5:30 a.m. television. what else you got? >> having trouble looking at myself in the monitor. we have richard in new tgio, thank god it's over. the campaigning in new hampshire until september. >> you know, you can rest at about 8:00 tonight when the polls finally close. you get some rest and wait four more years until these people traipse through your state again. how about one more, tower? >> karen in louisiana, still waiting for lsu to score. >> oh. you know i've got madelyn peters here, a huge lsu fan. the email was, still waiting for lsu to score. madelyn, mean, cold, wrong, and you'll hear more of that from joe scarborough. "morning joe" starts right now. hammering away at the clock right now. and richardson breaks free on

the sideline. end zone! how about that, finally a touchdown between these two. the eighth quarter of warfare, alabama gets a second chance and makes the most of it, they win the bcs championship, behind coach nick saban. >> when you see two s.e.c. teams playing tonight does it get you excited about south carolina and florida? >> yes, but it gets me excited about the two teams playing tonight. going back to bear bryant, i'm going to have to say, roll tide! >> roll tide, baby! good morning, everyone. it is tuesday, january 10th, it is primary day in new hampshire. >> coming to you live from jg's tavern in manchester. we have a huge show this

morning, including republican presidential candidates, rick santorum, newt gingrich, jon huntsman and with buddy roemer and with us, we have msnbc contributor, mike barnacle and john heilman, you must be tired. >> i team like i just saw you. >> down the street is the armory. i'm like an lsu running back. i run about a 5.2, 240. >> you made history. there's no question who the national champion is. >> i didn't want to bring it up. >> he wouldn't stay for the very last second to make sure that they won. >> fortunately tj is not in the shot. >> he's tj? >> we'll see highlights later. no, i don't know who gave me that, but i appreciate it. the great thing about this is, lsu is such a great team. >> i know the great thing. >> before this game everybody

was saying they may have had the best season, regular season in the history of college football. think if you look at who they beat, they certainly did. >> you be nice to madelyn over there, who is very upset, okay? >> i know they're a great team, they respect us, we respect them. >> she decorated a table and balloon and her team lost. >> you want to know the real excitement? the real excitement is that newt, two worlds colliding. newt in concord last night saying roll tide. we got it all right here in the granite state. newt is coming, we're going to interview him today. like you said, buddy roemer, a big lsu fan is going to be here. jon huntsman and there are a lot of people that are saying that huntsman, you can just feel that surge out there. >> there might be something that might happen with him tonight. >> the huntsman team is very excited. and rick santorum as well. >> coming in. so let's get to the headlines, it's round two in the race for the republican presidential nomination, with the iowa

caucuses now a distant memory, the six remaining contenders will hear from the voters in new hampshire today. just after midnight, the first votes were cast, and counted in dixville notch. a small town about 200 miles north of manchester. the tiny village kept tradition alive by being first to cast their ballots, with a population around 75, nine people came out to vote, six of whom supported republican candidates, mitt romney and jon huntsman topped the field, each receiving two votes, ron paul and newt gingrich got one vote apiece, and president obama took three votes in the democratic primary. but according to the latest suffolk university tracking poll, mitt romney still holds a commanding lead, with 33% support, he is 13 points ahead of his closest competition. ron paul comes in second with 20% support among likely primary voters, followed by jon huntsman, newt gingrich and rick santorum, all polling just over 10% for a statistical tie.

>> and buddy roemer, beating rick perry. >> there you go. what are you saying there? >> i'm saying go tigerers. you know, mike barnicle, if you look at the numbers, you see that if mitt romney is in the 30s, that's fine. if he's at 40, he just keeps going down one or two points a day. i will say this -- i think it does matter. that he somedays above 30, i think 29, 28 is a nightmare. you're starting to see people going to candidates, we went to an event last night. it seemed like the first real presidential event that we've been to. willie, mika and i were there. >> where was i? >> i don't know. i looked in every gutter. >> we don't really want to answer that question with ann watching this morning. but there were over 1,000 people

and mitt did pretty well. but there's still not that excitement. and in new hampshire always surprises, doesn't it? >> it was a big event. >> there's a lot less interest in this year's primary than there has been in primaries past. i think a lot of it has to do with the number of debates the candidates have. everyone has had such access to the candidates, because they debate three times a day every day over the course of three or four months, by the time they've gotten to new hampshire, i think most people like me, kind of cranky about them, saying get off my lawn, please. you know. >> like you say that every day, under any circumstances. >> i understand that, john. but romney in a sense, joe, is running against himself. he's running against what he did four years ago, he's running against the perceptions that we outline for him in the media. so i think, but he does have to finish above 30. i would agree with you there. >> we spend a lot of time talking to people in new hampshire. always fascinating. they take this very seriously, as they should. new hampshire, extremely important in the race, joe. >> no doubt about it. you see the news out of dixville

notch. it reminds me of the first time i really fell in love with politics. and i was reading teddy white's "the making of the president 1960." they talk about this, there is something about new hampshire, john, when you come up here, you know you are connected with people who understand politics. better than anybody else state by state across the nation. because it is, it is -- i had a man come up to me yesterday, shake my hand, said, my dad led you know, ike's campaign in '52. i mean it's just a part of the fabric of this great state. >> yeah people have an incredible historical memory here, they can recall all the great moments going back, on the democratic and republican side. and the sophistication that people bring to discussing issues, you know, it's a striking thing. i think people in iowa take this seriously. but you know, the new hampshirites earn their place every four years and it's always great to be back. >> and there's no cynicism.

i'll say that i was at a santorum event and people say i haven't made up my mind yet. i'm going to go home tonight, go on the computer and look at all the candidates and look at them issue by issue. it's not a flip thing where they're watching the press and decide who to vote for. >> that's why they states, iowa, new hampshire matter how much. you know how i say crazy never wins, i've been saying it nonstop. all the different candidates that rise up and fall down. these pretenders, i always know, and anybody that follows politics always knows, that at the last minute, before the final decision is made, they're going to have to look a new hampshire voter in the eye. they're going to shake an iowa voter's hands and they're going to have to convince them, these very serious people, that they're up to being president of the united states. >> well, and they're very open. i mean the people i talked to, independents i talked to yesterday said i voted for barack obama last time. i was inspired by his message.

i've since become disappointed by his performance. but i'm not locked into one candidate this was one day before the primary. >> a lot of people in that situation. >> i think the big question right now is does mitt stay above 30 and does jon huntsman catch ron paul. >> those are the two questions. >> i think all of us probably sense some movement towards huntsman. >> and the candidates are making last-minute moves to try to close the deal with the voters as the republican presidential field aims to take down the front-runner, they're waging a heated battle as joe said for second place. hours before the primary, mitt romney made a campaign gaffe that only intensified the line of attack against him. >> the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. it also means that if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. if you know if someone doesn't give me the good service i need, i want to say, i'm going to get somebody else to provide that service to me. >> yeah. >> you know it's a little-known

fact in american politics. for you kids at home, little known fact, but i'm going to let you in on a secret -- do not put the words "i like firing people" together on a campaign trail. because you know what? again, i know this, because i was in congress. you know what, heilemann, it doesn't help with swing voters. >> i don't think it helps with any voters. >> but obama now has, he has a lot of these quotes from mitt romney. going back to, talking about corporations and the markets crashing, let's let the markets go all the way down. >> it's a brutal greatest hits reel that romney is assembling. and somebody said yesterday, that you could hear david axelrod's tail wagging all the way to chicago when he said that. and the romney campaign points out and it's fair to say that in context, you know, he is talking about insurance companies there. the problem is that the statement, even the statement

obviously first problem is that it was ripped out of context, the statement sounds horrible. but even in context, he is, he is making it more general point. he's not saying, i like being able to hire and fire. he's talking about health insurance companies. he's saying i like being able to fire people who work for me. he says it with enthusiasm and glee. and it reads bad on the page. >> i understand what he's trying to say. >> yes, of course. >> but it sounds terrible. and of course, other candidates went after him yesterday. but this really feeds into what i find to be absolutely fascinating strategy on newt gingrich's part. he's going after him on bain capital. and i would guess that quote is going to be slipped into these ads. >> we'll see what happens today, but jon huntsman seized the moment on the comment, suggesting it makes mitt romney quote completely unelectable. >> let me say something before we start. and that is, that is it's become

abundantly clear over the last couple of days, what differentiates governor romney and me. i will always support my country first, it seems that governor romney believes in putting politics first. governor romney enjoys firing people. i enjoy creating jobs. >> as you know, i was speaking about insurance companies and the need to be able to make a choice. and my comments entirely reflected that discussion. you know, if you think that i should spend my entire campaign carefully choosing how everything i say relates to people, as opposed to saying my own experience and telling my own experience, that would make me a very different person than i am. i'm going to tell people my own experiences in life and i realize they're not the same as everybody else i speak with. but i'm going to tell you about myself. if people like that, great. if they want president obama, and a loss of two million jobs, a decline of median income in america by 10% and people looking at very difficult

prospects going forward, they can choose president obama. >> boy, you know -- >> all right. >> he's actually willie, geist -- i've got to say this the money quote here was, as he was trying to explain his first money quote, i like firing people, if people think that i sit around folks and i know how things are going to affect people -- i mean -- can somebody please tell me who in his campaign said he needed to start channeling rick perry? i don't think it's a good idea. >> i'm not sure that was helpful and that's the kind of the sequence, the original quote and the follow uch that gives fodder to "new york times" columnist who writes he's the boss that's firing people. the very symbol of the 1% who enjoys firing people. >> but he's fortunate in the sense that president obama and his re-election team would never take the quote out of context about firing people. they would never do that. >> actually, john, what these two clips do show is that mitt romney is great. i think he's been very good in debates for the most part. he's very good when everything is going his way. i think this is the first time

we've seen him really knocked off of his feet. and he didn't respond very well. i don't, there's not substance here. but it is a window into his ability to go head to head with barack obama. in the summer and the fall. >> and for a candidate who given the fact that a lot of the conservative base doesn't like him or trust him, he has turned largely to the electability argument, i'm the one who can best take on barack obama. now you hear jon huntsman drive directly to that point. he says look at his performance, this is not someone who can get to head with barack obama. that feeds the narrative that goes to his main selling point. you may not think i'm a conservative, but i can beat barack obama. nothing about that performance suggests the ability to go head to head with the president. his political team. that's why i think it feeds a narrative that's a problem for him as we get out of new hampshire and move forward. >> one of the super p.a.c.s can use that. as the next stop is south

carolina. the superpacs are ready to spend big in the palmetto state. the pro romney superpac restore our future, $2.3. and newt gingrich is dishing out $3.4 million in gingrich's south carolina advertising. the gingrich superpac announced it raked in $5 million from vegas casino billionaire, shelden adelson, the pro gingrich group unveiled an attack video calling romney a quote predatory corporate raider. the piece features interviews with people who lost their jobs as a result of romney's former employer, bain capital. >> mitt romney became ceo of bain capital the day it was formed. his mission, to reap massive rewards for hisself and his investors. >> mitt romney and them guys don't care who i am. >> mitt romney took foreign seed money from latin america and began a pattern, exploiting

dozens of american businesses. >> i feel that is the man that destroyed us. >> wow. >> mitt romney responded to the attacks yesterday afternoon in new hampshire. you want to hear his? i think we should play it honestly. >> we could, i could respond to it. i just, again -- >> let's see how you do. >> no, again capitalism has winners and losers, it does. you talk to a democrat like steve ratner, he will tell you that mitt romney took companies that were failing, either reorganized them, or took you know, closed the doors, and invested in companies that worked. and he created tens of thousands of jobs. he helped create staples. you know, i don't know much about bain capital. but ratner and other people tell me that mitt created a business from nothing. and made it very successful.

