captions paid for by nbc-universal television we proved here in south carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money, and with your help we will prove it again in florida. >> we will talk to the winner himself live this morning. also, how does the romney campaign now respond? >> this is a hard fight, because there is so much worth fighting for. how does governor romney connect with conservatives and make the case that he alone can

beat president barack obama. and then our special political roundtable as we wrap up the results from south carolina, and analyze where this wild race goes from here. plus, the president's standings two days before his state of the union address. how will he use this election year to advance his agenda? joining me, the host of msnbc's "morning joe,"ning joe," joe sc and a columnist for "time" magazine, mike murphy, and katty kay, and the white correspondent, chuck todd. good morning, this thing could go on for a while. here are the final results. newt gingrich coming from behind to beat mitt romney.

the chant was "newt can win." this race has three different winners. the most recent, of course, newt gingrich, he joins us live this morning. mr. speaker, we joked about you coming on every week, and here you are again. congratulations on a significant victory. >> thank you, and the people of south carolina are generous and hospitable. >> what is the message south carolina has sent and what does it mean for this race? >> i think they sent two really big messages, which i wish the national establishment could pick up. the first is real pain. tremendous unemployment. people really are hurting. the number of people that walked up to me that had been out of work for a year, year and a half, people that want to work hard and have a better future and provide for their families, and that's really there. and the second thing and nobody

really gets it, the level of angle at the national establishment. people are sick and tired of being told what they are allowed to think and say. again and again it came up in the two debates, the highest and most intense passion in both debates was a head on collision about what the news media was doing. and there's something real and deep there that happens all across the country, and that we are seeing everywhere, certainly in florida, which has had one of the most painful periods of pricing mortgages and the pricing with housing and the difficulties in the housing area, and they look at the big boys in wall street and at the guys in washington, and they know none of that help got down to average floridians, and that creates anger against the national establishment. >> you are running against the establishment and trying to run from the outside, and you were a consultant, and depending on your point of view, a lobbyist for one of the mortgage giants --

>> wait a second, david. david, you know better than that. i was not a lobbyist and never did any lobbying. don't try to mix these things up. i was an adviser strategically, and if you look at the only thing published by freddie mac, i said you need more regulations. and the only article i have written was in the new york times in july of 2008, and i said do not give them money. i opposed giving money to fannie mae and freddie mac, and i think they should be broken up into smaller companies and have long felt that, and to jump from one to the other is wrong. in florida my case will be simple. you have a clear establishment in mitt romney. look where his money comes from and his background and what he did in massachusetts. and his entire career has been a reagan populist conservative going back to the 1970s. i think that's a pretty clear contrast, and i think floridians would like somebody that speaks

for them to washington and not somebody that speaks for the establishment to them. >> and you raise mitt romney's background, and particularly his history with bain. >> those that pick up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow. let me be clear. if republican leaders want to join this president in demonizing success, and disparaging conservative values, they will not be fit to be our nominee. >> the question, mr. speaker, after all the questions about bain, where are all the questions, and where is the beef when it comes to his management of bain? >> you don't get beef because you don't get answers. he is trying to cleaverly hide behind an argument that no high school debater would ever let stand. the questions about the character, the judgment, the record of a presidential

candidate is not an attack on business. that's silly. that would be like saying that my critique of romney care is resembling obama care, and that's silly. the news reports are that they cleansed every single computer and we have no record of how they developed or an understanding of the overlap between his advisers and obama advisers, although obama says they are the same people. he keeps trying to make the arguments that even in high school debate he would lose if he can't do better than that. >> mr. speaker, if it appears governor romney will release his tax records as you called for him to do last week, would you be satisfied and you agree there could be facts in there that both you and president obama would use against him? >> i don't know. if there are things that can be

used against him, we better know it before the nomination. the last thing republicans want to do is nominate somebody that collapses in september. beating barack obama has to be the number one mission of the republican party. a second term for barack obama will be a disaster for this country, and i am committed to beating him and i think i proved in the debates i could take him on in a series of debates and i think it's important that we have a candidate strong enough and tough enough to be able to take on president obama in a series of debates. >> to give you your due on the electability question in south carolina, you had the edge, not governor romney who has had the edge in iowa and new hampshire, and that's important to say, and having said that, there are still real questions about your electability. look at the recent fox news poll. your unfavorable favorability rating was still high at 56%.

