good to have you with me. we have just four days, that's it, four to go. and republican rivals bash romney in the 16th debate of the season. right now mitt romney has a 2:1 advantage in a new poll. by most accounts it was a palmetto state pummeling. they hit him on everything from his conservative credentials to his tax returns. >> we need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money. >> we cannot fire our nominee in september. we need to know now. i hope you'll pud your tax records out there. >> if that's the tradition, i'm not opposed to do that. time will tell. >> you plan to release your tax records around april? >> i think i've heard from enough folks.

i have nothing to suggest that there's a problem. to take falsehoods off the air. >> so i can't do what you just asked me to do, but i can -- if there's anything that's inaccurate in any ads that support me, i hope they take it off and don't run it. mr. speaker, you have a super pac ad that attacks me -- now just hold on -- that attacks me. it's probably the biggest hoax since big foot. >> we would all like them to disappear, to tell the truth. >> to grate this debate and talk about where things go from here, we have wendy shiller and nia malika hinder son, national political reporter for "the washington post." professor shiller, if you were grading, let's talk about the

fact it was a rough night for romney. in your estimation whose night was it best for? >> definitely newt gingrich. i think he gets an a-plus. this guy has nine political lives, he's counting, but what stayed so consistent for newt gingrich is his ability to stay fabulous in debates. he sounds smart. he keeps himself alive, in the game, and i think he was trying to make the point to the party more generally that there's more they can expect from their nominee than just what romney is giving them. he's three in the polls, but went on to along, so i think he was probably the biggest loser, and i think gingrich is the biggest winner. he certainly showed hi can. it's a learning curve when it comes to debating. >> no bell curve when it comes to this morning. romney attended an event innic

is second quarter where he tried to build this aura of northwestibility. >> no, i don't think so. he comes in about a b and that's about where he has been this entire time. he lost some of his composure, and maybe a few points that in some ways like a ron paul answer. you didn't know after his whole paragraph of whether or not he was going to release him, so i think perry scored some points over the tax issue, but newt gingrich at his best, i think, he's so good at being succinct.

because romney has been so good this whole time, he's built up a head of steam as the establishment candidates, as the inevitable candidates, i think he will be heart to beat on saturday. so wendy, last night a lot of conversation about bain capital. the record is pretty good. the sports authority, staples, they alone added 120,000 jobs as of today. we have a president in office three years, and he does not have a jobs plan. i've got one out there already and not even president yet -- thank you. turning defense into an offense there, and you look at the same "the washington post" poll, apparently the bain attacks have not hurt romney

that much. will bain turn out to be a blessing or a curse down the road? >> i'm not sure it would be a blessing, and i don't think it will be as big a curse as the democrats hope it will be. this just has to stop. this hemming and ahhing about releasing your tax returns, everyone knows you're a rich guy, just tell us how rich you are and how much tax you pay. these things will add up. if the economy still isn't doing well, i'm not sure adding 120,000 jobs will compare to what the president will say about the economy over time and his massive experience. i just don't know how well the bain experience will match up in the end with obama's experience. if the economy continues to grow even slowly, i don't think it's going to compare. >> here's what ron paul had to say. >> i just didn't think they had

gone through the process enough to actual ly capture him. there are different ways without turning around and say for some reason this doesn't mean he's supporting america or something like that. we ought to consider a golden rule in foreign policy. don't do to other nations what we don't want to have them do to us. so we -- >> just a sample there of what he got in reaction to a lot of his stances on foreign policy. nia-malika, did he simp any hopes? >> i think some some ways. i've seen him on the stump, and this golden rule line works a lot. but not so much here. we have a lot of bases down here, so this idea of treating other nations with the golden rule just didn't go over well, nor did his whole stance on osama bin laden. it just didn't go over well at

all, so i think it damaged his chances quite a bit last night in south carolina. >> thank you, ladies. i appreciate your time. well, newt gingrich received the most applause in the night, in this exchange with the person who asked the questions of him. juan williams. >> speaker gingrich, you recently said black americans should demand jobs, not food stamps. can't you see this is viewed, as a minimum, as insulting to all americans, but particularly to black americans? >> no. i don't see that. >> mea e-mail and twitter has been inundated with people of all races asking if your comments are not intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities. you saw some of this during a visit to a black church in south carolina where a woman asked you why you referred to president obama as the food stamp

