ding dongs, ho-hos. it affects large parts of the country. >> about the way america lives. i want to know if willie in college spent most of the time sucking the cream out of the twinkie. >> i had a fellow say to me last night newt gingrich has the largest e to s ratio. ego to shame. one is off the charts and one is off the bottom. >> wow. sounds like the ratio on this show. what have you learned? >> i've learned it's time to go. >> okay. >> way too early. >> it's "morning joe." see you back here tomorrow. stick around right now for chuck. all right. mitt romney lands in south carolina, faces another barrage of attacks on his business record at bain capital. and bain is the debate among republicans who see the attacks as an assault on free enterprise this morning. the romney campaign begins to

counter attack. president obama tells a hometown crowd that change will come at fundraisers in chicago last night. the trip designed to raise cash and spirits of his supporters. the first big political move since mitt romney has gone 2-0. and what was behind mississippi governor now former governor haley barbour spree of pardons before leaving office? among them 21 convicted murderers. now a judge has issued an injunction. we'll go live to mississippi. it's thursday, january 12th, 2012, how about that? this is the daily rundown. i'm chuck todd. a rare appearance here in our home studio in washington, d.c. get right to my first reads of the morning. south carolina has the reputation for being the brutal state of politics but get ready for a lively ten days. the barrage of criticism about romney's record at bain not letting up. governor romney is trying to show he relates to economic pain in state where unemployment is above the national average

sitting near 10%. >> a lot of people in south carolina who are hurting tonight. there are people who a few years ago were thinking about where they might send their kid to college. now they're wondering whether they can put a meal on the table. these are tough times for americans across this country. it's a tragedy. it's a real tragedy in the wealthiest nation in the world. >> the point we made yesterday but it's important. new hampshire and iowa good economies. south carolina and florida not so much. meanwhile newt gingrich's super pac is already running this ad in the state. >> 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 feel that is a man that destroyed us. >> newt's pushing back also after press reports claim this

response to a voter yesterday in spartanburg. he actually claimed to cool down his attacks on romney. >> i want to beg you to redirect and afinogengo after his obviou disingenuous about conservativism and lay off the corporate versus free market. i think it's nuanced. >> i agree with you. >> all right. >> i think that it's an impossible theme to talk about in the back, with obama in the background. obama just makes it impossible to talk rationally in that area because he is so deeply into class warfare that automatically you get an echo effect. >> but instead he said last night he has no intention of backing down from this contrast campaign. >> for three weeks i said i'm going to stay positive and i called on governor romney to cut this stuff out. for three weeks he came back with sort of smart alec comments about having broad shoulders and taking the heat and all of that stuff. all right. now we're in south carolina,

which is my country. this is where as a georgia conservative i have a pretty good idea how to campaign. we're going to make it a clear race. >> and hoping to turn todd palin's endorsement into the bigger get on the palin family newt is borrowing the language of sarah palin these days. listen. >> crony capitalism where people pay each other off at the expense of the rest of the country is not free enterprise and raising questions about that is not wrong. >> this morning romney's super pac is pushing back in a new ad eviscerating gingrich with quotes from conservatives. >> newt gingrich's attacks are called foolish, out of bounds, and disgusting. newt attacks because he has more baggage than the airlines. don't be fooled by newt's desperate attacks. >> can anyone else in the race turn the newt/romney battle of the super pacs to their advantage? keep in mind you know how that works. rick santorum signaled yesterday he hopes staying out of the fray

will actually win him some points. >> it's this hostile rhetoric which unfortunately, and i don't want to stand here and be a defender of mitt romney, but, unfortunately, even some in our own party now and even some running for president will engage in with respect to capitalism. >> you know the rule. multi candidate races when candidate a attacks candidate b and candidate c, d, or e benefits. the obama campaign announced the campaign had raised more than $68 million in the fourth quarter including more than $42 million for the campaign itself and another $24 million for the dnc. and another million or so raised by the, quote, swing state victory fund which targets battle ground states. now for the first time yesterday the president visited his re-election campaign headquarters in chicago and kept cameras away. he held three fundraisers including one in his old hyde park neighborhood where he joked, i don't want people talking about me. he's a good president but nobody is mowing the lawn.

