i felt a little bit threatened, if you will, in the attitude that he had, because i was there to welcome him. he wanted to talk about the book. and i thought that he was pretty thin skinned. >> but was it really a setup by governor brewer to boost her own popularity with conservatives back home? and fight night. the candidates meet again tonight. their final debate before the florida primary. but newt gingrich is already on the attack today. >> we're not stupid. the message we should give mitt romney is, you know, we aren't that stupid and you aren't that clever. and as romney and gingrich try to outdo each other with their anti-castro vitriol, appealing to florida voters, they think, fidel weighed in today with his view of them. plus, what about all those rumors that hillary clinton will run for vice president? she was asked today. >> it's a little odd for me to be totally out of an election

season, since as secretary of state i cannot participate. but you know, i didn't watch any of those debates. good day. i'm andrea mitchell, live in washington. and moments from now, the president is going to be speaking in las vegas, selling what the white house calls an all--in energy strategy in the state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation. he'll be speaking at a u.p.s. facility, which won a stimulus grant to purchase a fleet of trucks that run on natural gas. it is only the latest stop on the president's five-state battleground swing after the state of the union speech. nbc news white house correspondent chuck todd is host of "the daily rundown" and nbc's kristen welker is traveling with the president, our white house correspondent there. thanks to both. kristen, first, the crowd there and the mood on the road with the president. las vegas, obviously, important. the republicans are already focusing on it because of their caucus there in february. but this is a state that has been battered economically. >> reporter: absolutely. as you pointed out, andrea, the

highest unemployment rate in the nation. this is a key state for the president as he heads into a tough re-election year. the president knows it. the mood here, as you see behind me, folks just sort of seated, gathered, expecting the president's arrival. as you mentioned, the president going to announce some key energy initiatives, including the fact that this is basically an actual gas station now, which is going to allow trucks to run from los angeles all the way to salt lake city on clean energy. he's also going to announce some tax incentives for companies to buy trucks that run on clean fuel. additionally, he's going to announce a big sale of 38 million acres in the gulf of mexico, to basically get more clean energy. so some big announcements today. but, andrea, what's really overshadowing this trip right now is that image of arizona governor jan brewer pointing at the president. apparently, she met him at the

arizona airport yesterday, gave him a letter requesting that he come and meet with her about border issues. the president said, i'd be happy to meet with you. however, you mischaracterized me in your book. so that's -- you saw that exchange, the governor pointing at president obama. so the wild west. a lot of things happening out here, andrea. >> kristen, thanks so much. and that, chuck, clearly seemed to be a political setup. i mean, she came to the oval office. he was objecting, because after they had, what was by all accounts a very constructive meeting, disagreeing on some points, on immigration, she then comes out and blasts the president. >> i remember being outside when she came. >> i remember that as well. >> and it was a very -- she talked about -- we thought it was going to be heated, because it was about sb-10 at the time, you know, their law, and it wasn't. and she said that it wasn't. in fact, no, it was a good conversation. so smells like something -- right, something that you maybe re-remember when you're writing a memoir. >> but let's talk about the numbers. because you can break out the

new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. take us through, this is our first look at some new numbers. >> it is. there's three stories in this poll. one, we told you last night about the president and the economy and how this uptick in feelings about the economy, optimism, is suddenly having an effect. the second story, of course, will be the story we debuted on "nbc nightly news," which has to do with the fight inside the republican party between newt and romney. but the third story is the republicans in congress have a big problem. not a small problem right now, a big problem. this job approval rating the second lowest ever, job approval. look at this. this is about the republicans and what kind of change they brought. but overall, congress' job rating is 13%. when you ask about what kind of changes have they brought, what is it now, 12% say right kind of change. some 30% say the wrong kind of change and over a majority say no change at all. and then you throw in the fact that the generic balance shows democrats leading the republicans by a big margin. off majority saying, 56%, the