president. it sounds as if you are seeking to belittle people. >> well -- first of all, juan, the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by barack obama than any president in american history. >> reverend al sharpton is here with me in the studio. it sounds like when he was responding, first of all, juan, if that is your real name -- it just struck me funny as if he seems open about all this, but what is your reaction as newt is sticking by his guns say kids could work as janitors. i mean, he's sticking by the talking points he's had all along. i think he's playing a very serious game that is cynical, because he's playing to those elements that feel that people ought to be in some ways stereo

typed. he's not going to back off violating or suggesting or inferring we violate child labor laws, and he's going to in some ways justify calling president obama the foot stamp president. of course more people applied for help because of what the bush tax cuts and three wars did to the economy. so let's talk about why president obama inherited that economy. let's also talk about the fact that we've had every month since the president has been in increasing private sector jobs, but i think -- and i give credit to juan for at least raising, but what i would have followed up is you can't have it both ways, either you're saying that people should be employed, because he said the president was ignoring black unemployment or people are under food stamps. which are you going to have

here? i think gingrich was being masterful but deceptive. >> newt gingrich appeared in an all-black church on the weekend. rick perry is talking about he appointed -- as the first texas supreme court justice. it's awkward conversation, to say the least, reverend. what are voters supposed to make of this at home when president obama wouldn't have, as some would say, shown up in the african-american community. why even go down this road on the right? >> i think the reason they have to go down that road is because they cannot appeal to independent voters if they continue to play this racially biased, racially polarizing card that they have played. you have to remember now, gingrich with the whole question of food stamps and blacks don't have role models in their communities that are not criminal. ron paul's newsletters, the stone at rick perry's house, on and on and on.

how do you appeal to independent vote voters. i think they're trying to bring down the image they have to independents that they are so intolerant and so divisive. >> one of the big exchanges is this being point about felons and voting and his attacks on mid romney. >> i would ask governor romney, do you believe who are felons who served their time, who exhausted their parole and probase, should they by given the right to vote? this is martin luther king day, a big deal in -- >> i don't think felons who have committed a violent crime shouldn't be allowed to vote again. >> the law in massachusetts was felon could they vote after exhausting their sentences, but they could vote while on probation or parole.

>> is it smart to pull him into that trap? >> no, i think that it was probably smart political and i along with -- was involved with what happened in massachusetts. i think that romney ease answer will come back to haunt him. you're saying people have served that i am time, surfed parole. i don't think that will work with most americans in the middle and independents. i think that santorum either knowingly or unknowingly hurt romney. ref right-hand al sharpton, always good to see you. thank you, sir. the reverend will have more reaction tonight on his show "politics nation" right here at 6:00 p.m. >> thank you. people were shoving each other into the boats.

the boats were overloaded. bakley the people that were actually manning the boats were the cooks and the waitresses, and they had no idea how to lower those boats. >> it took an hour and a half waiting on the side of the ship while it kept going down and tilting more for them to pretty much say anything. disbelief, anger, outrage from passengers who have been lucky to survive that cruise ship disaster, and a grim discovery this morning as divers find five more bodies as they continue to search for survivors among the missing, an american couple from st. paul, minnesota. in their race to find potential survivors, italy's navy blew a hole in the side to gain fast access, and new images of that damage from inside the hull. look at this. all heaped in piles now floating under water as the ship's

captain is arraigned in court this morning. michelle kosinski is in giglio, italy. bring us up to speed about what happened today. >> reporter: out here on the scene it's been a buzz of activity all day. there must be 100 to 200 rescue crews just within our sights right now. they keep coming in in shifts, diving around the ship very serious. is you can probably see it in the video that you see also in the feed periodically. just one boat of search and rescue going to the ship and then coming back. they told us earlier what they wanted to do was blast another small hull, which they did and they wanted to get to the first

officer's room, where they said they expected to find bodies of victim. they did in fact shortly after that find five people. we don't know if these are crew members or passengers. one person who was working here on the scene said they were passengers, but that's unconfirmed. we don't know where they got that information. and as for the captain, yeah, he had the charges read to him in court today -- manslaughter, causing the wreck, abandoning ship, and also he was not let out of jail. he remains behind bars. there's been information coming out about him as well, especially this phone conversation, allegedly recorded, in which he's having an angry exchange with the port authority. they're telling him to get back on that ship, and apparently he

does not, thomas. >> i read the complete transcript of that. it's absolutely amazing, the conversation that goes back and forth with the commandant on shore trying to order him back on the ship and him trying to avoid the conversation. michelle kosinski, thank you. mitt romney courts hispanics while at the same time embracing the author of the toughest immigration law in the country. is it going to backfire? plus congress runs with almost two thirds of americans saying they strongly disgra el with the job congress is doing.

