boy, are things changing in the presidential race. the breaking news that just happened within the past hour, rick perry is dropping out of the republican race for president and reportedly will endorse newt gingrich. politico is reporting this morning that gingrich and perry met privately yesterday to talk about how and when perry would get out of the race and endorse gingrich, and also that gingrich has been really courting him over the past several days. he's been not only in touch with rick perry himself, but also his campaign manager. you'll remember rick perry did this once before, he was going to reconsider and decided not to get out of the race, but in the latest polls he only had four percentage points. but it comes at a critical time. we're seeing in a series of polls that are out, including this news nbc/maris poll is that mitt romney is dropping, newt

gingrich is gaining, there are ten percentage points left before the vote this weekend and the momentum is clearly in newt gingrich's favor. let's going tos in nbc's embed carrie -- >> reporter: i am told the 11:00 a.m. conference will be for him dropping out of the race. it was -- as we were asking them tomorrow, what campaign aide told me rick perry would rather lose than quit. he wanted a chance to make go to another debate and see how that performance went. yesterday he -- an endorser, general livingston, the head of his veterans coalition here in

so south carolina. this is very personal for perry. endorsers were starting to decline to show up for his events. they have been close to him. livingston announced yesterday he would be endorsing. that hit him personally and may have been the last straw. also recent polling has shown he was really not getting traction. voters said i like him, but i have no sense he could possibly win the nomination or beat barack obama. conservative commentators were urging rick perry to drop out. >> carey dann, on the road yet again. thank you so much. so this is just the latest indication that this gop race may not be over yet. things changing fast and furious. there's the big news out of the iowa, where mitt romney is no longer the winner "the des

moines register" reports that rick santorum was ahead by 34 votes, with eight precincts missing. abc news will not declare a -- nbc news will not declare a winner. also this morning newt gingrich on the comeback trail again in south carolina. this brand-maris poll, that's when romney dropped six points and newt gained four points. then, of course, as carrie mentioned, guess what is coming up tonight? yet another debate. boy, what can we expect there? joining mess is karen hunter and from "time" magazine deputy washington bureau chief michael crawlie. thanks for both of you for being with you.

rick perry drops out to endorse newt gingrich, not a great day for mitt romney. >> it hasn't been a great week for mitt romney. you know, this is exciting. those of us following it and those of us americans. as sarah palin said now we may have an opportunity to keep the discussions alive, and there won't be a runaway train that mitt romney and company thought it would be. >> what's going on, michael? it's almost like you have the conservatives pushing for the anybody but romney, and maybe they're coming together around newt gingrich. >> i think it's simple logic winning out. you know, mitt romney has a plurality of support right now. it seems the majority right now is not for mitt romney, ant-mitt romney, wants someone more conservative, and doesn't have this more liberal background. to the degree those people can consolidate around one rival, they can stop romney, so i think

we're waking up to the fact that hey, we're splintered, and we need to join forces. i'm sure people had to talk rick perry into it. >> newt has ratcheting it up for the past week, and santorum hit him up on it, but the numbers are the numbers. this 4% with the 5% lead that romney has puts him in a statistical dead heat with mitt romney. it just is a no-brainer. i'm curious if you think, does it make a difference? does it change anything? does it make people think differently? >> it reinly was a santorum story out of iowa. people were taking another look at him, a lot of excitement around him. it's a bit of bad karma. it's another thing on the peel of bad karma for mitt that gives him a loss of momentum in this intangible way in which the story is dover. i don't think we'll look back a week or two and think it was a

major deal that they changed the results there. and something else is out there, an newt's ex-wife said she could end newt's career with a single interview. here is what he said today on "today" about that. >> i'm not going to say anything negative about mary ann. my two daughters, kathy and jackie, have sent a her to the president of abc news saying from a family perspective they think this is totally wrong. >> could this be big, karen? >> maybe, but what don't we already know. we already know he's a sca scalliwag. it could hurt him, but i don't think so. and back move the needle is mitt romney and his money and what's in his tax return.

