>> thank you. >> you can have the last word online and follow my tweets @lawrence. bad blood. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in miami. leading off tonight, mitt gets mean. mitt romney is poised for a big win in tomorrow night's florida primary. his latest lead in the polls is double digit. and the reason is clear. mitt got mean. mitt romney took his foot off the gas after iowa. that gave newt an opening. it's paying off here in florida. still, newt says no matter what happens here tomorrow night, he's going to fight all the way to the convention. candidates say that sort of thing all the time. in newt's case he could very

well mean it. he's not playing good soldier for a shot four years from now. it's now or never for newt. plus, it's personal. newt's got it out for mitt after the annihilation campaign romney's been running against him. if he can't have it, why should he let someone he can't stand have the presidency. here's one thing the white house learned the last few weeks. how to take on mitt romney. win or lose here tomorrow night, he's a much weaker candidate than just weeks ago. and that's because the obama campaign has been taking notes on mitt and has a blueprint they think for beating him. and the man florida republicans love to hate. former governor charlie crist. tonight here on "hardball." on his former party. on whether president obama will carry the sunshine state come november. and finally, let me finish with newt versus romney. revenge is the italians say is a dish best served cold. we begin with romney's negative assault on gingrich. and with me here in miami are the two pros. already taking this town by storm. morning joe's joe scarborough and mika.

i was at your event this morning at the deli. and those people were lined up, what, at 4:00 this morning to catch you. >> there were some very colorful characters there. >> was jackie mason there? >> jackie mason. also the miami herald reported that strippers were there. >> okay. >> not strippers. women of the night. that's what i heard. >> so i asked lauren. i said let me see a copy of that "miami herald" story because there's a funny picture of mike allen with a stripper next to him. and i'm looking. guess what is on the side of the ad? while florida was suffering, newt cashed in. on the side of the -- everywhere -- i'm just saying, no. everywhere you go in this state, mitt romney is hammering newt gingrich. and you know what? it's just like rick scott. this is how he beat bill mccollum. he destroyed him in 30-second ads but there's always a cost to that. you end up being hated and mitt romney may be winning the battle. he's going to lose the war if he's not careful.

he needs to start telling people what's good about mitt instead of what's bad about newt. >> if he's not careful. let's take a look at this. romney has a commanding lead in our latest nbc/marist poll. that's 15 points down here. he's on top with 42 to gingrich's 27 with santorum and ron paul well behind. the range in other recent polls varies widely. in a new poll out last night, romney has a 20-point advantage over gingrich. but in a ppp poll, romney had just a seven-point lead over the weekend but that dropped to just four if you look at only sunday's results. in one poll, newt is closing. what do you make of that, mika? >> newt is closing on romney? doubt it here in florida. overall, the question is, what are we going to be left with? what is your party going to be left with after they are done with each other? >> there's a point of diminishing returns and all these negative ads. everything has been negative towards gingrich from romney. i just wonder, chris, if there is a turn around if gingrich does tighten up, whether it's a backlash against romney doing

nothing but doing these 30-second negative ads. that does, at some point, turn people off. >> this is what i think there's a tonal problem with romney we've talked about on your show and my show. here's this. mitt romney with matt lauer this morning laying out his new campaign strategy. his theme. scale back the attacks on president obama and time now to focus on his arch republican enemy gingrich. let's watch him explain this. >> there's no question that politics ain't bean bags. and we have made sure that our message is out loud and clear that the speaker has been attacking me all over the state in ways that are really extraordinary. and some republicans painful to watch. because it's so revealing of him. and the fact is that he worked with hundreds of people in washington and only a handful of those people are willing to support him. >> wow. >> this is so personal. this is taking on your main opponent and you are talking about how nobody likes him. it's high school. >> but he doesn't connect with the base. i'm one of those guys that worked with newt that, obviously, have a lot of

concerns about newt that we talked about in realtime when i was a guest on "hardball." even look at the attacks mitt is making. he's talking about an ethics investigation that most of us republicans believe had nothing to do with that. it had everything to do with democrats taking down republicans. that took down jim wright. and so even in his attacks against newt if he were attacking newt for for being ideologically inconsistent, going after paul ryan's plan saying it's radical social engineering, i'd say, okay. i agree with mitt. instead, he's taking a democratic attack against newt and he's borrowing tom brokaw's newscast to do it. >> i saw that. >> the whole thing -- he doesn't get the conservative phase. >> you are on an airplane. let's assume you are up front. who do you want sit with you on a plane right in 1b for five, six or ten hours. stay australia. do you want newt or mitt romney next to you?