he called on supporters to rally around him. >> you can't back down, not now. we won't give up, not now. i've said before i'm not a perfect man. i'm not a perfect president. but i promised you this and i've kept this promise. i will always tell you what i believe. i will always tell you where i stand. we will remind this country and we will remind the world just why we are the greatest nation on earth. god bless you, chicago. >> turning now to mississippi where on his last days in office haley barbour, powerful mississippi governor, former chairman of the rnc granted pardons or early releases to more than 200 convicted felons. the list includes 21 murderers and five prison trustees who because of good behavior worked at the governor's mansion in jackson. four of those men were convicted murderers. late yesterday the governor issued a statement saying,

quote, some people have misunderstood the clemency process and think that all or most of the individuals who received clemency were actually in jail at the time of their release. approximately 90% of these individuals were no longer in custody and a majority of them had been out for years. this was about he said restoring their rights to vote, things like that. this story is far from over. a mississippi judge is now blocking the release of 21 inmates. we'll go live to jackson, mississippi later this hour for more on the growing outrage there. keep in mind haley barbour a very powerful figure inside the republican party and on the biggest super pac of them all inside the republican party, american crossroads. all right. mitt romney just wrapped up a press report in south carolina where he just wrapped up his first campaign rally of the day and heads to florida later this morning where he will address supporters in west palm beach and raise a couple bucks. nbc's peter alexander is live for us in greer, south carolina. okay. what's the defense of the morning from the romney campaign

in regards to the newt attacks? >> it's a good question. actually we just posed it to him during this press avail that finished up moments ago, chuck. and mitt romney was specifically asked, we know you raised, created about a hundred thousand jobs while at bain but what about the jobs that were lost there? this has been the attack line from the republicans like newt gingrich. he said, any time any job is lost it is a tragedy. they clearly have been trying to deflect this. they anticipated this to be coming from the democrats not from their republican rivals. but senior advisers within the romney campaign spoke specifically about a new ad campaign they intend to roll out showing success stories within bain capital, people whose jobs were created as a result of that company, the private equity firm where mitt romney was the former head for a period of time. of course it was only yesterday that this new king of bain, 28-minute bruising movie came out, a movie purchased by the pro gingrich super pac. we're getting our first look at it. i watched it.

there are shots including mitt romney with his feet kicked up having his shoes polished in front of a corporate jet on the tarmac. but, you know, as we go around this state for one thing you start to notice that mitt romney is becoming more confident and fill out his suit little bit after as you noted going 2-0 at home. now of course he has to go on the road. as you speak to people here increasingly it becomes clear as the governor is walking outside to get on his bus that the economy is the primary issue here. >> right. >> they've lost 78,000 jobs in this state since 2007 as one woman said to me a small business owner who owns a metal recycling plant. she says in the past people came in trading metal for beer money to spend on the side for dinner and parties. now they turn that metal in just to get enough money to survive. >> peter, i want to go back to what i think is important news of the morning. so the romney campaign is going to roll out bain tv ads. how soon should we expect to hear them? >> we're trying that. we're trying to get those specifics right now. they won't give those details. what we have seen today is from

the super pac, a new ad they rolled out after gingrich again referring to those attacks as desperate and using the same sort of he has baggage. the specific new ads will be what people are working on right now. >> peter, thanks very much in south carolina. a little bit of our satellite blip there but again important news. the romney campaign is going to roll out their own version of bain success stories in tv ads. very interesting to see how quickly they get on the air. iran is calling on the u.n. to condemn the daring murder of a nuclear scientist blaming it on foreign agents specifically on the united states and israel. he is the fifth nuclear scientist to be killed in recent years. part of what appears to be a campaign of covert attacks to disrupt iran's nuclear program. the u.s. has denied any involvement in this week's attack. we to go nbc's iran bureau chief. wak us through. it's been five years of this.

i believe we have multiple nuclear scientists plus that missile explosion a few months ago at one of the nuclear plants. >> reporter: that's right, chuck. definitely a covert operation or undeclared war on iran's nuclear program and beyond. the attack on the military base was a huge attack. the explosion was felt for miles away and the iranians again said that was israeli sabotage and it killed a senior iranian general who was dubbed the godfather of iran's missile program. and now yesterday's assassination has sparked deep fury here in tehran. a leading hard line newspaper here which has very close ties to the supreme leader, editor and vied eadviser said iran sho retaliate against israel and said the assassination would be very easy for iran to conduct. they're also blaming the ieae