let's bring in e.j. dionne. there are now reports that mitt romney has millions, for example, in offshore accounts, in the cayman islands. i mean, this whole idea of mitt romney and all his money, is it a big problems? >> i think it's a bigger problem in the fall, but it's been a terrible week to be a rich guy if you're mitt romney. that's not usually the case. >> i didn't know there was such a thing, you can never be too rich or too thin. >> unless you're running for president. there have been stories that he may have paid taxes at a 15% rate, he didn't make much on speaking fees. >> and let me interrupt you for a second. we have a graphic there. newt gingrich paid -- it was also not doing badly. he paid 31% rate. there you see barack obama paid over 25%, and there's newt gingrich down there at 15%, and

he's the richest of them all. >> it reinforces the whole story line that's been breaking out all week. this cayman islands thing does not look good. i saw a statement from the romney people where they say this was not about taxes. he didn't get a tax benefit out of it, but he just also increases the pressure on him to put out his tax run before the primary on saturday. i don't know what's in there, but the pressure has been building. i think you can be sure the tax return will be an sure that will come up in tonight's debate. >> even chris christie says sooner rather than later, but then again, mitt romney has never released a tax return, e.j. he didn't do it when he was running for senate against ted kennedy. nevertheless, do you think his campaign really thought they

would get through this primary season and he wouldn't release his tax returns? >> my hunch is they thought this could, but they had done it in the past, just for the reason you said. i think that the surfacing the the bain capital issue and that documentary, whatever may be true or falls in it, just put the whole issue of romney's money on the table. the more that issue was on the table, the more pressure was going to grow to release his tax return. now with romney looking vulnerable in a way head didn't a week ago, i think both newt gingrich and rick santorum are really going to be at him on that. >> i thought john heilman had a great line, michael this morning on "morning joe" basically that elvis is creating a greatest hits reel for david axelrod on mitt romney. it just seems to be piling up. >> i think it does, and start

about the 1% inequality in america, the super rich who are out of touch with the rest of the country and get the benefits, romney is the perfect foil for them if that's the campaign they want to run, so throws pieces are falling into place. the only question is whether it's happening earlier than they would like. >> i want to go to the romney campaign. peter alexander is traveling with them. what's going on there, peter? >> chris, we're expecting to hear from governor romney a short time around when he comes to greet his supporters here, the base of support in south carolina. he just finished up a conference call, and we listened in. this was after rick perry we heard, would be dropping out of race saying he thought disney world was a fitting backdrop for the president to make his comments today. he also grouped newt gingrich,

his prime competition, saying it's likely gingrich would run into p.m. there as well. the bus you can see over the shoulder has three words -- conservative, businessman, and leader. his opponents have attacked all of those things in terms of his conservative credentials, hi flip flopping as newt gingrich would call it, his roles as businessman, attacking his time at bain capital. with the new information coming out about his business background, where he paid roughly 15% effective tax rate, also his making more than $374,000 in roughly the last 12-month period from speaking engagements. he said it was not too much. a lot of americans would view that as more than "not too

much." and the other thing he has to stand is is he's been the leader -- but the prime points of his campaign have been undermined at this point. one more thing, how long do you think this tax thing, karen, will have legs? how big a deal is the whole idea of pop you litch, which is really what the president hayes said he's going to make this. >> thanks to the occupy moment, the longer he doesn't present his tax returns, the bigger he'll have an issue. this is a man who doesn't -- the "rolling stone" had a great piece on his dad, who actually had a soul and convictions, and it undid him. now we have the exact opposite and this would be the biggest issue moving forward. can he find himself? i don't think he can. >> e.j., will this be a populism

campaign? >> i think the democrats will run a populist campaign, and it will be very hard for them to run a populist campaign with someone like mitt romney as the nominee. it's not just the 4% to 6% of the vote has loosened up probably to go to gingrich, some to santorum. i woke you said yesterday in south carolina and turned on my tv. among the ads were a rick perry ad attacking gingrich and santorum, because he wanted those votes. all those negative ads go dark now. that's not good for romney, either. it is unbelievable what's happened just over the last couple hours. i can't think of a better group to talk about it. a couple things we're waiting for, the official announcement at 11:00. we want to see how the romney campaign will spin all of this,

