♪ is it fast? i don't even know if it's street-legal. ♪ is it safe? oh, yeah. it's a volkswagen. [ male announcer ] the security of a jetta. one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ got you in a stranglehold, baby ♪ newt gingrich and mitt romney are in a face-off over money, women and ham. two-man horse race is on in the palmetto state primary. it's january 21st and this is "now." joining me today from salon.now, steve corn aki soon to be named show host right here on msnbc. melissa harris perry, the intrepid maggie hebertman of politico and co-authors of game change, leading lights of the

home box office network, national affairs editor and "new york magazine "mike heylman and joining us from south carolina. as the voters head to the polls in south carolina today, mitt romney and newt gingrich just avoided running into each other at tommy's country ham house in greenville. >> question, where's mitt? i thought he was going to -- i thought he was going to stay and we'd have a debate here this morning. >> there was no fist a cuffs over pulled pork. i want to talk to the panel first. you guys were looking at these headlines out of south carolina. the post and courier saying who will it be? gop's day of reckoning. do we have any idea how this day will shake out? >> i think the most significant thing to me is there is a poll from ppp that has been public posse that has been fairly

reliable. the only full night that was conducted after thursday's debate where newt gingrich had the lashing out of john king moment. he founded 60% of the people watched the debate. you know that 60% who you will vote for, it was 46 for gingrich and 23 for romney. to me, who knows? but to me that suggests that momentum for gingrich that we have all week kicked up a notch on thursday. >> i don't think there's much of a debate about who is likely to win tonight. anything can happen. some polls show there is a huge number of undecides, but the win is very much on newt gingrich's back and you can see it. when they're not doing well and when they're not expected to win you do see it in their performances, mitt romney has seemed a bit halting and not quite at ease. that's not his strength. in iowa, when things are looking good he looked very different. newt gingrich is thriving on this. >> if you'll do your standard

journalistic cover thing, i think it happened -- just totally spiritless. >> i see there are piles of money. >> i'll put my money where my mouth is. >> newt gingrich will win this primary and i think it's a question that he'll win by double deblgities and it is an astonishing thing. i was with romney last night and to your point, maggie, about vibe. romney's event with nicky haley, about 200 people, tiny, spiritless, generic, weak in every way. gingrich on the battle ship in charleston harbor last night was very tired, but on fire and predicting victory and predicting victory in florida and getting confronted by a heckler who i'm convinced they thrashed the heckler that in the end they would vote for them. it was the performance that projected confidence and

certainty and it didn't look like that. >> i think you wrote a column about this, john, and one of the things that you mentioned that they played "you can't always get what you want." instant metaphor. >> mark, you're there. you're actually in the palmetto state. tell me about the feeling on the ground there. >> it feels hard in some places, soft and others depending where i'm standing. >> how is the bread pudding, mark? how is the bread butteding? >> i'm having some in about an hour. >> haley barbour gives southern politician, one of his favorite sayings is in politics good gets better and bad gets worse. right now for romney things are getting worse and he'll have to find a way to change the dynamic. i don't think he'll do well. the question is where does the next opportunity come from? he's starting today in his last event. he's now talking not just about the ethics report about newt gingrich, but he's trying to renew focus on freddy mac and asking for the release of the

report that gingrich did for freddie mac. it's possible that that is the beginning of the turn around and off of bane capital and tries to put it back on gingrich, but it's very hard to be that messenger without a lot of fortitude and digging deep. they're both in columbia for their election night speeches and assuming gingrich wins and a lot of focus how they frame the mesa knowledge going forward. one other thing here on the ground in the last 24 hours there have been this bogus e-mails sent out, one ostensibly from cnn and one ostensibly from newt gingrich making a personal obligation. the gingrich people think that is a potential problem to the extent that there has been a break in their confidence that they'll do well. they are a little bit worried that that could tap into something that could tap the gender gap and hurt gingrich. >> this is part and parcel with the dirty south carolina politicking. we talked about 2008 and the robocalls about john mccain having an illegitimate black daughter and then you have this

fake news release saying that newt gingrich may have forced one of his wives into an abortion. i hear that stuff and i think who is doing this? as mark said, this may have an effect. >> it could. based on the assumption, right? it's based on the assumption that what the voters of south carolina primarily are interested in is the performance aspect and the moral, ethical question which we kind of value the voter narrative that we've always talked about when we talk about south carolina and clearly, newt gingrich is benefitting from his performance aspects, it is the cause and con sense of him leaving. i'm prepared to believe that south carolina voters are still fundamentally driven by issues around jobs and job creation.