this was something that tom defrank road today in the daily news. the winner in south carolina was barack obama a strat gist, and this plays perfectly into his hands. we've prolonged the process and that's good news for the president. and it goes on, he has 100 ideas, and 97 are real good and the other will blow up the world. so look at romney to get off the against. newt means it would be a catastrophe for the country. that sums up the establishment view as newt gingrich as the nominee. >> well, the establishment is right to be worried about a gingrich nomination, because a gingrich nomination means we will change things and make the establishment very uncomfortable and demand change and real knowledge about where billions

of dollars have gone, and if you look at these guys, they worrie candidate, and i think we sbentd to change the establishment and not get along with it. everything you said and read was said about reagan in 1980. one of his republican opponents described the reagan economic growth plan as, quote, voodoo, economics. some voodoo and it created 16 million new jobs. we came back and used the same model when i was speaker, and it created 11 million new jobs. so i am proud to be the outsider that scares them. maybe they should be shaken up badly, and one of the things florida voters get to decide, do you want somebody like romney or somebody that would profoundly change washington, and that's

newt gingrich. >> you were out spoken this week about your views and questions about your personal life. on this program in the past you said they were fair questions and we had those conversations. let me ask you generally, if voters are going to continue your family values versus the family values of governor romney, should they judge your conduct? >> sure, of course they should. they should judge who i am. the people of south carolina did just that and they did it by a huge margin. they reput yated to go back and look at the opening of the debate. my wife and i have a wonderful marriage, and my children were there, and everybody who watches us knows i am a 68-year-old grandfather and have done things in my life that i regret, and i have had to go to god and ask

for forgiveness, but i have a great relationship with my wife and children and grandchildren, and at 68 i think i am the person best prepared to know how to get this country back on the right track and i am the person tough enough to take ever hit and keep coming, and i will do the same thing as president and we will get america back on track with the help of the american people, and i ask them to be with me and not for me, because this is going to be a difficult job. >> jeb bush, former governor of florida whose nomination is highly sought after, and he said he will stay neutral in the race, and he called on all the candidates to have a positive tone and think about the independent voter as we move through the general election. i want to play something you said about president obama and ask if you think you are consistent with that admonition. >> it's the source in which we draw our understanding of america, and he draws his from the radical left wingers and people that don't like the

classical americans. >> can you win independent voters in a general election campaign with that message? >> absolutely. ronald reagan did it by a landslide in 1980, and he carried more states against jimmy carter than franklin carried against hoover. what i said last night is the truth. nobody in the elite media wants to cover it. nobody has gone back and asked what neighborhood organizer meant. he was teaching political radicalism. that explains his entire administration. he is who he is. it's not that he is a bad human being. my impression is that he has a good family and really loves his children and wife and he is a very pleasant person in some ways, but the objective fact is he believes in a very radical vision of america's future that is fundamentally different from probably 80% of this country, and nobody in the elite media ever wanted to dig into it, and why would he veto the keystone

pipeline? why would he kill jobs in america? why would he have a relations board attack boeing? because it fits the model of radicalism. >> and governor romney is saying he will release the tax estimates for 2010 and an estimate for 2011. are you satisfied? >> i think that's a very good thing he is doing and i commend him for it and it's the exactly right thing to do, and that issue is aside and we can go on and talk about bigger and more important things. >> good luck on the campaign trail and thank you. >> joining me now is chris christi. >> i think what people want to see is look at how he made his money and i think that's appropriate and he will get a

good view of that in the two most recent years, 2010 and 2011. i am happy he is doing it. >> he waited, and it made for a pretty bad week. you advised him in the week to do it sooner. i want to show you something from the debate this week when he justified why it was he didn't want to release more and release more sooner than when he planned to last april. this is what he said. >> i want to make sure that i beat president obama, and every time we release things drip by drip, the democrats go out with another array of attacks. >> is there something in the tax returns that will hurt governor romney? >> i don't believe so no. at the end of the day, even in a standard tax return, adversaries like the obama white house will pick it apart and make something bad about the success governor romney has had in his life. i'm sure that's what he was concerned about. i made my position clear that i