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ahead of rick perrys 'reported endorsement of newt ging, the gloves were already off. take a look. >> why is mitt romney attacking newt gingrich? ask john mccain. >> the best indicator i'm doing well is when you're attacked by mitt romney. >> mitt romney will do and say anything to become president. anything. maybe that explains all his flip-flops. but in a morning conference call, you heard peter alexander mention this, mitt romney deployed john sununu, making the

argument -- and comedian stephen colbert is joining forces with herman cain. they'll host a event rock me like a herman cain. >> there will be speeches, there will be cheerleaders, there will be a marching band and a gospel choir, this is going to be better than my rally in d.c., for starters, jon stewart won't be there. and i promise not to wear something that shows off so much of my swing voters. >> stephen colbert will be on "morning joe" a little comedic relief, but still -- the president getting cheered from the left and bashed from the right for his decision to kill the keystone pipeline project. >> he said he would do anything to create jobs.

today that promise was broken. >> it's a good decision for american consumers. >> this is a stunningly stupid thing to do. >> the republicans only need to look in the mirror at why this decision, if it is a no, is a no because there was no way in the time frame that the president could do anything eggs. >> by deciding to block the development of the keystone pipeline, he has essentially decided to block the creation of 20,000 new jobs. >> that blame rests squarely on the reps who insisted on a decision when they were told clearly two months was not enough time. >> the talking points on the republican side are clearly about jobs. the state department claims the pipeline would create between 5,000 and 6,000, the canadian company insists it's 20,000, but the independent study, cornel university says between 2,000 and 4,600. in fact those jobs would last a maximum of two years, because they're construction jobs. joining miss is steve israel,

chair of the triple -- the president kills a plan to create 20,000 jobs. is this a problem for you? >> not at all. the american people are smart enough to know this is more about partisan politics from a congress of chronic chaos. they haven't created a job, they haven't created an idea. it's just another partisan ploy. what was the ploy? they connected this pipeline to a middle-class tax cut when in the history of tax cuts did republicans ever condition one on something else. i don't remember them saying only if there's a pipeline. >> what does this mean, do you think realistically? >> the republicans have to make a choice, and the choice has to be made before the end of february. do they want to continue to defend to the death million snares? or are they willing to defend

the middle class, by asking oil companies to give up some of their subsidies? or ask medicare beneficiaries to give up their support? that's what this election is all about. choices, priorities, rebuilding the middle class. >> you can hear this theme echoing on the congressional level, certainly throughout this presidential campaign. we were just talking about the whole idea, the populist message. when you see right now just what's going on this morning, congressman, on the republican side, is that good or bad news for those of you trying to get democrats elected? >> they republicans are in disarray. rick perry was at about 17% in the polls. they are in chaos. tearing each other apart and see democrats trying to rebuild the middle class, reignite the american dream, the more they'll come to us. that's why we're winning in almost every single generic

poll, house democrats are ahead of the ideological extreme republicans. >> so rick perry, you think his decision to back newt gingrich is in fact good news for congressional democrats? are you surprised by the way all this is plays out? you wouldn't have predict it had six months ago. >> a year ago if i were on your show, it's a tough deal to take back the house. now i'm telling you the house is in play. it's going to be razor close. why is it in play? because of the consistent decisions by republican presidential candidates and house republicans not to stand up for the middle class. when you've got -- look, i hope their ticket is led by a guy who paid a lower tax rate than the waitress at the premier diner in comac, new york. >> so you would rather -- >> it's not in my lane. i would rather the republicans run on the side of the middle class, on the side of rebuilding the middle class and -- >> but strategically what's

better for president obama? >> the -- the thing that's best for president obama is to continue to create the contrast between himself standing up for the middle class, fighting oil company subsidies, standing up for seniors on medicare, instead of middle-class families and who have chosen ideology over solutions. every time we make that contrast, democrats win. >> congressman steve israel, who says the house is in play, wouldn't have said that 6 months to a year ago, thanks so much. good to have you on. >> thank you. what will it mean for the campaign as well? we'll talk about that coming up. who is the your business entrepreneur of the week? d.j. foreman took over her family's business, she moved it away from diamonds and gold to offer more unique rings, pendants and necklaces. she scaled down, moved to a

