eye state final and sometimes desperate push. more babies to kiss, hands to shake and birds to bang. campaign thinks they are the to beat. >> mr. president. >> a little premature, but i appreciate the sentiment. >> the campaigns step into high gear. >> just one week to go and candidates could face a hefty gas bill. six hopefuls are on whirl wind tours and that means seven days of coffeehouses, pizza chains and generally enough calories to test any new year's resolution. it means an ad blitz of super bowl proportions. >> i'm going to do something to

government. i am going to make it simpler and smaller and smarter. getting rid of programs and turning them back to states and making government more efficient. >> $10 million were spent this month alone according to the "des moines register." about half were bought by the romney campaign or those that are totally independent. totals so far, rick perry and the super packs spent $6 million. mitt romney spent 3.9 and ron paul $2.3 million. who can win and who can claim a second or 30 place finish as a win? we will let the analyst rick santorum explain how it's shaping up. >> there is really three primaries that ron paul will win. you have the moderate primary that gingrich and romney are skruming for and you have three folks running as strong conservatives.

i think if we win that primary, we are in good shape as the non-newt romney. >> a rise in ron paul and newt holding on to second. a steady as she goes in third with precious hope for a gun-toting santorum. that is the bickering among the candidates. gingrich said he is running a positive campaign, but he struck a tower note with a question in this e-mail. can we trust a moderate to an act of conservative agenda. team romney responded on msnbc. >> speaker is a desperate candidate trying to revive his campaign. >> you need to make quick bold moves and team gingrich is moving as little as possible. word from the "des moines register" that he is reducing the campaign tour from 44 to 22

stops. add that to the failure of making the primary ballot and gives credence to an unnamed romney aide that said the dynamics couldn't be better. i don't see any scenario where we are not the nominee. joining us to talk seven days and the msnbc contributor and christmas ball and politico's joe williams. welcome all. >> can you see any scenario where he is not the nominee? >> i can see one, but that doesn't mean it's likely. one possible scenario is someone like rick perry really surges and surprises in iowa and huhsman and paul do well enough in new hampshire and win there and it's off to the races. how likely is that? not very. i will be honest. i am someone who is expect cal

of mitt romney's chances, but at this point we have gone through all of the mid-romney alternatives and all of them have been found seriously lacking in one way or another. >> patrick to this, newt will not be on the virginia ballot. he did not have enough signatures. that was the headline over the holiday weekend. this is what mid-romney said. how he defined the situation. i think it's more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. so i mean, you know, you gotta get it organized. hitting against newt gingrich's inability to have an organization. romney not known for a joke here. how good of a line was that? how bad is newt looking really? >> it's a little bit of a mad scramble in the gop caucuses right now. it was a bit of a clever line. somebody who is not an expert in the tea party, i wonder whether or not mitt romney and his team

are concerned about the lack of authenticity when you have a candidate who won't reveal what the taxes look like and continues to not even disclose who the bundlers are. while there is a different flavor of the month, mitt romney eeks out at the top as the front-runner despite the fact that he set the bar high. they spent $4 million in the state. they are clearly playing all in in iowa. >> some folks in iowa are just turning to newt because there so many advertisements at the moment. let's move over to you. the candidates who are not mitt romney, are they wasting their time here at the bus tours? he hit all 99 counties, but he is not pulling in the top three. >> it's interesting because you have candidates who are not pulling that well, but becoming a game of managed expectations. a lot of people are expecting ron paul to actually take the top prize because he has the

organization and the money and he's got the name recognition. still if he comes out on top, it's not so bad for mitt romney. if rick santorum can pull out a finish, that means he is still in the game. he mentioned that and if he finishes lower than 30, he's out. not only do you have people trying to manage the expectations of where they come in, you have them trying to build an infrastructure from the next time around. >> if he comes in last, he's not going to go on. he is going to bow out. the "des moines register" who we have been quoting said gingrich is cutting the tour in half and they were cutting and managing the expectations. more problems with the organization on the ground. is he moving forward and looking towards south carolina? >> she one who is managing expectations. they said they have a game plan for as long as he finishes in the top four. he is well-positioned and scaled back the bus tour. one other thing i wanted to