highest ever -- they can throw everybody out they would, and by the way, it unites everybody. 55% of liberals, 55% of moderates, and 58% of conservatives would all like, with one vote, to be able to throw out the entire -- >> now, obviously, people can't vote for every member of congress, but when you have 56% of those questions saying, if i could fire the entire congress -- >> and it's ideologically even. this is, you know, this isn't like it's mostly democrat, no. this is ideologically even. >> that's pretty extraordinary. so there are fewer headwinds or slightly less headwinds against the president going forward if the economy continues to improve? this is the the first -- this could be a turning point,ntntntt thermometer. ur pollsters said it interestingly, this is what they said. if you just saw this poll and hadn't seen any other polls for the last two years, you'd look at it and say, boy, the president's in trouble. because you still have a two to one negative wrong track to right track. but when you see it in the

context of the last six months, you're like, okay, this is one of those, it does look like it's moving. i mean, we saw seven and eight-point jumps. in fact, we haven't had an eight-point jump in the right track/wrong track that wasn't connected to a gigantic event, like, say, the presidential election or the killing of osama bin laden. you don't see jumps like that. and it all seems to be coalescing around the fact that we've had six straight months of increasingly good economic news. none of it's great. but it looks like progress. and that progress is actually now the american psyche is now sort of processing that progress, and they're clearly showing some optimism about the economy and that helps the president. you see it in the numbers. >> let's talk about the republican race. because we've seen newt gingrich and mitt romney going head to head in florida, increasingly negative in their attacks on each other. and even some of the outside nonpartisan, let's say, members, like marco rubio, asking newt gingrich to take down an ad,

because he hasn't endorsed. others vying for the hispanic vote. this florida election, and this is your home state. >> yeah. >> is really shaping up to be -- >> it is. and i find that we're seeing more pandering to floridians, to different aspects of florida, in a way that we hadn't seen in iowa, new hampshire, or south carolina. i mean, you have -- >> the space vote. >> the space vote, although with newt, that's always been a big thing for him. so he's able to do it with some credibility, considering he's been sort of pro-government intervention in the space program. but even in those interviews with univision, where you see the softening of the rhetoric on immigration in a way that you wouldn't have heard that in south carolina. and frankly, you won't hear that when they move on to arizona. and i'll be curious to see how that rhetoric plays going forward when this primary fight moves to arizona, which i think will be the next big battle after the state of florida. >> 11.1% of the republican voters in florida are hispanic and of those 30% are cub

cuban-americans. and their interests are different from the southwest, the border states this. >> it's totally different. and this hispanic vote, just in general, the hispanic community, even in the republican party, are much more pro, sort of a more soft -- >> an open attitude towards immigration. >> versus where the arizona vote is. >> but certainly not soft when it comes to castro. it was pretty remarkable in the debate the other night, with brian williams, where you had mitt romney and newt gingrich each trying to outdo each other as to what they would do to fidel castro. >> i haven't heard a presidential candidate basically say, he'll be gone. well, what are you going to do? use the military? it's been interesting to hear the ramped up rhetoric to the point where, they ought to be careful, because it doesn't sound believable. >> in florida in '92, the late paul sangas accused bill clinton to be a pander bear, by pandering to the medicare social security contingent, who didn't want any entitlement reform. i think we've now reached a new

levels of pander bears. >> one of the great paul sangas quotes. >> when we talk about the caucuses, let's look forward to nevada, and we'll be talking about that later in the program as well. in the nevada caucuses, you've got, first of all, a natural constituency for mitt romney with a large mormon population. >> a large mormon population. >> you've got a lot of hispanics as well, and the republican party there is as battered as everyone else is by the economy. >> it is. and you know, i found it fascinating that the romney campaign is already attacking gingrich in nevada. they've clearly seen some numbers that may scare them a little bit. that gingrich's surge actually did reach nevada. i've never been a believer that nevada's going to be that competitive. that organizationally, romney considering what he did four years ago, i think he won it with some 80% plus of the vote, and it's a caucus, but he won it big. mccain didn't even contest him.