think he should release the returns and he is releasing them and it's time to move on. what america is going to see is he is somebody who has been successful in his life. i think that's what you are going to see with governor romney. >> what was the meaning of last night? >> clearly disappointing. i am not going to say it was somehow good news for the romney campaign. we had a bad week as a campaign and a bad result last night. i still believe that governor romney will win in florida on the 31st, and he will return to florida in august as the republican nominee. >> there's a couple big issues. connecting to the grassroots of the party, and speaking about what speaker gingrich says, the anger. >> i have a real sense that

governor romney has a real depth of knowledge and experience and understanding about government and business, but he doesn't really communicate it all that well. i think people have a hard time connecting at times with him, and so his challenge will be how to connect with people, how to make them feel what i do believe that he feels inside, which is he wants to do great things for the country. >> what do you contribute that lack of connection to? >> he is a very reserved guy. and everybody comes with a different personality. he is very reserved. everybody can have success in politics with different personalities and every candidate has liabilities, and the president's liability is he has a lousy record, so he will have to attack mitt romney. and the speaker, a strategic adviser, that's the oldest washington dive in the -- >> are you talking about when he

worked for freddie mac? >> yes, he said he was a historian and now a stau tenlgic adviser, and that's the oldest trick in the book. he could call it whatever he wants to call it, but that's what it is. every candidate will have liabilities. what i was saying to oprah in the interview, it is a challenge for mitt romney. i believe mitt romney will meet that challenge and connect. >> you come back with the connection to conservatives. what in your judgment is mitt romney's greatest contribution? >> well, this is a guy that showed the free enterprise system can work and can work to create jobs across america. you look at staples and sports authority, and everybody that works at those places today has mitt romney to thank for it, and he will know how to do that as president to get government out of the way and be able to let the private sector to create the

jobs that we need that we have not had in the obama administration. he can show the free enterprise system does work for middle class people. those going to work at staples and sports authority, david, those are not the elite, they are going to those jobs to put food on the table and send their kids to college. let the president attack that. >> why shouldn't mitt romney be the nominee? what is disqualifying about his record? now i ask you, as a member of the establishment, why shouldn't newt gingrich be the nomination of the party? what is disqualifying about his record? >> not as a member of the establishment, david, but has a governor, i know we don't need another legislature in the oval office. we have had one for the last three years. we have had the worst years of congress in my lifetime because

this president refuses to get in the room and roll up his sleeves and get the hard work done. we do not need another legislature in the oval office, but we need an executive, and he understands how to bring people together and use executive power. the speaker does not have that experience. >> you have been more pointed in favor of governor romney, he said you will never embarrass you. do you think newt gingrich will embarrass the party? >> i think he has over time, and will he do it in the future? i don't know. but governor romney never has. >> how has he embarrassed the party? >> well, we know the record. he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. this is a guy that has had a very difficult political career at times and it has been an embarrassment to the party. you remember those times because you were here. i don't need to regail the country with the list, and i am

not saying he will do it again in the future, but sometimes the past is a proop. >> is character an issue in this campaign? >> i am not talking about character. i am talking about what you have done on the record and what that indicates. i take him at his word that he is a changed person. i am not attacking him on that basis. i am saying this is a guy that never has run anything. i don't think on the job training should be the presidency of the united states. he has done great things for the party and the country, but i don't believe his record stacks up to governor romney in that regard. >> what about the electability question? you heard what i challenged speaker gingrich with. if he keeps going and consolidates support for conservatives, this is the best news possible for obama.

>> the worst news possible for obama is a romney candidacy. the best contrast we can have to president obama, so i say governor romney would be the worst news for the obama white house. >> but do you think a nominee gingrich could also beat president obama? >> could he? sure. >> you don't sound as convincing, though. >> i answered your question. >> but you think he could? >> sure. >> i want to ask you something that i don't think has come up, and it's would you consider being on the romney ticket as the vp. i want to ask you a different way. you said you did not feel you were ready to be president right now, and would you be ready to be vice president? would you have to be ready to be vice president -- >> everybody has misunderstood what i meant about being ready for president. i meant being ready to leave the job i had and being ready to run