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waves largely because of the efforts of the state republican policy, it remains good primary politics to stir up racial and link it to president obama. gingrich responded. >> his policies have put more americans on food stamp, now why is it that liberals get to suchy about a fact? it is a fact he has put more people on food stamps. i've been saying this for eight months. this is not a south carolina thing. i've been saying it consistently. >> nbc's craig melvin is live in south carolina. how does this seem to be playing? >> here's the thing, chris jansing. voters in south carolina are very used to hearing rhetoric like that. don't forget this is the same state where back in 2020 there were the push polls conducted, the whisper campaign about john mccain and alleged illegitimate

black child. voters have become accustomed, because it's worked for the past three, four decades in south carolina. the debate monday when gingrich made that comment, he received thunderous applause, throws red meat to the base. however, the message is usually different when candidates speak to groups outside of venues like that. for instance, when gingrich had the exchange over the weekend at a church, take a listen to how it was different. >> do you still think of president obama as the food stamp president? >> yes. >> that's what you said in may of 2010 at a press conference "meet the press" that's what you said. >> yes. >> do you city think he is a foot stamp president when he was the first and the president of law class in harvard? how can you say that? >> i say that because more

americans today are on food stamps than any other time in american history. >> reporter: back here live. we can expect more of the red meat tossing at the debate tonight. it's going to be interesting to see how the rick perry announcement plays out as well. >> thank you so much, craig melvin, down there for us in south carolina. coming up we'll be talking a bit about fund-raising. obviously we've talked a lot about super pacs, what does that mean to traditional fund-raising and who has the advantage? that is coming up. look! the phillips' lady!

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this is mary. who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. thankfully, her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply. now, mary gets 3 refills in one and for 3 months she's done. ask your pharmacist about a 90 day supply and how to save with the prescription savings club. individual memberships are just 5 dollars. enroll today. walgreens. there's a way to stay well. we're talking about this big news in the race for the president. just two days before the south carolina primary, rick perry is dropping out of the race. it will happen within half an hour. he has the press conference coming up where he's expected to throw support behind newt gingrich, who's been courting him. just the latest in a day filled with twists and turns, in

iowa, the gop says rick santorum finished ahead of mitt romney. in the meantime romney's poll numbers are slipping, and there are new questions raised about whether he should have left there and gone to ne for e this week? let's get the if the details from michael isikoff. this is just one of the reasons there's grumblings among his financial supporters. >> the optics were not very good. on the very day he was being pounded over the 15% tax rate he pays, he flies to new york for this big gala fund-raiser, and then goes to the park avenue apartment of steve shwarzman who helped put that event together.

he is the chairman of the biggest private ecity fund in the country, blacktone group, that has lobbied in washington to maintain the 15% tax rates on private equity managers, the very one that mitt romney has benefited over the years. this was an event not on the romney public schedule, about 40 wall street kingpins, other hedge fund billionaires like john paulson and private equity moguls were attending. this is a core constituency for romney for his financial contributions, but it's not one he wants to have publicly out there displayed precisely at this moment when there's this growing controversy and debate about his tax returns. >> without a doubt.

michael, thank you so much. i want to bring in lady linda rothchild, let me ask you specifically about what's going on right now. can we put that picture up again of the mitt romney event? he has nikki haley, tim pawlenty, who i think is still thinking why did i get out of this race? while this is going on, lady lynn, you have a press conference about to start where rick perry is about to endorse newt gingrich. if you're a fund-raisers for mitt romney, are you just dying right now? >> no, i think -- >> no? >> i don't think you are dying. the longer this race goes on, it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad for mitt romney. it will hone his message, it will make him more news, so we'll be talking about it more. i don't think that really matters. to the point about the fund-raiser, just to be fair with the facts, obama has $90

million in the bank. ron -- >> but the super pacs play into this, and the republican super pacs are far out-fund-raising the obama super pac. >> i agree with you about that. >> do you think it's harder now, because there's no limit to what you can give to a super pac and there's a specific limit if you're trying to raise money for a candidate. is it harder to raise money on the more traditional stage? >> raising money is always hard, but i think the super pacs are a problem, because they are unlimited money, but the supreme court does have a point about our first amendment. you cannot stop people spending their money in pursuit of what they believe in. so it's very hard to stop it, but i think full disclosure is very important.