you seem bullish. >> even with the southern republicans. >> i wonder the narrative of mitt romney being in, vitable and how much this really -- totally thurns that over. we know he did not win iowa. iowa said officially as of midnight last nitric santorum is the winner and new hampshire was in romney's backyard and now he might not win south carolina. how much is it anyone's game at this point as we look to florida and nevada. >> it's two people's game. and then it might be more than other people's games after florida. the interesting thing is romney's week was bad because he's going to lose south carolina. it was bad because he reinforced a set of doubts among established republicans for a year who wondered could he take a punch and what would happen if he was under pressure. he had a terrible pressure on tax returns and economic issues and possibly not debating. he is now debating in florida. now you have a question of, if he can go to florida and win he

can regain all of this mojo. newt gingrich can beat him in florida and if that happens there will be republicans who say if you can't beat newt gingrich who we think is deeply flawed, if you can't beat newt gingrich, we need to look somewhere else and that conversation has to start if newt gingrich wins both of these in a row. >> the establishment saying this is outrageous, we can't have this, and a, what's wrong with you, mitt romney and this is not an establishment moment in the gop. this is a tea party moment in the gop and this is a grassroots moment in the gop, if you see the backlash in south carolina if newt gingrich is able to do that, that is not going to sit very well with the base of the party and then you see a very interesting divide. >> we talked about this battle moving to florida now, and the thing you hear a lot of now is it's an expensive state and that's mitt romney and that's true, however, what if newt

gingrich's super pac reloads for florida. can that level the playing field and the second thing i think when i think of florida is think of the 2010 primary season, one of the things of the movement was the florida gubernatorial primary. rick scott had a ton of money and he was the tea party candidate and he beat a candidate who in a lot of ways was mitt romney. >> mitt romney has been on air for a while and a lot of money on air. no one at this table or anyone in this country can imagine the free media that newt gingrich will win. especially if he wins the decisive victory. the amount of air time will swamp -- >> we're giving him some freeary time right now. we'll be back after the break with more. coming up newt gingrich has designated his daughters as the defenders of his ex-wife's claim about abopen marriage. this is not going away. does newt gingrich need a plan b? we'll discuss that and so much more next on "now." ♪

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both of my daughters are prepared to speak on the record with any of you who would like to talk to them. my two daughters wrote the head of abc and made the point that it was wrong. >> that was newt gingrich thursday morning and then at the debate. by friday morning the gingrich daughters cancelled on nbc's "today" show, their campaign saying newt answered the question at the debate. we were supposed to interview newt gingrich's daughter, but we were told she had to cancel due to scheduling conflicts.

>> this is going to come back again and again, is it not? >> what is so interesting about this is it's time thainiously, i think it is now clear based on the debate. this will be helpful, he played as the liberal media is attacking the republican who scares them, and he's rallied them and this is reminder number 54,712. >> i'm glad you're keeping count because there have been a lot of reminders. >> you think of, like, south carolina since 2008 on the democratic side and that's what catapulted him back in the race and he won the nomination. the democratic party leadership and it was a drawn-out fight and it was acceptable to them and this is a reminder that gingrich will come out of here with a head of steam and he does really well with the polls in the southern states, but this guy can't be the nominee at the end of the day. >> i would be disturbed that the reason he can't be the nominee is because he's been married