just let him have those delegates. paul's going to be more of a factor in nevada than he is right now. >> in fact, he's basically skipping florida. >> he's basically skipping that and doing all these early -- you have nevada on the 4th and you have a few other states that are doing caucuses early. that's it. and that puts pressure. the loser of florida is going to have a hard time sort of finding an easy place to get traction between romney and newt. because there's going to be this vacuum where there's no debates for about three weeks and no actual statewide primaries for a month. >> but at the same time, and we see right now, a u.p.s. worker who's going to be introducing the president, so we're getting close to the president showing up there in nevada, but let's talk about that for a moment. because newt gingrich has a las vegas billionaire, sheldon addleson, who made his money -- well, he's based in florida as well. so he's got florida roots, nevada roots. sheldon addleson, fiercely pro-israel, so playing to that contingent. he is an elderly man who is

putting up all this money. now, between him and his wife, they are the principle funders of paid media. and after this last debate tonight, that is basically what is going to fuel the gingrich campaign. >> not since, you know, not since joe kennedy did this for his son have we had one person be so financially invested in one presidential candidate, and basically save candidacy. i mean, it was the outside ads that saved gingrich's candidate in south carolina. without it, gingrich doesn't win south carolina. and it may save him again in florida. it's making him competitive. gingrich is raising a little -- a decent amount of money on his presidential campaign, but nowhere near the impact that the super pac ads have had. so this idea of having one person, one household, if you will, in this case, being able to bankroll an entire -- like i said, we haven't had this since before the days of watergate. >> and this is because of recent supreme court decisions, and here we see the president coming in, so we'll cut to las vegas where the president is going to

be speaking to this audience in advance of what we know is going to be a tough republican caucus fight in february, but a key battleground state for the president. >> hello, nevada! it is great to be back in las vegas! i love you back! although i always say, when we stay here for the night, i've got to watch my staff to make sure that they get on the plane when we leave. sometimes, you know, they conveniently miss the flight. but everybody, please, have a seat. have a seat. it is great to see you. joe, thanks for the introduction. scott, thank you and the folks at u.p.s. for hosting us today. i want to thank all of the elected officials and the tribal leader who is tos who took the join us. before i get into the core of my remarks, i just want to mention

something that i said to scott and i said to joe. and that is that u.p.s., i think, deserves just extraordinary credit for being the best in its space, one of the best businesses we have in the united states, but the reason is is because it's got such outstanding workers and the relationship between its workforce and management, cooperating, constantly figuring out how to make things better, is just an outstanding organization. and so you guys all need to be congratulated for everything that you do. now, i'm here to talk a little more about what i talked about at the state of the union on tuesday night. and what i want to focus on is

how we're going to restore the basic promise of america. something that folks at u.p.s. understand. which is, if you work hard and if you do the right thing, you should be able to do well enough to raise a family and own a home and send your kids to college and put a little away for retirement. that's the american dream. that's what most people are looking for. they don't expect a handout, they don't expect anything to come easy. they do expect, if they're willing to work hard, to try to get ahead. if they're doing the right thing, then they can have a sense of security and dignity and help make sure that their family is moving forward. that's what americans are

looking for. that's what americans deserve. and today, three years after the worst economic storm in three generations, our economy is growing again. our businesses have created more than 3 million jobs. last year, businesses created the most jobs since 2005. american manufacturers are hiring again and creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s. and we've got more work to do, but what we can't do is go back to the very same policies that got us into a mess in the first place. we can't go backwards, we have to move forward. i said on tuesday and i will repeat today, we will not, we cannot go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing and bad debt and phony financial

profits. so on tuesday at the state of the union, i laid out my vision for how we move forward. i laid out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last, that has a firm foundation, where we're make stuff and selling stuff and moving it around and u.p.s. drivers are dropping stuff off everywhere. that's the economy we want. an economy built on american manufacturing, with more good jobs and more products made here in the united states of america. an economy built on american energy, fueled by home-grown and alternative sources that make us more secure and less dependent on foreign oil an economy built on the skills of american workers, getting people the

education and the training they need, to prepare for the jobs of today, but also to compete for the jobs of tomorrow. and most importantly, i talking about an economy that's built on a renewal of american values, hard work, responsibility, and the same set of rules for everybody, from wall street to main street. that has to be our future. that's how we restore that basic american promise. now, part of my blueprint and what i want to focus on a little bit today is for an economy built to last with american energy. that's why we're here. for decades, americans have been talking about, how do we decrease our dependence on foreign oil? well, my administration has actually begun to do something about it. over the last three years, we

