>> i am running for office. >> who is this guy can we trust him? >> and is this a great season for campaign ads or what? >> we do not always see eye to eye. no but w agree our countryry st ke action to address climate change. if>> new gingrich says i was only one in the room who do not know i was dead. soaring in thehe polls he received t the endorsement of the conservative manchester union leader. the same newt gingrich's campaign staff walked off the job in june. the same nuking bridge mark shields has characterized as carry more baggage than united van lines. here is newt gingrich this week in south carolina. >> i have a long record of persistence.

i spent 16 years here. i thought it w was better for the use that is what a free society is all about. >> i have a very long record of connsistency. does anyone have a problem with that sentence? charles krauthammer? >> i think there is no doubt he is on rocket ride right now and the party -- a party for a few weeks that was considering herman cain as a serious candidate for the presidency -- the man who says the country needs aeader, not a reader, can certainly nominate newt gingrich. i do notnow how our probable is, but it is certainly looking far more liky than it did a few months ago. >> ma? >> the republican field stands

tween a landslide reelection victory of barack obama if newt gingrich's the nominee. if he is the nominee, it will not be a competitive race.e. it willl be a landslide walk to reelection at a time when the nation needs a major leader. > i do not think barack obama has done such a good life that deserves a new gingrich as an opponent, but it is possible. it is possible because of the time. we are very close to the iowa caucuses and new hampshire primary now. feels like thi has been going on for ever, but it is about a month or less. the time to watch that fizzle is evaporating. he beat the clock. >> i have a very long record of

consistency. colblby, anything wro with that statement? >> got awers democratic careers. -- god answerss democratic careers. we just hope that he will m make it to the n nomination. that will be beaeautiful. >> john mccoy made it clear, i thought that the gingrich could stand up from the crime. >> could he win the presidential nominatn? >> if it were to be decided this week i think he would acally. but because it is a long slog because the election will be done on a proportional basis you cannot win allhe delegates in a state i am not sure he can do it for the lonong haul. he is now on a rocket ride, but i think he will come to earth. he does not have the structure

right now. he may do it, to carry him through and build the delegate count he needs. >> gingrich says he can win the nomination. can he, mark? >> yes if he wins iowa and nenew hampshire. no onene who has won both states has been denied the nomination. this could be a first. scrutiny attaches. the only speaker in the history the united states to be sciplined by his colleagues ethically r violation of tax loss. he paid a $300,000 fine the plan on leaving the speakership like it was a voluntary changing of his tires. there was a r revolt in his owned ranks scheming to g get rid of him. it was a very popular movement. >> can he win the nomation, nina? >> think he could but it is unlikely. even though i s say that the

democrats shod be so lucky, i also say, be careful wt you wish for. >> colby? >> i hope he does. >> but can he? >> if he comes out of new hamphire a close secd, but then goes on tsouth carolina, wins, he is going to carry lot of those southern states. he stands a good chance, except his biggest enemy will be wt gingrich. he may include somewhere along the way. >> a close second, 1992, a close second is perceived ass the winners and times. >> mitt romney is the prohibitive winner because he was the goverr of massachusetts. he is very well-lik there. >>he problemem with mitt romney, the case for him, he can win. there is not aompelling case that anyone can give voluntarily that they like romney, believe in him, that they b believe he

wi make a big impact, they are supporting him because he can win. i think romney has to forge a case for himself as well as a case against the bridge. >> but it is not only a calculation about who can win. that is an important element. the other problem is there is a suspicion on the portion of the base that he is not a true conservative. what newt gingrich has, he has all the baggage in the world. ideological as well. it is not just the personal stuff and the lobbying. it is allhe flip-fls that he did, that that you showedancy pelosi. the thing that he has this credits him for a great event which would be a takeor of the house after half a century of it being oed by democrats.

and thus he has earned credit with them. the oblem is, when you talk to independents and democrats in the general election, that cous for nothing. that is why it will be hell or highime by the general election. >> having heard from ginger white who said she spent 13 years in the arms of herman cain have we now heard the last of mr. cain? >> i think mr. cain shouldn't bua one way ticket home, who will be sittindown with mrs. cain who will be raising cain about his activities. i hopee this is the last of what we h hear from herman cain. >> you know your campaign is in trouble when the candidate uses in a press conference the word consensual.