point out that is astonishing about the fact that he failed to make the bell on the is he lives in virginia. >> that's the embarrassment right there. >> my home state as well by the way. it's a big embarrassment for a guy who has been struggling anyway to pull mainstream establishment support. if you are looking at this guy and you are a senator or member of congress and you are thinking of endorsing him, you have to say he doesn't have the organization to pull this off. he's not serious. >> not to mention the fact that how long has this primary been set? it hasn't happened a week and a half or two weeks ago. it's like christmas. it happens at the same time every year. this time they knew in advance when this was going to happen. they got it on that part of it. somebody didn't do good clock management. >> the fact is i don't know that they were ever planning on running a real presidential campaign and the original idea was to sell books and increase

the brand recognition that he has done successfully. when they found themselves at the top, it was oh, shoot, i guess we better try to get on the ballot. >> how strange is that? running for president, but thinking we were going to start with a book tour and not being ready when i spike up in the polls? >> i actually think that the stranger part of that is the fact that despite the fact that newt gingrich's campaign was clearly disorganized and the other would be front runners fell by the wayside, he has an inability to pull away from the pack and struggling to close the deal in iowa and we have seen the poll numbers not exactly growing in the other states as well. it is kind of entertaining, but the prohibitive front-runner has not been able to seal the deal with republican caucus goers and primary voters may be the most interesting part. >> in iowa specifically. doing well in new hampshire.

let's stick with them more time. iowans, they are saying they haven't had much face time this cycle. they are used to face-to-face whether it's town hall or bus visits. because they feel they haven't had the face time and they could make a difference in the last final seven days? >> two things right off the bat. the first is that iowans have gotten boiled to the point where they expect personal visits. it's a bit of a problem because they are used to this attention in' 08. they not only got attention from one party, but both. both were running hard and said that mitt romney stumbles have led people to get ahead. they are scrambling to catch up. romney had not paid a lot of

attention until then. speaking of romney, it's interesting that they are still talking about romney. the whois or the dnc may still be considering mitt romney as the eventual nominee along with the rest of us. >> if i could jump in on that, i think it's interesting that you pivoted to that after talking about whether or not iowa is a place where politics matter. i want to let you know the focus is speaking to our supporters and all the voters over the last few weeks and in iowa alone. the party and obama campaign have had close to 3,000 one on one conversations with voters and close to a quarter of a million conversations combined on the telephone or on the ground. we are using the opportunity to dig down and have the intimate conversations that do. >> you bring up a good point and i top the get it to crystal. based on what joe was saying as

well as patrick that iowa is spoiled is the words that joe is describing iowa voters. they only represent about 2.5% of the delegates needed to get to the nomination. the optics when you think about the national polling, iowa followed the national polling throughout the recent months. >> my personal belief is the primary system is strange and gives power to a few states. iowa on the republican side, it was mike huckabee did not become the nominee. thing to watch for is if ron paul wins, not having particularly high likely hood of actually winning the nomination does diminish the standings as

the first caucus states. that's going to be one of the interesting things that comes out of the caucuses this year. >> thank you so much, crystal. great conversation. you guys have a great day. coming up, the president and a surprise christmas gift. stay with us. my name is robin. i'm a wife, i'm a mom... and chantix worked for me. it's a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it.

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>> president obama heads in on a high note with i five-point jump at 47%. he is now in positive territory for the first time since july. is it enough to win reelection? let's bring in kristen welker in hawaii where the president

earned a holiday with his family. good day to you. you have been watching numbers and according to gallup, the magic number for an incumbent to win is about 48% approval. she in the right space, it seems. >> he is. he is right on the line and just to talk about that magic number, richard, according to gallup, since world war ii, 7 out of 10 incumbent presidents have won reelection and had approval ratings at or above 48%. save harry truman. his poll was taken in june before the reelection at 40%. george w. bush had 48% when he went on to beat john kerry. he is entering this new year on a positive note really. he just won a battle in that ongoing payroll tax cut fight. the economy is showing signs of life. these are all good things. having said that, this bounce could be short-lived.