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look, i want people to know i love legal immigration.

almost all of us in this room are descendants of immigrants or are immigrants ourselves. >> mitt romney making an appeal to latino voters, while keeping a hard-line stance against those who enter this country illegally. there's growing concern that immigration rhetoric on the gop campaign trail could alienate hispanics. joining mess is arizona congressman raul gthis is how h responded last night. >> i've indicated i would veto the dreem act for those who -- if they get a degree here, that they can become permanent residents. i think that's a mistake. >> congressman 80% of hispanics support the dream act.

houses worried should republicans be that they are alienating hispanic voters? >> i think they should be very worried. not only on the issue of immigration, education and others, but the rhetoric of the presidential candidates on the republican side, the nominee apparent romney has been stark, ugly through this whole presidential primary on the republican side. mitt also embraces coback the principal architect of the law in arizona and law in alabama. so those contradictions, the latino voter is smart. they're seeing what's going on. this rhetoric and harshness on the issue of immigration by the republican candidates further solidifies the support that democrats will lend to obama, no question about it. >> you talk about coback.

i want to show both of you a piece of it. [ speaking foreign language ] >> so in south carolina, they are touting the endorsement, congressman, as you said of chris cobach. i want to ask you, maria teresa, will this strategy come back to bite him? >>. >> where she was speaking to the la tinto community in spanish, but all of a sudden had pete wilson whispering how to advice anti-immigration policy. what we showed there is not only was it not helpful, because while we paw pause on telemundo, but we switch to msnbc, because we're bilingual. what the republicans are doing is taking the message to the latino community and making it

personal. nothing awakes it more than when you start talking about family values, start talking about departing your loved ones and failing to talk about education and other issues such at health care and job creation. that's a surefire way to end your political career. it ended the career of sharron angle, russell pierce most recently, meg whitman, pete wilson. it has nothing to do with whether republican or democrat. in. so i caution the republicans. they continue to beat up on the latino community. >> i want to ask you about newt gingrich. he has the endorsement of the nation's largest hispanic republican group. do you think he's the most likely person that they would fall behind? >> what newt has done is he's made a nuance, demonstrated that individuals able to contribute to this country after 25 years shouldn't be separated from

their families. we had need smart policy. i want to know who is it -- who is in our country, i want to make sure they have the appropriate background checks and make sure they're appropriately giving back to the economy. newt of all the republican candidates is demonstrating that nuance. it's not a surprise that's why he's going to florida, to be part of the republican hispanic coalition to speak before hispanic legislators. it's that nuance that anyone will need to win. >> the president's reelection team begin the the great roads outreach. operatives on the ground in states like florida, your state of arizona, but the president promises sweeping reform. is there enough frustration across the country, enough out there for the gop to sever some of the president's ties with hispanic voters and bring them under their tent? >> if the republicans were offering an agenda that was in

the long term going to be beneficiary to the latino community, a possibility they could do that. but if you contrast what they are saying and the rhetoric coming from the republican presidential candidates and their party with what president obama is i having to administratively, to try to reconnect and unify families, to try to deal with the dream act and kids in a proactive, pragmatic way. if you contrast that with the rhetoric we're hearing, obviously president obama is going to enjoy the support of the latino community based on effort. you know, you can speak spanish in florida and have kobach endorsing you in south carolina, but the fact of the matter is people will be able to read that you're speaking out of both sides of your mouth. >> congressman grijalva and maria teresa, thank you both for your time today.

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with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only listerine® that gets teeth two shades whiter and makes tooth enamel two times stronger. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse. building whiter, stronger teeth. i know if i'm the nominee, people want to see what things are up to date, so they'll want to see the tax returns in april. so rather than have multiple releases of tax returns, why, we'll wait until the tax returns for the recent year are completed, and then release them. >> that was the big question of the night last night. he joins me now to talk about. garrett. we have that sound this morning from mitt romney, but what are the expectations after being grilled about it last night?

unfortunately we're having some technical difficulties with garrett. we'll work on that and try to get him back on the line. stephen colbert is taking credit for jon huntsman's exit from the race. guess who he is asking south carolina voters to support now? you won't believe it. it's coming up in "the sidebar." we're going to tell you why. the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. that's what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the other guy's flake is more processed. mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal. by marie claire as one of the 25 beauty products that will change your life because it whitens by removing up to 80% of surface stains. see how it can change your life. crest 3d white. life opens up when you do.