>> let's hear from evan thomas ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ♪ ...no..hrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of perfoformance. northr grumman.

>> mitt romney, what have you learne >> surprisinglgly he has a sense of humor. it is well-l-hidden. this is a humiliating process running for president, and he does n take l that seriously. >> the toughest thing he has evever done? it sure is, and he says that. hehe saidd in 2008, it helps to learn from your mistakes. romney leaearn from hi mistakes. >> what about newt gingrich? >> he was pretty giddy about the fact that everyone ote him off. he is compared himself to re

crocker, embedded mcdonald's, the news of entrepreneurs who have defied all the old school experts. he has a tv studio in his backyard. >> the obama campaign, do they have plan? >> no, , if there was an obama bumper sticker that said obama's 2012 and nothing else on it, that would be it. they are going to make mitt romney into the wall reet cheater. notty obama himimself but the campaign will be tough on him the dead there is evan thomas. -- tough on him. >> there is evan thomas. mark and i were in a focus group lalast nigight in fairfax, virginia. what did we learn from that? >> mitt romney does not have an emotional connection to voters. republicans do not think they have a strong field.

some were disappointed. they think the f field is weak. they want to win. they really want to win. >> what sticks in my head, the woman who said, i want somebody i want to be excited about somebody to campaign for. >> you have to say, this is a weak field, butt also, at is stage, people often feel that way, and then they get excited later. i agree with you mitt romney, he is like everybody's first husband.d. the one that we do not really want to stick around with. but he is actually a disciplined candidate. the worst thing that has happened to him, other than newt gingrich is that he subjected himself to read interview withh brett they are on box x and did nonot do well. it will have to do more of that and learn to do that better. -- breier on fox andid not do

well. >> it was a disaster. this was an opportuninity for him to do something simple, discuss his record. it was not a gadget interview. ett was fair and straightforward. it was very disconcerting to see romney crack under that. he can dish it out but he cannot take it. >> he has run at a decent campaign over all. >> it is levin new england patriots. they have a big lead, and they are sitting on it. he has had one challengeger r after another that has combusted spontaneouly. newt might or mightht not but romney's problem is, running in a wide field when you havthese debates, and there have been a 11 of them when you're on the

stage with nine others, nobody gets to follow up. when he d the interview, brett was ready and would follow up every answer with another question, and he was also well prepared and had previous statements. it was an unusual situation. if romney had not been candid before, and he implied as the field narrows, he may have a ha time. >> after three decas in congress, barney frank is quitting.. the massachusetts congrsman. tip o'neill, speaker of the house, president, senators. things are changing of ththere. what is your reaction? >> as far as i'm concerned if a person can take toy barney frank votes, there will be no change. in fact, it will be a game. i am not aan of him thi

he is a mean and nasty. >> i am a fan. i confess, when i read all the stories, i did not realizee was that mean to people. >> he did not like stupid questitions. >> if you sit back to him, do not give me a stupid answer, then it is ok with it. he is so smart. when you read hank paulson's book, you realize as we were about to go off the cliff it was a barney frank and worked wiwith the bush and mr. should keep us from going off the cliff. >> barney frank was elected state representative in 1972. george mcgovern lost 49 of 50 states. he wasurting.

barney frank went up tgeorge mcgovern and said, he did not know him and he said, i run on your coat tails. he has had a remarkable career. the personalityty problems are real but the intellect is towering. >> he will be remembereds the guy in the years when we could have had reigned in fannie anand freddie, defend and protected ththem and try to intimidate those who wanted to tell the truth about it. i think his leaving the congress will raise the level of civil discourse in washington. >> [ baby coughing ]

[ coughing continues ] [ female announcer ] more pollution from power plants means more childhood asthma attacks. [ labored breathing ] there's technology that makes the air cleaner but too many plants don't use it. we can't wait. epa must update power plant standards to protect our kids. [ baby coughing ] >> it is because ofou in the words of what we have done, we

are now ablto end the war. >> vice-president joe biden in baghdad. that was this week at a special ceremony honoring americann and iraqi troops, marking the impending withdraw of the troops. colby, how is history going to treat the iraq war? >> not kindly. we are losingg a country -- leaving a country that is not really in our hands. it is to between the u.s. and iran, a situation thatt did not exist before we started the war in their country. a lot of treasure is gon a lot of bloodshed. i think getting out is probably the best thing we could have done. >> they are going to leave some troops there but the iraqi government would not give them immunity charles. >> that is what they said in the budget ministration, but a negotiated a way around it. it is clear the the largest

