an aggressive counter to those stinging attacks over his business practices. desperate republican challengers see south carolina as their last stand. so they've been sharpening the swords to cut romney down. still, a big turnout at a romney rally this morning. there it is in greer, south carolina, where the front runner opened with a new line. >> i understand the president last night was speaking at a fundraiser in chicago. and he said -- he said i can promise you that change is coming. and he's right. and the name of that change is mitt romney. >> joining me now is nbc contributor karen hunter and maggie haberman. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> i want to play a little bit more. >> no more. >> just in the last hour. we're up to the minute with this stuff. here it is. >> i think any time a job is lost it's a tragedy. the reality is in the private sector, that there are some

businesses that are growing and thriving, and we were fortunate enough to be able to be part of that in a small way. and there are some businesses that have to be cut back in order to survive. >> so that's part of his answer to this. these terrible, as he sees them, over the top attacks, maggie. but clearly his staff was blind sided by the fact it came from the republicans. >> absolutely. there was an uncertainty about this happening in a republican primary. and they long expected this from the democrats, not the republicans. they are getting defense from other republicans, it is worth noting. not everyone in the field is worth attacking him. jon huntsman has said -- rudy giuliani this morning was defending and he's hardly a friend of mitt romney. defending him on this saying he was shocked by rick perry who i think was using the term vulture very specifically. i think they are getting an opportunity to test how they want to handle this. i'm not sure they're going to pass it. we'll find out. they have a very limited window to try to define this on their terms. >> one of the things we know they're doing is they're

answering this newt/romney supporting pac 27-minute move that has a lot of folks who were downsized through bain capital with people whose jobs were saved by bain capital who have good things to say. good strategy? or can you counter that? >> well, his big problem is it's believable. he looks like that guy who likes to fire people. so that's his issue. it's not whether or not this should stick to him, it's that he actually embodies the thing that he's trying to counter right now. it's going to be tough for him to say, hey, that's not me. even that response just now, he's not comfortable because he looks like that guy. >> is that part of the problem? obviously when he said, you know, i like to fire people that's out of the context of what it really was, which he was talking about, you know, getting rid of people who don't do the job like insurance companies. is there this sense that he seems like that kind of guy? >> well, mike huckabee had a very famous line in the 2008 race where he says he looks like the guy who is either going to

fire you or did fire you or will fire you. and that's the problem, you steer clear of that language generally speaking let alone when you are dealing with issues of wealth and management and corporations like mitt romney is. i think he does have a story to tell about bain. the problem is that bain is complicated. we are not talking about a straightforward type of business that people necessarily understand. it's venture capitalism. bain made money even when some companies did not make money. and so i think the problem is how the challenge to them is how to put a human face on this in a way that's positive. i think if you start seeing ads from the romney campaign that lay out here's someone who was helped at staples. here's someone who had a positive experience. the problem is right now, there's a lot of attention on this and it's not going in their favor. he's got rick perry shooting mace at him. he's not getting close enough to land a punch. on the other side, you have newt who is about to unleash a megabomb on him, and president obama is kind of swirling around

delivering his message. and i think he's being smart in going at obama and not dealing with not necessarily these issues within his party. but he's got a tough road. and south carolina's a tough state, you know. >> we do want to remind people that bain and nbc universal are together part owners of the weather channel. i want to bring in ezra klein the "washington post" columnist. couple of arguments here, ezra. on one hand in south carolina, the unemployment rate is 9.9%, they've seen a lot of layoffs. so you might think that some of these attacks would work. on the other side, this is a very free market state, less than 5% of the workforce is unionized. so do you think the bain attacks are as forceful there as they may be elsewhere? >> they probably will work in south carolina as well as anywhere. i don't think there's any state that's a fan of layoffs. the question as maggie points out is can romney redefine this? and also, how really does it play in the republican primary?