we have to wait and see what happens. there is a lot of time between now and when the voters head to the polls. >> a lot of times when it comes to polling. some better economic numbers out today on confidence. what consumers are thinking. how will the president turn that into a victory? being the issue for the election. >> we have already seen him start to do this a little bit. he gave that speech in kansas and talked about the fact that the middle class was really the central issue. he is painting himself as a warrior for the middle class, trying to make the argument that republicans are not. you will likely see him reiterate that and give the state of the union address in january. as you say, good economic indicators coming out and the consumer confidence index at the highest level since april. the press poled three dozen economists who say they expect

to see the economy continue to improve in 2012. of course it all hinges on a number of factors including europe. what happens in europe will very much impact what happens here in the united states. the economy will likely set the tone for this election when voters head to the polls. >> just within the last couple of hours, we were watching an announcement by ben nelson from nebraska that he will not run for reelection. it's a tight balance of power in the senate. the democrats do not have a filibuster-proof number. what does it mean for the democrats? >> i think that the democrats are obviously not happy with this announcement. we are expecting an announcement or i should say a reaction from the white house. we haven't gotten that just yet. it's to say this is not going to be welcome news. they want to hold on to the majority in the senate. would like to win back the house if possible. this announcement certainly doesn't give them a lot of

confidence about the senate at least. they will be clearly ramping up the efforts to try to get that seat and other seats to turn blue. >> another opportunity for the republicans. kristen welker in the land of good sunshine and tasty food. thank you so much. >> absolutely. thanks. >> you bet. next congress gets rich. really rich. i wouldn't do that. pay the check? no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. hey, aren't you... shhh. i'm researching a role. today's special... the capital one venture card. you earn double miles on every purchase. impressive. chalk is a lost medium. if you're not earning double miles... you're settling for half. was that really necessary? [ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? cover for me. i have an audition.

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>> the do nothing congress is able to do one thing and that's get rich. while regular americans struggle to get by. the house members have risen 21 1/2 times since 1984. rather 2 1/2 times since 1984. let's bring in our editor paul singer who wrote about this and broke the story on jansing and

company. good day to you. >> i read all of your work there and really interesting stuff. another report showed that half of congress men are millionaires and i alluded to 200 millionaires in congress right now. >> that's right. there is a good chance that's an under estimation as well. keep in mind they don't have to report all the wealth they have on the disclosure forms. it could be close to the 3/4. >> that's a huge amount. "the washington post" also picked the up on the story and say the average wealth has gone from 280 over the last 25 years. what's behind that? >> they're an interesting take on the story. if you look back 25 years ago, the average member of congress was wealthy, but not -- there wasn't such a disparity. now the disparity is much, much

wider. the rich get richer and the consolidation of wealth is happening in congress as well as an industry in the rest of the economy. >> what's your thought here? that is $725,000. you bring up that point and the average american makes about $50,000. the question might be is the ability then for the representatives in washington, d.c. to really understand what the average american is going through day to day? >> the other problem is that you keep in mind, in order to be a member of congress, you have to be rich at this point. it costs $2 million to run for the average house seat in the middle of nowhere. it might run 30 or $40 million to run for a senate seat. you can't do that if you are joe six-pack working at the factory in off hours running for congress. there is this element to which we have to begin to anticipate that members of congress are going to be rich folks amongst us and not a common man. >> in order to be able to afford

the campaigns and the trend you have seen in the investigation, do you see that getting larger and larger? it seems like the data indicates that and we will see more of this. >> in fact the new crop of tea party members who came in last time, we saw the number i think 13 or 14 of the 50 richest members of congress are new members from the crop. tea partiers. because again they have to be wealth to run the campaign to get into office. both parties are recruiting wealthy people to uh because it's easier to fund by yourself. >> your reporting shows that gingrich would rank among the 50th richest if he returned to the house right now. where does he stand in terms of wealth? >> the wealth he claimed as a candidate somewhere in the range of $7 million worth of assets. again these are ranges. what's interesting is we dug up

the financial disclosure from the first term in congress and he claimed he no assets and the income had been $10,000. it gives you an idea of how his career in congress and washington made him a wealthy man. >> worry the strong occupy sentiment brewing this year and then we see the low polling numbers and we get this information that you have been doing research on, the wealth factor as that changed overtime. is it kick out the bums? what do you think? >> it's hard to engine. even if you kick out the bums, the other guy is probably rich also. this is the look at the presidential. obama has a not of money and romney has a lot of money and gingrich has a lot of money. they are all wealthy people. you can kick them out, but you probably replace them with wealthy people. >> appreciate it as always. >> thanks for the time. >> next, the day's top lines.