but again, this will work in the democratic party. this will work, if you're the president of the united states. >> it will fit right into the narrative. >> you want to be a pop lis and go to kansas and give a populist speech. >> off of that ad and off of what you said the romney defense of that whatever happened during bain capital days, all the president has to do is turn to romney in the state and say, okay, i have a simple question for you -- how much did you make and how much did they lose. >> and you know what i would say? if barack obama said that to me as a republican? i would say, you know what, i made a lot of money. you know why i made a lot of money? because i created a lot of jobs. i created a lot of jobs at staples and at bain capital. you know that's what separates you from me, mr. president. i know how to create jobs. you don't. >> and guess what it's the truth. guess what, barack obama has never created a job in his life.

i think mitt romney, i think if we live in an america where people don't believe they're going to be able to do bet anywhere the future, then i think barack obama's populist message works. but i still believe even as bad as this economy is, there are millions of americans like my mom and dad were, when they were unemployed in the early 1970s, that never once talked about, the boss at lockheed that fired them. that never once said, boy this is an unfair country. they were still preaching to me, every day, joey, work hard, get good grades, work harder than everybody else around you and you can succeed. >> off of that, let me ask you a quick question. in that context, economic populism, and this republican primary, how do you think mike huckabee would have done up here? >> i don't know about new hampshire, i think mike huckabee would have swept iowa, he would have swept south carolina and would have done great in

florida. i think he would be the odds on favorite right now. but mike huckabee never went quite so far as barack obama or some of these superpac ads. can i ask quickly. >> we have to go to break. >> john, is this newt gingrich's strategy moving forward? or is it more of the superpac strategy? >> i think it's newt's strategy moving forward. i think there's hilarious in a way that after grin grich has complained the last three weeks about romney's superpacs destroying him. now that he has $4 million it's fine for his superpac to do that to mitt romney and if you're going to attack somebody in a primary, you attack them from the other. from the farther right or from the farther left because that doesn't give the other party fodder in the general election to attack. newt is attacking romney here from the left. and as all said, setting up the obama campaign to take on gingrich. >> all i can say in my defense

of newt in the superpacs, if somebody punch immediate in the gut as much as mitt romney's superpac punched gingrich in the gut, i would come back and kick him in the face. and i would be wearing a boston bruins jersey when i did if and like it. we are going to talk to presidential candidates rick santorum, newt gingrich and jon huntsman and buddy roemer. after the break, mike allen is here with politico's top stories of the morning. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> i've been the one sitting there next to mike, the only one at the bar. good morning, everyone, in new hampshire, obviously today people are going to be heading to the polls, new hampshire, middle of winter, a little light snow heading your way, not a big deal. mostly up in northern portions of new hampshire. can you see the snow on the map in the white blowing through the adirondacks. snowshowers this morning, up to an inch, but then we clear out this afternoon, this evening, no

problem. temperatures by new hampshire standards are very warm. they wear shorts in new hampshire at 44 degrees in portsmouth. same goes for concord and manchester. the worst weather out there is in the deep south. texas had a lot of heavy rain overnight. including the dallas area. now we're going to watch airport delays with thunderstorms from new orleans to atlanta, birmingham, montgomery and right through mississippi. and enjoy a gorgeous day today from kansas city to chicago, about the end of it. finally it looks like the colder air is on the way over the next couple of days.

an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? i was 18 years old before i had my first fresh bun. the invention that i came up with is the hot dog ez bun steamer. steam is the key to a great hot dog. i knew it was going to be a success.

the invention was so simple that i knew i needed to protect it. my name is chris schutte and i got my patent, trademark and llc on legalzoom. [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

this doesn't seem like not the newt that i know. he's reaching out to undecided hispanic voters. created quite a stir.

quite a debate among the undecided hispanic voters. >> i see. do we have, do we have the videotape? >> yes. >> take a look and we'll talk about it. [ speaking foreign language ] >> they're so passionate about newt. welcome back to "morning joe." on primary day in manchester. >> senior political analyst, mark halpern and chief political correspondent for politico. >> happy primary. >> crystal football. >> it's exciting. >> handicap this for us this morning. we know mitt romney is going to win, what happens after that? >> big question, will huntsman sneak into second?

people are excited. one strategist says i'll buy awe drink in south carolina, they're looking forward to going ahead. it was only a few days ago when i think a lot of us doubted it would go ahead. >> we're seeing in new hampshire, a lot of independence. independents seem more excited about this race than republicans. we know it as the passion gap for any republican, let alone mitt romney. if huntsman sneaks up, that's how. >> the internal polls are showing a lot more independents engaged this time around. is that more about barack obama than it is about this republican field? >> well i think that's right and i think they're filling a gap. like even on local tv they're doing stories about how the businesses are smaller. candidates aren't here much. mitt romney hasn't been here that much, even though he has a house here. >> 40% of the voters in new hampshire are not republicans, they're not democrats, they're somewhere in the middle and a lot of them said, i don't know

yet. some of them voted for barack obama last time. they're looking for somebody new this time. the polls may not tell us much. >> jon huntsman is benefitting from what rick santorum benefitted from in iowa, late deciders. if you're looking for news coverage in the last 48 hours, you would say jon huntsman is place to park. no action on the democratic side, independents need a place to go. there's a reason, why did jon huntsman stake everything on this state? because he matches up temptermentally with the voters and huntsman has spent more time here than anybody else. >> what should we expect tonight, joe? >> the unexpected. we all remember back four years ago, all of us were saying good-bye to hillary clinton's campaign. she shocked the political world, came back, barack obama was up by 11, 12 percentage points in some polls. what that means with all of the independents, mike, you could have mitt romney, at 45%, you could have mitt romney at 29%.

jon huntsman could be at 15%. he could be at 28%. this thing could go. you know, a lot of ron paul supporters could decide to line up for him, and we have no idea how this is going to turn out. >> the polls in new hampshire have always been, you know, one barometer. but the weakest barometer, because you have the independents in new hampshire, has always been the story in new hampshire. ask john mccain in 2000, ask john mccain in 2008. it's the independents, where are they going to go today? more coming out for ron paul or jon huntsman? that's the story. >> going back to 2000, i remember being on the house floor and on the morning of the new hampshire primary, who is going to win? maybe mccain by one, maybe bush by one. nobody dared to say that either one would win by more than two or three points, john mccain wins by 19 points. anything can happen here. >> yeah, we'll see tonight.

>> the other thing to watch tonight is gingrich, what he says at the event that mika, joe, you and alex went to yesterday. we saw gingrich raising the curtain on his south carolina campaign, going very tough. and mitt romney saying mitt romney is going to have to have a long press conference, to answer these questions about bain capital. and mitt romney is going to have to explain the broken families and neighborhoods that bain capital left behind. >> these candidates have not been the best campaigns of all time. one thing you need to do on a night like this, whether you finish first or last, is use this moment in the spotlight when you give your speech to drive a message. mitt romney in iowa chose not to. he gave a version of his stump speech. whatever he does tonight, he would be smart to drive a message. same with gingrich and santorum, all of them. >> let me ask you about the news out of the white house yesterday, chief of staff bill daley stepping aside, making way

for jack lew what's behind the move? >> he didn't like them, they didn't like him. it makes sense to make the change. he went home over the holidays. i think he realized the consequences of losing the powers. they said he's chief of staff, but not in charge of the west wing. well, hello, that's the job. so jack lew, who an aide to tip o'neill, is going to repair relations with congress. the white house is hopeful about still -- >> let me ask you this, when are we going to start seeing the stories about a dysfunctional white house? >> they're there, this is it. >> and the fact of the matter is, this book that came out that was really a glowing portrait of the obamas, it missed the bigger story. and the bigger story is, that this president is a loner. and you've got the president, you've got the first lady, and you've got valerie jarrett. and everybody else, they just are extras. >> i think that's a little over

the top. i'm sorry. >> that is not. whether you're talking about rahm emanual, who is blocked out. whether you're talking about bill daley, who is blocked out. these aren't people who are new to politics. i want to know when this story is going to start being written. it explains why this white house is having trouble -- >> it's not like there's been some mass exodus. >> joe is right about this president's nature. you walk around new hampshire and you talk about obama campaigning here and he did the big events. he didn't do the personal connection. the romney campaign learned from that and or tried to. and tried to do more smaller events. but taking mark's point about the speech. barack obama did that. when barack obama in a surprise loss, the '08 new hampshire primary, he gave almost the exact same speech he would have if he had won. >> the word from inside the white house is that bill daley simply wasn't a fit. but it was his decision to leave and that jack lew, who has headed up omb twice is going to

be very dynamic fit for this position. so we'll see what happens. >> quickly, mark, do you buy that he left on his own, bill daley? >> this situation when there's so much incoming that it's put together dynamics between people? >> i'm telling you the reality inside the white house, that you and everybody else who has worked inside the white house -- >> we don't know what it's like in there. >> the yes, we do and fact of the matter is that this president is even more isolated than george w. bush and mark hall, that's frightening. >> he could get a budget deal, but he is not political. this is not james baker who is going to pull all the strings, run the white house and get the president re-elected. >> there are plenty of political people. >> it's a different model. chiefs of staff normally run the white house in a presidential year. >> thanks for a look inside the politico playbook. coming up, we join with newt gingrich. we'll ask him whether this photo

of mika on his campaign bus are killing his campaign chances. and a beat-down on the bayou, alabama's defense choked off lsu's offense. lsu crossed midfield once in the entire game. the number one team in the country, highlights of a historical great defensive performance, coming up when we return to jd's tavern. [ ma le announcer ] lately, there's been a seismic shift in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account

or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense? is another way to look at the bean. another way that reveals the lighter, mellower side of our roast. being blonde is nothing new, but blonde roast is something new. something subtle. something soft. something with 40 years of roasting experience on its side. introducing delicious new starbucks blonde roast. the lighter roast perfected. come to our tasting event this thursday to saturday and try it for yourself.

i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage.

the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go

this is a good one, you guys, the national debt has reached $15 trillion. the size of the entire u.s. economy. yeah, i don't want to say president obama is out of solutions for the debt, but today he tried handing it off to tim tebow. please, just do something. i can't -- you're the man. >> welcome back to "morning joe," live from jd's tavern here in manchester, new hampshire. today is all about politics. today is about the primary, but last night was about football. and the long-awaited rematch between top-ranked lsu, number two alabama, came down to a battle of defense. but it was really one defense that dominated.

and made them national champs. to the first quarter, no score here, alabama leading receiver, mays back to field a punt. makes a nice move, goes 49 yards, pulls up with a leg injury at the end of the play. looks like that might be a big play in the game. they lost him, he was done for the night. the first points of the game, you guessed it, a field goal. jeremy shelley makes it 3-0, alabama. the in the second quarter, lsu's defensive tackle michael brockrd with the big paw on it, still, alabama was up 9-0 on field goals at the end of the first half. holding lsu to 43 yards and one first down in the first half. after the half, mays on the sideline, told he couldn't go back in the game, crying. he wanted more than anything to play in this national championship game, but he couldn't go, aj mccarron, the sophomore quarterback hits kenny bell for a 26-yard gain, setting up another field goal. mccarron played great, 24 of 34,

234 yards, on the other side of the ball, lsu could not figure out alabama's defense. a terrible play by lsu quarterback george jefferson. he was under pressure. the receiver looking upfield to block for him. the desperation pass turns into an interception. tide turned that into another field goal to make it 15-0. in the fourth quarter, jefferson takes it 18 yards for a first down. why are we showing you this play? that was the first and only time lsu crossed midfield on offense all night long. didn't do much good. a few plays later, jefferson stripped daunte hightower. alabama sets up a final scoring drive. outfitting that guy, trent richardson, probably in his last game at alabama. run it is in for a 34-yard touchdown. the only touchdown in their two games this year. alabama wins 21-0, nick saban becomes the first coach to win three bcs titles, including the one he won at lsu in 2003. the team outgained lsu, 384 to