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a live look at the white house, and competitives in on the agenda how the government can help spur job growth. the council is calling it the road map to renewal. this is the fourth meeting since last year. it was created to provide nonpartisan advice to the

president. a new record card from the american people shows disapproval of congress is at an all-time high. "the washington post"/abc news poll shows 84% disapprove. just 13% approve, as congress convenes, nancy pelosi gave her two cents. >> here's the point, to bottom line it. if the far right thought that romney could win, they might more enthusiastic about them. they question what he stands r for. all right. so on to another big topic. a conservative historian says he has a solution.

author of "coming apart" he says in order to close the gap between the very rich and very poor, america needs to stop looking to europe for the economic model. joining me is kneale ferguson. he writes about this in this week's issue of noic "newsweek." >> the first thing that charles murray does right is to acknowledge that there's a problem, which unfortunately too many conservatives have been in denial about ever since this issue surfaced last year. he says we shouldn't go down the -- in other words to create the kind of welfare systems like in europe, which do much more

redistribution of income. the key point he makes is we could possibly -- when that path has led them to the verge of bankruptcy. our existing welfare state is already close to the edge of collapse. so we have to take a different approach. that's what makes this book so interesting to me. it's the first teamed by a conservative intellectual to try to tackle this issue instead of dodging it. you say man is a social animal. in poor america, all four of thought care goirs are in a state of collapse. are you say the poor in this country they don't have any of those things or missing a quality of the four components? >> what murray shows is

americans economically at the lower end of the income say, many with very poor educational qualifications have much bigger social problems whether you look at family or job satisfaction, their religious observance or local communities, poor america is doing terribly in haul four. murray's point is it's the collapse of the social fabric down at the lower end of the social scale that's a real problem. he says it's a class problem, but an institutional problem. we need to address that social crisis. the key point he makes is the decline of family, the decline of community, the decline of the work ethic, these things date from the introduction of welfare programs in the 1960s like lyndon johnson's great society. so many things that the left

regards as the remedy -- increased welfare, more redistribution are the cause of the problem. i think that's a brilliant insight. niall, thank you for your time today. >> thank you, thomas. absolutely. joining mess melissa harris-perry, tulane university political professor, also columnist for "the nation." and author of "sister citizen." what do you make of his assertions? >> i think there's a couple strawmen going on here, one is the idea that democrats want to move us toward a european style of welfare state. that has already been not the position of the democratic party. at least dating to the relatively conservative clint been who obvious ly -- but beyod

that, this is actually a recycling of the 1960s version of a culture of pathology argument, instead of looking at how structures actively make it more difficult for families, communities, and faith, for all those things to occur among those with fewer resources, but this is old, this is moynihan reports, this is let's all be sort of more focused on the individual pathologies rather than the pathology embedded in the deeply inequal economic system. >> when we talk about the american dream, this has always been a country of people trying to go after what they are. we're always going to be a country of haves and have-no thes have we lost or able to properly give citizens those

opportunities? >> i think it's interesting the fact is we've always been a one that's evolving out of realities, a country where women were shut out, where african people in america were enslaved. you this profoundly unequal system, where certainly i had -- so i think as we tell our own mefr store, we have to tell both sides of it that we keep coming up against. >> melissa harris perry, thank you. super pacs, super concerns. these are one of the biggest

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on heated words over super pacs tonight, and this morning mitt romney tried to turn the focus back to the economy. >> there's great interto try to focus on ads, but this is a campaign about 25 million people out of work. people running for officesh desperate to try to talk about ads. super pac ads.