as a person next to you. >> as a person, i prefer mitt romney, but i think that's pretty obvious. >> i'm strange. i would prefer to be next to newt because -- >> of course you would. >> that's a gender different in the campaign. >> there is a gender break, mika, that's so pronounced in this race among men and women voters. something like a 20-point -- not that you are typical of either one of you, but the gender is matching up with you guys. >> here's the question. who would jeb bush like to sit next to? i wish he'd make a decision. wouldn't that help move this down the road and clean this up? or marco rubio. why can't they get behind him? >> your point being? >> mitt romney still can't close the deal and we'll let newt gingrich? you'll let your -- your party is going to let newt gingrich do this to himself? >> the republicans will allow mitt to win a race and then they'll reflexively move against him. >> 1980. buyer's remorse in two minutes. let's take a look.

this weekend at a rally in naples, florida, their criticism of the base. let's watch this. >> the first debate, of course, the audience was quiet. and speaker gingrich said that threw him off. he can't debate before a quiet audience. then the next audience was very loud. very loud. and he said that threw him off. he can't debate before a real loud audience. it's like goldilocks. can't have it this way. it has to be just so. >> in a million years, do you think he thought that up himself? >> no. >> stu stevens thought that up? >> his campaign will take the credit. >> how many times have he worried him say politics ain't bean bag. everything this guy says is practiced, is rehearsed in front of a mirror. and that's the real problem. >> that's where the word "hardball" came up in politics. >> we conservatives don't have anybody to rally around. we had george bush for eight years. we've got record deficits from it and there's nowhere to go.

>> newt gingrich is the best game in town for anybody watching politics. here he is on fox news sunday going after what's been done to him. and it has been done to him. here it is about the carpet bombing. >> and he has a basic policy of carpet bombing his opponent. he doesn't try to build up mitt romney. he just tries to tear down whoever he is running against. it has an effect. we're in a tough campaign down here. ironically if you look at the three national polls this week, every place else in the country they can't carpet bomb, the ideas that i'm representing, the scale of change i represent, the conservative movement i represent, we actually have been pulling away from him in national polls. but i give governor romney's campaign due respect for the sheer volume of negativity that they use and the sheer amount of money they raise on wall street. >> how ironic. i give them credit for the sheer volume of negativity. what kind of a statement about democracy is that? >> it's not whining, though,

because it's the truth. but again, i go back to the rick scott model. i was here when he ran against the governor of florida. all he did was what mitt romney is doing. he ran negative ads. and as you know, he got sworn in with a 34% approval rating. mitt is really -- he's playing for the short game. he's being a day trader. he's got to define himself in a positive way or he's in trouble. >> mika, as an independent journalist, is the white house thrilled by this because one thing they teach in all the 13 keys and all these guys who write stories about predicting elections if there's an intramural fight, a real mad dog crazy fight, the other team always wins. >> they are absolutely thrilled. this is fantastic for them. i don't think it's good for the national conversation. i'd like to see a really good republican candidate taking on the president and the conversation being elevated. but it looks like mitt romney is going to be torn down, bit by bit and if newt gingrich gains some headway that would not be good for the country either. and that's opinion.

>> it's 100 degrees. 100 humidity. newt gingrich shows up at the republican convention which is going to crown -- crown mitt romney. what's his role? >> the same role of pat buchanan in 1992. i mean, he is going to come in and he's going to have a group of people that are going to be thrilled. they are going to jump to their feet. they are going to respond to him in a way they'll not respond to the nominee. >> you'll get quality primetime time. will he get it if he fights to the end? >> i think he will. or else he'll blow the convention up. you and i know this. and a lot of people are shocked at home to hear this, but the clintons didn't vote for barack obama four years ago. and newt gingrich is not going to vote for -- newt will vote for mitt romney. >> i don't know about that, but i don't know about the clintons. >> you and i both know in really heated harsh primary elections, forget about four years ago. not only do they all go and vote against a guy in their family.