what you basically saw happen last week or two is gingrich and perry went through this bain series of attacks, and the republican party establishment closed ranks against them. i mean, if anything, i think it substantially hurt gingrich's claim to being taken seriously. >> hasn't stopped him, though. >> hasn't stopped him. but now he's on a kamikaze mission. the question isn't in a republican primary if voters are getting signals from people they trust, knees attacks are not legitimate. the question is in a general if people aren't getting signals in a certain way, will they feel legitimate then? >> let me ask you about how they're handling it. let me show you a clip of what nikki haley, which is a mitt romney supporter, had to say about all of this. >> we want companies to be able to do what's best for companies, and during tough times you downsize and you make hard decisions. and during good times, you expand and help those businesses grow more. that's what he's done. he's done what every one of us has tried to do. >> are voters going to buy that

argument, ezra? >> the romney campaign better hope so. he made a mistake, he tried to define what he did at bain in terms of jobs created. first he said tens of to us, then he said hundreds of thousands. he's counting jobs that got added after he's there, not counting jobs that were lost. either way, bain was not there for job creation, wealth creation for the investors. there's nothing wrong with it. in trying to reframe this as he is a job creator, saying his resume is a professional job creator. he opened up this question as to whether or not what he did helped jobs or not. and if you look at private equity, they tend to increase wealth dramatically and decrease jobs slightly. so he's going to have to figure out how to get this back into place. his argument is he knows how to work in the economy as opposed to he knows how to create jobs.

he knows just as well how to fire people as he does how to hire people. >> this election was going to be about jobs, but again, to south carolina, more conservative state, certainly than new hampshire, more religious state by far. newt gingrich, for example, is also bringing up the abortion issue, romney's mormon religion is roaring in the background among the evangelicals. what else does mitt have to worry about there besides bain capital? >> i think everything you said. there is a reason that mitt romney did not do well in south carolina in the last cycle in 2008 in his race then. south carolina is widely known for bare knuckle politics. maybe a bit of an overstatement. certainly a much more aggressive state in terms of campaigning. he will have to win a majority of these conservative voters. at the moment, they are fractured.

>> you have two catholics, newt, and santorum. they don't really resinate as much with that crowd. and i think nikki haley helps them tremendously because she's a tea party candidate and she's been firmly behind mitt. i don't see anyone else coming to the forefront, not because mitt is a great candidate and they love him, but there's simply no one else in the field that can handle him right now. >> i want to talk a little bit about president obama. he's been on the attack. he's been taking a broad swipe at the republican field, but not mentioning anyone by name. he was at a fund-raising stop in chicago last night in full campaign mode rallying the faithful. >> if you're still fired up, if you are not weary, if you're ready to put on your walking shoes and get to work.

if you stick with me, we're going to finish what we started in 2008. >> nbc's kristen welker. what did the president say about the republicans? >> reporter: well, he has started to go after them. it's interesting, the president's walking a bit of a fine line right now. he's sort of trying to stay above the fray, but at the same time, certainly not sitting on the sidelines. last night he attended three different fundraisers in chicago where he raised an estimated $2 million. and as you say, he went after republicans not calling them out by name, but he does link them to republicans in congress. take a listen. here's what he had to say. >> republicans in congress, the presidential candidates who are running, they've got a very specific idea about where they want to take this country. i mean, they've said it. they said they want to reduce the deficit by gutting our investments in education, gutting our investments in research and technology.

letting our infrastructure further deteriorate. >> reporter: now, the white house has been pretty adamant that the president is not going to officially start campaigning until there is a republican nominee. but at the same time, we have seen him start to draw sharp contrast between himself and republicans really at every chance he gets. and just this morning, a big announcement from the reelection team. they say they raised $68 million during the fourth quarter of last year compare that to mitt romney's $24 million that he raised in the fourth quarter. we will likely see those numbers start to increase for whoever becomes the republican nominee. but, of course, you can't forget about those super pacs. apparently the republican leaning super pacs have been a bit more effective to date at raising money. it will be interesting and it's still early, chris. >> yeah, unbelievably effective on the republican side. thanks very much. ezra, let me ask you about this