more than once. that alone should never disqualify and never has disqualified, ore an icky marriage. >> in a deep and profound way, but there is something distressing in the way these adult daughters are being asked to play this role. adult children campaigning for their parents, reasonable, particularly if they're saying hey, i know my dad comes off as this was not the -- like the al gore daughters, he's a nice guy and not so wooden and here's a good family story, but it's very good to feel as though they have been sent out on a mission to clear up a deeply distressing family-gendered, you know, moral, ethical for their dad. there is a lot of ethical, weird stuff going on here. >> let's talk about this because "the new york times" has a very interesting story on gingrich and his wives they write that

newt gingrich once called his second wife maryanne my best friend and he writes calista convinced him to stay in the race in the summer. >> and this from sue kelly, i think newt is very dependent on having the support of someone and obviously he's chosen women he as i a private personal destiny that's his alone and inside i don't think he's certain of himself and needs to have someone there. how accurate do you think that is knowing gingrich in the way that you do? >> are you talking to me or is there a dr. joyce brothers. not joyce brothers? not dr. phil? >> the analytical shtick so well. >> i don't know that i feel qualified to psycho analyze the candidates i'm covering. would you like me to sequel of dissent because i disagree. >> please. >> can i answer that instead. >> you are not a prisoner to orthodox. go forth and prosper. >> i'll be oliver north in

crossfire's paul begala. i have no idea if he's right that the debate moment will hurt him net-net. it got him positive press coverage and he bashed the press, but it's possible that it won't cause him to lose the primary, but will keep him from wing as good as he might. personally, i don't see problem with that. they love their father and we need to think anew about people we cover and they testified. i'm uncomfortable about them testifying to facts they may not be -- but for adults to say here's why i love my father, and i don't think there's anything wrong. i respectfully submit. >> would you like to follow up with a cross-examination. >> mark, i agree with you. i think the gender gap could be a problem and the only thing i would say to that is newt gingrich has never done well with women. this is not a new phenomenon.

if the bottom drops out it may be because of these dirty tricks involving the abortion e-mail, but i don't think newt gingrich will ever be someone who will notch great victories with women voters. i do think it can hurt him going down the road. i'm more inclined to agree with you. so half and half. >> aren't independent women not only just the subject of great songs, but the vote that these guys are going for and let's look at the unfavorability polling on this. nationally, genning rich is way down there. there is a likability concern with the american public, is there not? >> i think it depends on the venue. >> that's right. >> many of these candidates have really deep problems in a general election for exactly that reason, independent women being incredibly important and what they want to do is win the republican nomination and the independent female vote is not as important as the evangelical boat which is what maggy and mark are referring to. you take these problems one and

one, but no doubt that part of the reason to go back to the earlier thing, the earlier part of the conversation that the establishment has so much concern about gibbing rich, they look at him and say these issues that he might be able to mouth the media to his benefit on this issue and do. >> you >> the sue and have that be a benefit. in the general election when you look at ways that have been crucified. this issue is at the very top of the list for the kind of voters you would need to be remotely competitive across the country. >> it reminds me if you go back early on newt gingrich's career and you see the tale of two cities. his path to power in 1994 was the angry white male voter. >> if you look two years later the republican party was totally poisoned and newt gingrich played a big role and bob dole as a candidates did not help. he opened up a massive gender gap in 1996. i think he won women by 18

points, and i think it was a tie among men. the angry white men put newt gingrich in power and he turned off the republicans and that gave clinton the big win in 'the 6. >> you see how that worked out. >> the republican party's gender gap is predominantly male gender gap. so in these primaries, women may be about evenly divided, but men are overwhelmingly voting in these parties and you point to them one at a time and that cheer about oh, you can't try it out on an ex-wife. having put juan williams in his place a few nights before. ? or tearinging people's face off as one might have it. >> mark, you did not impact, and turning off independent female voters and we thank you for joining us from the alternately wet and alternative dry palmetto state. we hope you enjoy the bread

pudding. >> arrivaderci, america. good to talk to you. the south carolina predictions next on the infamous wags wager. i can't believe i just had to say that. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. and launch your dreams.