92 in total yards, held the number one team in the country to 92 yards, the first-ever shut-out in a national title game. jefferson, only 11 for 17 for 53 yards. lsu had not been shut out in any game since 2002. the crimson tide, no turnovers and only one penalty, a meaningless one on a punt late in the game. so here are the final numbers, joe. alabama, the number one team in the country, it's official, lsu finishes second, followed by oklahoma state, oregon and arkansas. if you look there, three of the top five from the same division in the same conference. what a year for the s.e.c. >> there's a great year for the s.e.c. and you know, lsu is a great team. they have one of the best runs in regular season. the alabama defense, though, historically, just historically great. never seen anything like it. i do wonder why jefferson was having so much trouble. i wonder why less miles didn't bring in jared lee. >> they were calling for him inside the super dome. the fans we were with last night

were calling for him and less miles didn't put him in. wouldn't it be fun next week to watch alabama play oklahoma state? and see if they could stop that kind of offense? let's add a plus one. >> i mean -- i want to be nice to the folks. i really do, but seriously, do you know right now the line would be 25, alabama. >> it would be fun to see, it would be fun to see. >> hey, look, there's a baby in the sports section. >> oh, wow. how exciting. we'll be back with buddy roemer and babies! ♪ i believe in dreams again

♪ oh, yeah ♪ 'cause i believe in you and me ♪ ♪ oh, boy ♪ i believe in miracles ♪ and i believe in you and me ♪ ♪ see, i was lost ♪ now i'm free ♪ 'cause i believe in you and me ♪

my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

all right. here we go. >> here with us now, former republican governor of louisiana, and residential candidate, buddy roemer. buddy, was just telling us what he's going to be doing today. he'll share it with the audience. and also joining the table, "morning joe" economic analyst, steve ratner. >> we're beginning to see the beginning of the buddy movement. the thing about rick perry, he raised $20 million, he spent $20 million. buddy, $25 here, he's ahead of perry in the polls in new hampshire. >> use the number. i've raised $315,000. with an average gift of $51.25. >> so you tell us right now, what are you hearing from the people of new hampshire? because we, we've been, we've been seeing you out and about. and people come up to you and they love you, they love your message. it's a good message. i'm just not well known.

but beyond me, the voters of new hampshire have saying they haven't made up their mind yet. 25% of the voters will make up their mind on way to the voting booth. this race is wide open. nobody has it locked. nobody. mitt romney is known by 100% of the people and he'll get 35 to 40% of the vote, that's it. he's at his ceiling. he will go down from here. >> what message do people need to hear from you, to make up their mind as they're watching the show today, to go vote for buddy? why vote for you? >> i don't think the people of new hampshire count any more. i think the big money special interests own washington, d.c. and the people who don't see it at all, are the citizens of washington, d.c. every time i go to that town, they act like everything is okay with america. well, it's not. small businessmen have no chance, joe. they are overregulated, they're burdened with uncertainty. they have no chance. the department of commerce

doesn't represent small business. it represents six giant corporations. we're losing $500 billion a year in international trade and the president doesn't say one darn thing about it. >> why don't the people of new hampshire matter any more? explain that? >> well rick perry does a fly-over debate. he's not here. he ought to be here. he has some positive things to say. why not say them in new hampshire? this is the first election in the country. it's not a caucus. live free or die. live free or die. live free or die. new hampshire. >> is it about the 30-second commercials, the superpacs? is that what you think is threatening representative democracy? >> for a decade and longer, new hampshire has meant more than a television commercial or a radio spot. it's been a place where a voter can meet you eight times and come close to making a decision. they make fun of themselves that

way. it's retail. retail. but there are two events in this campaign unlike anything i've ever seen. there have been 18 nationally-televised debates and the superpacs are running the show. it is disgraceful. to watch mitt romney, jon huntsman and the other superpacs talk about, oh, they don't have anything to do with their superpac. it's a lie. this election is corrupted. by superpacs and big money. >> well the rules are flawed, what are they supposed to do? are they supposed to sit back or are they supposed to engage? >> well i'm old-fashioned, when there's a problem and you're in charge, you ought to leave if you're running for president, you ought to lead. you ought to stand for something. and i challenge mitt romney and all of these other folks, to stand up for america.

>> steve ratner? >> governor, what's wrong with having all of these debates? >> i didn't mean to criticize the debates. i like the 18 debates. i think voters know more about the candidates. i know more about the candidates. i like that -- >> you just want to be in them? >> i would love to be. >> that would be nice. >> it might be a better debate. i could fall flat on my face. i'm the only guy running who has been a congressman and a governor. i've actually balanced a budget. i've built a billion-dollar bank. i've been to china more times than there are people in this room. i know what the process is. and i'm telling you. it's flawed and corrupted. special people get special favors. how about the average american who gets nothing. >> john heilemann. >> you know governor, we've talked before and i like your

message, i wish more people had heard it, i wish you were in the debates, i wish a lot of things. at some point, the question becomes for you, if you continue doing this, even if you're a message candidate if the message isn't getting out, people aren't hearing you for whatever reasons, how do you change the dynamic to break through in some way. besides coming on the show, which i know is a game-changer, how else -- how else can you change the dynamics so you can break through? and if you can't break through, when do you finally just say, look, i'm beaten. i could keep spinning my wheels forever, but this is not going anywhere. >> there is an audience for this message right now. i'm low in the poll numbers. but my direction is good. i'm adding to the message and the messenger. i'll give you an example. the last eight days, we raised more money than any time in this campaign. your show helps. i'm telling you, you're a lot more popular than you think you

are. people watch this show. >> popular? not true. [ cheers and applause ] >> i'm good with my popularity level. >> that shows just how popular he is. >> you raise a lot of money in small amounts when you come on the show. >> look, i need to be heard. i miss the debates, i didn't mean to criticize them. i think if you look at who should be in the debate, how about a guy with a record? how about a guy with experience? how about a guy who thinks we need fair trade with china? not unfair trade. how about a guy who thinks of the job of a president is to stand up for the working people and small businesses of america? you talked about obama being absent, not in touch. you know why? he's out raising $1 billion, joe. he doesn't have time to talk to anybody. unless you have a big check. is that the kind of country we're in?

>> well, you didn't answer the question, though. how can you change the dynamic to break through? and if not, when do you give up? >> the reason i didn't answer is i'm not sure. i mean it's as honest as i can be. >> boy, he sure looks like an america's elect candidate. if he doesn't break through here, third party, 50 states this message, i think you could ring out, willie. governor of all of these candidates. >> you say they're offensive and corrupt. which is the least offensive candidate. in other words, in other words if you don't win the nomination, is there someone in this field you could get behind to challenge the president? >> not yet. and they're not offensive. and they're not corrupt as individuals, they are gaming a system that is corrupt. i want to make very careful about that. and i would say that in a debate right in front of them. i think mitt romney is not leading. what's happening is wrong. it is a lie. he's wrapped his money in a lie. and i see john huntsman, funded by his father, i like father and

son. but it ought to be done legally. i mean, these are the kinds of questions america is in trouble. i love america. but it's in decline. and we need to look at our system. it's a system run by the very wealthy or the very powerful. and big checks. i have a thought. we can do better as theodore roosevelt said. is the republican party a party of privilege and wall street? or of plain people who build a great nation? i think that's where we are. >> there you go. >> buddy roemer. >> i stand on reform. >> buddy roemer, thank you so much for being with us. may the checks roll in. >> let's bring in rick santorum, newt gingrich and jon huntsman. you're watching "morning joe" on primary day, live from manchester, new hampshire. daddy, come in the water!

somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the pool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone.

just a second. just, just one second. ♪ what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep.

♪ tell me what you really mean ♪ do you know what you want? ♪ while beating up on yesterday ♪ ♪ rolling on, moving on [ female announcer ] the space of a small suv.

and more ways to connect to your world. ♪ do you know what you are? the all-new prius v from toyota. ♪ do you know? but for some of us with overactive bladder, our pipes just don't work as well as they should. sometimes, i worry my pipes might leak. but i learned there's something more i can do. now, i take care with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain, or become constipated for three or more days. vesicare may cause blurred vision, so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks.

common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. so why wait ? ask your doctor today... ... about taking care with vesicare. but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromise on taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the typical financial consultation ttd# 1-800-345-2550 when companies try to sell you something off their menu ttd# 1-800-345-2550 instead of trying to understand what you really need. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we provide ttd# 1-800-345-2550 a full range of financial products, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 even if they're not ours.

ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and we listen before making our recommendations, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so we can offer practical ideas that make sense for you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck, and see how we can help you, not sell you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 mitt romney became ceo of bain capital the day the company was formed. his mission? to reap massive rewards for himself and his investors.

>> mitt romney and them guys this he don't care who i am. >> mitt omni took foreign seed money from latin america and began a pattern exploiting dozens of american businesses. >> i feel that is the man that destroyed us. >> okay round two in the race for the republican presidential nomination begins today. welcome back to "morning joe." live from manchester, new hampshire. joining us now are msnbc political analyst and visiting professor at nyu and former democratic congressman, harold ford junior. >> roll tide. >> roll tide. and msnbc political analyst and forumer chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele is with us. and still with us, steve ratner and mike barnicle. shall we go straight to the polls? let's go to the latest, suffolk university poll as we look at primary day here. mitt romney, still holding a commanding lead in that. he's 13 points ahead of his challengers with 33% support.

ron paul coming in second with 20% support among likely primary voters. they're followed by jon huntsman, newt gingrich and rick santorum polling just over 10% for a statistical tie. buddy roemer and rick perry round out the field, both polling in the very low single digits. >> you look at the numbers and mitt romney clearly far ahead, he's got 13 points, but we've talked about this before, any politician running for office, michael steele, is looking at one thing, and that is, trend lines. >> the right. >> and this isn't a knock against mitt. he's got the best organization. i think he's in great shape. but you look at the fact that he started at 40 and then 39 and enthen 38. i'm casting no judgment on what's going to happen here. i'm telling you if i'm a front-runner that started the week at 40 and ending up at 33, i'm nervous. >> you've got to notice, particularly when you see where the trend line is leading, it's leading to folks like huntsman. and certainly santorum has lost

a little juice obviously coming out of iowa in the short period of time. but still he's got enough to play. and i think right now, i think the number tonight for romney is going to be a lot less in terms of you know, what people expect him to get. >> if he's in the 30s, he's okay, right? >> he's okay, 32, 33%, that's fine. but the number two is going to mean a lot for south carolina. if it's close between the top and mitt and mitt and whoever, it's going to be a real problem. >> it will be tough after iowa. as you pointed out last hour, joe, new hampshire can surprise the nation. let's take a look at the cbs news/national poll. that shows an overwhelming 49% think mitt romney has the best chance at beating president obama. that's up 12 points from last month. newt gingrich is in second place, dropping 18 points since december. when the same group of republican primary voters was asked which candidate they expect to become the republican presidential nominee, romney's support jumps to 55%. newt gingrich, a disant second,