the super pacs have to disclose who is giving them money, and people have to take them for what they are. candidates have to be completely disassociated with them, and that is just the law. so the problem is that the obama team with their $90 million in the bank, thought they had the upper hand. then about $32 million raised so far in about 278 super pacs, and obama has clearly got a problem, as it was written about in the politico argument, with the big donors who can write the big checks. they're not really feeling the love. so he would rather not have it. >> newt gingrich would arguably not be in the race unless somebody had wring a $5 million check. i want you to hold on. we are talking about the money that the super pacs have raised so far. richard lui is armed with a new

analysis showing the impact. what do you got, richard? >> as you've been talking about, mo super pac money, mo ads equals more votes, it's a lunch dominating the election. >> newt has a ton of baggage. >> got hit by a wave, a tsunami of negative attack ads. >> he doesn't seem to know himself. >> enough is enough. i have had it with these money-grubbing super pacs. >> new data shows more money spend in new hampshire actually was consistent with higher vote, according to a associated press's jack gill many, and this spreadsheet he gave me. one example, concord, in this in that, more than doubled ron paul's campaign stores, but paul's statewide ad spending was 70 times more. the vote -- paul wallops santorum 23-9. i sorted the data. it turns convention on its side.

counties where candidates got below-average votes, more campaign stops, higher income and higher gop vote percentage. counties where candidates got above-average votes, the only consistent factor there, higher ads spent, of course this a.p. data does not take into consideration. why we're talking about adds now? largely because of this. >> the u.s. supreme court today overturned laws on the book foss nearly a century and ruled that corporations with spend freely now on political campaigns. >> the two-year anniversary of that supreme court decision, this saturday south carolina primary, and voters aren't turning them off. new hampshire exit polls said that ads were actually important in their decisions. after saturday, leading up to

march's super tuesday, candidates must cover 19 states, almost 2 million square miles in 45 days. humanly impossible to do. that's why, chris, ad surges may become ads sieges. >> i'm guessing if you're in south carolina you already think you're under siege, but i definitely understand what you're saying. lady lynn, let me bring you back in. we're talking about two different kinds to donate to campaigns. for the people who you have invited to some of they, who can spend $38,000 to have cocktails or dinner, say, with the president or with mitt romney, what do they get for that? why do they go? >> political fund-raising always gets vilified, and i've got to tell you where i come from. i believe if we put in the correct government, we do more good for this country than writing checks to philanthropy.

for instance, bill gates' $45 million, that's one year of health and human services. so i always believed in my giving that i was doing something right for the country. >> i'm not saying that everyone that goes to these is al truistic or doesn't believe in the candidate, but there's got to be a level of, well, i had dinner with barack obama last night, we had a chat about whatever. >> call my naive, but thust things i have learned is how many people are in it for what they get out of it. i've given hundreds of thousands actually to democrats through my life. i've never given anything to a republican. in 2008 i did not have confidence that barack obama was ready to be president, and i came out for mccain. i saw a democrat ecfund raise -- i said that's so great. i know how tough this is. this is a vortex you're not used to. he said, lynn, i have to give to

everybody. i've got to be everybody's friend. one these that's worse in money in campaigns is money in lobby iing. that's what barack obama said he was going to end. those are the people who are spending money to determine elections. i think a lot of people are involved in politics, because they just want the country to go in the right direction, one view or the other. >> writing a million dollar check to a super pac amounts to lobbying too, some will say. it's always good to see you, lady lynn derothk450i8d. legislators are backing away from a controversial bill. this has been roiling around the country. mandy drury, it looks like the protest got some results? >> you're right. after the blackout protesting the antipiracy legislation, wikipedia has returned to full working order, but wiki said

this site was viewed 162 million times with 8 million people following instructions to contact politicians. that protest led to eight u.s. lawmakers withdrawing their support. in fact two of the bills' co-sponsors, marco rubio and roy blunt, are among those who have withdrawn support. backers of the legislation, led by the motion picture association of america, described those actions as irresponsible and a publicity stunt, and the exsenator senator chris dodd described it as an abuse of power, so i guess we're not done yet with this story. >> no, but it is interesting to see how though protesting have an impact. >> yes. still be interesting to see if this has an impact, ruper murdoch's british company have agreed to pay damages to victims. deed tails were read at a court hearing this morning.