whole fund raising thing. here we're looking at numbers. again, mitt romney, 24 million in the last three months, president obama and the dnc raised 68 million. but again, with all of the super pacs out there, raised the question in the meeting this morning. i said maybe with all the money coming in, they can spend a little more time on the campaign trail, a little less time trying to raise money and everyone at the table laughed at me. is there a limit to how much money is too much? >> it doesn't become too much, but it does become unnecessary. the saturation point. you're spending so much, people need to hear everything they can from you. another ad, another mailer doesn't make a difference. romney's bigger problem in general will not be bain, it'll be bush. that when you're stirring in that argument from obama, and they want to gut all those investments in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich is basically saying romney's offering the same economic policy that george w. bush did

between 2001 and 2009. very heavy on taxes for the wealthy. romney extends the tax cuts and some more. heavy deregulation, that's what got us into this mess, and barack obama has had to clean it up the last four years, do we want to go through that again? that's not an argument republican candidates can make against romney? i do think if you listen to obama, it's the argument of the campaign is setting up to make against mitt romney. >> all right. >> it's all about personality? >> personality. it's going to be the contrast of romney versus obama. in that race, romney's going to lose in a landslide. >> depends where the economy is. >> yeah. >> so we have more to talk about. that's the important thing. ezra klein, thank you. appreciate it. more americans than ever before are seeing a strong social conflict between the rich and poor and this goes way beyond the occupy wall street crowd. we've got details on that coming up. and a mississippi judge is

now questioning some of the 215 pardons issued by outgoing mississippi governor haley barbour. there's now a temporary block of the release of 21 inmates after the attorney general argued that the governor's actions were unconstitutional in some cases. governor barbour put out this statement. approximately 90% of these individuals were no longer in custody and a majority of them had been out for years. barbour ordered this process was about restoring people's right to vote. relatives of many of the victims don't see it that way. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair.

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if the attacks on romney seem familiar, take a look at this. >> like him to show me where

these 10,000 jobs he's created are. >> i don't think like romney creating jobs because he took every one of them away. >> it's an attack ad run by ted kennedy when romney was running for senate in 1994. everything old is new again. and billionaire warren buffett throwing down with republicans in congress. he says he'll match any contribution gop members make to pay down the national debt. senate minority leader told buffett instead of raising taxes on the super rich, buffett should write a check to pay down the debt. elizabeth warren raised $5.7 million in the last quarter of the year. scott brown raised just over $3 million. in the newest issue of "people" magazine, they're talking to rick and karen santorum. they talk about their religion and the importance of rick being a husband and father besides just a politician. he cleans and he helps with the kids and he cooks. he tells "people," "i like to

make sandwiches." and conservatives have a new app designed for winning. it uses the gps to match volunteers to voters in their area. giving new meaning to the phrase campaign outreach. new numbers that could help shape this year's presidential debate. a pew research poll finds 66% of all americans find a strong conflict between the rich and poor. the highest number in a quarter century. good morning. >> good morning, good to be with you. >> what's behind this big shift, do you think? >> well, we asked the same question two years ago, and we got fewer than half felt it then. my guesss that the occupy wall street movement, which is very much in the news around the country in the latter part of 2011 triggered a lot of coverage of the issue between the gap between the rich and poor. >> and there is a gap in terms

of parties. far more democrats feel this way than republicans, right? >> yes, but the increase over the last two years is across the board. almost 20% more republicans now see a conflict between rich and poor, 20% more democrats, 20% more independents. you see it up and down. the income scale, as well. so there has been a shift we actually asked this -- we asked about other conflicts in society. we asked about the rich versus poor. we asked about immigrants versus native. this for the first time, rich versus poor gap with the exception of conflict, that's the one that rated highest among the public. >> when you break the poll down by race, it finds african-american voters see the biggest conflict between rich and poor. again, growth coming from maybe an unexpected place. >> the biggest growth is among white people. and again, up and down the income scale. what's interesting about this

survey is we have a before and after in terms of the occupy wall street movement, the focus on that -- this issue we know president obama gave a speech this last month where he sharpened the critique about income inequality. of course, as you've been covering all morning, you know, how mitt romney made his money and whether or not that contributed to the rich/poor gap is a part of the republican debate. this is very much on the national agenda. and people see an increase in gap, in conflict. we have another question that doesn't necessarily show an increase of envy in the race. we have a question, in your judgment, how do most rich people get -- >> this i thought was the most fascinating result of all the polls. i think we can put it up. >> right. so we give people two choices. mainly because they were born into wealth or they had good connections or is it through their own hard work and ambition and education? and a pretty even divide.