46 points behind. >> if you look at the matchups, harold ford, newt gingrich nationally is still strong. he's still five, six points behind mitt romney on the head-to-head matchup. this race, is not over. especially if mitt doesn't get into the 30s. >> john heilemann said it well yesterday. he said when you have a candidate like newt gingrich who has been speaker, name recognition high, he can hang around longer than most people can. but if you're mitt romney, tough feel well where you are. he's not only polling high, the majority of the republicans, and even the majority of americans believe he has the best chance to defeat barack obama. his problem is how do you appear to be athentic when you may not be. how do you appear not to be a flip-flopper. the challenge is if he comes out of here, goes to south carolina, wins south carolina, how do you come out of there and convince voters across the country that not only that you can beat

barack obama, but you can be an authentic president that people can trust. >> you would feel good right now if you were in mitt romney's position, you start at 40 and lose to 39, 38, 36, 35, he's at 33 right now. and the daily tracking poll? >> i think the chairman has it right. >> i would be climbing the wall. >> but if you drop below 30, you have to be worried. but if you stay where you are, you live to fight another day in south carolina and you hope you get the floor and hope you win. >> mike barnicle, everybody is going to assume after iowa, new hampshire, if mitt does well here, it's over. we're going south after new hampshire. you look at newt's national numbers, he's still only four percentage points behind mitt, despite an unprecedented barrage of attacks against him. >> he's going south of sheldon adelson's money. keeping him on tv. but he also happens to be the death wish candidate for the republicans. nationally. if you get the nomination,

president obama would be doing handsprings, he would be cheering. the thing about today, it's going to be the second-place finish. and it's going to be based on 68, gene mccarthy, finish second, claiming victory. '92, bill clinton lost to paul tsongas, he became the comeback kid. so however finishes second, depending on his statement tonight, you know, finishing second, we really won, he, he could provide romney with a real tilt down the road. >> so much depends on ron paul, mika. ron paul sitting at 20% right now. is that ron paul's ceiling? are we going to see people move away from ron today, because they think huntsman has a better chance of beating romney in the long run? that's the big question mark. two big question marks. where does huntsman end up and where does romney end up? and that's wide divergence of opinion out there. >> you talk to people on the

ground and you get a sense that something could happen that is very unexpected. we should talk, we bumped in with an ad, a pro gingrich ad going after mitt romney and his history at maine. firing people. and let's add to this, there was that gaffe yesterday where he said he likes firing people. it was taken out of context. but there's now a superpac ad, the pro romney superpac, restore our future has made a $2.3 million ad buy in south carolina. they're fighting back. the gingrich superpac, winning our future, is dishing out $3.4 million, to gingrich's south carolina advertising. this weekend, the gingrich superpac announced it raked in $5 million, from vegas casino billionaire, sheldon adelson. so even though newt gingrich feels he was a victim of superpacs in iowa, he's got some friends standing up for him. >> if you're a boxer in the ring and you get punched in the face five times, i hope you learn to

punch back. he's getting them up and he's punching back. >> i'm not sure i want to see that. >> of course you don't. i do want to see mitt romney's gaffe yesterday. >> okay. >> and you know, a lot of times you can make a gaffe and it doesn't hurt you, because it doesn't feed into a narrative, a negative narrative against you. >> this one does. >> i've got to say he had two gaffes yesterday, the original gaffe and then the gaffe explaining the first gaffe. >> oh, come on. >> that both unfortunately for mitt, even taken out of context, feed into a very damaging narrative. let's play the first gaffe. >> insurance company, well have an incentive to keep you healthy. it also means that if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. if someone doesn't give me the good service i need, i want to say i'm going to get somebody else to provide that service to me. >> you know i was saying, we have run for congress before, there are some secrets of the trade. secret number one, you don't say

"i like firing people" secret number two, you don't explain your statement that you like firing people. this way. >> let me just say something before we start. and that is, that is, it's become abundantly clear over the last couple of days, what differentiates governor romney and me. i will always put my country first. it seems that governor romney believes in putting politics first. governor romney, enjoys firing people. i enjoy creating jobs. >> okay. you played the wrong clip. that was huntsman responding. here's the clip of mitt romney trying to explain himself as to why he said he liked firing people. >> as you know, i was speaking about insurance companies and the need to be able to make a choice and my comments entirely reflected that discussion.

you know, if you think that i should spend my entire campaign, carefully choosing how everything i say relates to people, as opposed to saying my own experience and telling my own experience, that would make me a very different person than i am. my own experiences in life, i realize they're not the same as everybody else i speak with. i'm going to tell you about myself. and if people like that, great. if they want president obama, and a loss of two million jobs, a decline of median income in america by 10% and people looking at very difficult prospects going forward, they can choose president obama. >> of course, harold, the money line there, if you think i am going to focus on what i say and how it affects people -- again, another mistake. this again, two gaffes that feed into a negative narrative. but you add on top of that that newt gingrich is about to spend $3 million, making mitt romney look like he's insensitive to workers. this could be pretty

devastating. >> clearly, the front-runner in the republican party is going to have to understand the question he's being asked and be careful about the answer. that will be used again and again. >> that's not good, is it? >> that will be used again and again in general election if he's the nominee. i've got to think that mr. axelrod and mr. plouffe and president obama are going to continue to ask questions and they're going to continue to use that kind of footage against your party and -- your party. >> i heard you. >> especially hosting a three-hour show live every day with now a seven-second delay. i don't think you're one to criticize. i'm just saying. i'm sorry. mr. f-bomb. i mean -- how does that compare to speaking mandarin in the debate. now seriously looks like a candidate who can connect with the issues of the day. so don't make fun of these guys. >> those were both terrible mistakes. >> that was not a terrible mistake. >> you don't speak mandarin in a debate.

>> mitt romney -- >> oh, stop it. >> michael steele, let me ask you about what we just heard here, okay? >> all right. what we heard was mitt romney, first of all saying that he liked firing people. a mistake he followed up with, does this show he may not be as light on his feet as agile as a lot of people have been talking about? we've all been saying how much better he is now than four years ago. >> that's true, but i still think there is a certain stiffness about him. when he gets in these situations, and he's searching for the right way to say it. the only right way to say it that comes from here. and you know, if you make that first mistake, you don't explain it by detaching yourself further from people. which is what the second line does. and i think for mitt, that's again, i get back to the bottom line. no matter how you cut it, 25% solution is not the right solution. and a lot of the debates feel

that way, he's got to make that connection. you can win these primaries and get the numbers going in your direction. but in november, when this fight is on, and we're looking toe to toe, standing toe to toe with the president, you better have the passion in your heart to pull people, those independent voters, who are sitting on the fence going, the last four years have sucked. i have not liked it. i have lost my job, i have been unemployed, i've been trying to get myself together. >> it's like mccain saying the economy is strong. it's the wrong words at the wrong time. >> he has to pull that. he still hasn't pulled that part of the lever yet. >> newt gingrich wasn't the only candidate to be hitting romney on his record in the private sector. rick perry seized on comments that romney made on pink slips. >> i've learned what it's like to sign the front of a paycheck, not just the back of a paycheck and to know how frightening it is to see if you can make payroll at the end of the week. these are experiences that many of you, that many of you know. i know what it's like to worry whether you're going to get fired. there were a couple of times i

wondered whether i was going to get a pink slip. >> i have no doubt that mitt romney was worried about pick slips, whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out. because his company, bain capital and all the jobs that they killed, i'm sure he was worried he would run out of pink slips. >> let's talk about bain capital. steve ratner, bain capital, we have a few republican candidates that are channeling barack obama, teddy roosevelt and the kansas speech. and newt gingrich especially going to hammer mitt romney on bain capital. is it a fair charge? >> look, it's quite extraordinary to see a champion of free enterprise, which newt gingrich puts himself forward as being, challenging a really terrific firm that mitt romney set up. that does good work, it invests in companies, it makes money for its investors. it's not perfect. mitt romney has allowed himself to get boxed in on the 100,000 jobs stuff. he's allowed himself to get boxed in on the fact that yes,

some people have lost jobs. but bain capital is a terrific firm, there's nothing wrong with that. >> he belt it from scratch. >> he built it from scratch. it's very well respected. it has created some jobs. i don't know how many. but his job was not to create jobs, his job was to invest money on behalf of a lot of endowments and foundations and pension funds and he did it incredibly well. >> there are some, newt gingrich is one of them, who says i'm all about capitalism. but this is predatory capitalism. where you suck all the money out of a company, kill it and reap the rewards of that. is that a fair charge? >> i don't think so. there are cases in the history of bain capital where they did something that you could describe as that. but for the most part they were investing money in companies. yes, some people were getting fired because their job was to make the companies more efficient and more profitable. that is what capitalism is all about. but to sort of lump them in with sort of this idea of a corporate raider, a gordon gecko type who

just went in and stripped companies, that's really unfair. >> we'll see, and we'll see whether this works with the republican voters. >> guess what we have right now? huntsman on block. republican presidential candidate, jon huntsman joins us in manchester and also ahead, patty kay and eugene robinson, you're watching "morning joe." [ male announcer ] is zero worth nothing? ♪ imagine zero pollutants in our environment. or zero dependency on foreign oil. ♪ this is why we at nissan

built a car inspired by zero. because zero is worth everything. the zero gas, 100% electric nissan leaf. innovation for the planet. innovation for all. for just a little money? let's start with a paint we know can do the job. new glidden duo paint plus primer. ♪ one coat does double duty. ♪

and fits our budget perfectly. so there's a brand-new room right where the old one used to be. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. new glidden duo paint plus primer only at the home depot and starting at only $24.97 a gallon.

i would be kind of pissed, if i were barack obama. i mean, i give this guy a job, he's over in china, supposedly representing my administration,

when you know that the whole time he's, you know, a good part of the time he's planning to run for president. he's got this whole, this thing did not come up organically, that's not way the it works. and all of a sudden he lands back in the united states and there's a presidential campaign. and it's waiting for him. i'm sure he knew nothing about that when he was in china. i wonder about huntsman's integri integrity. my bigger issue is why was he being disloyal to the president while he was working for him? that's a bigger question. >> all right. that's governor chris christie on sunday night at an event at the university of new hampshire, attacking jon huntsman. with us now, former governor of utah and republican presidential candidate, jon huntsman. >> chris christie, should know you do not attack a man wearing a leather jacket. look at that leather jacket. >> good to have you object the show. >> what are you feeling? >> i'm still picking up votes.

i told folks back here i'm going to arm-twist shamelessly right up to the finish line, because we take this very seriously. >> we want to talk about what's happening in the field right now, let's start with the chris christie criticism. you talked about it a couple of days ago. we had chris in. and to be fair to chris, he was responding to a question. he didn't just come out, come to an event to attack you. but he did say it was a question of your integrity. that you were planning to run for president while you should have been doing the business of the people of the united states and china. how do you respond to that? >> i think it's a perfect example of the establishment running scared. truly. i served my country in china, i put my country first, governor romney established that he puts politics first in the debate. i moved my family to china. we gave it our all. i served overseas, right to the finish line. we came back, we took a look at the lay of the land and thought,

this is a country in need. you have a choice. if you've been twice elected governor, lived overseas four times, served three times as an ambassador, raised some great kids, you say you can stand on the sideline and watch it play out, or you can do as teddy roosevelt used to advocate, you can get in the arena and broaden and expand the debate and try to help your country. that's who i am and that's why we're sitting here today. >> i would say, let's talk about where you're sitting today. as we go out, and i think a lot of people are hearing the same thing out there. you have a lot of independents that are going to be voting today. and a lot of those independents are talking about jon huntsman. are things breaking your way at the last minute? sorry to ask such a tough question -- >> that's very rude. >> that's what we're hearing. >> so is dixville notch a harbinger of things to come? yes, it is. >> you know, let's face you know, the mathematical reality.

we've got to convince people who supported barack obama last time to support us. if we're going to win the presidency. that means you're going to have to get some independents. that means you're going to have to get even some democrats. what i love about the new hampshire primary is you can come in here, you can get republicans, you can get independen independents, make pick up a few democrats. you come out of here with a head of steam and you speak to the issue of electability. that's what we take out of new hampshire. if you can establish that electable model here in new hampshire, you're going to have to do it over and over again, because you've got to win independents, you've got to break out from the one-party structure to win this election. >> you've been here working door to door in a lot of town halls for many weeks now, why is mitt romney so far ahead of you? >> he's a home boy, he's been here for a whole lot of years. >> can i just say for the record, you're the first person who has ever called mitt romney a home boy. go ahead. so you say mitt romney is a home boy. >> i teed that one up for joe,

how do you like that. you serve in the neighboring state as governor. you've got a lot of advantages in terms of naem recognition. and i think name recognition drives the polling to some extent early on. and then you know what happens? you get to the last 24 to 48 hours of the campaign and people stare down that ballot box and they say name recognition, great, but now i've got to make a decision about who can actually be president of the united states of america. they look at the ballot box and say who's got the background, who's got the credentials, who has the track record and the vision to bring it to america. and the guy i saw at a town hall meeting. >> the guy who won't leave us alone in new hampshire. >> the guy who -- >> the guy who is now speaking with the new hampshire accent, for heaven's sake, he's been here so long. >> you've put all your eggs, in this basket in the state of new hampshire. i think you visited iowa once. it was all about new hampshire for you.