saying the inspectors had questioned the scientist killed yesterday and therefore identifying him to israeli and u.s. intelligence and making him a target. one of the consequences of this could be that iran will reduce its cooperation with the ieae citing security reasons saying that every time one of our scientists talks to you they get bumped off. chuck? >> ali, is there a pattern there? i mean that when the ieae goes in it's not much longer after? i mean, is there a pattern that they're trying to point to? >> well, the iranians are certainly saying there is a pattern here. they're saying every time the ieae talks to their nuclear scientists they become earmarked by the cia or israeli intelligence and it makes them targets. so this has made iran very, very jittery and they may not let their scientists talk to the ieae inspectors and reduce corporations much further saying we're being targeted and there is no point in talking to you

guys any further. this can have a big domino effect, chuck. >> and has the iranian government admitted this has set back the program? >> no. this isn't going to set back the program. they said iran's nuclear program is irreversible. one thing that one has to note is that iranian scientists are -- there are very many of them. it's part of the national program. they're spread across the universities. so killing half a dozen, a dozen scientists, isn't really going to slow down the program. iran has got a huge scientific program. it's not like the iraqi one that was constricted to baath party members. so there is a lot of very, very smart scientists in iran, chuck. >> ali aruzi in tehran. thank you as always. up next time is running out for social neoconservatives to unite behind one candidate. can the factions get together and mount a serious challenge to

romney not just in south carolina but beyond? plus, star power at the white house. the president gets a visit from hollywood royalty. we'll tell you who dropped in on the oval office. but first a look ahead at the president's schedule. he got in at 1:50 this morning in a motorcade from andrews because of the weather. that means right now there are no public events scheduled. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a $3 coupon. ask me.

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republican presidential candidates are fading out across south carolina today. you are looking at live pictures of jon huntsman in daniel island and rick perry is campaigning in blythewood. all right. well the fight for south

carolina's social conservatives is in full swing. last night in lexington rick santorum made his case for their support. >> it's interesting because all the other candidates in this race by and large, some a little different, have the same position i do on marriage and on life. but i'm always told i'm the extreme candidate. now it may be it's because i'm the only one that actually talks about it. and maybe get the impression that i actually mean it. >> former ohio congressman bob mckuhn is a gingrich supporter and dr. richard land is president of the southern baptist conventions ethics and religious liberty commission. gentlemen, welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> it was last week that you seemed to make some noise a little bit, got some buzz when you said it's about time for social conservatives, movement conservatives, to rally behind either newt or santorum. i know you'll be involved with this big weekend meeting to have

that discussion further. are you going to be able to do this in time before the south carolina primary? >> well, of course, i didn't create the buzz. rick santorum created the buzz by tying romney in iowa and i think that the question will really be, this week the discussions are going to continue to try to get behind one candidate that is the most likely to be able to be a viable nonromney alternative if possible. i think this is partly out of remorse that we didn't get behind huckabee earlier when it may have made more of a difference. it may not be possible. one big thing will be what happens in south carolina? if south carolina voters give a strong preference to newt or a strong preference to rick or a strong preference to perry, that

will have a tremendous impact on whether or not social conservatives will be able to rally behind one candidate. if they continue to be sort of evenly spaced or if newt and rick have about the same number of votes, i don't think it's going to be possible to unite behind a candidate. >> congressman, you're obviously supportive of gingrich here. what is your case to say to a santorum supporter who may say, you know what? some of speaker gingrich's past personal history is an issue for me and therefore i'm more comfortable with rick santorum. what is your case? >> well, i think newt's past history is a case because between calvin coolidge and the time that newt took over we had never balanced a budget for four consecutive years but under his leadership we did. had we continued that course this week we went to a hundred percent of debt to gdp ratio. we'd be at s15% debt to gdp. his experience in being able to

direct the course of the country is so significant that i think it recommends his leadership. also the idea of these attacks that are taking place. 85% of the people in america have never voted in an election of which a republican chaired a committee in congress. he had such a revolutionary change in 1995 that they didn't file 20 ethics reports against him not 30 not 40 not 50. 84 ethics violations repeatedly for three years while he is trying to balance the budget and the president is shutting down the government and as a consequence only one of those, only one, one line in one letter was ever charged the romney campaign is clearly trying to make the case that speaker gingrich is not going to be electable. that is the purpose of this ad. you may remember all of the things that you were happy about as a conservative but there is just so much out there that is going to make him as a republican nominee -- >> i think to all of the candidates, to newt and all of them, when we use the attacks of the left against our own candidates it's not a wise thing