about 46% say mainly because they were born into it. and about 43% say, no, it's mainly because of their own effort. that has not changed at all. so this is not necessarily an indication of a rise in envy of the rich or resentment of the rich. but there is an increase in the view that there are conflicts between rich and poor in this country. >> paul taylor, fascinating survey, thank you. >> thank you. >> the assassination of an iranian nuclear scientist is ratcheting up tension between the u.s. and iran. the u.s. denies any role in the killing. yesterday's car bomb is similar to earlier killings to scientists working on the iranian nuclear program. who is the "your business" entrepreneur of the week? she took over her family's century old cincinnati business. she moved it away from diamonds and gold to offer more unique rings, pendants, and necklaces. she scaled down, moved to a smaller space, and became more web centric. led to sparkling profit. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on

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international force in afghanistan are condemning the act calling it disrespectful and inexplicable. joining me now, nbc military analyst and retired army colonel jack jacobs. they got on this very quickly. they found out apparently who these guys are. what's likely to happen to them? >> the commander and the chain of command most undoubtedly a high ranking officer has already started an investigation. out of that will come probably a recommendation that he conduct an article 32 investigation. that's the equivalent the military equivalent of the grand jury procedure in civilian life. the only difference is that in the military article 32 investigation, the accused can be represented by counsel and can cross-examine witnesses. the article 32 investigator will be a lawyer and almost undoubtedly a military judge will make a recommendation to the commander. and he will recommend either to

be tried as court-martial or not. >> so let me just explain to people, or you can explain to people. when we hear things like the equivalent of a grand jury investigation. nevertheless, the military justice system is different than what we see, you know, on law and order. >> it's very much different. the jury, for example, not drawn from the populous as a whole. from the command or related commands. they're represented by counsel like in civilian life, but they can also be represented by civilian counsel, as well, and many of them are. the decision about whether or not there is going to be a trial in any case is the commanders and the commanders alone. and it can be recommended to him by the grand jury procedure that he have a court-martial, he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to. >> we just got a statement in from secretary panetta.

i have seen the footage, and i find the behavior deplorable. i condemn it in the strongest possible terms. i have ordered the marine corps and general john allen to immediately and fully investigate the incident. this conduct is entirely inappropriate for members of the u.s. military. does not reflect the standards or values. those found to have engage in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent. can that go beyond the people we've seen in this picture, jack? >> sure can. don't forget, there's a chain of command. and somewhere in the chain of command is an officer, a noncommissioned officer or a series of them who are supposed to be supervising the marines you see. and if it is determined that they have created an environment, an atmosphere in which despicable things like this can happen, then they are also culpable.

it reflects a poor unit with not particularly good discipline, and there may be officers and ncos other than these here who are going to be held responsible. >> thank you. >> you bet. today marks two years, if you can believe it, since that catastrophic earthquake devastated the capital of haiti. 300,000 people were killed, more than 1.5 million were left homeless. today 500,000 are still living in tent cities, and nearly half of the $4.5 billion pledged from the government has not been distributed. it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

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>> the national weather service still has to confirm if it actually was a tornado. and meantime, the midwest is getting ready for its first significant snowstorm of the season. cities like chicago, milwaukee, green bay. they could see up to a foot of snow. weather channel meteorologist mike bettes is live in chicago. and i guess this is what they've been waiting for. it's winter, but a big one's coming, right? >> reporter: absolutely. chris, it's been a big snow deficit here in chicago. not even 2 inches for the season. we're easily going to triple that, we think, with the snow that's just now beginning to fall here in chicago. behind me is lake shore drive. very passable this morning. but that may not be the ideal scenario to drive home this evening as very high winds, significant snow is expected here. we are looking for snow in chicago, milwaukee, all the way up into green bay and grand rapids, kalamazoo, our first real big test of the season. and the crews in chicago, the snowplows have been out, they've been doing patrols.