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we need mitt! we need mitt. >> you know what? you're going to get me. i'll tell you that. >> i hope to win south carolina. god willing we'll win. >> is there any reason to be optimist? i don't know exactly what will happen. >> let the people know that you can pull the biggest upset in the history of the south carolina primary. >> the candidates are all talking the talk, but now it's time for our panelists to walk the walk. place your wagers, ladies and gentlemen. who is going to win south carolina tonight? i will say for those of you who make uncomfortable making any

bets, perhaps you can weigh in with a few chinese-made pieces of american currency that they may have in this race or the margin that they might have. >> i will bet on the second one. >> i don't know, say one and put a mile of money on it. >> rick perry or herman cain? which one gets more votes? >> interesting! >> there's a proposition. >> let's just take it away. corn aki, bet on anything that you want. >> this is my favorite casino because i went for the big kill on the iowa caucuses and i put the money out and i got it right back. >> the house never wins. i'll take all of the fake money again and i'll put it on gingrich and we'll put the point spread tonight at nine points. and i'm going to take gingrich and i'll lay the points and that's my fake money in my proposition bet, i'll take mitt.

>> melissa perry? >> i'm also all in on gingrich, but my spread is lower. i think he's onlily going to be at five. >> squeak it out. >> well, yeah. >> eke it out. >> they won't recount it, but i have to save some for the sweater vest. >> i like, santo appreciates that. >> i think the sweater vest is going to be like a very, very close third. let me see -- let's -- less than a ten point -- >> from the second place finisher. >> hidelman? >> i'm going to say six points for newt gingrich, but all of the faky money there and then side bet. i'm going to say cain beats perry, which i don't actually believe, but i'll put it down anyway. >> so first of all -- >> oh, man. >> first of all, i was told that there were a million to one odds on rick perry, so i put one down

on rick perry and there's an incredible restaurant in charleston that is called mccreighedy where you have seven courses and it's $150,000 and i had it friday night and i'll keep the rest to pea my bill. >> a man who knows how to play the odds. >> i'm putting all my money on newt gingrich. i'll buy a 12-point spread so why not go big and go home and then i'll put my money the herman, the hermanator and rick santorum. >> that's money you won't see. >> except until next florida. >> coming up, bruised and battered, the south carolina primary is not for the faint of heart. how will it compare to 2008? we'll break down the parallels and paradoxes when alex stewart joins us next on "now." [ snorin] [ indistinct talking on tv ]

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while i was working on those streets watching those folks seeing their jobs shipped overseas, you were a corporate lawyer. i was fighting these fights. >> you talked about ronald reagan being a transform tiff political leader. >> you're here. >> i'm here, he's not. >> i can't tell who i'm running against. >> they looked so much ungioer back then, didn't they? >> hellry clinton and barack obama squaring off in south carolina exactly four years ago today. what a difference those four years make. he's president and she is his secretary of state. what else has changed in this presidential campaign this time around. joining us now from charleston, south carolina, from michele bachma bachmann's presidential campaign, alex stewart, great to have you with us. >> i hope you're feeling better. >> i am.

mike halpern wasn't lying about it. >> mark didn't have the issue to dole woo, but i'm trying to deal the best i can and the contrast 2008, weather was also a factor in 2008. actually today in charleston and across south carolina, it's beautiful and we had the same issue with governor huckabee in 2008. there was snow in the upstate area and the upstatier is a very, very conservative part of the state and it kept some people away which unfortunately drew some of the votes away from governor huckabee, and that's -- we don't expect that to be a problem today, but weather is always a factor in election day. another factor in comparing the two election years are the candidates. we have similar dynamics in terms of the makeup of the field and we had a moderate candidate in john mccain and we had the more social conservative candidates in mike huckabee and fred thompson.