to do and the polls show -- >> let me stop you right there. >> yeah. >> that is exactly what speaker gingrich is accused of right now on bain capital. how do you feel about that? >> i think the attacks against him in iowa were so massively unfair but two wrongs don't make a right. i think it is time to go back to -- he has an opportunity to sell. china creates a new power plant every week. this president just announced last week he is going to close a power plant in america every ten days. he needs to folk oucus on what s to offer. >> how do you feel about these attacks on governor romney? i've heard this from other conservatives. they'd rather the attacks be about his record as governor not his record as bain capital. are you one of those conservatives? >> i am. i'm not in favor of negative ads in general. i think that you ought to be talking about who you're for and why you would be -- why we need to replace obama because of his social policies and his economic policies. i think that this is divisive and i think the reaction among

republicans and social conservatives is negative to these kinds of attack ads. i just don't think they work. i think they turn people off. you know, i'm hopeful that newt and rick and perry will focus on what they're for and what they would bring to the white house and let south carolina voters decide which one they think is the most viable against both romney and against both -- against obama. >> let me ask you about what you're doing in texas. explain who is going to be there? >> well, i don't know who's going to be there. i deliberately remained ignorant of that. it's, you know, an off-the-record discussion among friends about the best way forward for the cause we all believe in. bob and i are cobelligerents. we've been in many meetings

together and want the same things for america and we're going to have a discussion about the best way to get there. >> that is to -- is this about stopping romney? is that exactly what it is? >> not necessarily. >> go ahead. >> not necessarily. it's about finding the best candidate in the end for social conservatives as an alternative to what many people fear, which is a second-term obama who never has to face the american voters again. >> you know, congressman, someone at a perry rally yesterday referred to romney as mccain 2.0 and that wasn't a remark that was meant to be a positive. >> well, i think the fear is that we'll try to run to the middle, not stand for something, and an uncertain trumpet loses. an incumbent you draw a distinction between the two. you saw what mr. mccain did. he refused to approach him on the major issues we care about. i think there is a concern in

america, the scripture says that the foundations be destroyed what will the righteous do? we see a direct attack on the foundations of our country. >> you don't think governor romney will stand up? >> oh, i'm concerned about four more years as richard said. bain capital didn't destroy as many jobs in its lifetime as this president does in 24 hours. >> thank you both for coming on. we'll get a preview of the day on wall street and then market rundown next plus one of the country's most powerful republican governors at the center of a firestorm this morning in his home state. we'll go live to mississippi where outrage is growing after haley barbour frees hundreds of -- pardons hundreds of criminals before leaving office. what was he thinking? what was the motivation behind it? first today's trivia question. from our friends at the university of minnesota's smart politics blog. always a favorite of mine. how many families have had more

than six members with the same surname serve in congress? we'll make you work a little bit for this one. who are they? tweet me the answer at chuck todd and daily rundown. first correct answer will get a follow thursday from it. here is one hint. it is not the kennedys. the answer and more coming up on "the daily rundown." [ male announcer ] you love the taste of 2% milk.

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minutes away from the opening bell. a quick check with the market rundown. cnbc's bertha coombs is here. what do you got for me? >> we got good news out of europe for a change. we had debt options in spain and italy this morning that saw pretty good demand but the data in the u.s. a little disappointing. retail sales in december were up 0.1%. when you strip out auto sales overall retail spending was actually down. part of the reason we're just not buying electronics and big items like that. and then initial unemployment claims rose 24,000 to 399,000 last week. that compares to an expectation the number would come in around

380,000 although some analysts say you always get a little seasonality with some of the retail people coming off. good news on that front though. home depot is adding more jobs for its usual spring remodeling hiring season. they'll hire 70,000 people, up 17% from last year. i want to update you on the orange juice situation. futures are back to where they were at the beginning of the week after spiking on concerns about the fungus ide found on brazilian oranges. coca-cola flagged the fda. this morning we got a crop report that said, yes, the crops in florida are short. right now the fda is examining all of the imports but right now traders are saying we're probably not going to get too big a problem on that front. back to you. >> all right. thank you. "the daily rundown" will be back.