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looking for ways to lose weight in the new year? "u.s. news & world report" has released their top three diets. for the second year in a row, the d.a.s.h. diet came in first followed by the therapeutic lifestyles diet and mayo clinic diet. good morning, i'm thomas roberts. breaking news at the top of the hour. rick perry will formally announce he's dropping out of the race, and expected to endorse knew gingrich. and what will this do to mitt romney? full analysis.

and new bombshell interview with gingrich's second wife mary ann. she says she has the po stench ate to take down the campaign. is she right? newt's daughter jackie gingrich-rich me. thomas, a blast from the past for mitt romney is not pretty, an eye-opening 200-page document hans to be john mccain's entire opposition report on the former massachusetts governor. joining me is the executive director of "the daily caller." good morning. >> thanks for having me on. in your article, you call this file a potential gold mine for romney's rivals. tell us about it. what's included in it? >> there's all sorts of things from back in 2007 when mccain's

aides were prepared to go after romney. they have such lovely quips as i thought being rich and famous would make me happy, and boy was i right? they have him absolutely butchering a speech to cuban-americans in florida. apparently he used a fidel castro rallying cry as his closing message. these are the kinds of things that will certainly hurt him moving forward, but i have to say in the context of his second wife bitterly going after him, and if you want to see an attack to rick santorum google his name and ron paul is being cast add a racist coot, in that context this seems quaint, like we're taking a trip back in a polite, political time machine. it's definitely good stuff, but it falls short of claiming, as mary ann gingrich will claim

tonight, that newt gingrich wanted an open marriage. >> let me ask you about that. we're hoping to get sound. we have it now? we just got it in literally now. >> i said to him we've been married a long time, and he said yes, but you want me all to myself. calista doesn't care what i do. >> what was he saying, do you think? isms he was asking to have an open marriage, and i refused. >> he wanted an open marriage. >> that i accept the fact he has somebody else in his life. >> and you said? >> no. no. that is not a marriage. >> boy. >> wow. >> give me your analysis of this. what do you think it means? here we are just three days to go, everything that's gone on

today we find out that mitt romney didn't really win in iowa. we find out that rick perry's dropping out endorsing newt gingrich. now you have this, what does this interview mean, do you think? >> well, i think first of all it means that newt gingrich has a very, very bitter ex-wife. this is the kind of political hardball that i think ordinary americans absolutely recoil from and say my goodness, who have we become? in france they would be clapping politely and toasting with a nice bordeaux. i think it's very likely the former mrs. gingrich waited until a very opportune moment to try to sabotage him. it shows the kind of pain that can be caused after marriages break up. it will be very sad. >> will it move voters do you think, who are on the fence? >> it's very hard to say. my gut tells me any losses he'll

suffer will be upset by a rick perry bounce. they'll probably wind of a statistical tie in terms of a net win-win or loss-loss. >> i would think they would tend to go to santorum if they don't go to gingrich, but this has not been predictable in any way, shape or form. it's a fascinating article. david, thank you so much for coming on. >> my pleasure. have a great day. don't plan on sleeping anytime soon. it would be a long night. >> no, not at all. and the news of iowa not declaring a winner is trending on twitter today. i. tell me again why they ought to go first? it's a sentiment echoed by doug mataconis. dear iowa, i can't account. you lost the results from eight precincts. you cannot go first again, or ever. love, america.

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. following the breaking news, we are just minutes away from rick perry going to say he's dropping out of the race and will endorse newt gingrich almost simultaneously abc releasing audio of an interview with his former wife saying newt gingrich wanted an open marriage. the facts are coming in fast and furious this morning, a lot going on. that will do it for me, chris jansing here at "jansing & company." but thomas robert is up next. keep it here live on msnbc. so i was the guy who was never going to have the heart attack.

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good morning, everybody. breaking news right now on msnbc, another seismic shift in the gop presidential race. rick perry expected to drop out, and according to at least one of our sources, he will endorse newt gingrich for president. this after newt gingrich and rick perry met personally and after intense pressure from those in the party who want to stop