the family does. >> the surmise is worthy of us all. let me ask you about democracy. talking about the quality of our democracy which our soldiers fight for which we believe in as a country. is it good a guy is on the verge of winning the florida primary for the republican presidential nomination by spending $16 million in negative advertising against the other guy's $4 million? is that democracy? that sounds like a karl marx criticism of democracy. you are just the rich guys spending money on these campaigns to pretend it's the average person voting. >> no, it's not. the system is definitely flawed and crumbling to an extent. and the conversation is limited between the republican candidates. it's not great. >> joe? 16 million bucks to destroy another guy's reputation. >> if you used the 16 million bucks to say this is how i'm going to save medicare. this is how i'm going to balance the budget. this is how i'm going to get the troops home. >> that's not how you win. >> that helps. the problem here is you get mitt romney that is running a campaign without meaning. negative attack ads using democratic ethics and attacks

against gingrich and then he goes on the campaign trail and his punch line is reciting the words to "america the beautiful." >> what if your staff put out word that your candidate was a puppet and you had to pull the strings. >> i'd fire him in a second. i'd call -- >> fire him? you are a republican. >> i'd say, you know what? that was a great article and i recommend you use it in your next job interview because you're done here. that was a disgrace. and i mean it. somebody needs to be fired. but you know what that shows? the lack of respect romney's own team has for him. by the way -- >> remember bob and the staff guy that did that to him years ago? >> yeah yeah. >> same thing. >> ronald reagan 1980, i had confirmation of what i said, that grabbing of the microphone. mr. green ipaid for that mike. a guy that worked on the campaign said it was a set-up. we knew it was coming. but what we did was we let reagan do it. we had reagan have the spotlight instead of blabbing how smart we

were to the campaign. they are a disgrace. >> it shows how much puppeteering is going on here by the romney people. they don't mind admitting they are puppeteers mika, thank you. >> thank you, chris. >> see you tomorrow, right? >> i'll be on your show in the morning. >> this is awesome. mitt go all the way to the kong vention. he is freddy kruger and he's making it personal. you're watching "hardball" from the miami children's museum on the eve of the florida primary.

just as in iowa, it's a campaign of annihilation down here in florida. ad spending has topped $24 million. as i mentioned a moment ago, mitt romney and his supporters are outspending gingrich 4-1. nearly $16 million to $4 million. and it's the superpac supporting

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we will go all the way to the convention. this will be a straight out contest for the next four or five months. >> wow. welcome back to "hardball." even if mitt romney wins here tomorrow, newt gingrich just declared he's not going anywhere. he's dialed up his attacks on romney from massachusetts moderate to massachusetts liberal. that's what he's calling him. >> i am in fact, the legitimate heir of the reagan movement. not some liberal from

massachusetts. >> conservatives are going to come together and decide they do not want a massachusetts liberal. the only effective vote to stop a massachusetts liberal from becoming our nominee is to vote for newt gingrich. >> wow. gingrich really does stand a race for the long haul, how does that affect romney? michael steele is former chairman of the republican national committee and howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and editorial director for the huffington post media group. let's talk about this whole thing. this guy is loaded for bear. newt ain't going anywhere. >> i talked to a couple of his closest friends today who said they strongly advised him to go all the way to the convention. and they didn't have to do a lot of convincing. he wants to do it, but they also want to do it because they want to keep raising money and they want to raise money based on the idea that there is an ideological fight that needs to be waged for the good of the

soul of the party and the conservative movement all the way to the convention. so they are going to position it like -- >> this is ted kennedy against carter. >> exactly. >> it's the georgetown speech. >> it's not about newt. of course it is about newt. it's not about newt. it's about we need to do this for the soul of the party because this is not a romney party. this is not a massachusetts moderate party. >> this is what ted kennedy said against president carter when he knew he wasn't going to win the fight for the nomination against carter. he gave that speech at georgetown where he said it's all about ideology. >> but like them, i believe now there's some truth to that as well. there is -- >> truth in teddy, too. >> there is at the core of it this battle and the moderates and conservatives in the party have to work out how they're going to -- >> who do you like? >> who do i like in that fight? >> no, right now, newt versus romney. who has the heart of the party? >> i think newt does. i think that's illustrated by the fact romney just can't close the deal with those conservatives out there.