>> amazing number of people who want us to believe virginians ought to have the right to choose and shouldn't be restricted to two people with five candidates not having been put in. we will want that. çñ

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>> i approved this message. i will make government simpler and smaller and smarter. >> we are disappointed, but it was our fault. the people want us to believe virginians ought to have the right to choose and shouldn't be restricted to two people. >> they will have a good chance of winning it. >> dr. ron paul. more than 4,000 babies delivered. a man of faith committed to protecting life. >> i delivered babies for a living, but i also do an investment letter called the ron paul survival report. >> some of the stuff was insendiary saying in 1993 the israelis were responsible for the bombing of the world trade center and that kind of stuff. >> goodbye. >> if the weather is bad and it's tough to get out, ron paul will win. >> i don't have a problem. >> before you get any dollars from the government you drug test. >> we were out here and the

first bird up, boom, knocks it out of the air. so congratulations. >> our top lines. let's bring in two of our favorites. an associate professor at lehigh university and a blogger for the "huffington post." good day to both of you. let's start with you. ron paul, the new black walnut ice cream, his numbers are trending up. we have the newsletter controverciy that we were alluding to. it's been the better part of a week. how well is he handling this controvercy he? >> not well. i think republicans have many brand problems and one is this racial problem that you are referring to. you put that with rick perry's problem he has and the republican party has to recognize this is a country of changing demographics. unless they begin to modernize and understand diversity, they will be the party of angry white

men. i think this is as much a problem for the republican party as it is for ron paul. ron paul, his support is if newt gingrich is a mile wide and an inch deep, ron paul support is an inch wide and a mile deep. the libertarian sentiment and philosophy is catnip for many of the iowa primary voters. it's going to be very difficult for him to take that if he does well in iowa to take that to the bank. it doesn't translate in many states. he is a secret agent for mitt romney. to the extent he does well, gingrich is the only guy left standing. if gingrich goes down, romney has a clear path to the nomination. >> great points. i want to build off of the first that julian made about ron paul and about him being the flavor right now. chuck todd, our political director here said if you are still explaining it, alluding to the letters, you are losing it.

ron paul's answers, are they holding water or why hasn't he come up front and said no, this is not what i wrote and agree with. i do not want support from them. >> i think he needs to do a better job of handling this and you are right as is chuck todd. he needs to make a statement to capture the criticisms that are bundled up in the ways in which the newsletters have been rolled out. his supporters have done a better job of defending him than he has of defending himself. people were posting videos and i'm receiving quite a bit of e-mail from my appearance that i made on the same story. his supporters are rallying around him and trying to sort of defend him and talking about the things that people love. the catnip that he is talking about. there a lot of things in ron paul's policies that make him more appealing to more of a diverse base than the other republican candidates in the pool right now. it's an interesting dynamic. he would do well to come out and

sort of explain what his relationship is or was to the folk who generated and circulated the newsletter with his name on it. it's simple. >> at the moment -- go ahead. >> i am going to say when you pull on the threat, there is more behind it. you talked about the commends he made about the israelis and the world trade center in 1993. he made comments about gays and aids being -- it is cotajuous through saliva and when you pull on the thread, it's not just a guy who has libertarian philosophy, but is on the fringe. he's a doctor on the medical fringe. i think you pull on the fringe and ron paul goes that way. he looks good from afar, but when you look up close, he ain't so attractive anymore. >> to some. newt gingrich has been getting a lot of headlines as well.

he didn't qualify for his own home state. that's pretty embarrassing if you are a virginian. as rivals are starting to take shots, i want to play the clip played earlier that we alluded to. romney on the campaign trail is talking. >> compare that to -- i think it's pearl harbor? it's more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. you have to get it organized. >> we broke out the lucille ball video just for you, professor. did romney say that newt is a joke? >> listen. in some ways this entire republican presidential candidacy has been a bit of a joke. if you think about not just the mistakes and the miscues and the racism and all this sort of low level back biting and infighting we have seen, essentially what this reveals to us and about

this process is many of these candidates did not come in taking it very seriously. some of them came into this process purely for publicity reasons. obviously campaigns make mistakes, but when they are this e greejuous, we have to talk about the possibilities. this may have been a publicity run and now that he has become a front-runner, he had to change pace. the strategy can't keep up with the pacing in which things have unfolded for him. >> scrambling and you are alluding to the professor. as we look at the campaign in virginia, he is saying that they will mount a write in campaign that might appeal the decision, trying to get a new law on the books. should he give it up and move on? we are talking about 4% or 4.5% of the delegates needs to get the nomination here. >> this is the story line that many of his own republicans when he was speaker said he makes a good speech, but couldn't

organize his way out of a brown paper bag. this man wants to be president of the united states and has a campaign that cannot get the number of signatures to be on the ballot in virginia. this is a bad sign. particularly a bad sign for the money republicans who want to make decisions about contributions after that. >> if he ramps up, do you think he can make a difference later on in the race as he ramps up, taking that excitement and interest right now? could he make a difference later on? >> i don't think so. he's a roman candle and the stock is on the way down. >> professor, thank you so much. look forward to talking to you again soon. >> thank you. >> could rick santorum be the next black walnut ice cream. ?