for the president of the united states and all that entails, and i didn't feel ready to do it and i think you have should be committed to do that. i want to be governor new jersey. i absolutely believe that come november 2012, i will be governor of new jersey, and not in any other officers. and the fact is if governor romney picked up the phone to call me and talk about this, i love my country and party enough to listen, but if you are a betting guy -- i know you are, david, you should bet on chris christie being the governor in november of 2012. you would be a good vice president, wouldn't you? >> you would be wonderful. >> i think certain personalities are suited for jobs better than others. i don't know that i am a guy to stand three feet behind somebody and nod my head, and that's not

in my character. but you have to balance that against your love for your party and country, and you have to know if i am approached, i will listen. but my inclination, i want to make it clear, i want to stay the governor of new jersey. maybe i can be convinced of something different. >> state of the union, what do you think the president could say that would surprise republicans and galvanize republicans and be able to work on something substantial? >> he asked for it and put it on the shelf for political reasons and showed political cowardness for doing it, and it's a fear of confronting big issues in our country. if he came out on tuesday and said i was wrong to put bowls on

the shelf, and i want to have a conversation about tackling debt in our country, and the way simpson and mr. bowls suggested -- it's not that i agree with every part of simpson bowls, but it's a realistic plan. he never did it. that would surprise the nation if he did it, and i think it would show great leadership if the president was willing to do it. >> where have republicans been culpable for the paralysis in washington? you spoke about the president, but what about the republicans? >> i said this before. i think people are talking too much time talking at each other and not to each other. look at new jersey. they say some of the most unspeakable things about me publicly, but on the other hand i do not take that personally. i bring them in the room and we sit down and talk and resolve things, because we are put in these jobs to accomplish things, not just the posture imposed.

my point to republicans has been you have to force those conversations. if the president is not interested in having them or developing those relationships, then there are little the republicans can do. but to the extent of not having the relationship happen, then there's a culpability there. >> one of the things we talked about at this table before, the federal state funnel projects and you were opposed to it saying we are broke in new jersey, and now you are calling for a cut in income state tax, and why can you afford that? >> because first of all the tunnel project was going to cost an additional $8 billion, and now what we see happening now is the federal government, new york and new jersey are coming up with another plan that will be shared by all the parties, not 70% of the cost being on new jersey. the reason we need to cut taxes. think of what i inherited.

we had 13 billion in deficits, and 13% tax in fees, and then the worst business environment in america. in two years we balanced those budgets and brought ourselves to balance without any tax increases through aggressive cuts, and now i am saying it's time for the people to get their money back, a 10% cut phased in over three years and you can do it responsibly and not bust the budget. the people of new jersey will know for the next three years every year their taxes will go down. if i told you that the first time i came here you would have told me i was nuts. but i did it, and working together with democrats, i think we can do it again. >> do the new jersey giants win today? >> yes. >> you didn't even flinch. >> the only thing about the giants in new york, is they train in new jersey, and the new jersey giants are going to have

a great game today. sorry to the friends in san francisco. it will be a big win today. >> i will be watching that for sure. >> you can bet on it. coming up, the race for the white house is recasts. a full analysis on the meaning of last night and what to look for in the week ahead from the political roundtable. we have msnbc's joe scarborough, and also republican strategists, mike murphy, and katty kay and nbc's chuck todd is coming up. don't go away. 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. ♪

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...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. we're back with our political roundtable. joining me the anchor of nbc's world news, katty kay, and a strategist, mike murphy, and joe scarborough the host of "morning joe," and political director, chuck todd is here. >> we're going to start with electability. two weeks ago if we told you electability would be the most important issue in south carolina, you would assume a romney runaway. well in this case it was newt gingrich who won the

electability argument. half the people that said electability was the most important, they picked gingrich. here is the more important reason why he won south carolina. he became the conservative alternative. 48% of those that described themselves very conservative picked gingrich, and less than 1% saw mitt romney as the conservative. let's look ahead to florida. florida is not quite as conservative as south carolina, but a lot more conservative than new hampshire. and this could be a recipe for why romney might not have florida as the firewall he thought he was going to have. >> let's turn to joe scarborough. why did newt gingrich win? >> david, david -- i love how you got it, and you are part of the enemy.