>> is that also, just to be local. is that why jeb bush, who everybody seems to like here, and even marco rubio, are keeping -- they don't want to endorse romney. >> two things. i think one is preserving their own future and, two, recognizing that this is more parochial, you come into our state, take the time to actually fight for the vote. don't assume the vote is going to be there. don't assume my endorsement is going to be there. there's a little bit of that politics of it. but the core of it really rolls down to what is this fight going to be like. what does it look like? and those guys, particularly two of them touted the way they've been touted don't want their fingerprints in the mix. >> i was over in little havana making the stop at the great place. the cafe versailles which is the equivalent of the palm of -- i bumped into two republican congressmen, john mica and diaz-ballard.

and neither one of them to me sounded overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the man they had endorsed. now they both endorsed mitt romney. but if i can do my john mica properly it was like, yeah, mitt romney. it was, yeah, mitt romney. and i think it's for the reason that michael is talking about which is they know that newt is flawed. they -- so they have no choice but to be with mitt romney. it's not that they like him personally or ideologically. with strong endorsements of sarah palin of newt gingrich on fox repeatedly. with a sort of bounce-back reaction to a little too much dancing in the end zone prematurely by the romney crowd, that's going to unite the conservatives for one last push, and i think -- i could be wrong.

i often am. but i'm going to be closer in the end tomorrow night than people anticipate. >> we'll remember that if you are right. do you think the republican conservatives look on mitt romney as freido in "the godfather." he's my brother but he's weak. sarah palin wants gingrich to keep on fighting. one reason is because he's tapped into the tea party anger. boy, we know that. let's listen to her. >> look at the players in the establishment who are fighting so hard against him. they want to crucify him because he's tapped into that average everyday american tea party grassroots movement. so if for no other reason rage against the machine, vote for newt. annoy a liberal. vote newt. keep this vetting process going. keep the debate going. >> that's the pure goal there. another reason why newt might want to stay, his numbers are much better nationwide.

gingrich and romney nationwide are basically tied. gingrich is actually up a point. it looks like gingrich has a very good case. no matter what happens here, he says look at the national numbers. i'm in this fight. >> as long as he can clothe it in the nobility of the ideological fight and the cause, then he can convince himself and some others to be -- to stay with him. and i think the key thing is going to raise money over the next month. then if he can make it out to super tuesday -- >> how does he get through february? >> i have no -- >> the caucuses will feed that energy with no doubt. that's all grassroots in many respects. nevada, problematic, michigan problematic. that's already factored in. >> even losing all these races, he can hang in until march. >> he's got to figure out some way to do that financially in terms of free media strategy.

what the answer to that is i don't know. newt is a master at getting free media. >> does your party still have -- i used to call it the white boys club. the governors that used to get together. how about the boys club. is there still a pack of them to get together in some club fd say, well, we're a party. we've got to clean this up and get rid of this newt guy. is there any party group that can -- >> no, because i think you've seen attempts at that at various stages where you may have some of the governors rallying around in particular, mitch daniels. but this is what's so exciting for me. this is all grassroots that's driving this right now. and it's great. >> but think about what we know about newt already. the three marriages. the ethics committee violations. every bad thing has been thrown at him and he's still there. he's still standing. >> women are not as enthusiastic. >> they're not. >> gives him a chance to close

that gap. >> that will be an interesting gap to close. women are going to love newt after they know more about him. howard fineman, michael steele. up next, the chairman of the republican party compares president obam to that italian cruise ship captain who jumped ship and left the passengers to, whatever. is this disrespecting the president? well, i'd say so. you're watching "hardball" only

back to "hardball." now to the sideshow. resorting to nursely rhymes. newt gingrich may be saying he'll carry on in the republican race until the republican convention this summer, regardless of how he fares in tomorrow's primary. that will make for a more exciting spring and summer for us. it's rattling the world of the republican establishment. here's george f. will yesterday. >> time is not newt gingrich's

friend because the more time he has, the more he talks. the more he talks. the more he says things as he just did this morning. he said i'd love to be civil, but i'm running against a maniacal liar. that's pretty strong language. i don't know if you've ever told longfellow's nursery rhyme to your 4-year-old daughter alice. >> no, not yet. >> there is a little girl. had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. when she was good, she was very good indeed. when she was bad, she was very horrid. we're at the horrid stage with newt gingrich. >> theets gop establishment talk. i'm rooting for newt to stay in this thing and it will create for the tea party world and a compelling spectacle for us. next up, taking it to the extreme. reince priebus is facing heated backlash today as the result of his comparing president obama to, get this, the captain of that italian cruiseliner who abandoned ship after taking the "costa concordia" on the rocks. let's listen to what priebus said about gop infighting

yesterday on cbs. >> in the end in a few months, this is all going to be ancient history and we're going to talk about our own little captain schettino, which is president obama who is abandoning the ship here in the united states and is more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president. >> what did you call president obama? >> captain schettino, you know, the captain that fled the ship in italy. >> well, that captain, that ship captain is facing charges, including manslaughter for his involvement. u.s. congresswoman and dnc chair debbie wasserman-schultz released a statement calling ought priebus for making that statement. chairman priebus should be ashamed of his comments comparing president obama to the captain of the wrecked italian cruise ship. that he would compare the president of the united states to a man now charged with manslaughter for his actions shows a lack of respect for the president that is beyond the bounds of appropriate political discourse.