seven days ago, candidates are planning what to do the day after and possibly moving on. hours ago on an iowa radio show, rick santorum said if he comes in last, he will be bowing out. >> if i finish dead last behind the back, i will pack up and go home, but i don't think that's going to happen. i think we will be very much in the mix and i feel good that we will surprise a lot of team in how we finish. >> who is the weakest link here? perhaps even perry. let's bring back james peterson. i forgot you were coming back. >> i'm glad you are still here. gingrich is losing because of his organization and takes energy with paul and he could be possibly the flavor of this

coming week. >> santorum will have an appeal and amongst the three, i don't agree with the policies of all of them, but he has a bit of experience and think he is the most articulate and believe it or not, the smartest amongst the three in the pool. i don't think he will come in dead last. i was conservative around this process and santorum will speak to them based on his philosophies. >> it is not santorum. it means winnowing. bachman, is she gone? >> what you see after the first week, new hampshire is after the primary. perhaps after that is what you see is they get voted off the island. there is lots of organization

and 10 tens of millions of dollars holding out to see what happens in iowa and new hampshire. and the money and the organization will go to mitt romney. the other candidates, michele bachmann has not been taken very seriously since the end of september. rick perry, the irony is he said he wanted to be the tim tebow of the campaign. tim tebow as a quarterback started to implode. >> here invoked him. >> this guy is radioactive. >> 30 seconds to you. what about huntsman? >> i think the most progressive of the group and the most presidential. that's why he remains at the bottom of the pack. >> now he can say goodbye. i appreciate it. >> thanks for having us. >> now for a check on the markets.

we have a market wrap for us. how is it going, brian? >> the three major indeces all in positive territory. slightly higher. not a lot of volume. this is the post holiday trading. the parent company of giant sears and k mart said it will be closing over 100 stores. poor holiday sales are being blamed. a 20% drop in the stock hitting the lowest level in three years. those are the biggest stocks of the day. back to you. >> it's a bit of a surprise to many. thanks a lot. >> you're welcome. >> we'll will have more for you. we'll be right back. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card.

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>> al qaeda is taking responsibility for the wave of deadly bombings across baghdad. the islamic state of iraq said it was behind the attacks that killed at least 69 people and injured 170 more. interestingly here however no mention was made of the

withdrawal of combat forces. evan coleman is a news terrorism analyst and senior partner at flash point global partners. evan, good to see you to give insight. who is this group? >> it is basically al qaeda in iraq. al qaeda was having serious publicity problems because they were killing a lot of innocent sunni muslims and they decided to rename their group. this is about as thin of a mirror as you can find. this is al qaeda in iraq. >> they're talk about the ministry of war and captives that are executed. here's a statement. the series of special invasions launched under the guidance of of the ministry of war to support the weak sunnis in the prisons and retaliate for the captives who were executed. who were they talking about here? >> lately there several individual who is have been high profile prisoners who were executed including foreign

fighters and was in fact the moroccan national executed the other day. it's al qaeda is trying to appeal now, both to support its foreign fighters and also to try to appeal to sunnis saying, we're defending your interests, we're defending your prisoners against the encoachment of shiites in iran. and that's exactly what they said in here, is that we are not going to stand by and allowing the mujahadin to wait and take over this country. we're going to be the bulwark against iran. >> this is always a concern when it comes to national security interests in the middle east. what does that communique tell us about iran's growing influence in iraq? >> well, at least it would seem now that al qaeda is trying to position iran as the next bogeyman. the u.s. is passe. the u.s. is already gone. the u.s. can't be used as a foil now to try to get support for al qaeda. so now al qaeda is turning its attention to iran and trying to

portray iran as the next bogeyman, the reason that al qaeda exists now is to protect the innocent sunnis against shiite encroachment. this is al qaeda in iraq. it's third generation al qaeda. the other generations have been wiped out. the guy that leads this now, baghdadi, people don't know anything about this guy. he never comes up in the media. >> is he worrisome? you just said he's nobody. >> well, look, he's a nobody. it's worrisome in the sense that this group can continue to destabilize iraq and continue to carry out suicide bombings, but i really don't think that we're going to be seeing an al qaeda takeover in iraq anytime soon. it's up to the iraqis now to kind of step up to the plate and finally take charge of this fight against al qaeda, but there's no doubt. i mean, al qaeda is a shadow of what it once was back in 2005