negotiated the toughest new efficiency standards for cars and trucks in history. we've opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration. right now, american oil production is the highest that it's been in eight years. eight years! last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the last 16 years. that hasn't got a lot of attention, but that's important. we're moving in the right direction when it comes to oil and gas production. and today i'm announcing that my administration will soon open up around 38 million acres in the gulf of mexico for additional exploration and development, which could result in a lot more production of domestic energy. but as i said on tuesday, and as the folks here at u.p.s. understand, even with all this oil production, we only have

about 2% of the world's oil reserves. so we've got to have an all-out, all-in, all of the above strategy that develops every source of american energy. a strategy that is cleaner and cheaper and full of new jobs. now, a great place to start is with natural gas. some of you may not have been following this, but because of new technologies, because we can now access natural gas that we couldn't access before in an economic way, we've got a supply of natural gas under our feet that can last america nearly 100 years. nearly 100 years. now, when i say under our feet, i don't know that there's actually gas right here. i mean, in all of the united states.

and developing it could power our cars and our homes and our factories in a cleaner and cheaper way. the experts believe it could support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. we, it turns out, are the saudi arabia of natural gas. we've got a lot of it. we've got a lot of it. now, removing that natural gas, obviously, has to be done carefully. and i know that there are families that are worried about the impact this could have on our environment and on the health of our communities, and i share that concern. so that's why i'm requiring for the first time ever that all companies drilling for gas on public lands disclose the chemicals they use. we want to make sure that is den properly and safely. america will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk. but we've got to keep at it. we've got to take advantage of

this incredible natural resource, and think about what could happen if we do. think about an america where more cars and trucks are running on domestic natural gas than on foreign oil. think about an america where our companies are leading the world in developing natural gas technology and creating a generation of new energy jobs. where our natural gas resources are helping make our manufacturers more competitive for decades. we can do this. and by the way, natural gas burns cleaner than oil does. so it's also potentially good for our environment as we make this shift. so last april we issued a challenge, to shipping companies like u.p.s. we said, if you upgrade your

fleets to run on less oil or no oil at all, we're going to help you succeed. we want to help you with that experiment. so we started out with five companies that accepted the challenge. and, of course, u.p.s. was one of the first. that's how they roll. so less than a year later, we've got 14 companies on board, and together they represent 1 million vehicles on the road. that's a lot of trucks. we should do more, though, and that's why we're here today. first, let's get more of these natural gas vehicles on the road. let's get more of them on the road. the federal fleet of cars is leading by example. turns out the federal government has a lot of cars. we buy a lot of cars.

so we've got to help not only the federal government, but also local governments upgrade their fleet. if more of these brown trucks are going green, more city buses should too. there's no reason why buses can't go in the same direction. second, let's offer new tax incentives to help companies buy more clean trucks like these. third, let's make sure all these new trucks that are running on natural gas have places to refuel. that's one of the biggest impediments. is the technology, we know how to make these trucks, but if they don't have a place to pull in and fill up, they've got problems. we're going to keep working with the private sector to develop up to five natural gas corridors along our highways. these are highways that have

natural gas fueling stations between cities. just like the one that folks at u.p.s., south coast air, and clean energy fuels are opening today between los angeles and salt lake city. that's a great start. so now one of these trucks can go from long beach all the way to salt lake city. and they're going to be able to refuel along the way. and, finally, to keep america on the cutting edge of clean energy technology, i want my energy secretary, steven chu, to launch a new competition that encourages our country's brightest scientists and engineers and entrepreneurs to discover new breakthroughs for natural gas vehicles. so we're going to keep moving on american energy. we're going to keep boosting american manufacturing. we're going to keep training our workers for these new jobs.