well, the incident also entered the white house press briefing where they called him desperate for attention. since the successful raid of obama's compound in pakistan last may we've heard bits and pieces of what went into the high-risk decision to go high-risk decision to go forward. vice president joe biden gave us another piece of the puzzle during his speech to house democrats this past friday. the decision was far from unanimous. let's listen to biden. >> every single person in that room hedged their bet, except leon panetta. leon said go. everyone else said, 49, 51, this -- it got to me. they said, joe, what do you think? i said, i didn't know we had so many economists around the table. i said we owe the man a direct answer. mr. president, my suggestion is don't go. he walked out and said i'll give you my decision. the next morning he came down through the diplomatic entrance getting in a helicopter, i believed to go to michigan.

i'm not positive on that. he turned to tom donald and said, go. >> and the rest of the story is history. biden used the president's decision but allowed him to hit back at opponents who attacked the president for, quote, leading from behind. up next, even if mitt romney wins big tomorrow here in florida, the obama campaign knows a lot more about how to beat him, romney in a general election than just a few weeks ago. that's ahead. the big story, obama and how is he going to do it. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc.

answer session. he talked about a range of issues including the state of

the economy. mr. obama says he's committed to keeping the recovery going and that things are picking up. the steam contains low levels of radioactive tridium but officials say the levels were not a threat to workers or the public. iran's foreign minister is offering to extend a visit by u.n. nuclear inspectors. it's the inspectors first mission in iran since november. they want to talk to scientists and inspect documents and work to secure future visits.

welcome back. republicans are focused on what happens here tomorrow night, of course. for the white house, all bets are on romney. they think he's the winner and they are prepared to run against the former massachusetts governor already. a new poll today shows how tight that race would end up being. according to a "usa today"/gallup poll of 12 key swing states, barack obama and mitt romney are in a virtual tie. 47% for the president, 48% for romney. a far different picture than what a race between the president and newt gingrich would look like. obama would lead the house speaker by 14 points. over the past few weeks, romney has shown important weaknesses as he's battled newt gingrich. we all count on the obama campaign taking notes. what is the president's team learning from the primary fight they can use later this year? eugene robinson is an msnbc

political analyst and a columnist for "the washington post." chris cillizza, also an msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics down in washington. we looked at these numbers. let me ask you. let's take a look at axelrod talking on "meet the press" yesterday about what they are learning. here he is. >> independent voters are fleeing governor romney now and his numbers are falling. he's under water nationally. this process is not helping him because he's so intent on pandering to those forces on the right of his party, to try and win this nomination. >> he's on the mark there. some evidence of mitt romney's fall right now among independents in the latest nbc/"wall street journal" poll. while those independents rating him overall positively have remained steady, his negative rating has gone up. in november, 22% viewed him negatively. in december, up to 29%. now that number is up to 44%. he's rising on the negative side. look at romney and obama, how they match up among

independents. back in november, romney beat obama by 13 points. now obama beats romney by 9. 44 -- actually 8. 44% to 36%. it seems there's been collateral damage here. damage that might last. the question, of course, will it last? on romney's side. >> there definitely has been collateral damage. this has been a bad patch for mitt romney who is supposed to have this wrapped up. we now know that there are vulnerabilities on the money issue, on the question of this wealth. how did he make it? you know, why does he ship it off to switzerland and the cayman islands? lots of questions like that. how much tax does he pay? and we've also learned romney has -- he romney camp has a tendency toward overconfidence. we've seen that a couple of times. and toward going so totally negative that they forget to project a positive image of their guy. which, you know, as you know