>> for one of those silly debates. >> the if you do well here, let's say you come in second or a close third, do you worry about next steps, given the fact that you haven't looked far ahead to a place like south carolina or florida. what will your finances be like? will you call on more money from your father to push forward? >> why would my father want to do something. he's a humanitarian. last time i looked, politics doesn't fall into the humanitarian campaign. >> he's put in some money. >> i've put in a little bit. he's put in a little bit. others from outside have put in a little bit. but here's the deal, like if you were a stock trading on the stock market. if you exceed earnings expectations people invest in you. so we have to prove that we are electable coming out of new hampshire. if we can exceed market expectations, people are going to invest. because they will see we're worth investing in, worth volunteering for and that helps us down-market as we move into south carolina. >> do you worry that people in south carolina don't know you well enough because you haven't

been there? >> we have a great organization on the ground, we have little name recognition. can you get name recognition quickly in south carolina? of course you can. absolutely you can. once you come out of new hampshire, the ball game changes and people begin to look at you differently, as someone who can in fact be elected. the electability thing is worth a whole lot in terms of financial contributions. >> let's talk about electability and mitt romney. yesterday governor romney made this comment about how he liked to be able to fire people who provide services for him. you hit him yesterday, but not as hard as your chief strategist, our friend john weaver who said mitt romney was a flip-flopper. made a lot of harsh charges in a public statement released by the campaign. compared him to john kerry. john weaver, your chief strategist said he is unelectable. this is a bad party for the republican party. do you go that far on governor romney? >> i would say when you make

comments like i heard yesterday, when you combine a record of uncertainty, running first as a senator, as a liberal, governor as a moderate, then as a conservative for the presidency, people wonder where your core is. and i believe trust is going to be a centrally-important theme in this election cycle. people want a leader who can be trusted. >> a big part of the debate now is his record at bain capital. what did he do when he was at bain capital that you find troubling, specifically? >> well i'm not going to quibble with bain capital. because he can quibble with my record in manufacturing in business. but i will quibble with what he did as governor. because i think that's more jermaine and relevant. how did he governor his state from an economic standpoint. >> so you think that the speaker gingrich going hard in the superpac going hard after his record at bain, making an accusation about destroying jobs and hurting people. that's a debate you're not going

to engage? >> newt can do whatever he wants on that. it's a free market of discussion. i think it's more relevant to the voters what he did when he was an elected official. in office he had control of the levers of power. what did he do in terms of tax reform? nothing. he raised taxes on business. what did he do in terms of improving the prospects of people in the marketplace. he left, massachusetts was 47th in the nation in job creation. i say i'd love to compare and contrast my record in utah. flat tax, historic tax cuts, number one in job creation, health care reform without a mandate. education reform, second voucher bill signed. i like when people begin looking at our record. it's not in the private sector, because people scrutinize that, as they will, as they should. but when you serve publicly as an elected official, carrying the hopes and aspirations of people who put you in office. >> are you a conservative? >> absolutely, i am. >> are you the most conservative person in this race? >> my record would speak to

being a consistent conservative. if you're looking for -- >> more so than anybody else in this the race? >> pro life, always have been. pro second amendment. with a name like huntsman, you have no choice, anyway. pro growth, largest tax cut in the history of my state. second voucher bill in this nation for education, i endorsed the ryan plan. i don't think you get any more consistently conservative with that kind of record. >> i think the record states that "the wall street journal" said it. the "national review" said wonderful things about you. eric erickson said it. they complained when you launched your campaign, when everybody was looking at you, you wouldn't even call yourself a conservative. you tried to paint yourself as a moderate. do you think that was a tactical mistake off the top? >> here's the deal with me. i have a hard time with people putting labels on your forehead. i don't go around calling myself something based on labels. i put forward ideas, i put forward a vision. i put forward a sense of trust for the voters. i'm not into labels, i'm not

into tags. people will assign you something based upon where you've been, what you've done. >> you called mitt romney, sir, a home boy. >> i teed it up for you this morning. like he teed it up for everybody else yesterday. >> give us a prediction, do you hit 20%? >> i'm not going it play that game. all i'm going to say is you all have some of the best of the pundit class sitting here. >> look at this group. >> they're going to set expectations about our performance tonight. and the reality is we've got to do a little better than they say we're likely to do. if we can exceed the marketplace expectations with the help of people sitting in this cafe and beyond, we're going to do great. it will allow us to head out of new hampshire with a head of steam, toward south carolina with the momentum, the enthusiasm and the goodwill of the people of new hampshire. >> you want to go meet some voters? we have a who whole room full. thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen, jon

huntsman. still ahead we have republican presidential candidate newt gingrich joining the conversation. what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c'mon, it's not that... gahh, oh yeah that's gotta go... priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return.

i was strong before weight watchers, but i'm stronger with it. i believe because it works. ♪ if you want it, you got it join for free. weight watchers points plus 2012. because it works.

it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a $3 coupon.

heee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! the same technology used by physical therapists. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! pure adrenaline. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! gee, i thought he apologized for going after my record at bain. wasn't that just a couple of weeks ago? so he apologized for that and now he's decided to make that a centerpiece? well i'm not going to worry about that. as we'll find out free

enterprise will be on trial. i thought it was going to come from the president and the democrats from the left. but instead it's coming from speaker gingrich and apparently others and that's part of the process. i'm not worried about that. i got broad shoulders and i'm happy to describe my experience in the private economy and the fact that if you take all of the businesses that we invested in over our many years, over 100 different businesses that collectively, they net-net, added over 100,000 new jobs. >> mitt romney defending himself. host of msnbc's the last word, lawrence o'donnell with us and we have washington anchor and world news america, katty kay with us and pulitzer prize-winning columnist and social editor of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson. >> lawrence o'donnell. it's about to get very interesting, newt gingrich is go to put bain capital and mitt romney on trial. what's your take? >> let me see what the "new york times" says about that, joe.

because i take my dictation from the "new york times." what does it say. >> it says -- mr. gingrich, who is fighting to keep his presidential aspirations alive. it's, it's a fascinating dilemma for them. rick santorum last night was invited to join this and he didn't. he was on fox news. and he said, just like jon huntsman did here, i'm not going to go there. and it's just fascinating to see republican like gingrich doing it. it makes gingrich the pat buchanan of this campaign. pat buchanan loosened support for president bush when he was running for re-election up here. that's what allowed bill clinton. >> he did tremendous damage to president bush's re-election campaign. damage to that the clinton campaign profited from. i believe that's what you're seeing here now. >> katty kay, if you talk to george w. bush now, he will still say what pat buchanan did with the economic populist message did in '92, helped defeat his father. could newt gingrich really

damage mitt romney with this economic populist message. >> he will say it was pat buchanan and not bill clinton that beat him in '92. he's handing ammunition to the white house. they're sitting there in washington loving what's happening here. >> does it help the republican party? i wonder? >> maybe in south carolina. >> the only scenario i'm wonderi wondering, you've seen it, i'm struck that something that wasn't here four years ago hand that's all the protesters, we didn't see the occupy protesters banging on the windows and i wonder whether newt is thinking in this checked economic climate, the post-crash environment, the kind of occupy mood of the country, he can tap into something that will make mitt seem out of touch with the rest of america. >> i don't know if it works, but it's a different environment. >> when we got elected in 1994 with a gingrich majority. half of the class was medrock

conservativist. and the other half was populists, you are putting capitalism on trial. >> you came in with newt gingrich, so you know newt gingrich. newt gingrich, this is personal for him. >> but newt wasn't a populist in '94. >> he wasn't then and ant he probably isn't a populist now. but this is personal, he feels he was wronged in iowa by the superpac that -- that supports romney so he's getting him back and he's going to get him good. i think if damage is indeed done to romney in today's primary, he did a lot of it himself with that comment yesterday. about i like to be able to fire people. that's resonating, i think. >> joe, here's the thing we know about newt gingrich. if he had a chance to make that bain capital money, he would have been there in a second. >> i think a lot of us would.

i think a lot of us would. but i just wonder, let's focus on republicans. does this help with the republican voters? because we do swipg down to south carolina. alabama, mississippi, louisiana, texas. those are some populist states. >> if it's going to help, the first place is south carolina, you know how they've lost their textile business, i was talking to fritz hollings, he's 90 years old by the way and very sharp about south carolina politics, former senator from the state. a democrat. he said as of saturday, afternoon, he was telling me, romney has a lead. this is before any of these events we've had in the last 48 hours. romney has a lead here, he didn't think anybody was going to be overtake him. but he did say, if someone can talk here about what's happened to our jobs, that's the way to win here. >> the irony, lawrence, as you know, the textile mills went from new hampshire to south carolina to overseas. >> chasing the cheap labor. >> and the gingrich attack on romney you can see in september

and october, if romney is the nominee. you can see at the end of a 30-second commercial, you can see barack obama saying i'm barack obama and newt gingrich paid for this message. >> i think it's important to point out, because you talked about how damaging that line, i like firing people, that came out of mitt romney's mouth will be. that it is being taken out of context. >> yes, it is. >> you know, what we do is make sure we put it in context. >> but here's the problem, though. if you say something that is out of context, that doesn't line up with a preexisting narrative about you, the problem here is not only did he say, i like firing people. taken out of context. he then tried to correct himself by saying, if you think i sit rnd thinking about how my words are going to affect people -- and so, it was a double hit. it fed into this preexisting narrative and that's when it becomes damaging in politics,

whether it's fair or not. >> it does become damaging. it's how the mitt romney who took president obama's remark -- >> totally out of context. >> if we keep talking about the economy, we lose. well he was quoting, you know quoting somebody else. >> you know -- >> it's not totally taken out of context. he did say i like firing people who don't provide good services to me. the fact that he somehow relishes firing anybody is -- >> what he said, what he's saying is, i obviously we all know that what he was saying was -- i want people to be able to judge by performance. and if somebody doesn't perform well, then you know it's kind of like when i go through the tolls or when i get fast food and i'm going through, and the person is glaring at me and i put thank you very much and have a good day and they keep glaring at me and i drive away going, if you don't want the job, don't have the job. >> the problem with the word "like" -- you don't click on the facebook "like" for firings.