he stayed in there and pulled votes away in governor huckabee and that led to us, at least in our opinion it took away the opportunity for governor huckabee to be successful in south carolina. this year, similar dynamic. we have mitt romney who is not the person that the faith community looks to and as opposed to him we have newt gingrich and rick santorum. we have similar dynamics in terms of the candidates and we'll see how things turn out. people are very, very energized and engaged and we learn more than anything else in this cycle, similar to '08, two words, debates matter and it made a big, huge difference for newt gingrich and that's what's given him the momentum that he has going from double digits to passing mitt romney. >> as usual, you give me a perfect segway as we talk about the dynamics of this race and whether, in fact, mitt romney is a john mccainlike figure and whether santorum equals huckabee and ron paul equals fred

thompson. i know several people wrote books about the campaign, and i would love to hear your thoughts. maggie, did you write a book? >> you were a writer and all. >> that's right. >> when you look at this race versus 2008 and compare and contrast to our viewers at home. >> gosh. i think alex's comments are opposite and there's no question that that the split field had an effect in this race. if mitt romney had won this race or was set up to win this race, of course, the normal qualifier, anything can happen today. >> thank you. >> but that's, you know, the fred thompson, mike huckabee splitting the conservative right was the way john mccain was able to elevate himself was in the state where he had to slay a lot of dragons. they were scarred by that state and it was a huge thing for him to be able to do that, and he

needed to have a couple of things. huckabee's very foolish decision to campaign in michigan and spend money there that he wasted millions of dollars up there in a race he could never win, but if romney had won here you would have seen the same thing happen, but what happened this time is the blueprint. the conservative evangelical and tea party vote is coalescing around gingrich. santorum had not been able -- surprising me to me was totally able to capitalize on the endorsement out of the social, conservative leaders and allowed gingrich through the debates to lock it up. >> and i agree with everything he said although rec san tour up was not in this race, so to that extent you have the split, social conservative feel and if romney wins tonight he is the john mccain feel. >> just quickly, the interesting

comparison here. >> i don't want to take advantage of the time too much, but the thing that fascinates me is the parallel there is santorum going to cut up the conservative vote like thompson. it will not happen in a way to stop gingrich. the difference is when he fizzled out in south carolina and that ended the debate, and even if santorum is 12% tonight, there is an incentive for him to stay in this race and it was what john was alluding to earlier. even if santorum gets 8% in florida, if romney loses again in the republican establishment starts panicking, santorum is probably thinking to himself i want to be the insurance policy. if this romney thing collapses i can be what i was the last week in iowa and they can come back to me once again. >> there was an important difference between fred thompson and rick santorum. he does not spend 18 hours on his la-z-boy. >> the difference between

huckabee and gingrich, is huckabee makes more sense as the conservative, voters' other choice. gingrich is not the match for that. newt gingrich? i mean, mike huckabee has that sort of southern appeal, yes, newt gingrich has southern background, but it's not -- he feels d.c., he doesn't feel georgia. and the way he's playing what this sort of conservative narrative is is brand new. in the sense that this form of conservatism has been exactly what he's been battled on and he's been insufficiently conservative on in much of his career. >> what newt gingrich was picking up on and this was not an issue in this primary, and this is not what mike huckabee is, honestly or not to the extent that gingrich is. this is all about strength. this primary is about nominating someone who can take the fight

to barack obama. think about the times we heard that and think about why donald trump was a factor early on. he's somewhat -- well, going back -- >> there's so much to say. >> the problem that mitt romney has had in the past week has undermined his own discomfort with talking about his wealth. donald trump never had an issue with this. he embraced and i covered other wealthy candidates and mike bloomberg never had a problem talking about his own money. >> the way that mitt romney has answered has not been able to wrap his mind around his own personal wealth is wont biggest question marks. we'll be back with more after the break. the president may be preparing for tuesday's state of the union, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been out campaigning although that's not what the white house would have us believe. is the media obsessed with the presidential race? we'll tackle that rhetorical question next on "now." [ sighs ] i wish there were an easy way.