but an economy that's built to last also means a renewal of the values that made us who we are. hard work, fair play, and shared responsibility. n and right now that means stopping a tax hike on 160 million working americans at the end of next month. people cannot afford right now losing $40 out of each paycheck. your voice has convinced congress to extend this middle class tax cut before. i need your help to make sure they do it again. no drama, no delay, let's just get this done. for the american people. and for our economy as a whole. but we've got a longer run issue. scott and i were talking about this before i came out. and that is, how do we get

america's fiscal house in order? and we're going to have to make some choices. the reason that we've got this debt and deficits is because we're not making hard choices. right now we're supposed to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was intended to be a temporary tax cut for the wealthiest 2% of americans. it must be temporary. back in 2001. that's a long time ago. a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle class households. warren buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. i know, because, she was at the state of the union. she told me. now, that's not fair. that doesn't make sense.

and the reason it's important for us to recognize that is, if we're going to reduce our deficit, then we've got to have a balanced approach that has spending cuts, and we've already agreed to $2 trillion worth of spending cuts. we've got to get rid of programs that don't work. we've got to make government more efficient. i have asked congress for authority to consolidate some of these agencies, to make them run better. we're going to have to, you know, be much more effective when it comes to government spending. we all acknowledge that. and we're making progress on that front. but that alone doesn't do it. so if we want to actually deal with the deficit, we've got to look at the other side of the ledger. do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest americans or do we want to keep investing in everything else? like education, like clean energy, like a strong military, like caring for our veterans who are coming home from iraq and

afghanistan. we can't do both. we can't do both. so what i've said is, let's follow the buffett rule. if you make more than $1 million a year, you should pay a tax rate of at least 30%. which, by the way, is lower than you would have been paying under ronald reagan. nobody's talking about anything crazy here. on the other hand, if you make less than $250,000 a year, which 98% of all americans do, then your taxes shouldn't go up. that's a -- i think that's a fair approach. and a lot of folks have been running around saying, well, that's class warfare. asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes, that's just common sense. and i promise you, if we make

this change, warren buffett will be doing fine, i will be doing fine, scott will be doing fine. we don't need more tax breaks! you're the ones who have seen your wages andour income stall while the cost of everything from grocery to college to health care have been going up. you're the ones who deserve a break. and i want to make one last point. we do not begrudge success in america. we aspire to it. we want everybody to succeed. we want everybody to be rich. we want everybody to be working hard, making their way, creating new products, creating new services. creating jobs, you know, that's the american way. we don't shy away from financial success. we don't apologize for it. but what we do say is, when this nation has done so much for us,

shouldn't we be thinking about the country as a whole? when americans talk about folks like me paying their fair share of taxes, it's not because they envy the rich. just yesterday, bill gates says he agrees with me that most -- that americans who can't afford it should pay their fair share. i promise you, bill gates does not envy the rich. he doesn't envy wealthy people. this has nothing to do with envy. it has everything to do with math. it's what i talked about earlier. we've got to make choices. americans understand, if i get a tax break i don't need and a tax break the country can't afford, then one of two things are going to happen. either it's going to add to our deficit, right, or somebody else is going to have to make up the difference. somebody's going to have to start paying for their medicare,

or a student will have to start paying more for their student loan. or a family that's trying to get by, they're going to have to do more with less. and that's not right. each of us is here because someone somewhere felt a responsibility to their country and helped to create all this incredible opportunity that we call the united states of america. now it's our turn to be responsible and it's our turn to leave an america that is built to last for the next generation. that's our job. and we can do it! we can do it! we can do it! and i know we can do it, because i've seen in states like nevada and with people like you that i meet all across this country, you understand. the history of this country, generations of americans working together, looking out for each other, living be the idea that

with rise or fall together. those are the values we have to return to. you know, i mentioned praise for our military at the state of the union. and the incredible work that they do. and the reason our military is so good, the reason why they're so admired, is because, you know, it's not like everybody in the military agrees on everything. you got democrats in the military, you've got republicans in the military, you've got folks who are conservative or liberal, different races, different religions, different backgrounds. but they figure out how to focus on the mission. they figure out how to do their job. and that sense of common purpose is what we're going to need to build an economy that lasts. and if we work together in

common purpose, we can build that economy and we can meet the challenges of our times and we'll remind the entire world once again, just why it is the united states is the greatest country on earth. thank you, everybody! god bless you. and god bless the united states of america. >> and as the president wraps up there in las vegas, a reporter for the "las vegas sun" has been covering politics out there with your weekly column in the "las vegas sun." and jeannette, where does the president stand now in las vegas with the economy there so battered, what about the support that he has going forward? >> yeah, he has some work to do to energize his base. just last weekend, democrats met across the state for the caucuses. there was no question who was going to be the nominee. they were there to support the president. but it wasn't a really boisterous rally and an energetic crowd.