new research shows those ads are reaches -- joining me this morning david goodfriend and republican strategist susan del percio. a new ad will be airing today. take a look. >> why would we ever vote for someone who is just like obama, when we can unite around rick santorum and beat obama. >> are these ads the name of the game, who can be more negative, punch out the most kneecaps? >> i think what's going on is hypocrisy. americans can smell it a mile away. it's the biggest issue that mitt romney has. when he says, that's not me, that's some super pac that i have absolutely nothing to do with, it smacks of hypocrisy. people aren't buying it. that's what's going on here. the campaign finance system has become such a shell game that

people will question the credibility of the candidates themselves for say they have nothing to do with it. >> but these ads work. whether you're picking up certain things by osmosis, the new research by the associated press finds a direct relationship between votes and these ads, finding three quarters of voters said ads did influence their vote. romney moved ahead in iowa after the super pac launched. you know, when we comes in fourth place in new hampshire, they're popular because they work. >> negative ads are doing because they work. lo and behold these things come out. the santorum commercial you showed, that's an ad he put up himself, so he tags it as i paid

for this message, so that's an important thing. yeah, negative ads do work. >> i want to get to president obama. david axelrod vowed last month that obama's campaign will fight supreme ads with more grass-roots campaigning. is that a preemptive strike, and do you think they can deliver on that promise? >> this could not surprise anybody. the republican and conservative super pacs will far outspend anything the democrats can put together. i would add, just to put a par san zinger in there, the efforts to dismantle or finance laws have come from the right, not the left. axelrod is saying we'll do what we do best, we'll go door to door and use our network, and we will be outspent by the republican super pacs, but i'm welcoming that fight. >> obama spent 2008 destroying

mccain in negative advertising. the only reason they're doing this is they have not raised the amount of money they said to in the super pac, and they're falling behind. >> no, he said brought to you by obama for america campaign. >> you know, david, they are not raising the money for the super pacs, so they're having a hard enough time raising the billion dollars they said they were going to. o -- >> isn't the best advertisement for the president the fact that he's president right now? you can't beat that advertising. i stunned both of you? >> no, no, i'll take it. listen. listen, what mike colleague susan just pointed out is the super pac on the democratic side is not nearly keeping pace, i grants you that, but a quarter of a billion ain't half bad. >> okay. so bhas it, though? are they going to raise money hand spend money through super

pacs? they're sending out mixed messages. right now they're just trying to say we're not raising the money we wanted to, so we have to take another tack. >> real quickly, david. i've got to go. >> if susan would agree to this deal, it will make news. would you agree to shut down the republican super pacs if you shut down the democratic? i'll take that to the president. >> i think they shouldn't exist. >> will you shut them down? >> they don't leave it up to me. but. >> i would if it were up to me. >> but you can't. hopefully that will make news today, you both agreed to do that. stephen colbert's from pac is at it -- >> there's one name on the ballot, herman cain, americans for a better tomorrow tomorrow believes a vote for herman cain is a vote for america. he's not a career politician.

he's such a washington outsider, he's not even running for president. >> so cain might not be running for president anymore, but his name is still on the ballot, unlike colbert's the late-night comedian claims he scares huntsman to leave the huntsman to leave the race. 700,000 signatures will be delivered this afternoon, and it's in hopes that it will be enough to trigger recalls against the governor. and we just learned that president bomb will accept the democratic party's nomination for a second term at charlotte's 74,000 seat bank of america stadium. charlotte is hosting the democratic national convention from september 3rd to the 6th. we send out a congratulations to

t the first lady.

welcome back, here is a look at other stories topping the news right now, we go to seattle, and they are preparing for possibly their biggest snowfall since 1985, 18 inches is expected in the area before it all ends tomorrow, travel will be dangerous or even impossible. portland, oregon is also bracing for heavy snow as well. the english language version is going to be suspended tomorrow on wikipedia. you may want to things twice before walking and wearing head phones or keep the volume lower, the people seriously z lly inju

killed while walking has jumped to 47 between 2010 and 2011 f you were hoping to buy the life-like steve jobs doll, you are out of luck. the company that was producing it decided not to produce it after pressure from the family and apple, it was dressed in clothes similar to what he wore. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:p on -- 11:00 eastern. "now" with alex wagner is next. >> hi, we will be talking about the winners and losers of last night's debate. was it more than just a romney pile on and campaign google trends when were viewers

searching for during the debate, and audience reaction, how well or misbehaved was the crowd. and rick tyler, the ads that seem to be defining that race. that is all next on "now."

. has the party of lincoln become the party of child janitors? it's tuesday january 17th and this is now. joining me today, 1600 pennsylvania avenue's bill burton who now runs the super pack, and ben smith and mr. ben white. a big night, who were the winners and