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>> he stated forthrightly that he has campaign events and it is still relatively small. >> you get that you're totally obsessed with campaign politics now, right? >> that was white house press secretary ray carney responding to president obama's campaign schedule. with that said, the president is averaging a fund-raiser every two days so far this year with 11, vents so far in january. we've been talking a lot about the dynamics of the 2012 race and certainly as we look towards florida, mitt romney has quite an operation down there, but it is rivalled only by that of the obama campaign and even looking back to iowa, i thought 120-some voters came out for the republican primary, but 25,000 came out for the democratic primary which was uncontested. is the president in full bore campaign mode and is it understandable that he is if you

think that he is? >> well, yes. he's been in full bore campaign mode since january 20, 2009, but when it really became was last summer when he gave up on the idea of compromising with the existing republican congressman and cutting deals with them and basically said they're not going to work with me. i've got to go and beat them in the 2012 election. everything that i've done has not had the idea of cutting congress and everything to do with highlighting the differences between obama and congress and highlighting what they see as the obstructionism with congress and trying to drive home the contrast in 2000. it's not just the campaign events and that's what they've been doing. >> alice, i want to bring you back in here because i want to talk about social issues being top of mind in this primary right now or is it something that the candidates have to speak to, but do you think the president's getting a leg up by hitting this jobs message so far and taking a populist message across the country to the airwaves and he said that he would be channeling his speech

in kansas for his state of the union address on tuesday. does that give the democrats a leg up? ? it certainly does. while they say they're governing it's clear they're camp calling. there's nothing wrong with that, they just need to come clear with it. iowa and new hampshire and south carolina, and debbie wasserman schultz will come to the podium and say while the republicans are leaving this state and we're adding the offices in the state and we're belling a network in these states to have a huge organizational ready in florida. the good thing is mitt romney has a huge organization in florida as well as newt gingrich and santorum and as we get out of south carolina, if things go as we all expect more than likely newt gingrich comes out with the top today at the end of the primary, it will be an even playing field, all three go into florida pretty much at the same place and romney is in a good

space. >> i do want to pick up on that and talk to the panel here in florida. i have stats out here and romney's cam camp has spent 3.3 million in florida and the super pac has been 4 million and the only other person that spent money is rick santorum at $325,000. if gingrich does pick up south carolina he'll have to work double time to get the kind of money and infrastructure or compete with mitt romney. >> he's not going get enough infrastructure to compete and there's early voting in florida. >> that starts today. >> and so this is actually not coming at a good time for mitt romney in terms of when early voting could be coming and he's never going compete in resources as newt gingrich where the super pacs and we actually talked about this on the show the other day, and super pacs and their importance. i would actually argue a different point the other day. newt gingrich has been the biggest beneficiary of super

pacs until now. they're all benefiting to the sense that these candidates with no infrastructure can keep going. newt gingrich is being managed by a single guy. the big question is if newt wins tonight as we bet he's going to, specially if he wins decisively, he will cut another check. do you see another installment of $5 million or do others come through. that's right. that's where the playing field gets leveled. >> we'll talk more about the sunshine state, and unfortunately, we have to go to break and we'll dissect the dynamics if it's a daydream or critical reality. newt gingrich's campaign is reportedly pretty thin. what happens if we win in south carolina? we'll continue the conversation. that's next on "now." is it fast? it's got 10 speeds, my friend. ♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪

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welcome back. we are looking at a sunshine

state showdown in just a few days after the palmetto state votes in its primary tonight and we were going to break and john, you were ready to make a point about florida, and i so rudely cut you off. >> you didn't cut me off. it was maggie and she tried to lump me in that i'm with rick perry. >> and pocketed her money. it just didn't count. >> it's absolutely true that there are media markets in florida ska lot of money will be spent and romney has a financial advantage there and he's been on the air longer. you cannot really begin to grasp the value. there's no monetary value to the amount of free media that gingrich will get if he wins this primary tonight decisively. starting monday through next thursday you have two debates and you want a media that want newt to win. they do not want romney to win. they'll be effectively and this san amazing thing, but they'll be on newt gingrich's side and he'll be wall to wall on cable and on local media in florida.