with the economy hurting as bad as it is in nevada, it's going to be difficult for the president to really stress this message that things are getting better. he's going to try. there are signs of some improvement, even in nevada, but it's a difficult place to make the case. >> and jeannette, i know we have a slight satellite delay, so we apologize for that, but tell me where gingrich versus romney are at this stage. in nevada, you've got a very large mormon contingent, a large number of mormon residents as well, voters who are part of that caucus state. you had to register as a republican, as i understand the rules, by january 20th. so it's a closed primary, a closed caucus, rather, and people cannot re-register now on the day of for these caucuses. ron paul is already a factor out there and newt gingrich, we now understand, is going to fly directly to nevada overnight from florida. so he's putting a big focus on it. is gingrich stronger than some might have expected in the nevada caucuses? >> well, gingrich certainly

hopes to ride this wave of national momentum that he has picked up from south carolina and through florida. nevada is just four days, five days right after florida. but gingrich is going to meet romney, where romney has been spending the last four years here, really building a very strong organization to turn out his supporters to the caucus, he's wrapped up the establishment support, he has his volunteers already in line. they've been working phones and identifying supporters. so gingrich is really going to have to -- his momentum's going to have to combat that organization that romney has in place. you already hear some of the people, we do have some high-profile nevadans who are supporting newt gingrich. most notably, you've probably heard of sheldon adelson, the casino mogul from las vegas, he and his wife have given the gingrich super pac $10 million. so he's here. he has significant influence over the state party. former state senator sue lowden, who ran in the u.s. senate

primary in 2010 supporting newt gingrich, as is a former state senator, bob biers here. the test is going to be, does momentum trump organization? >> thanks so much. thanks for giving us the skinny from nevada today. and as you talk about newt gingrich, newt gingrich, a politician with many lives, he rose to the speaker, of course, after engineering the republican takeover of the house of representatives back in 1994, but only four years later, he was forced to resign amidst political turmoil and personal scandal. as the latest cover of the "national journal" suggests, has mr. gingrich managed another political resurrection? joining me now, "national journal's" ron fournier. we both covered newt gingrich, we saw all those interactions during the clinton years that he takes so much credit for in terms of the economy and the balanced budget of those years. what about the gingrich revolution and the new newt gingrich? >> as ron brownstein, a mutual

friends of ours writes in this cover story, there's a back to the future quality going on here. here's a guy in 1994, '95, talking about a book that ron did, looking back, he says, someone was willing to fight, and that militant style is what he's brought to the campaign. it's what risen him up as a candidate and brought him down a couple times. and today you have newt gingrich calling mitt romney a liar, a hypocrite, and someone who treats his competitors as if they're stupid. that's not the kind of language you usually hear on a presidential campaign trail. it's certainly not the kind of language that will do well in the fall, but it's typical of newt gingrich. >> it's red meat. it was successful in south carolina. is it going to be as successful in florida? >> it will be interesting to see how it plays. florida is a much bigger state. it plays a little bit more to mitt romney's style, a bit more of a republican, i think we heard somebody in your show earlier calling it more of a nation state.