he spoke about the elite and he is talking about you. >> i will tell you why he did not win last night. it's not because he is a conservative. he is not a conservativconserva. he actually hides a record where you can identify very quickly on google. the remarkable thing, and this is why republicans are panicked in washington, d.c., for good reason, yeah, mitt romney supported an individual mandate, and newt gingrich supported that mandate and cap and trade at one point and so did mitt romney. you can go down the list. you have ronald reagan being brushed aside by mitt romney, but on this program, just a year ago, you had newt gingrich calling ryan a right-wing radical engaged in social engineering. it's a mess out there. i think you will hear more people like bill crystal, and eric erickson talking about a

broken convention. >> mike murphy, look what we have here. we have three big contests. >> uh-huh. >> we have three big top runners. this thing could go on for a while. >> yeah, if it becomes a delicate contest. romney is in vulnerability here, and he has a lot of aspects, too. and i think the romney guys made a forgivable error. but there's a bigger problem. the last five days, he lost his message and for a guy like romney who has done well getting conservatives who are lukewarm to vote for him to be up there in a defensive crowd and be unable to release taxes and defend his wealth sends a subtext message, and maybe he can't be obama, and that's kryptonite for obama. and romney has to make the race back and tweak his message and

do full offense on gingrich.e a primaries. >> tax releases, does that help now? put it to rest? >> well, yeah, i say made a suit made out of your tax returns and defends it and make your argument because that's what people need to see to win. they have to go into florida hard and they have to hurt newt. it's a message thing. >> let's talk about message, katty kay, because joe has been talking about this all week long, and it's the politics of grievan grievance. listen to newt gingrich last night proclaiming victory. >> i believe the debate we're going to have with president obama over the last eight or nine months, the outlining of the two americas, the america of

paychecks and the america of food stamps and the america of independence and the america of dependance, and the america of strength and foreign policy and the america of weakness in foreign policy. >> this is a angrier more populist message from newt gingrich. >> it's a man that styles himself as an individual out there on the republican candidate that styles himself as a grandee yos thinker. it's not about his policies in south carolina. it's because they feel he is the one that can take the fight to barack obama. the conservative movement is feeling rebellious, and newt gingrich styled himself as a rebel. now in the past what you have seen is that he has these peaks, and we saw it in 1994 and during this campaign and then he crashes. the question is can he and his personality, let alone the mechanics, the endorsement and

money and ground work, can he keep it all in check? that's a reasonable question to ask. >> and to pick up on that point, newt gingrich has nothing in february, and there are not a lot of primaries or debates, and two primaries at the end, one is romney's home state, and so the battle will be only in arizona, and the last time there was nothing between the debate in iowa, and that's when gingrich got a little too full of himself and did shoot himself in the foot. is this about newt gingrich or mitt romney? >> it's about mitt romney. >> losing to south carolina, he can't dismiss it. this is the heart and soul of the movement conservatives of the folks that show up and knock on doors, and he doesn't have their support. >> and glenn flush from politico covers the white house. he put something on twitter last

night that i thought spoke to this. tonight's romney loss parallels the can tore -- >> they are revolting against the washington republican establishment, appointing mitt romney. just like herman cain was not about herman cain. it was about a rejection of mitt romney. michele bachmann, a rejection of mitt romney. newt gingrich, a rejection of mitt romney. and now newt gingrich rejection two, and it's a rejection of mitt romney. we put him out in congress in 1988 because he sold us out in spending and taxes and he went to the floor and sided with democrats in his last speech, calling us the perfectionist caucus, and he is an

opportunists. here is the problem, so is mitt romney. and the republican establishment in washington gave us $5 trillion of debt during the bush era, and took the surplus and turned it into a $1.5 trillion deficit. and george bush promising to end tyranny across the globe. and the conservative movement is saying stop. and newt gingrich will not be the final choice, but we are not handing this off to mitt romney for right now. >> what newt is doing and what is great at, is playing the music and piano of resentment, we have a lot of mad people. but the reason liquor sales have doubled, is because hard whisky is going to the republican office and champagne is going to

the nancy pelosi office. and it's easy to get tied up in a campaign like this, but in a general election, it's a problem. >> and go more to the middle even for the rest of the primaries, and why and how? >> well, after he got it locked. i thought he might lose south carolina by two points and not 12. mitt has a problem. it will probably take all of february to get it back. if mitt fixes his message, and he has the mechanics, newt is going to turn into jerry brown and he will follow him around, and that's not what you have to do to win the election. it would be a train wreck. romney cannot be contended by that either. it's a tough course. >> the white house is loving all of this. they are watching in south carolina. and the ads against newt gingrich write them selves whether it's taxes or speech