u.s. military officials say an explosive youtube video showing four marines urinating on dead bodies in afghanistan does appear authentic. the four men are identified as members of the sniper team with the third battalion second marines out of camp lejeune. the marine corps is expected to make a formal announcement today on the investigation. who is herman cain endorsing? no one. the former candidate tells the atlanta journal constitution he doesn't want to fragment his supporters by picking a candidate some may not like. instead cain wants to continue to promote his 9-9-9 tax plan.

the gingrich campaign really thought they had that one in the bag. elizabeth warren pulled in a hefty fund raising haul in the final quarter raising nearly $6 million for her massachusetts senate campaign and her republican rival scott brown pulled in just over $3 million over the same time period and has over eight figures in the bank. in hollywood, the first couple paid a visit to the white house on wednesday. brad pitt and angelina jolie met with president obama and discussed jolie's humanitarian work. the pair was in town to launch her new movie "in the land of blood and honey." as we mentioned at the top of the show there is outrage in mississippi over governor haley barbour's decision to pardon over 200 convicts in his final days in office. pardons that included 21 convicted murderers. nbc's mark potter is just outside the state capital building in jackson, mississippi. since your initial reporting we have heard now from governor barbour where he breaks it down and says hey, look, most of

these pardons were for people that were already released. but there is still a lot of questions about the motivation. where did this start? where did this begin? who was asking for this? what was governor barbour's motivation? do we know? >> we don't know. the one thing he said in his statement was he hoped these people could get on with their lives, more easily get work, vote, hunt. he was trying to make it easier. one thing that has not happened and we are hearing a lot about it today is people are still not comforted by that statement. he did not talk about why murderers are going back into the community, why other violent criminals are getting pardons. their records cleared. free to do whatever they want. people are very angry about that still and he did not explain that in that written statement. by the way, he has not actually spoken to anyone about this. he has granted no interviews

yet. there is also concern from the families that they were not notified or allowed to weigh in on this process. >> right. >> and that concerns them. for example in the case of david gatling one of the trustees at the governor's mansion, a convicted murderer serving a life prison term who was granted a pardon. he is now out in the community. he shot and killed his wife as she clutched a 6-year-old baby. her family now is horrified by his release. they were not notified and had been told he had been denied parole and now have learned he has been granted a pardon. they are furious with the governor. also angry is the state attorney general who is concerned the law may have been violated. there is a rule within the mississippi constitution that if you seek a pardon you have to put your request in a newspaper in the county where you committed your crime 30 days before. the attorney general questions whether that was done. in a news conference yesterday

he was very critical from the governor. >> it's unfortunate governor barbour didn't read the constitution. it's a slap in the face to me as a prosecutor for serving 20 years that we have to go back and try to round up all these convicts turned loose and try to fix the mess that he has created. >> now, after hearing arguments from the attorney general's office a judge yesterday said that 21 prisoners still scheduled to be released under the pardon must stay in prison until the cases are reviewed. as for the five trustees, four of them convicted murderers, they've been told to be back before the judge on january 23 for a review of their cases. they are also told they have to keep in regular touch with the mississippi department of corrections. the pardons have been grant ed but there are efforts to look at this more carefully and determine whether all will go

through. >> we think we'll have a hearing in the next two weeks sometime? >> january 23rd. and those five men are required to appear before the judge to explain themselves. by the way, a spokesperson for the mississippi department of corrections was quoted in the local newspaper here as saying that those five guys actually did post notices in the newspaper. so it's quite possible that the law was followed in that case. >> all right. mark, thanks very much. no clemency issues dog mike huckabee during his presidential campaign. that may be something that some people think may have been one reason why he wasn't more seriously considered as a running mate. mitt romney is still taking heat today from his republican rivals over his record at bain capital that some including prominent conservatives are coming to his defense. we have the president of the club for growth and also a former republican member of

congress from indiana. and there's a lot of criticism. it's mostly from speaker gingrich and rick perry, two people you have given very positive scores on white papers i believe about their economic plans. i want to play for you some sound from governor perry about the line distinction he believes he is drawing that he thinks others ought to listen to. here is what he said. >> i'm a capitalist and i believe in the profit motive but there is a point in time where we have to say wait a minute. what's going on here? >> it's a similar argument speaker gingrich made to me in which he said it may have been legal but he is saying he is basically questioning the morality and ethics of governor romney's time at bain. what do you make of all this? >> we've entered into this discussion because we think it is ultimately what the election boils down to. it is about do we want more and bigger government or more and better economic freedom? i'm sure that the romney

