real pros. up next, saturday night live bids farewell to michele bachmann, one of the first casualties of this campaign. when i inspect homes, i can't be in an allergy fog.

so i get claritin clear for strong, non-drowsy relief of all my allergies like dust mold pets and pollen. looks good. thanks. i live claritin clear.

back to "hardball." now for the side show. last laugh. michele bachmann finished sixth in the iowa caucuses last week. it meant the end to her presidential bid. well, "saturday night live" marked the occasion with his farewell to bachmann's time in the gop race. let's watch. >> you haven't blinked since this campaign started? >> i have not. >> would you like to now? >> i would love to. oh, those babies were dry. do you mind if i shut them again for a second, seth? >> yeah, sure. of course. >> you don't mind? >> no. ♪ this is how we do it it's like my eyes are eating a peppermint patty. 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, re-education camps and forced immunizations all ending in iranian nuclear bomb that will bring about the rapture. saving me and leaving you all to ask yourself, what if? >> michele bachmann, everybody. >> well, it's time to look back to the beginning of her campaign. let's watch. >> what this election shows is that people believe in this country. they love free enterprise. they love capitalism. they want to make sure we have jobs going forward. that's job number one. >> congressman bachmann are you hypnotized tonight? because no matter what i ask you, you give the same answer? your hypnotized? has someone put you under a trance tonight? that you give me the same answer no matter what question i put to you. anyway, we didn't go back to that. raised at the beginning. that question, was she

hypnotized? what her whole campaign? what it looked like. a trance. nancy pelosi was asked about newt gingrich saying the 2008 ad featuring the two former speakers discussing claimant change was the dumbest thing i've done in four years. here's pelosi's reaction. >> he who has been fined $300,000 by the ethics committee, you think he'd consider that a big mistake. since you brought up my name in association with him as the dumbest thing he ever did, i think there's plenty of stiff competition for that honor as far as his activities are concerned. >> the former speaker's pretty tough. people don't mind being used as you see there. they mind very much being discarded. and finally, what's the -- that's the gist some of ads featuring dick cheney that popped up last month in the casper star tribute in a local paper in wyoming. its producers are working on a documentary about cheney. they are looking for home movies and other material on cheney's

early days as a teenager and college student when he lived out in wyoming. the producer r.j. cutler got an academy award nomination for "war room" which focused on the 1992 campaign of bill clinton. maybe we'll find out something warm and fuzzy about dick cheney. chief of staff bill daley stepping down as president obama gets into full campaign mode. you're watching "hardball" from manchester on the eve of the new hampshire primary.

we're back. breaking news from the white

house. chief of staff bill daley is leaving his post at the end of the month. daley will be replaced by jack lou. the news comes as the president and his team have begun focusing entirely on the re-election. daley had been brought in to improve business relations and focus on working with republicans in congress. joining me is malika henderson and nbc news political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd. chuck, i've got to start with you about this. we knew he had a reduced role because pete rouse had gotten the day-to-day. he was supportive to the campaign. why did he quit right in the middle of a campaign? >> this all happened over the holidays, i'm told. went home for the holidays. realized he didn't like living in washington, d.c. coming back, he thought, all right. i'm submitting my resignation. did it. the president tried to talk him out of it. i think partly out of -- they don't say this was the motivation. they didn't want this story out here. it looks bad for all the reasons we're talking about. it looks -- you throw in that

book and it's a west wing not being well managed. but he had a reduced role. figure head's too strong of a word but certainly less than a powerful chief of staff. not a lot of business left to do with congress right now. it's literally just getting the rest of this payroll tax deal done. and i think he didn't look forward to the idea that he was just going to be a leader in name only. and -- why do that if you don't like living in washington in the first place. >> people want to know this. how does obama run this country? who runs it for him? who is the person that's his job boss. the one in the morning he gets gets up in the morning and says, i want this don today. >> it used to be rahm emmanuel. they brought in bill daley to do some streamlining and decrease a lot of the inflow into the white house. bill daley sat in that office a lot of times with his door closed. he was very much a -- >> who does the president call when he wants to bark orders to joe biden.

i want you out there in scranton this weekend. i've got some problems there. who does he tell that to? >> i'm not sure if it's bill daley -- >> who tells sebelius what to do? who is the enforcer? >> i think it's when you say who communicates with the rest of the government i think it's pete rouse and jack lou. lou is going to have no role. i was told this by multiple people. he's not going to have any role on the campaign which is unique for a chief of staff. >> who hours a and fires in the white house in the name of the state who says you have to go, mr. cabinet secretary. who has that kind of power? i'm thinking of jim baker, his bosses. >> i would argue, and from my feeling of it is, basically david plouff and bill daley were sort of working hand in hand. whether one was the, quote, boss over the other, i wouldn't make a distinction between the two.