i think it's going to be tough for him to break through just with the attacks. i think he's going to have to be standing for something bigger than being negative on romney, like romney has to stand for something more than just being negative on gingrich. >> and nancy pelosi has become an issue, like she made some suggestion that here you have a former speaker attacking another former speaker, and suggesting that she knew something, as a member of the ethics committee, sitting in a closed room, and looking through a thousand pages, but she was asked about it again today, and basically doesn't have the goods. she said that this was just her instinct, that he cannot be elected. >> i don't know. >> her suggestion had been that she knew something, but that's not the kind of suggestion one should be making. >> it sounds an awful lot like mccarthy, doesn't it? there are an "x" number of communists in the state department, you have to come forward with the good. i don't see that as a fair thing to do. >> but her point was that people should take another look, as romney has suggested, take

another look at the real gingrich record, which is what you're trying to do in your "national journal" point. that's definitely a fair point, but i would never say, hey, i know something about newt gingrich, but i'm not going to tell you. i'm going to print it if i find out anything about newt gingrich, which is what we did this week. >> thank you, ron. and the u.s. and its european allies are toughening sanctions against iran. defense secretary leon panetta last month said iran may be able to develop a weapon within a year, meaning that the window for action would be limited. ron bergman is the author of the book "the secret war with iran." and you join us from tel aviv by skype. thanks so much, ron, and good to see you again. what are the red lines here? this is going to be the cover of "the new york times" magazine section on sunday. and we're talking about what israel is prepared to do, why, when. we heard from former mossad chiefs who have suggested that israel could not really slow down iran's nuclear program.

that they would regenerate it, even if there were an air strike. >> the israeli leadership, andrea, have termed three questions that a positive answer to three of them would lead the israeli leadership to decide on an aerial strike on the iranian nuclear sites. these three questions refer to, a, the ability -- has the ability to inflict significant damage to the iranian nuclear sites. the second question, international -- tacit support or tacit understanding, such an israeli operation. and third, necessity. which means that all other options have been exhausted and this is the last moment. for the first time since the iranian nuclear issue emerged in the mid-'90s, these, or some of the leadership who claims like e

ehud barak and prime minister netanyahu, the coming months -- and that iran is closing in to what is termed by minister of defense barak as the immunity zone. this is a certain point in time after which the iranian nuclear sites are going to -- strike. therefore, the threat from israel is imminent and that, in the coming year, 2012, israel, if sanctions don't work and if covert actions do not -- to hold the project, then israel would, indeed, decide on an aerial strike over these sites. >> well, of course, we've heard a lot about this and the president in his state of the union speech, which is, of course, a political campaign speech, in a lot of ways, said that they wouldn't be permitted to have a nuclear weapon. that all options were on the table, but, again, as has been deliberately ambiguous about what the u.s. would do, of course, it's been widely viewed that israel would not be able to

take action because of the air space involved without giving some sort of notice and giving some tacit support, a yellow light or some sort of permission, unwritten or written, from the united states. so it remains to be seen what would happen. look forward to your piece in sunday's "new york times" magazine. thanks so much for joining us by skype from tel aviv, ronen. and also today, italian authorities have identified the bodies of three german victims as divers continue to search for 16 others still missing after that luxury cruise ship crashed off the coast of italy. the crash, nearly two weeks ago, killed 16 people, led to manslaughter charges against the captain, who remains under house arrest. salvage experts are now going to try to pump tons of fuel off the ship to avert what could be an environmental catastrophe. and we'll be right back. s h. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪

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governor haley barbour is now missing after he did not appear in court. attorney general for that state, jim hood, calls this missing convict a dangerous threat to the community and he's offering a reward. i'll talk with the attorney general live. plus, newt gingrich often takes aim at what he refers to as the elite media. well, will he now pick a fight with conservative columnist and radio show hosts who are, according to politico, ready to drop a bomb on newt's candidacy? ann coulter is now telling conservatives a vote for gingrich is a vote for obama. plus, we are following big, breaking news from the pentagon. defense secretary leon panetta is getting ready to announce major military budget cuts. we'll have the details for that on you. newt gingrich has had what some people view as a rough 24 hours as he tries to win over florida's crucial hispanic voting bloc. his campaign took down a spanish radio ad that described mitt romney as being anti-immigrant. that was under pressure from marco rubio, who has not endorsed anyone. rubio said, "this kind of