ready to drop those plows at a moment's notice and keep this city clean. you might remember last year, chris, during the groundhog day blizzard, lake shore drive, completely impassable. people being rescued in snowmobiles. considering we haven't had much snow this season, this is the first real test for the city. >> weather channel's mike bettes. thank you so much. and good luck out there. here's a look at other stories people are talking about right now. ford is recalling nearly 500,000 vehicles to fix defects that can cause fires or loss of power. it includes minivans and escape suvs. ford is notifying owners and they'll replace the part for free. today an alabama judge will consider a court order that would officially declare natalee holloway dead. it's been more than six years since the 18-year-old disappeared in aruba. today's hearing was scheduled before the prime suspect in her murder, joran van der sloot

pleaded guilty to killing a young woman in peru. van der sloot will be sentenced tomorrow. post traumatic stress brought on, he says, by all the questioning in the holloway case. casey anthony says her daughter caylee may have been conceived during a date rape in the fall of 2004. in court documents anthony says she "blacked out possibly from a spiked drink." and a mental health expert said anthony seemed "detached from her feelings and emotions." over the summer, anthony was acquitted in her daughter's murder. barbie has been a race car driver, news anchor, and an astronaut. now a facebook page is pushing mattell to produce a cancer-fighting bald barbie to help young cancer survivors. a page called beautiful and bald barbie, let's see if we can get it made now has more than 30,000 fans. but mattell says they don't accept ideas from outside sources. will tim tebow make the list of america's favorite athletes?

we'll tell you when we go down to the wire in 20. capturing a conservative vote for the next nine days, republicans will be crisscrossing south carolina courting conservatives. but what played in well in new hampshire and iowa doesn't necessarily translate in south carolina. richard lui is here with a look at the different sort of flavors of conservatism. good morning. >> good morning to you. of course, different state, different conservative. exit polls describe two types. one is somewhat conservative. the other is very conservative. 2/3 of gop voters are in this category of somewhat conservative. generally they resist radical change. they prefer establishment candidates, like mccain in 2008, a three-decade congressman. this year it is romney to some extent huntsman. then there's a second category, very conservatives, 1/3 of gop voters open to change, they favor rhetorically aggressive candidates who fight for ideology.

this year, it is santorum, paul, gingrich, and the rest as you see. now, the first four states differ in this mix we're looking at. the conservative mix according to 2008 exit polls. very conservatives first we'll take a look at. 47% of iowa gop voters were very conservative. that favorite santorum who virtually tied for first. then new hampshire that dip to 21% as you can see here with very conservatives. and so did santorum finishing fifth there. and for south carolina, middling 34, you see florida here down to 27%. santorum, paul, and perry will not have the very conservatives to help them in these later states. now let's take a look at the somewhat conservatives category. the lion share of gop voters. they vary very little as you can see. the rest at 34% across. that favors romney and into some extent huntsman as said earlier. another way to see the contrast, religious conservatives. santorum thrived in iowa where 60% were evangelical.

new hampshire, though, slid to 23%, but look at south carolina. right back up to 60% evangelical as santorum a nonromney mother load, 39%, they'll have to change that. another view, conservatives' top issues. polls show the economy and federal deficit way in front. that's consistent for all of these states. but distant thirds range from abortion to jobs and health care. so, chris, it's a tough balancing act as you can see to win over all types of conservatives. but one person who did that well, ronald reagan. >> very interesting. thank you so much, richard. i want to talk about one particular aspect of this as it relates to south carolina. the president of that state's largest religious organization says that mitt romney's mormon faith is a cause of concern among the state's crucial evangelical voting block. i want to bring in reverend brett atkins who is president of the south carolina baptist convention. he has not endorsed any candidate yet. good morning, thanks for being with us. >> hey, good morning.

appreciate the opportunity. >> so we just saw about 60% of evangelical voters in south carolina. and you've said that you think romney's mormonism will be a cause of concern. more even than newt gingrich's infidelities. why? >> well, i think when you're coming to a state like south carolina whereas you just mentioned 60% of the populous professes to be evangelical. any time you have a candidate whose beliefs are different than that, it's going to be a cause of concern of where the issue here in south carolina. we have such an intelligent group of people that look at the candidate on a full spectrum. not only their political career, but also their spiritual relationship. where are they in their walk of faith? do they profess to know jesus christ as their lord and savior? do they profess to have a different religion from what we as evangelicals believe? >> he says he does believe in jesus christ and he does have whatever you think about your political views, seems to have an extremely strong family.