but the two of them were supposed to be co-equal partners. >> i want to ask you. i don't have time for this. a couple of minutes on this. big story out of the "new york times." what's her name? >> jodi cantor. >> it's going to be a big book coming out tomorrow, i believe. it talks about this dysfunction in the white house. a big fight between rahm emmanuel, the former chief of staff and the first lady. what do you think? is it there? have you seen the fight? >> i've not seen the fight but i've heard quite a bit it from folks who worked in the east wing. it certainly rings true. one thing about bill daley if there's one thing he did well and that was on the first days he called michelle obama to let her know that he was there and more kind of integration of the east wing and west wing. >> was there an ideological struggle left and right between rahm emmanuel and the first lady? was she more progressive, more liberal, wanting to go public option on health care? >> no, i less than -- this is less than ideological struggle

and more of a -- this is somebody protecting their husband, protecting the image of her husband. >> i read this book. she wanted him to go more aggressive. >> it was more aggressive sometimes in messaging. more aggressive in what you are not feeling as if the way they were going about it, which was going the back room way which was, of course, the rahm influence. this book has really exposed, you know, it's being framed as the east wing versus the west wing. the pivotal player here is valerie jarrett who i think is being somebody who is brought in in -- remember when she was brought in in the faufl '07 as the eyes and ears of michelle obama. and that's the -- the tension has been there with the senior folks who went from the campaign to the white house. that tension never went away. whatever happened here it never went away. what you are seeing in this book is a little bit of score settling, which, in talking to other people about who i think talked to jodi cantor admit this doesn't look good. they all made a pact they weren't going to do this. >> explain to the public why it matters there's been this

friction, this fight between the chief of staff and first lady. why is it important? >> it shows the first lady, and certainly a different light than she's been in so far. it shows her very involved with this white house. very much the keeper of this -- the flame of obama. so i think that's why it's important. i think it might get some spin on the different networks showing her as more of a co-president as maybe too powerful. >> she doesn't want to be a hillary clinton in that regard? >> this is nancy reagan and hillary clinton. it's the same -- >> so reasonable. spouses -- >> look out for your spouse. >> they are partners. >> if it wasn't the case, you'd wonder about their marriage. >> it would be weirder. >> we all agree on common sense. chuck todd, nia-malika. we lost a very good friend over the weekend. a noble colleague. tony blakely was on this program. he was a man of patriotic commit, personal loyalty and always of good cheer.

he was great company to work with, and we will miss him much. there he is. tony blankley. ♪ [ male announcer ] a simple gesture can spark romance anytime. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment's right, even if it's not every day. [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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welcome back to "hardball." after dominating the 2010 elections, the tea party movement has made little more than a whimper in the 2012 presidential race. take for instance, herman cain. >> this economy is on life support. that's why my 9-9-9 plan is a bold solution. >> it's bold and it's gone. cain dropped out december 3rd following allegations of an affair and inappropriate workplace behavior. he says he'll make an

endorsement, by the way, on the tuesday before the south carolina primary. and it will be, quote, unconventional. but will it matter? it was also rick perry. >> and i will tell you, it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. the third agency of government, i would do away with education, the -- commerce and, let's see. i can't. the third one i can't. sorry. oops. >> we call that a brain freeze in this business. anyway, this debate moment pretty much doomed the candidacy of rick perry, although he's still in the race. he hasn't come near the levels support he had before that oops moment. finally, michele bachmann who founded the tea party caucus in the house. she dropped out of the presidential race last wednesday after coming in last in the iowa caucuses with just 5% of the vote out there. who will the tea party support

in the end. can they stop romney from winning this thing? david koine is a political analyst. and matt kibbe is president of the tea party organization freedom works. matt, i've got to wonder what you are thinking. where you can stop romney, in what primary and what caucus. how do you stop him if you can't stop him before that at the convention? >> well, i think this process is a lot more competitive than a lot of analysts are thinking because of romney's persistent weakness in this process. he can't get above 20-something percent. as long as that's true there's going to be an alternative. you ran through various iterations of folks that tea partiers looked at. but we haven't found that one champion that is the perfect anti-romney. and if this continues, i would argue that someone else is actually going to get in this race. >> let me ask you about that. of the people that are in the race right now and have filed for these various primaries and actually can win them now, who

are you looking at? >> well, to be honest with you, the problem that we're having with newt gingrich and rick santorum is a lot of the votes that they made that look a lot like mitt romney's record. and that's a problem that a lot of these politicians who are pre-tea party. they got in and started talking our talk. now we're taking a look at their record. the most consistent performer has been ron paul who stayed around 20%. >> he's 76 years old. can he be our next president at the age of 77. can he be our next president? >> no, i don't think so. i think he's running to drive an agenda. he's running to hold the other politicians accountable. >> let me go to david. they don't have a candidate. they don't have a guy on the horizon they are ready to nominate. what happened to the tea party? >> i almost feel sympathy for the tea party. listening to matt i can hear the pain in his voice. there is no one in the non-mitt field who can appeal to these people and there is no one coming in from the outside.