language is more than just unfortunate. it's inaccurate, inflammatory, and doesn't belong in this campaign." former congressman and florida attorney general bill mccaollum is state co-chair of the gingrich campaign. good to see you again. let's talk about some of the taxes and rhetoric. most recently today, beginning live called romney all kind of names. there was the anti-immigrant allegation he took down in that ad. is this thing getting too nasty and couldn't this backfire against gingrich? >> i think the fact of the matter is it all got started with romney coming on very boldly. he's got a lot of ads in florida right now accusing newt of things that simply aren't true. but i think it all is going to boil down to this. the public in florida, the republicans, basically, are frustrated with government, the size of government, the way things are going in the economy and they're looking for the candidate who is not

representing wall street, who is representing main street. who is going to be able to take on the establishment who they believe will take on president obama the right way with a bold plan, and newt has the boldest ideas, and that's what it's going to come down. to after all of this rhetoric back and forth, it's going to be about the fact that newt favors more taxes than mitt romney does by a long shot. he favors doing away with the capital gains tax altogether, things we've talked about on the republican side, on the conservative side since the 1980s. he's very strongly committed to health care reform in ways that cannot be discussed adequately by governor romney, because he's got one arm tied behind his back, having embraced romney care and much of what is in obama care in massachusetts. all he can say is, i'm in favor of repealing it, let the states decide it. and i think that's going to come out in the next three or four days as the basic posture in this case. >> president obama did an interview with univision and this was his response when asked about this very hot republican

race. >> they believe that we should not provide a pathway to citizenship for young people who were brought here when they were very young children. and are basically american kids, but right now, are still in a shadow. they said that they would veto the dream act, both of them. >> do you want to comment on that? >> well, andrea, first of all, i've been involved with the immigration issue for years. i served on the subcommittee for almost the whole time i was in congress. and it's a volatile issue, but the reality is this. the republicans believe, as i do, and conservatives especially, we need to secure the border first. newt gingrich certainly believes that. but there are differences when it comes to, what do we do about those who are here illegally now, eventually. after we secure the border? and i think all of us want to see employers sanction and enforce, which they haven't been adequately enforced, so people who are going out employing people illegally today have to stop doing that. and then we have to say, okay, what's leftover? and newt has said, i think much

more compassionately than governor romney, you know, if you've got somebody who's been mere 25 years or more, than, fine, we're beginning to have to the issue nobody's really going to deport them and send them away. and if there's somebody who is willing as a young person who's come here to serve in our military, we can get them a pathway to citizenship. they can go in that direction. if there's a young person who's born here already, and many of these are children of illegals are born here, they are automatically citizens. president obama can say what he does about this. he wants to make it an issue. the american people want to have a fair immigration. they want the border control. they are worried about what's going on with mexico now, the drug dealing. they are concerned about radical islam and all of those thing, newt gingrich understands. >> let me ask you about nancy pelosi. she was questioned about what she meant about what she knows.

she meant it was her instinct that he couldn't be elected. do you want to respond? >> nancy pe lohsloh pelosi, i t been very respectful here for a reason. all the ethics charges came out of a campaign. >> he ended up paying a $300,000 fine. >> he paid it in court costs to get it off the table long before he resigned as speaker. he did it because he wanted to take the focus from himself as much as possible to get it off the table. the end of the day, he was exonerated in the main charges that were there. it's great political fodder to

talk about it. it's what are we going to do about things like health care. what are the differences between romney and gingrich? >> we'll see more about that -- sor sorry, we'll have to leave it there. thanks for joining us. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? i think it will be the florida race. stay tuned. glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. jonathan capehart, we're talking about the debate. will there be a moment that puts one of the other in the front? >> well, we're going to be looking for that moment. as we saw in south carolina, all it takes or all it has taken is one debate performance to propel someone that was second tier to top tier. >> we're all going to be watching tonight to see if that happens. going forward, it's going to be gingrich or romney. we have to wonder what's going to happen to the other two

candidates in the race. thanks very much. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague, tamron hall has a look at what's next. we're following breaking news from the pentagon. major military budget cuts. jack jacobs will join me with his analysis. newt gingrich takes aim as what he refers to as the elite media. will he strike back at ann and others? we'll have the latest. one of convicted murders pardoned by haley barber is missing after he did not show up in court. jim hood is calling this man a danger to the community. a little bird told me about a band... ♪

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