good kids, been married to the same woman. would you look at it that way? thinking back to when, you know, john kennedy was running for president and everyone thought, oh, my gosh, he's catholic, the pope is going to run the country. is that where we are with mormonism now? >> well, unfortunately, i wasn't around when kennedy was president, but i do understand the connection that you're making. we're living in a country that whether we like to acknowledge it or not, when this country was set forth, it was founded as being a country for religious freedom. it was not a country that was set forth for economic prosperity. the interesting paradigm that we exist in is that when youhistor of israel, when they came out of their bondage. god warned them when you go into this new land and you have increased, don't forget your god. and as a country, that's what we've done. when you look at the scripture where god says if my people who are called by may name will humble themselves and pray and

repent, the reality of it is, we like to point fingers. even here in america, we like to point fingers. we like to say it's the liberals' fault, the moderates' fault, some say it's the conservatives' fault. i sit here as the pastor saying the condition our country is in right now is predominantly the church's fault. we as god's people have forgotten the importance of being one nation under god and the importance of humbling ourselves and being people that honestly get on our face before god, ask jesus christ to load us in the candidate we should vote for. >> when mitt romney says i'm running for commander in chief, not pastor in chief. and when the founding fathers also respected the right of someone not to believe anything. do you think -- >> that's -- you're exactly right. he's not running for the pastor in chief. but we cannot take a candidate and disconnect his spiritual beliefs and values from his political beliefs and values. the scripture tells us as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. we can take what a candidate may

say and what may be on paper. but ultimately every decision he's going to make is going to come down to what his core, spiritual beliefs are. as he thinks in his heart, that's the way he's going to act. so when we look at a presidential candidate to run against president obama, we must look at the total picture that the candidate picture is presented to us. and understand that it's not just the political side we need to look at. we need to look at the total candidate, his spiritual, his political, his philosophical. and here's the paradigm -- >> real quickly. >> -- we're running into here in south carolina. romney is a great man. no one is questioning his morals. that is not the issue. >> well, it gives us an interesting perspective into the evangelical way of thought there. and i thank you, reverend brad atkins. concerns this morning that orange juice drinkers could get squeezed at the super market after a temporary ban on imports. what's moving your money. and we've seen some wild fluctuations in orange juice futures.

what's going on? and are we going to pay more for a glass of o.j.? >> orange juice features spiking to a high. it is now banned here. still used in brazil, which is the world's biggest orange exporter and so there's some fears that that fungicide in huge amounts can cause things like infertility is a risk, so there was a temporary ban on imports and oranges. that we saw the price of orange juice futures spike up. no question, that's going to trickle down at the super market for orange juice. but looks like futures are coming down in price as people say, hey, it's temporary. we're talking traces of this. looks like orange juice futures are coming back down. but certainly a day or two scare and i know a lot of your viewers are tired of paying more for everything at the supermarket. >> word to the wise. cnbc's brian sullivan, thank

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trouble with a car insurance claim. [ dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. good morpg morning, everybody, i'm thomas roberts. gop slug fest. why three billionaires could drag out the nomination fight long after south carolina. who are they? we'll follow the millions flowing into the nasty campaign ads. is there a covert war being waged against iran? new fallout today from the nuclear scientist killed by a bomb that was strapped to his car. why does michelle obama have to push back against angry black women stereotypes? chris? >>. >> thank you so much.