you need delegates at the convention. sarah palin is not going to jump in at this point in time. there is nothing. but i'll give the tea party a tip of the hat. maybe a tip of the tri-corn hat because they have affected the debate and the shape of the republican party. mitt romney had a run to the right. i think somewhat disingenuously to get the report of conservative primary republican voters, but that always been the case. >> let's look the situation the tea party in national polls. they lost support, since the 2010 elections, at a high point. as of november, 2011, 20% say they agree with the tea party movement, one in five. 27% disagree. one year earlier numbers were reversed, 27% of the country agreeing with the tea party, 22 disagreeing. you more closely at 60 congressional district represented by members, they are losing support there. in november, 2011, 25% of voters in those districts agree. that is 1 in 4.

23% disappear, one year earlier, far more agree with the tea party, 30%. matt, if you're eroding in your support nation-wide how can you convince the republican party voters you have the hot hand and should have a tea party favorite as the nominee? >> the tea party as we know is not a political party, the tea party is a set of ideas, those still dominate the republican primary debate. they still dominate the concerns of the american public who still believes that the government is spending too much money and is a damper on economic recovery. that's where we're going to win. we'll change the debate, we're not running for office. >> well, who is running for office is mitt romney, at a debate in september of last year, mitt romney declined to say he was a tea party member. let's listen to him in his words. >> starting with you, governor romney, are you a member of the tea party?

>> i don't think you carry cards in the tea party. i believe in a lot of what the tea party believes in. the tea party believes a government is too big, taxing too much, and we ought to get to the work of getting americans to work. if the tea party is for keeping government small and spending down and helping us create jobs, then hey i'm for the tea party. >> not exactly a membership claim there. >> let me give credit to barack obama for the numbers you just showed. if you look at the budget fight, debt ceiling fight, the american jobs act he has shown through the last year the tea party values are not what americans have. he put them on the defensive that is one reasons the numbers are going down. >> matt, you're a leader of the tea party movement. how will you get to the republican national convention to influence, will you be able to get credentials, how are you getting in the door? how are tea party people getting in the door? >> i don't plan ongoing to the

convention at this point, and again, we're not trying to run inside. this is about whether or not whoever wins the nomination actually runs on the agenda that we've all shown up to defend. and i think both barack obama has changed his language about what he cares about, and i think the republicans have as well, but i appreciate the fact that you're both worried that the tea party is not changing america quickly enough. i'm sure tea partiers appreciate you care. understand this is not pro sets that will change overnight. politics won't change overnight. >> i think you're being too humble. a year or so ago you took over the congress, you beat pelosi, took over the speakership, you ran the congress for the last year, you do know how to influence elections but not this one for president. that is what is different from the last time around in 2010. we'll talk about it again later. david, matt, still an open question, you had power, you don't.

when we return, let me finish with the absurd pre tensions of mitt romney. you're watching hard ball from manchester on the night before the new hampshire primary.

let me finish tonight with this, in the hans christian story the emperor appeared what he called his new clothes. everyone around him raved about the great leader's new attire

which consists of nothing at all. he was naked, except to those who clung to him seeking the benefits which flow from an emperor, singing his praises on all occasions. think of mitt romney. he presents himself in the new clothes of a conservative, a figure who has no faith in government, a hard-nose man of the right who has great fondness for the tea party, great distaste for other countries, who assumes trappings of the american angry enemies of the state. oh yes, the other endorsement, a man who never and he wears this coat well, never wanted to serve a life in politics. he ran for the senate but never wanted to serve a career there. helped that he lost the race to ted kennedy. ran for governor was elected but never intended to run for reelection, that would have made it about him. mitt romney isn't one of those politicians who runs for office with the idea of serving there. he is a private citizen, conservative businessman on some occasions offers for public service, of course all this is

nonsense, the new clothes he's adorned himself with are not real. he has been a moderate governor of massachusetts who started the mandate. he is in fact a fellow running for office since the early part of the 1990's, in all probability had his eyes on the presidency since my colleague noted earlier, since his father lost the race in 1968. the emperor's new clothes which mitt romney has been sporting since his run for the presidency were the fashion right up until yesterday morning when in a truly great debate, his rival much like the young boy in the tale shout the emperor has no clothes. now mitt romney, should he survive and win the republican nomination will go in battle against president obama as starkly naked as any candidate in history. will have been exposed by those in his own party that know he's not a true blue believer nor the innocent citizen free of