elements of the parliament the mamaliki elements represeing the shiites, be allowed a party the sunni party, and the kurds were interested in the prresident. the obama administration came into a war that was run. the surge had succeeded, al qaeda was defeate shiite militias were decimateded. by malikiki himself with american anand british help. had onene job, to negiate a strarategic alliance in the long term with a residual force. he had three years to do it, failed abjectly. it was not clear h how the war will end meaning the real war the ultime outcome in iraq. it could be a reasonable outcome, but it has been damaged by the failure of the obama administration. >> failed abjectly? >> to set the record straight,

that timetable w set by president bush in 2008 and agreed to. that timetable is now being honored thehe first war since the mexican-american war in american history that we went into without a military draft and tax cuts instead. a lonong, bloody war fought under pretense. there were methods of mass destruction capable of being delivered, and the threat of a nuclear cloud. all of which was fraudulent and phony. >> people like charles always talk about the importance of realism in foreign pololicy. i dodo not deny saddam hussein was a horrible leader who did excruciatingly bad things but if you look at the balance of power in that area of the world, w we nowee the main thing to worry about is iran, and there is no check on iran. thatas theole that the rock

used to play. now it does not. >> charles? >> iraq was not a check on iran. iran was disarmed. it was under agreements it made with the united nations. we had to fly over it, we had a no-fly zone that lasted 15 years. sanctions on iraq at the time were completely wearing away entirely. it was only a matter of time ununtil it went beyondtself. certainly, not an ally in the region. what it was was theirst arab dictatorshiphat was destroyed, overcome, overthrhrown, and as a result, had a lar influence on the arab spring. >> let's take a look at a couple of [ male announcer ] without

the internet, facebook would be faceless, amazon would just be a river in south america, and yahoo! would be... [ man ] yahoo! [ male announcer ] ...well you know. but thanks to broadband network companies, the internet's alive and kicking. even in these tough times broadband companies invest billions in new technology.y. building the networks that are the backbone of the new economy, supporting over 3 million jobs inspiring new ideas, and making america more competitive. broadband for america: building the futurere today.

[ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices... in more ways than ever. and our networks are gting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless cocompanies. it's simple -- more spectrum means more freedom. for everyone. >> who is this guy? can you trust him? >> this is the and the democratic national committee is running on the assumption mitt romney will be president obama's opponent.

the rap on him is he is a flip- flopper. ron paul says the same thing about newt gingrich. >> he is the eence of a washington insider. i am hoping for a very creative campaign season ad- wise. what do we see as a successssful campaign ad? >> the truth is always helpful. >> but rarely there. >> the daisy commercial in 1964 that was used against barry goldwater -- if only played one spotted had phenomenal impact. as did ronald reagan's bear in the woods from 1994. those evoked powerful o of motions. now, wee are in an era where everything a candidate say is

recorded and is available. you will see a plethora of spots featuring candidates saying things they wh they had not said. >> you cannot get away with anything these days, colby. it is not fair. >> you will also have a lot of distortions, as you h had with the mitt romney ads against barack obama. i a am not looking for 2 this season. they seeto get nastier and nastier. if it goes to humor, it can work. but if it goes nasty, it is a turnoff. >> the worst thing, these days and these multimillion dollar organization that are " separate" from the candidate, so the candidate has immuny. these organizations can say anything. there are lots of oanizatations journalistic organizations that tell you that this is a line or a half fly but it does that catch up to the average person who has the television on while

they are cooking d dinner. >> you wish you could write one charles? >> i write a lot of them, but i disguise them. i pyne, for the old days -- i pine for the old days, as you do, ore could say anything we damn well please and nobody would remember a week later. now, everything from the politicians is recorded. i said new gingrich had the worst launched since t the hindenenburg, and i wish i had not. >> that is the

captioned by the national capaptioning institute --www.ncncicap.org-- >> business news from the capital region. this is "washingngton business report" with abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. thank you for joining us for a look at bususiness and finance issues here in the washington region. we have a power couple that stanout. john and mary kane. john ke is the presidident and ceo of the kanee comny.