expected this attack from the left and obama administration all along. we think it is not appropriate that it comes from the right and disgusting republicans would take a slice of someone's career, a slice of the rough-and-tumble world of free enterprise and economic freedom and try to exploit that. you need a bigger picture. ultimately this election will boil down to which candidate can articulate their life experience the most convincingly? obama has never worked in the private sector and doesn't understand how to create jobs and wealth and economic freedom. he believes in more and bigger government. romney's campaign is based on his experience in free markets. he needs to be able to step up now which is probably a good thing and defend economic freedom and talk about how -- >> you just said he made it the center piece. four years ago he did not. and that's why bain never really came up. this time he cites it. private sector experience was a phrase i believe he uttered more

than mitt romney. in most of the calendar year 2011. so it's inviting the good and the bad. do you think it is important for him to point out since they cite what they believe as net jobs number created they ought to cite okay how many jobs did they have to, how many people did they have to layoff? >> well, in the rough-and-tumble world of the free market there are ups and downs. i don't know what the net number is with -- >> that's my point. he is claiming one positive. do you think he should release everything? >> i think he has to speak to a higher plane and talk about the fact that the free market system has been done more for the human soul than any other system on earth. it has created the highest standard of living, strongest economy in the history of the world. one thing i know for sure is a that companies like bain capital don't participate without creating value and growth.

the other thing i know is the government doesn't create one job. the private sector does. so if bain created one job it's more than the government has and romney's challenge is to be able to articulate that clearly and convincingly. we think that is what this election is all about anyway. >> speaker gingrich's hit was he doesn't mind bain taking a profit. his question was, did bain take a profit at the expense of the troubled companies? >> the model bain followed is they went into failing companies. they tried to i guess engage in some cpr for some companies that probably would have failed anyway. i don't think you can take a video of a few people that had a very bad experience. there are moments in time in that process that are probably pretty ugly. this is the problem with government. we can never make the hard decisions and cuts necessary that improve the health of the organization as a whole. and so you need somebody that is going to be able to defend that. i think it is probably good we're having this discussion now and a little smaller stage in

south carolina. if romney can't defend himself there he is going to have a lot of problems later on. >> you know, politics is usually as much about emotion as about the head. it can be head versus heart. heart usually wins. this is not going to be an easy case for mitt romney to make on an emotional level. >> it is going to be a case he has to make. he has to be able to rise above it and he's going to have to have people talk about what a good job he did as a member of the free market system. he is going to have to find a way to convince people that the net experience that he's had has been positive and economic growth creates jobs and that is his challenge. we'll see if he can live up to it. >> is bain capital -- i mean i guess the central question will be, was bain capital's job to make money for its investors priority or to create jobs. >> obviously make money for their investors but there are some individual investors but teachers pensions, firefighters pensions, college endowments,

charitable foundation endowme endowments. so the reality is firms like bain like i said don't grow unless they create value. you can't go in and lose companies over and over and grow. >> sometimes you create value by outsourcing jobs because it is cheaper labor. >> you have to create economic value. you have to create economic growth. that is the only way you go from $34 million in a fund to $66 billion. you create a growth and value. that's what i think the story he has to tell convincingly. we'll see if he can do it. >> tv ads going up about bain maybe in the next few days. thanks for stopping by. all right. it's not just about bain anymore. newt gingrich also going after mitt romney with gusto in south carolina even dogging romney by bringing up shamus the infamous romney family pet. up next our political panel coming home to roost here in our studio. first, you know you're waiting, the white house soup of the day. tomato bisque which means they poured a little cream in it.

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learn more at keller.edu. in this race to stop romney newt gingrich is pulling out all the stops now in a web video even bringing up the infamous story about shamus the family dog of the romneys that once was tied to the roof of the car during a 12-hour road trip to canada. >> what were you thinking? >> this is a completely air tight kennel and mounted on the top of our car. he climbed up there regularly, enjoyed himself. he was in a kennel at home a great deal of time as well. we love the dog. >> susan is a former republican congresswoman from new york and romney supporter. joe williams covers the white house for politico and steve mcmann -- >> romney and seamus supporter. >> you know, welcome to south