mitt romney may be piling up the endorsements, but one of them comes from a controversial lawmaker who is the author of tough new immigration laws in south carolina and arizona. kansas secretary of state kris kobach is leading the fight for tough new immigration laws. we have the executive vice president of the western region of the largest service workers union. good morning, thank you for joining us. >> good morning, chris. thank you very having me. >> with all the tough new regulations, how closely do you think latino voters are watching republicans on this issue? >> let me tell you, chris, latinos are bilingual. we speak english and we speak spanish. and we're paying very close attention. i think that the republican party is digging themselves a really big hole with latino voters. i think they're going to see a big response in november. >> what specifically do you

think they're digging themselves into a hole with? >> well, take mitt romney for example. yesterday he announced support from kris kobach who is one of the most anti-immigration officials in the country. the laws he has proposed. legalize racial profiling. they'll discriminate against latinos. and mitt romney has said he is enthusiastic and he is very proud to have kris kobach's support. on the same day he did this, he released his first spanish-speaking commercial in florida. he's talking one thing in english and saying another thing in spanish. i think that people are paying attention. they know that anti-immigrant record speaks to who he is and what he stands for. and i think latino voters are too smart to be fooled. they're going to be voting, and i think mitt romney's going to find himself relegated to the political elephant's graveyard.

>> should we assume, though, just because you're an immigrant, perhaps you came from mexico or south america, cuba, that you're against tougher immigration laws and tougher enforcement? there is an argument that there are lots of people who came here legally who think that's not an unreasonable thing to expect. >> it absolutely is not unreasonable to have immigration laws that work. the problem is that we have a broken immigration system. and in order to fix it, you need to have both a system that allows for a channelling, undocumented immigration through legal channels that are safe, legal, and orderly, and that means that we've got to give the 11 million people who are here without documents an opportunity to legalize. and then let's start talking about how we also secure the borders. but it has to be a comprehensive solution. it can't be just this approach.

>> do you think your workers are fired up enough to go to work for barack obama? one of the things we've seen early on in the primaries and the victories of mitt romney is that organization does matter. >> well, it absolutely does. and what i'm seeing all around the country is that latino voters understand who's on their side. they've seen that the president who has just recently proposed laws that would reunite famil s families, that he's on their side. and mitt romney, unfortunately, has proven that he is not. i think we're going to see tens of thousands of latinos all over the country mobilizing to make sure that we actually get somebody in the white house that will fix this problem, not make it worse. >> thank you so much for coming on. and talking about the election, today's tweet of the day comes from steven colbert. super big time announcement on the report at 11:30 p.m. eastern. tune in.

also my caps lock is jammed. maybe colbert is thinking about running. 5% of south carolina primary voters would pick colbert more than would pick jon huntsman. so he couldn't resist bragging on the colbert report. >> this just got real. a major pollster has me at 5% ahead of the third-place finisher in new hampshire. i've got to ask, what do you think, nation? should i run for president in south carolina? who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. so she was thrilled that her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply and would always be there to answer questions about her health. now mary gets 3 refills in one and for 3 months, she's done. more or less. ask your pharmacist about a 90 day supply today. walgreens. there's a way to stay well.

the people's choice favorite athletes and a fat cat. plus go down to the wire. the big winner at last night's people's choice award was not even there. katy perry won favorite female artist. she made headlines last month for the end of her 14-month marriage to russell brand. other winners included harry potter and the deathly hallows, ellen degeneres, and johnny

depp. madonna premiering her new film "w.e." in london. says she's proud of the film. madonna will be performing at halftime during this year's super bowl. and now kelly clarkson, the latest celebrity to get her shot at the national anthem. the first american idol winner will open the game february 5th on nbc. more proof america loves tim tebow. an espn poll shows the denver broncos quarterback is our favorite athlete. he beat out kobe bryant, aaron rodgers and tom brady. and this is one big kitty looking for a good home. and a bag of low calorie food for his new family. she swore she'd never get married again, but halle berry is engaged.

berry's been married twice before, she has a 3-year-old daughter with her ex. and that wraps up this hour of jansing and company. i was getting all choked up. i'll see you back here tomorrow. thrilled. wait. we can have shakes? and boston cream pie. did you say pie? pie. she said pie. pie. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. the doctor leaned over and said to me, "you just beat the widow-maker." i was put on an aspirin, and it's part of my regimen now. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go see your doctor now.

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i understand the president last night was speaking at a fundraiser in chicago. and he said i can promise you that change is coming. and he's right. and the name of that change is mitt romney. >> you're looking more and more like the inevitable nominee. but first, he must prevail against five republican rivals. >> 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. and we're going to make it a