from history, that's not a good idea. you have to make a positive case for your guy to be president. and they are not really doing that. >> chris, this is like -- i've never seen one but it's like a snuff movie we've been watching here. they kill newt gingrich but they don't sell the candidate. >> chris, i think gene's point and your point is right which is mitt romney has succeeded almost by his own admission. he said he caunt tough enough on gingrich in south carolina and wouldn't make that mistake again. what have they done in the intervening nine days? make a tough case against newt gingrich. making a tough case against newt gingrich is not the same thing as making a very positive case for mitt romney. my guess would be if he wins florida, that is mitt romney if he wins florida tomorrow night by ten points or more, they will try to pivot and use the month of february to start again focusing on president obama in why mitt romney would be a better choice. the success, how he's turned this campaign around in the last

nine days is to go after gingrich. he's not selling the positive mitt romney. he's saying, do you really want this guy, newt gingrich, to be your nominee? >> let's watch something that's rare in politics. it's where a candidate for president, here mitt romney, who we think is smart intellectually. here he is giving away the store early this month in an interview with laura ingraham on the radio. asked about the economy, romney said, it's getting better. it's getting better. the obama economy. this is his number one challenger speaking. god knows why he said that, but let's listen. >> how do you answer the president's argument that the economy is getting better in a general election campaign if you yourself are saying that it's getting better? >> well, of course it's getting better. the economy always gets better after a recession. but the question is, has it recovered by virtue of something the president has done or has he delayed the recovery and made it more painful. and the latter is, of course, the truth. >> isn't that a hard argument to make? is that a stark enough contrast?

>> well, have you got a better one, laura? it just happens to be the truth. >> have you got a better one, laura? is he asking laura? i like laura. i disagree with her. is he like counting on her to give him a better campaign strategy? >> he's just fishing around. you know, what's interesting about that, of course, it's a woulda, coulda, shoulda. and it's a hypothetical. of course, that is his very case against obama. and that's obama's argument back. well, you know, obama has made the recession worse. obama says you know, if i hadn't done the things i did, it would have been much worse than it was. and so it's -- >> too much nuance. >> it's very difficult for romney to say that obama's argument is ridiculous and in fact, he's making the same argument. >> why would you give away the store on your way to buy something? why would you give it all away and say, yeah it's getting better. sure, by the way, do you have a better argument for me, lady? can you help me out here because i don't have a better one. he's admitting he doesn't have an argument against obama.

>> i think laura ingraham asked the right question. isn't that a tough argument to sell? and the reality is, it is. we know for a fact in politics that's is the president probably gets too much blame -- i shouldn't say probably gets too much blame when the economy is bad. gets too much credit when the economy gets better. romney seems to be trying to really thinly slice that onion to say, yes, things are getting better but it wouldn't have gotten better as slowly if it wasn't for what president obama did. it's a lot more complicated argument than just saying things aren't getting better and, remember, in politics, especially campaign politics, especially presidential politics, simple is what sells. >> yeah, yeah, you won the football game but i would have won it by more points eugene robinson and chris cillizza, thank you. let's get a firsthand view of the presidential race and why the president can win florida here in the general election. we have the former governor charlie crist joining us when we return. this is "hardball" only on msnbc.

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if cialis for daily use is right for you. for a 30-tablet free trial offer, go to cialis.com. well, here's proof the partisan divide in this country is actually getting deeper if you believe it. in his third year in office, president obama has an approval rating of 80% among democrats but only 12% among republicans, according to the gallup poll. that's a gap among party lines of 68 points. it's the highest ever for a president at this point in his term. the greatest gap we've ever had. the previous high was 59 points in the third year of george w. bush's second term in office. we'll be right back. it's getting worse.

we're back. mitt romney's lead over newt gingrich in florida is up to double digits, one day before voters go to the polls here. one person that knows how fickle the voters is charlie crist, elected governor in 2006, four years later lost a senate bid. i want to thank you for joining us, rarely makes appearances on this network. thank you for joining us. >> a pleasure. >> as a pundit, what do you think of the race where it looks like a 4-to-1 negative advertising campaign has blown newt gingrich out of the running. what does it say about your former party, the republicans? >> certainly means money matters. in politics. the old express and you would know this better than me, chris, money is the mother's milk of politics. that has been the case this week. to the romney's credit they