and 2006. >> hey, evan -- >> it is a ghost. yes? >> i know you listen to chatter. with the withdrawal of u.s. forces, 16,000 now only civilian forces exist there right now. what have you heard in terms of the charter there in these extremist communication channels? >> well, look, they're having a bit of a problem with this. they've been portraying this battle as a fight against the crusaders, the american crusaders, and now the american crusaders are gone. so some of these sunni extremists in iraq and other extremist are having a bit of difficulty now trying to frame why it is they exist, what is their purpose for existing? >> the narrative? >> yeah, the narrative, exactly. and i think you're going to keep seeing now iran coming up as that bogeyman, as the reason why there's a need for these insurgent groups, these terrorist groups to be active. this is how they're going to try to appeal to people. that's why it's so important for iraq's leaders to come together now and form a stable government and stop fighting with each other. so every time they fight with each other, they give a new

opening for a group that really should have no place in iraq. al qaeda should be dead. it is only because of the continuing quarreling between iraq's leaders that this organization still exists. >> evan, a lot of concerns there. a lot of opportunities for these groups that you're talking about. evan kohlmann, as always, thank you. >> thank you very much. next, will south carolina save newt gingrich? plus, we've got some live pictures coming from 30 rock. christmas is gone, but not the visitors. when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief? try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first...it's been re-engineered with micro-particles.

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all right. with all eyes focused on the iowa caucuses january 3rd followed by the new hampshire primary one week later, it's easy to forget the critical south carolina primary on january 21st, not too long after that. gingrich is way out in front of mitt romney by 38% to 21, with ron paul at 10% and rick perry tied with michele bachmann at

5%. right now, our nbc political reporter domenico montanaro joins us live from washington. look at nose numbers here, domenico. if gingrich does win south carolina, is it enough to ride to the nomination here? >> well, look, a whole lot of things can change. first, that poll, understand, was conducted over two weeks. so from december 6th to the 19th. while it's the latest poll that we have, a lot has changed for newt gingrich in that time period. probably not for the better. mitt romney's campaign and that super pac, restore our future, have just started going on air there. they're going to try to do to gingrich in south carolina what they're doing to him in iowa, and looks like has worked. just take him down. go negative. make sure that gingrich doesn't win. if newt gingrich can somehow pull off a south carolina, that can rejuvenate his campaign if he somehow doesn't win in iowa, but more often than not, we see the winner of iowa with little bit of momentum, trying to go into south carolina and do pretty well down there, richard. >> talk about the importance of south carolina.

i mean, if we look back in the gop primary in the palmetto state, going back to 1980, dating back to ronald reagan, if the gop candidate took that state, they went on to be the nominee. how important is that state? >> yeah, that's right. that's a key historical fact that we like to cite, the fact that since 1980, every republican nominee has won south carolina. even john mccain, last time, who doesn't exactly line up with south carolina. if you think about south carolina, it's, you know, it's 60% evangelical or born-again christians make up the gop primary. so how did john mccain win, you might ask? well, if you remember, fred thompson, who a lot of people kind of dismissed, he basically trailed mike huckabee everywhere he went. and i remember one of the huckabee surrogates saying to me, look at this, look at where all the votes are coming in, and he split all of that, all of that vote in the upstate and wound up giving the victory to john mccain with not a very high percentage. so anything can happen in south

carolina. that's why you hear a lot of people wondering whether or not mitt romney, you know, might play there. because it's going to be hard for romney. if he loses in iowa, wins in new hampshire, loses in south carolina, and then you come down to florida, which is a more expensive state, if he doesn't do well in florida, then all of a sudden, you know, we're looking at maybe a long primary race. but we'll see what happens. south carolina, though, is key. >> all right. thank you so much, domenico montanaro, appreciate it. >> thanks, richard. >> all right. thanks for watching. matt miller is nin for dylan ratigan to take us forward. good afternoon to you, matt. >> hey, richard. a action-packed hour ahead. we've got iowans and aliens. i'm serious. the show starts right now. the big story today, countdown to iowa. good afternoon. i'm matt miller in for dylan ratigan. one week to go until the official kickoff of the 2012 primary