carolina. everything is on the table. >> true. the dog incident even as well. >> yes, sir. >> is romney ready? >> it anybody is read ty's governor romney. those of us here around the table know south carolina is where the messiest games are played. he has a professional team. he surprised everybody in iowa that he won and everybody in new hampshire that he said he'd win by as big a margin as he did. he is totally ready for south carolina. i want to go to the quote of your guest i think it will only make him stronger as he moves into the general election. >> that is the argument you have to make. you always say, well, well. >> yes. you know, steve mcmann, what's interesting about the seamus thing as much as it seems like a cheap shot it is also this

attack that gingrich and others are trying to make and even the white house trying to say romney is a cold-hearted guy. it's painting the bain thing. just worried about a profit not the people he laid off. romney has to figure out how to connect and speak more emotionally from the heart at some point. >> the core of the attacks is all the same. when you do polling one of the most important attributes for a candidate is the answer to the question does this candidate care about people like me? and people who believe that a candidate cares about people like them which starts with an understanding of their problems are much more likely to support that candidate. all of these things whether bain or the dog are all about does mitt romney understand your problems and can he commit to you in a way that will help you solve them. >> the white house, they're all like, finally. you know? they've been waiting for everybody to attack romney in the ways frankly that they hoped romney would get attacked. >> a few months ago you saw david axelrod trying to stir the

pot a little bit making some mischief. this points out to a very clear line of attack that the white house is going to use. mitt's likability has always been an issue. when i was in boston when he was running for governor same thing. he had a reputation of doing what was necessary. there was an engineering thing to get people oust the way. jane swift, even when people didn't like her but mitt did what was needed to be done and was very successful. they will focus on that and raise the stakes and make sure people know this guy puts pragmatism over heart. >> he is a man who, i agree he is, as an italian american needs to work a little more on emotion. you have to look at his relationship with his wife and kids and grand kids to say this is a man who obviously has a big heart and connects on that emotional level very well with the people who matter in his life. >> it is also slightly different than governing a nation or trying to convince people.

>> old gore people have said they have flashbacks watching romney. rudolph guiliani no fan of mr. romney came to his defense earlier this morning on fox. here's what he on fox. here's what he said. >> i'm outraged about what he and rick who is a very close friend of mine. i'm shocked at what they're doing. i'm going to say it's ignorant, dumb. it is -- it is building something we should be fighting in america. ignorance of the american economic system. >> and just before he uttered this. and he said i prefer gingrich to santorum or huntsman. he was saying i want anybody but romney, it's a little personal. but this is what's going on here. romney's finding allies he never thought he could find. >> what strikes me even more than his dislike for romney, for

governor romney is his appreciation for governor perry. governor perry helped rudy a lot in the last race, the first governor to endorse him. so for him to take such a strong stand, particularly against governor perry shows you just what an egregious remark republican conservatives feel about taking on capitalism and bain capital. >> they're playing the music. we'll be back after the break. we've got to do this crazy trivia question that none of you got. we asked how many families have had more than six members with the same surname serving congress? and who are they? the answer is three. it was the breckenridges of kentucky, the claiborne clan and the longs of louisiana have had seven individuals in their family tree to actually serve in congress. the clocking in at six members, and if elected to barney frank's open seat, joe kennedy iii would be the sixth member of his family with the kennedy surname

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we don't have much time. very quickly, joe, steve, susan, about newt gingrich and what he's doing at some point, how do you expect this to play out? does it end up helping newt? helping romney? or helping santorum? >> i think it helps romney in the long run in that he gets a chance to repair his attacks, it hurts newt in the way you have this them saying, newt, cut it out. >> most of the peel off of mitt romney aren't going to go to newt gingrich. you're right, gingrich is hurt in the long run and it's legacy time. >> can romney survive losing south carolina? >> he has to do well in it, but he can survive. he has to move on to florida where he's going to totally clean up. >> now they're playing the oscar music.

shameless plug. >> my shameless plug today is for the politico website. we're starting to do web casts. we want to go live. we are totally coming after you. >> coming after tv. >> steve? >> my mom, we're taking our four kids down to florida this weekend to see her. mom, i hope you're ready and thanks for tolerating us. >> that's a good one. >> disney and universal will be making some money, i assume. >> they always do. >> bob mchue, former congressman your prior guest's birthday. happy birthday, bob. >> happy birthday, bob. >> my shameless plug is for the great crew here in d.c. who i missed and it's good to be back. we'll see you right back here tomorrow. coming up, next, "chris jansing and company." they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the other guy's flake is more processed. mmm.

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