raised an enormous sum of money. spending is 4-to-1 compared to speaker gingrich. that is hard to overcome and making an impact like it did in iowa for the speaker in the first race. that made a big difference, having a profound impact in florida. >> what do you make of the whole citizens united deal where you can run independent pacs don't have to have your fingerprints on it and maybe you don't but the effect is totally negative advertising? you turn on any show now and n this state i saw it in iowa, was worse there. you couldn't watch entertainment tonight, a non-political show without being blasted with negativity. >> it's incredible, it's very distasteful, like a firing squad if you will, i know that other republicans have talked about the challenge and difficulty this could present to the nominee, the eventual nominee facing president obama. there are some that argue it's healthy because you get more of

the republican message out but it has to have a detrimental effect, i think the negatives are being shown in the polls most recently. >> what do you think newt gingrich will do walking out of here tomorrow, at the walks out badly wounded, character is decimated in two states, the personal attitude he must have toward governor romney, where does that lead from there, from here? >> it can't be warm and fuzzy. i've heard a lot this week, this is not bean bag, that is certainly the truth. but the kind of comments that have gone between the two candidates have been unusually caustic, there will be bad blood as a result of that. but what is important for the republican party, just as it was for the democrats four years ago is heal quickly, be able to get your act together, because the president's will be for midable in florida and formidable in his reelect across the country.

>> here's gingrich the candidate that will probably lose, here is newt gingrich on gma yesterday morning skewering mitt romney or actually this morning. >> he can bury me for a very short amount of time with four or five or six times as much money, most of it raised on wall street from the guys who got bail outs from the government. in the long run, the republican party is not going to nominate the founder of romney-care, a liberal republican who is pro abortion, pro gun control and pro tax increase, ain't gonna happen. >> so you are in tampa, say it's next august, this year, nine months from now, imagine newt gingrich talking like that at your convention. >> well, it's tough talk. no question about it. but that has been sort of the line, it's interesting to watch because you see that there is a conservative insurgence, rush limbaugh said you have to back

off the rhetoric as relates to gingrich. sarah palin came out this weekend saying if you want to upset a liberal, vote for newt. so there is an insurgence that the establishment quote unquote, doesn't seem to light up to. so how difficult or how interesting things will be here in tampa during the convention in august, only time will tell for sure. what i heard morning joe talk about a little bit this weekend, he said there is a play for gingrich if in fact he does lose tomorrow in florida, getting to super tuesday where you have other southern states he might be able to draw upon to sort of reignite himself once again. he has done it twice. i don't think you can necessarily count the guy out. he's a fighter. >> i don't want to waste this chance to have you on for a minute or so, governor, i respect your politics, i think you're a 40 yard line guy, you're center right.

i'm center left. i think there ought to be room in politics for people around 40 yard line, there is a future is it all going to be hard left and right from now on? >> i hope there is a future because in order to move the country forward i think you have to have people who are willing to honestly compromise. you understand this probably better than a lot of people on tv, having worked for tip o'neill, they would work with ronald reagan, they could make a deal on a handshake and meant something. they were americans first, that what is this country needs to move forward. >> i think it's what we need to govern, it's not working this way. you can't get a deal that works. that is my concern. an honor to have you back on charlie crist of florida. when we return, we'll finish with the shakespearean tragedy between newt and mitt, revenge is a dish best served cold. you're watching "hardball" only

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let me finish tonight with this, is it democracy what is happening in florida? is it democracy when one guy spends or has spent $16 million to destroy the other guy's character? 16 million to destroy another guy's reputation? in just one state? would you forgive someone who did that to you? would you smile, shake hands and chuckle over the deliberate effort of another human being to destroy you, to make you look like a crook? here is what i think. i think that newt gingrich is not going to forget what mitt romney has done to him in florida, has done to him in iowa, is doing to him nation-wide. he won't get out of the way, i won't lay down on the side of the road like some wounded dog. what goes around comes around, that is a washington express and means something. you do wrong against someone on your way up, they remember it when it's time to get you heading down. newt gingrich is paying for his political sins. romney is right about that. he has a handful of backers from his days as speaker. mitt will pay for what he has

done to newt. some shakespearean justice coming in this drama. he who kills must die. watch for mitt to get his comeuppance. newt will stay in the fight to the end. there is no way he can say mitt showed any quarter to him. why should he go sweet on mitt now? what does he owe romney? defeat, that's what he owes him i am betting on newt to pay him back. newt will remember how deliberately and brutally mitt did that. if the ends justify the means, it will be remembered. it won't end soon or nicely a. wonderful word for what is coming in this fight, a word popular in southern florida. mishigass. hell breaking news.