gingrich will have $100 million in free media over the next five days and that doesn't totally counteract romney's grantage, and we haven't seen that in this race. new hampshire was devalued because everyone assumed romney would win. >> right. >> this is the first big surprise if he wins and the national press will go crazy for gingrich. >> i wonder, on the issues, too, in florida which are very different from the issues that are in iowa or even new hampshire. gingrich has carved out room for himself on immigration based on his, you know, his statements. >> it will take issue with the specifics of his immigration plan and certainly, he hasn't talked about turning off the magnets for the illegals and that does better among the hispanic community. >> and he did this with the greatest generation, and in the debate of south carolina and how it was a great investment, so he is clearly thinking through about what is surprising and the

notion that he is the conservative alternative and in other ways it's not standard line what we would think of as conservatism, and i think the relatively softer position on immigration questions is part of that. >> the flipside, i agree with what john has said and this turns into a very competitive race in florida right away, assuming the flip side. think of what happened in december when he surged to the lead in the national polls and all of the key early states except new hampshire and he immediately went out and said if you look at the polls, i'll be the nominee and what happened was two things. we all talked about the super pac that romney had, and another thing happened and that is the sort of elite opinion shapers in the republican party, the people who remember the 1990s and remember what an epic disaster he was as speaker all of them form this informal alliance to take them down over any issue they can find. they have peggy noonan and jordan and all these people using their platforms to go after them and not only do the

numbers go down in iowa. his numbers went down everywhere and then they thought they marginalized the threat and so they let him go. he wins tonight i think that will come back. >> wialice, you are still in th windy city, charleston's new monik moniker. >> assuming, i hope you have both shoes to the floor because it looks like gale force winds. what do you think will happen in florida assuming he takes south carolina. >> he has to continue to do what he's doing and there are two debates and he'll do well. maggie made great points anded aelson will not hesitate one bit to cut another check if he does well in south carolina. even with romney having 19 million cash on hand and in addition to that, another point she made is the strength that gingrich has and shows. people in south carolina, and i've talked to many of them over the last couple of days.

they may not agree with him on some of the issues, but they see him as someone who is strong and can really go head to head with barack obama and those two factors right there will be key as he goes into to florida and as they also said, the media will coming out of south carolina. that's just priceless. >> yeah. you know, florida is a really conservative state than people think and it's a closed primary and no independents and no democrats and crossover voting in this case. people talked about what steve said in december when he rose up. newt gingrich is ahead by almost 30 points in florida around december 10th and the voters have been behaving, and i'm not denigrating republicans, and they've been behaving weirdly. so a lot of very interesting questions about why people have moved the way they've moved, but i think there's no reason why newt gingrich can't get those votes back, and in the context of the way this primary will play out, for some of the reasons you play out, alex, the

immigration thing will vote to his advantage in this state and it's not just the cubans in miami and there are hispanic voters in the tampa and orlando area. he was relatively moderate on that issue and mitt romney is not just conservative and he's as far right on am gracian. >> marco rubio has not endorsed yet and you can bet there will be a scramble on the rubio doorstep to have the endorsement. >> he will stay far away from the primary. >> jeb bush, that's another one that will not follow anywhere. >> well, we will certainly be watching the proceedings with bated breath as we always do. thanks to steve, melissa, maggie and john and alex stewart holding it down in charleston. that is all for us here on "now." i will see you back at noon on monday when i'll be joined by karen floyd, katrina vandenhoefel, and ari edwards.

until then, you can follow us at the twitter machin machine @nowwithalex. happy primary day, andrea. >> happy election day to you, thanks so much. up next, votes are being cast in south carolina and it was almost carmagetton, and chris, melissa and eugene have the details in the daily fix and chad connelly and congressman jim faber and what about the tea party? how about rick and ron all that and a lot more and what does it mean for president obama next on the specialec wooend edition of "andrea mitchell reports." ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for unsurpassed fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion. could've had a v8.

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