you don't do it. >> and it suggests that -- >> i like firing. >> take tn totally out of context. >> it's not the first thing that you would want to do. >> lawrence o'donnell, thanks, katty kay, thank you very much. eugene robinson, thank you as well. up next, republican presidential candidate, newt gingrich. you're watching "morning joe" live from manchester, new hampshire on primary day. ♪ i am you

♪ you are me i'm jennifer hudson, and i believe. i was strong before weight watchers, but i'm stronger with it. i believe weight watchers can do the same for you. i believe you have more power than you think you do. i believe because it works. ♪ if you want it, you got it your turn. your time. your year. join for free. weight watchers points plus 2012. because it works.

the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now.

let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen.

welcome back to "morning joe" live from manchester, jnew hampshire. joining us now, former house speaker, mr. newt gingrich. i think off the top i ought to say, i'm so sorry about joe. >> what are you talking about? >> so personal in his opinions. so from the beginning here -- >> yeah. >> he issues you a formal apology. >> newt, if i'd only followed mika's example throughout the campaign, i'd be so much better off. let's start by talking about bain capital. we've been discussing it this morning. it's obviously an unorthodox approach for a conservative republican.

why do you think that's important for new hampshire voters and south carolina voters, to know about mitt romney's bain capital record? >> well, look, i think you have to start with the idea that whatever's going to happen this fall is going to involve axelrod and obama taking apart whoever the republican nominee is, and whoever we nominate had better be thoroughly vetted long before they get in. furthermore, in this case you have, you know, governor romney has repeatedly said one of his major qualifications to be president, his record in the private sector. you look at that record in the private sector, oh, no, you're not allowed to question anything about that. a sign of anti-capitalism, which is baloney. you can have entrepreneurial capitalism, investors, start-ups, bankruptcy. many things happen in a free market that are very explainable and very defendable. the question is, if you look at the "wall street journal report"

in the last day or two, if you have a company that was, cost $30 million, and they took out $180 million and then it went bankrupt, there is some, i think, obligation to explain, why did they take that much money out if it was bankrupting the dpi company? a question ar judgment. people draw a distinction between investors who want a company to succeed and investors who basically take over a company for the purpose of draining out its cash and walk out without concern nor the consequence, and governor romney will have to have a press conference at some point and explain what happened with these particular companies. th weren't just failures, we went in, we lost money, too. cases where they were making a lot of money while the company was going bankrupt. i think you have to ask the question, is that responsible

management and the kind of person you want to see at president of the united states. >> on the campaign trail, a lot of people making a lot about it saying he liked to fire people. someone suggest the that was taken out of context. do you think that's fair? do you think that's the sort of thing that not only you but also obama and axelrod will be bringing up in a general election if they have mitt romney? >> look, i think the democratic national committee already has an ad out about it, and it's false. i looked at the whole text, because i couldn't believe it initially. my instinct was right. he didn't mean to say what he said. he was trying to communicate that it's great to have the right to choose between multiple companies rather than trapped into a government monopoly, a position i agree with and it's just wrong. i mean, there's a good example of negative campaigning. to take that out of context and pretend that that's what romney meant to say is just false. now, he was clumsy the way he said it. he set himself up for the

democrats to exploit him. when you're measuring which candidate can beat obama, one of the questions you have to ask is, in debate, do you really want somebody that columns any debate or somebody who could actually go toe-to-toe with obama and debate him? from the standpoint of my campaign i arg goou i'd be a better donebater, but it's totay unfair, he meant i like having the right to choose which company i go to for services, and i think that that's a piece -- that's something i would not use and would not make a commercial about, because it's so misleading. >> mr. speaker, i'd like to ask you about the role of super pacs that they're playing in this election. you were talking about judgment and process, and you talk about feeling a little victimized in iowa, in temple terms of the ss targeting you and seems super pacs supporting you are poised

to do the same thing in new hampshire and south carolina. is something not okay for others okay, okay for you to do? >> first i would hope i have no control over it but hope the super pac supporting me would are accurate and would be fair. we just went through an example. i would hope they wouldn't use the, i like to fire people line, for example. if it's a good, clean ad, factually correct, it's a legitimate thing. second, be honest about a competitive business. i spent three weeks saying in iowa, gee, i wish they wouldn't be doing this. romney basically made fun of me for suggesting a positive campaign was a better idea. so you either decide to leave the field or you decide you will engage in what you have to in order to match somebody who just spent $3.5 million attacking you. in that sense, i'd rather we weren't doing this sort of thing. i'd rather have a totally positive campaign. i was a frunt ront-runner as a positive campaign.

i suspect i would become the front-runner again in a positive campaign, that's not the way romney wants to play. he's forcing this kind of campaign. if the choice is get out of the race or learn how to be directly competitive in communicating information, as governor, for example, he imposed a commuter tax on new hampshire. that's a legitimate issue to raise questions about in the state of new hampshire as people go to vote. and i think you'll see us being much more aggressive in raising his record so you have a clear choice of a conservative record and a moderate record, tax cuts versus tax increases, pro-life versus pro-planned parenthood. a pretty clear gap between romney and me on key values. >> mark halperin is here. mark? >> mr. speaker you've raised several times the "wall street journal" story, to look at this and could you be speck and say, what are the questions want him to answer? what are the specific concerns you have about his record at bain capital? >> look, i think the one chart

sort of captures the essence of the challenge. there's a company that they put $30 million into that they got, according to the "wall street journal" they got $180 million out. that's a 6-1 return, and the company went bankrupt. it doesn't seem to me like the owners were taking much of a risk. doesn't seem to me they were sharing the problems of the workers. >> what's the question he needs to answer about that? >> for example -- how could they in good conscience take $180 million out of a company that they've invest $30 million and leave all the workers behind? what about $60 million off, a nice profit, would the company still be alive? would workers still have jobs? would family still have paychecks. first of all, people have to dig into this, get all the details pulled together. but i think when you -- three or four cases where it's not traditional capitalism, it's not i made an investment, the investment went bad, i feel

sorry about it but we all suffered. these are cases, i made an investment, i did really, really well, sorry about the company going broke. i think the people have a trite ask the question, is that the kind of management responsibility you want in a president? and is that the kind of attitude you want in a president? and i think he's going to have to explain why did those things happen? why didn't they invest back in the company? why did they take such a huge amount of money out given the relative amount they had put in? it's not like investing in google and, of course, you make a huge amount because it's a great success, or investing in home deep or oh inveh investing microsoft. this is something, i got richer, they went broke. i think he has to explain that. >> newt gingrich, thank you so much for being with us. good luck today and good luck in south carolina. we'll see you there. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> see you down there. >> all right. he's -- the window was a little shorter, but i thought he

answered that question, on bain capital very well. >> a pretty good explanation, and i think that argument may be a good nargt the republican primary in south carolina f. you're abif you're able to say this company was making a good profit, and still losing the people that is a -- >> rick santorum coming up. we'll be right back. [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] you won't find the toughness of a ram 1500 combined with the legendary power of a hemi v8 in any other truck. it's a beautiful thing. guts. glory. ram.

we're getting back in shape. oh! try these. i sprinted here... wow! from your house?! from the car. unh! ooh. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense?

anthis was the gulf's best600. tourism season in years. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down.

if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home.

all right. oh, there's the baby. welcome back to "morning joe." top of the hour. we've got a lot going on, including some latest polls. mitt romney at 37%. joining us now, the host of msnbc's "hardball." chris matthews, author of "jack kennedy, ill lucid hero" and nbc chief white house correspondent and host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. >> go to our political director, this just coming in, the new suffolk poll, tracking poll came out, newt losing one point a jump. just jumped four in the latest suffolk poll. >> jon huntsman at 16. >> you feel as if this battle for second, the two, three,

four, five spot, still feels so fluid. like it does feel like somebody is -- that that's where we could see weird things happen, and you are curious. mitt romney had a no good, horrible, bad 36 hours. right? you couldn't design a worst 36 hours for him, and you wonder, is that going to have -- it might not have that much impact, but, man, it's new hampshire. >> chris what are you feeling? >> you said it. it's new hampshire. just going back to, going back to '52 and how this state votes. it sort of says, we're alive, we're real, we're here, we're american and we're flinting. don't take us for granted. and a lot of the vote up here is often rejectionist, rejecting the old tale for ike. putting ike in there. still serving as nato xmand com by the way. this bothers people. rockefeller things today, and sitting ambassador, working for the other president, by the way,

a little message here. >> they wrote him in. >> wrote him in. a little message about huntsman prospects tonight. this state respects national service and where they serve the other party or not. shows real national service. lbj, the war again in '72. mondale, polenta boring thing, mccain winning against w. there's a rejectionism of the boring and the stupid in politics, the people up here are proud to be american, they're flinty. it tells me huntsman, huntsman, huntsman. if this state picks huntsman in second place a strong second place, which is really first place, he's been a regional guy, a statement that new hampshire's still alive. if i would voting i'd vote for huntsman because he's american. a guy that says, i'm american not one of these stupid ideologues and not a phony. he is what she. and by the way, a little more -- when he first came in, he said, call me crazy, i believe in evolution. you know, i believe in climate

change. so they all lose some of their honesty when they get into politic, but there's something there that's real and flinty that sets a new hampshire statement. >> and -- and -- let's go to our west l.a. reporter, david gregory. this campaign really started in earnest in your debate on sunday morning, but, boy, we have seen some movement over the past several days. >> this is the point. part of what makes new hampshire, new hampshire, is what can happen in the last 36 hours to change the dynamic. huntsman is hoping something is going on. he had a moment in the don't to challenge mitt romney and say i served my country, you're serving yourself politically, trying to make that argument to do something and try to create some movement and also, i mean, you had governor romney contributing to it in some way with unforced errors, i like to fire people. talking about insurance company. it was out of context. the point is you have conservatives in this race now

putting governor romney's business experience on trial. >> uh-huh. >> in front of voters. they want to make the issue. of course, the democrats are going to do that. you have republicans doing it. as if to say, look if you're a conservative, have doubts about the front-runner. beyond that, worried about beating barack obama, shue really have some doubts that this guy's going to get really torn up on this business question. these are the last ditch efforts being made now. >> and chuck todd, newt gingrich on a few minutes ago. i don't know if you heard the interview. mark halperin commented afterwards, this does not look like a man ready to go anywhere and unlike newt in iowa, where he didn't seem to be centered, this newt gingrich, who knows he's got ads coming up in south carolina is very centered. as i think we all know, newt is the most dangerous to others when he's behind. he's the most dangerous to himself when in first place. i wouldn't be worried about newt gingrich right now if i were mitt romney. >> and we know about the south carolina bull canization of politics down there.

right? there's literally four -- it's almost like gang warfare or sorts, the way they practice politics down there, and everybody's taking sides simply to be against somebody else who decided to endorse another presidential candidate. so all of the ingredients of really bad things happening and really ugly, making bush/mccain -- all of us have those flashbacks, but going back to this romney thing, you know, the entire rationale for his candidacy is private sector experience. you make that a negative, make it where he feels he can't talk about it, it is akin to kerry and the swift votes. which he felt he couldn't talk about his service as much, because he didn't want to sort of deal with the swift boat guys as much. it handcuffed him. this will handcuff romney. >> two other things i'm looking for quickly. the independent vote a always important. we know that. ron paul has a lot but does he

have a ceiling and is this an area huntsman can make a move, too? gingrich is channeled. not whining about negative ads. locked in on sunday. but can gingrich versus santorum, can one create distns from the other to go to south carolina saying, guy, time for consolidation if we have a shot now? and i've talked to republicans down in south carolina, yeah, everybody's saying that but somebody's got to drop out but nobody's willing to do it. >> answered the question a lot of ron paul supporters are asking at home. why is our guy in second in most new hampshire polls and the press just doesn't focus on him? >> i guess because we're trying to think about who's going to be elected president, and most think that ron paul is not actually running for president. a protest candidate. not in your question, but what you're on. lie like to fire people, by the way, he actually said the word people in that second time, the way he said it. why didn't he fire those guys cutting his lawn? >> what? you mean the -- >> the illegals? >> the illegal immigrants?

>> yeah. i like firing people. it he's a mr. in charge, i decide who works for me and who doesn't. >> i don't think that's fair, chris. >> it is fair. he said, i couldn't control who worked for me, there were illegal guys working for me. why didn't he fire them? if he's mr. in charge, a tough guy, interpose some of these little thuts of his and put them together. they'll be put together. >> i want to show the cbs opinion polls. can we bring those up in terms of the head-to-head matchup. i think romney is the one who wins here in terms of who can take on president obama, but i believe newt gingrich comes in second on this. this is the cbs news poll against barack obama. look at these numbers. and the national poll shows that an overwhelming 49% think mitt romney has the best chance at beating president obama. >> okay. there's a head-to-head matchup i find fascinating, and that is, that newt gingrich is still only four pounlts points behind in

the cbs poll. mitt romney after all of the attacks -- you call it whining. i guarantee you, because you never had your name on the ballot and if people came after me with three, four, five million dollars in attack ads, third parties, weren't man enough to stand up to it, you would be angry as well. the fact that newt gingrich, who i've been very tough on, the fact newt sustained this and yet he's still only four points behind romney nationally sugg t suggests that this is a guy that can live off the land for a while. >> it is but this race gets redefined after south carolina. meaning that's when i think the national poll, it's very hard. these national polls, feels like they're a little behind, lagging in the information that's coming out and when the first three happen, those national polls that come after south carolina, i think, will tell us a little more about where romney is in particular, who the conservative alternative is. >> and we don't really have a counternarrative here. i mean, romney is pretty well defined. the up side and down side. is there anybody else who's that

well defined in terms of what their leadership narrative really is? it's striking to me that santorum, comes out of iowa and says, i've gone a manufacturing message for the working class part of this party, to understand that i'm going to try to build up manufacturing in this economy again. i have a grandson, i'm a grandson of a coal miner and a vision about restoring the family and restoring the economy, yet he was very careful. i do think that this, i like firing people is a small moment. not a big moment. the big moment, the legacy of bain capital, how he'll position himself to lead the economy. santorum, hands off. not bashing himg on the rigors of capitalism. he held off on that. in that, there is still not -- there's not one person who gives you a counternarrative, although there is ron paul. he's -- >> a narrative. >> yeah. the think is, though, chris you know, a lot of us came in in '94, conservative/populists. we were skeptical about just

unbridled free trade. skeptical about the deals that wall street got. skeptical about all of these corporations that were tripping over themselves to get into china while china was giving nuclear technology to pakistan, and yet even i wouldn't follow the rabbit trail against bain capital, because to me it seems like it is a challenge against capitalism itself. >> yeah, but, you know, what's really been lost in america through globalization, and a lot of things have been gained. empori emporium, a department store, buy anything you like. the guys like the khakis. cotton is everywhere. used to be vague man-made products. >> you talking about mom jeans again? >> no. why peel like free trade. it's better for the consumer. for the worker, it used to be, get out of high school, get a job at the factory. a bud plant, and really provide

for a family with one person working. >> take care of your family. >> a good way to make it. the african-american kids living in the same neighborhoods the white guys used to live in, can't get the jobs now. they may have a tennis court at the dock, not a factory. talking about philly and places like that, pittsburgh. if you say this is where we've lost something, the chance for the high school man, kid, to come out of school and get a job working with their hands in a semiskilled job where they can learn it and by the time they're 30 or 40 years their kids are getting to school, private, catholic school, could go to college. that's lost. you got to be high-tech are really sophisticated to get a job. what's open to them now? the drug trade. the bad stuff. >> and, chuck in that sense, perhaps the bain capital attacks actually do resonate, because the one thing that you hear from republicans and democrats and independents alike, all over america, is the fact that we aren't that country anymore. we're somebody that can come out

of high school and ge work in a factory and support his or her family, and perhaps mitt romney can be painted as the 1%, and that could be devastating not only to general but in the primary. >> go back to what we talked about a few times and what's missing in this race. somebody connecting, actually running at a populist. whether it is the president, whether it's mitt romney. neither one of them do populism well. talked about it before. who's going to be -- who's going to figure out how to capture, a little anger on the left, on the occupiers, against wall street with the tea partiers against government, but all of it is the unfair deal. >> who cares about people like me? that's the best poll question in the world, and i don't think these guys fit the bill. >> if it ends up mitt romney against barack obama, not getting personal here. not at all, but we have two guys who you can talk to their closest associates, who are very

uncomfortable around people. they are not people persons, because -- they're just not. >> okay. you can say that. >> you can talk to a slew of people -- >> they're not people people. >> a slew of people that worked for barack obama, they all say the same thing, and they don't like putting him in small groups, because he is awkward in small groups. same thing about mitt romney. and i think -- >> a heck of an -- >> letting people get in the way of this election. >> yeah. i know. >> good lord. david gregory, chris matthews, thank you very much, chris matthews. the big story coming out of iowa losing that state's caucuses by the slimmest of margins to mitt romney. in a gave the former pennsylvania senator a big bounce coming here to new hampshire where he's getting big crowds, lots of attention from the media. i hit the road with him yesterday, beginning at the el s

s lodge in salem, new hampshire. there's a lot more that needs to be done. declare war, no. but take out -- with technical strikes to take out this facility. we'll see new november when we're back for the general election. thanks. ♪ sometimes life takes you by the hand and it's done before you know it's gone ♪ >> what do you like about his message so much? >> his plan for the country. the idea he stands for what america is all about. i think i'm going to vote for him. >> straight shooter, great family values and gets right to the point. >> he answered the question, whether you liked his answer or not, you got a direct answer from the question. >> reporter: are you undecided when you walked in? >> i was.

>> reporter: are you undecided now? >> no. >> reporter: going for santorum? >> going for this man. ♪ >> reporter: what did you think? >> down at the elks club? he wasn't quite at dynamic down there. this time, as he was when i first saw him on c-span two or three days ago. he was very dynamic, and he seemed, i think he's tired. >> i liked -- we both voted for obama in the last election, we're independents, and very disappointed. >> you know, to be honest with you, i thought santorum was pretty impressive coming through here today. he seemed to have a strong personal, view, he talked with people. pretty warm and genuine. >> we're going to beat him. i hope. >> we'll talk to senator rick santorum when we come back to jd

of tavern, live in manchester, new hampshire, on this primary day. ♪ ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go

23 past the hour. welcome back to manchester, new

hampshire. joining us now, former republican senator from pennsylvania and presidential candidate rick santorum. welcome to the show. good to have you on set with us. >> it's been rough on the trail for you. >> it has been. >> college students yelling at him and then yesterday, willie geist following him around all day. >> we're sorry about that. >> he was telling you. it's pretty exciting. >> i feel great. >> south carolina and new hampshire for you. >> it's been a great ride and people here in new hampshire have been awesome. crowds have been huge. i was telling mark, on saturday, we at the lawrence farm. can stand and sit about 800 than at least 1,000 people jammed in there. another 200 outside who couldn't get in. i did a little impromptu town hall on a big rock outside the barn, took three or four questions before i went in and did the rest. that kind of entertaining enthusiasm. who know what's will happen but we feel we've come from the bottom, 2%, 3% in the polls, tied with perry and now with

gingrich and romney, big endorsements and we've been doing it with the grass roots. haven't spent money here. just doing it with the grass roots. >> in iowa, you have to catch up in south carolina and new hampshire if you want to make a dent in things. jon huntsman has done what you did in iowa and new hampshire. what's your strategy? >> the biggest help to us, our message. we've had our message talking about the manufacturing base of the economy, which here in southern new hampshire in particular is a big deal. obviously, these are manufacturing towns that have hollowed out in many respects. obviously, new industries have come in but a whole different group. a lot of blue collar workers in southern new hampshire are still trying to find the ladder of success and here unemployment is better than almost any other state in the country. imagine as i did when traveling around iowa and some of the other states, manufacturing is a big deal. the fact we're focused on that, focused on making sure that ladder of success from the blue collar worker up to the, into

the management and those things are still available. it's resonating here in new hampshire. >> senator, i was at your town hall yesterday at the elks lodge in salem, new hampshire. big crowd, standing room only. one of the questions was about iran, and you said if you were exhausted as president all diplomatic options you would consider a surgical tactical strike against the nuclear sites. that's new, i think, saying that you would go so far as to strike the sites. was that a new -- >> well, i put out -- actually put out -- everybody's new because nobody was listening to what i was saying before. >> hate it when that happens. >> yeah. that's the way it goes. actually, i had that idea and walked through the steps of what i would do and ultimately in all else fails, you know, you have -- right. everybody has said, democrats, republicans, iran can't get a nuclear weapon. we either mean it or we don't, and if we mean it, then we have to have policy to stop -- >> there's a problem, because we've been noting for a year on our set that there seems to be a

mind-set in washington, d.c. that a nuclear iran is a fait accomp accompli. >> why does the president have a public policy, repeats it, that iran can't get a nuclear weapon? >> the same reason george w. bush did, but even in the last days of his administration, seems like everybody said, we've got to do it. the question is what is the treatment? i agree with you. epicenter of terrorism since 1979. go down the laundry list of all the americans they've been responsible for killing. >> and manufactured there. >> go to the attacks in the african embassies and others, do we really want these people sow have a nuclear weapon? what is the trig jer i heard newt say in man chaste chester. we've got no choice. we've got to go in?

>> it's absolutely responsive. they have to know we're serious. if they don't know, they do what they're doing in the streets of verify mousse. -o vermuz. along with nuclear weapons, people say, they'll use it. maybe. they'll definitely use it as a shield to say we are impervious to attack. no nuclear power's ever been attack. form terror more overtly around the world, more aggressive around the world and support hamas and hezbollah, for example, 0 wipe out the state of israel and to cause problems in western europe and in the united states. i think a nuclear iran is the worst nightmare for western civilization. it will mean a reign of terror and i mean real terror on the west with a country that can sit in and say, don't try it, because we've got a bomb and we can really cause chaos if you do this. >> barack obama was pressed, mika, on what was the one issue that kept him up at night, and

after prodding, his answer, pakistan. and it's not because what's happening with drones. it's because they're a nuclear power. multiply that 20 times over, that's what happens with a nuclear iran. mark halperin? >> senator, a lot of people in the party are looking for an alternative to governor romney. >> i volunteer. >> i asked you shortly, in iowa caucuses, would you call on conservatives to call, rather than speaker gingrich or governor perry, give people a sense how you'll win this nomination? you're not going to win this primary, i don't think you'd say. what's the path to victory? where do you win? where do you beat mitt romney if you're still in the race? >> the key for us, eventually rise as the conventional alternative. the idea these primaries will decided race is ridiculous. a long way to go. proportion's primaries, all the states that moved forward lost haft their delegates anyway. that's a long way to come. there is a very strong sent

innocent this country among conservatives we want a conservative alternative. eventually one will rise. it may take three, four, may take five primary, but eventually one candidate will be mamped up against mitt romney. mitt romney you can see from a tactical perspective wants to keep at many conservatives in the race to keep dividing up the vote, but we -- we separated ourselves in iowa. i'm hopeful that having spent no money here in new hampshire, having spent five days campaigning, against a guy who has a union leader endorsement, a guy who's lived here and spent millions of dollars, if we can finish in the pack that shows you, we're the candidate that the grass roots, conservative, looking for, as an alternative. we'll go south carolina. again, hope to finish certainly top three, top two. maybe even win south carolina. i think we have an excellent chance. we've got a grace grass roots team there, a lot of energy and enthusiasm. i was down in sunday. full crowds, couldn't get in the place. that's what, you know -- what new hampshire can do.

it can put news that, well, here he is. no money. came from three points, tied with rick perry and with his message on the economy, "wall street journal" jed stead was a bolder plan than mitt romney. it's going to build the manufacturing base of this country back. that's a great message. not just to win the primary. you know, winning the primary is great. i want to win the general election, and winning the general election from a guy from pennsylvania from the coal mines and the steel mills of western pennsylvania is a great message for pennsylvania, ohio, indiana, michigan, missouri. those are the states we need to win. we can win them. mitt romney has no record of running as a conservative and winning anything. i do. >> john heilemann, we can't underline this reality more to viewers. the fact 2012 is not 2008 for the republican primaries. in 2008 john mccain won a couple of early states then followed by winner take alls in connecticut, new york, new jersey and it was over. this is going to be a long, hard

slog. so what rick is saying, self-serving, yeah, pick up a dell guilt here, there. five, six, still trying to figure it out. >> well, the sweater vests, it's almost disqualified. >> it's lovely. >> oh, mr. -- >> this from a -- >> wait. let him defend himself. >> first off, sweater sales have soared across the country. >> not in my house. >> the nra folks told me this is their logo, because it's the right to bare arms. >> now, that might be disqualifying. >> not my line. it's not my line. just repeating. >> this just in from nbc news, daily tracking polls -- >> yeah. >> ouch. >> i'm running for commander in

chief. not comedian in chief. >> and believe in the right to arm bears. no question. running in a live multiprimary states, raising money, i don't want to talk about that. mitt romney has the and advantage because he has a lot of money. somebody's got to beat mitt romney somewhere along the line, and in the last day there's been a, last couple days, a line of attack opened on him in terms of bain capital experience. newt gingrich is just on the program here criticizing it severely. how do you feel about that? do you think there are things he did at bain and that bain did that are genuinely problematic? and do you think that the comment he made yesterday about, that he would like to be able to fire people that provide services to him? >> the problem for selectability is the fact that i think you have someone in rick santorum who came from roots that are important, that can relate to the people, and the states. we have to win to win the presidency. mitt's a good man. he's not responsible for his background and for his career.

in the sense that, that's what -- in the sense, his father and his family, that's where -- he was born into it. and they're a great wonderful family and served his country greatly, but i think -- average folks in pennsylvania that we need to win this election are going to relate to rick santorum and the plans and experiences that i have a lot better than they with mitt romney, and i think the way i talk about those issues versus what seems to be a little, you know, left-handed way that he talks about those issues will connect a little better. it's not just the record. it's how you relate to people and the plan us have. his plan is a tepid wall street plan. my is putting blue collar workers back to work, getting small towns energized pap very different plan. >> let me ask you about that. talk about relating to people be being important, your message, the one you presented on the show, manufacturing works appeal very much to people here in new hampshire, iowa and across the country potentially. having said that, did you make a

strategic mistake along the way after such a great win in iowa, almost, eight points. >> six. >> he's not counting. >> creeping out, baby. >> he's not counting. >> a little whisper in my ear. >> did you make a stra tichic mistake engaging on issues like gay marriage with questions from teenagers in new hampshire and along the way instead of really talking about what potentially people are truly worried about in this country? >> you fwlknow what? this is what i do. i don't have structured events where i have controlled crowds and limited access. i had protesters come to my event. an event in manchester were had to go outside, the restaurant couldn't hold it. fire marshal threw us out, bull horns and protesters. a polygamist there who was shouting out, and you know what? i worked through the whole thing. i talked to people, let them ask their questions. that's what it's all about. what new hampshire's all about, what running for president is

about. it shouldn't be about controlled questions. no. i answered people's questions and they have a right to hear those answers. hopefully you want a president willing to engage the american public, and i don't spend all my time on those issues. we go out and talk about issue, i don't want to talk about that issue but i'll answer people's question that they ask because that's what dock creatiemocracy about. >> before we let you go, many questioned you fiscally, medicare part d, building football and baseball stadiums in pittsburgh. are awe fiscal conservative? >> look at my fiscal ratings, they're great. just talking to folks out front, a guy from oregon here, who remembers me going after mark hatfield. remember that? the balanced budget amendment? >> very well. >> we came within one vote. as a freshman senator, chairman of appropriations committee. he switched votes, we lost it because of him nap day i went

out and called for his resignation. there's nobody's fought harder on spending limits and cutting spending. you talk about entitlement reform, welfare reform, big issues and i'll match my record up against anyone. >> rick santorum. >> thank you, rick. good luck. >> i like the sweater vest. >> thank you. >> you look warm and friendly. >> do not ever take fashion tips from a guy that wears s a brown velour jacket. >> good point. looking ahead, mitt romney will join us, and up next, senator jeanne shaheen and keep it right here live. this is an rc robotic claw.

my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet vital recipes so fresh the only preservative we use

is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

thrilled. wait. we can have shakes? and boston cream pie. did you say pie? pie. she said pie. pie. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life.

take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense?

when i lost weight in all the right places. you know what i mean! [ laughs ] when i tried to lose weight other ways, i felt hungry all the time. on weight watchers online, i eat all day long. i loved grabbing those activity points and throwing them into my tracker. and then it adds it up for you at the end of the week so that you can earn more points for food. i never thought that way before. i lost 38 pounds with weight watchers online. i really did it. [ laughs ] [ female announcer ] join for free today. weight watchers online. finally, losing weight clicks. were back. live in manchester, new hampshire on primary day. joinings you now, democratic senator from new hampshire

senator jeanne shaheen, also anchor and managing editor of hd next, dan rather reports. dan rather joining us, and michael steele and harold ford jr. >> dan rather, you've been to this rodeo once or twice, my man. how are we launching it this year? has are you sensing? >> the big difference this year, social media and what happens on the internet. that's a big game changer between even the last election here. the other is that it's not new, but it's a reminder. new hampshire loves to give some hue milt toy front-runners, and i've watched the program this morning and everybody agrees it's mitt romney's to lose. he could lose it, but i'm looking for the surprise. just trying to figure what the surprise is. what makes it different this year, i also think it matters more this year. both in the nomination process and the country. listen, we have problems in the country, we need to solve these problems. everybody's looking for a leader. i do think jobs and the economy in the end is the spine of the

campaign but people are looking with a leader with character, somebody they think can make a difference. go back to at least the 1992 campaign to find one in which people had a sense, it really does matter this time. maybe franklin roosevelt in 1932, people had a feeling, things are not right. we've got to change things. looking for a leader, aching for a leader. >> and senator, that was supposed to be barack obama four years ago. obviously, people in new hampshire, not happy with the way the president performed, in 2010 they elected a very conservative senator. republicans took over the house of representatives. what does a president have to do to reconnect with the voters in new hampshire? >> well, they've had a big field operation that's been working out for a very long time to, this is step one in re-electing president obama, and i think he needs to point out his vision for the country, which is to support middle class family

whose have been the backbone of this country, and that's a very different vision than we're hearing from the republican candidates. >> has a president made that sell, though? he's been in office 2 1/2 years. >> well, and we've had now 22 conservative months of job growth. we're not where we need to be, but we're better than we were when he took over, and there's still a lot of work to do, and i agree with dan rather. that people are watching this election very closely, because they understand there's a lot at stake for the country, and i think ultimately, they're going to look at the vision that the republican nominee has versus the vision the president has and make the decision based on that. >> dan, you remember very well back in february, 196. lbj won the new hampshire primary. but he didn't win it the way people expected him to. gene mccarthy, close second. lbj drop the out a few weeks later. 1992, pat buchanan came up,

wasn't even close, effectively finished bush xli's presidency. what does mitt romney need to get without following the path of lbj and bush iv. >> first h >> bush 41. >> one, he has to win. i hi he probably has to get a win by eight or ten points over his closest competitor. not going through people say, yes, the most votes but not what was expected. if he gets 30%, 32% of the vote, which would be high for him. keep in mind, 26% is what he's been getting, but he has to finish first, finish first by seven, eight, ten points. >> and the thing is, harold ford, new hampshire, they love the humble candidates that come into this state thinking that they've got it locked up. >> no doubt. i think mr. rather said it well.

humility is what this state does very well. i'm curious to know from both mr. rather and you, as you look at this race and you look at how the republicans continue to conduct themselves and equip themselves, assume romney comes out of it. can romney recover from the questions raised about bain capital, from his involvement in private equity? can he not only rehabilitation himself but convert that story into one that is an american story, one able to not only convey to the american people but con sfla a way that will allow the american workers and the middle class families as the senator suggested, able to really find himself and find support? >> he can do it. whether he do it. i think he's created for himself, things such as taken out of context it may have been. it was. like firing people. this resonates with people. not just people out of work but people who fear they might be out of work. the answer is, yes, he can do it, but it's going to be duff.

>> michael steele. >> everything said sets the tone for the day, and the fact that new hampshire is the kickoff, it is the first bell really rung in this thing, where votes really matter, delegates will be awarded. and the race to the white house really begins for the gop. and i think romney's got a hill he has to climb and you've gone huntsman on his tail, paul on his tail, gingrich and santorum, all champing at the bit to take him down a notch and this is the place -- >> and not unequivocally. >> senator, you're in a swing state. new hampshire is clearly a swing state. how does the bain capital debate, that newt gingrich is bringing up right now, how does that play in new hampshire? >> i think it doesn't play well anywhere in this country, and new hampshire is indicative of that. the fact is, people want a president who is going to put in policies that are going to help create jobs, that are going to put people back to work and bain capital's history is not that way. it is a history and we've got

lots of people to testify to that, to say, i got laid off, and it wasn't just that i got laid off, that i got fired. it was the way it was done, and the amount of money that people made at bain while this was happening to my company. >> interesting to see this debate happening inside the republican party. senator shaheen and dan rather, thank you very, very much. >> thank you, again. we'll be right back, live from manchester on this primary day. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these

in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaids, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer.

it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a $3 coupon.

all right. we'll be right back with what we learned. tornlg tomorrow on "morning joe," mitt romney will join us. it's primary day. we'll be right back. i'm jennifer hudson, and i believe. i was strong before weight watchers,

but i'm stronger with it. i believe because it works. ♪ if you want it, you got it join for free. weight watchers points plus 2012. because it works. is another way to look at the bean. another way that reveals the lighter, mellower side of our roast. being blonde is nothing new, but blonde roast is something new. something subtle. something soft. something with 40 years of roasting experience on its side.

introducing delicious new starbucks blonde roast. the lighter roast perfected. come to our tasting event this thursday to saturday and try it for yourself.

it's time to talk about what learned today. what a big group. >> nothing like the look on your face when the tide comes rolling in. >> and it rolled. what did you learn? >> taking a six-hour nap. >> baby. what did you learn? >> best behaved on the set. >> no doubt about it. the best behaved. >> what did you learn? >> from the time on the show, doesn't seem to me gingrich, huntsman or santorum plan to quit anytime soon. >> and all looked good. all getting better. what did you learn? >> the lord answered my prayer and allowed me not to ask newt gingrich any questions. >> what did you learn? >> jon huntsman a good-looking man and may have a shot at this thing to finish third. >> when you say jon huntsman is a good looking man, exactly what do you mean? >> honey badgers didn't do me right last night. >> honey badgers didn't kill anyone. what did you learn today? >> from jon huntsman his campaign's looking at the numbers