money, and romney also clearly has a problem and it's something you were suggesting earlier, david, there's something about the mood of the country at the moment and the strength of the message that the occupy movement kind of put out there about a inequality, and a middle class feeling in secure -- >> you are starting to sound like newt gingrich now. newt gingrich adopts the language of michael moore, and a week later he is the conservative alternative? no. doesn't work that way. >> mitt romney simply has not found a way to be in this economic climate -- >> they are not focusing on mitt romney's money but on his tongue. he cannot answer a question that he knows is coming. >> i asked the governor, governor christie, what is his big contribution to the conservative cause, and it's

that he has been a big businessman. >> you have to give governor christie credit. these jobs at staples, they are middle class jobs. so chris christie can make a better case? it was stunning. and we talked about the problem mitt romney might have with swing voters and middle class across america because of his wealth, and the problem he will have over the next three weeks, it's easy to pile on and attack newt, that will be the easy part. the hang ringing, every time newt has risen, those folks suddenly get more phone calls. and is there anyone else out there? we'll take a break and be back with that in just a moment. [ male announcer ] succeeding in today's market

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we're back with the

roundtable. mike murphy, we have a scramble. is there anybody else out there? jeb bush said he would not endorse, and he was a heavy recruit, and then there's mitch daniels, he will give the response to the president's state of the union address. will there be more fantasy football in the race? >> well, yeah, it could happen. a flying saucer could land, too, and it could happen. they are making money for working people and pension funds so people could retire and go on offense and get the taxes out and defend them and win florida, florida will come back and it will be a long slot. and if newt gingrich wins the primary, that will explode.

a lot of people think the miracle candidates will look good in the show room. >> yeah, still a lot of dissatisfaction with the field. everybody talks about near death experiences. mitt romney, he will be a stronger nominee if he gets the nominee. >> yeah, he will be. but if newt gingrich wins florida and everybody has a month to think about it, that's when somebody like haley barber will be right. in 1995, you know what the approval rate was? 27% approval rating. he knows newt gingrich -- there's another scenario that people like bill crystal and others will be looking at moving forward, and that is -- i have heard a lot of talk about this, favorite sons. new york, connecticut, texas. you have a lot of big states

that are still open. indiana. arkansas. there's a real possibility that you could have different candidates if haily barber and jeb bush is dragged kicking and screaming to the convention. >> it's not impossible, but here is the -- >> you know, murphy, you have to run out of these -- >> i will tell you what, two days ago you could have used your martians and stuff on newt gingrich winning by 12 points in south carolina. >> very quickly, let me say the way most delegates are chosen, if you let them loose to vote for who they want to vote for, better for newt.

there are christian conservatives instructed on how to vote. >> let's get through florida first. it will be harder for gingrich in florida. it's not somewhere that plays to his stuff. and look what the romney campaign did to him -- >> there were a lot of smart people that said that. and jeb actually went on a limb to do everything that he could to stop that guy. the establishment didn't do it. we have seen this movie before, and it was 1992, and bill clinton, oh, my god, he's going to blow this and it's an easy opportunity to beat the incumbent president, but it did lead to the creation of perot. i think the longer this goes on, the ideas of a broker convent n convention, the republicans would be afraid of it, but the idea of a third party popping up, that is real.

>> and let me break in here. we will talk about the friends and takeaways, and what to look for in this very important week coming up. the hot political stories as well, what are trending this morning. that's right after this. when they need it. ♪ to help troops see danger, before it sees them. ♪ to answer the call of the brave and bring them safely home. [ female announcer ] around the globe, the people of boeing are working together, to support and protect all who serve. that's why we're here. ♪ a farewell long awaited. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares. goodnight bygones everywhere. [ engine turns over ] good morning, illumination. good morning, innovation.

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who else is out there saying that is still going on? and then the big story today, mitt romney saying he will release taxes on tuesday. this is how newt gingrich responded to me on that point. >> i think that's a very good thing he's doing and i commend him for it and it's exactly the right thing to do, and as far as i am concerned that particular issue is set aside and we can go on and talk about bigger and more important things. >> interesting, because last week on this program, gingrich said he ought to release them. do you think he will leave it at that? >> i am surprised he closed the door. because mitt is talking about releasing it for one year. i suspect he will end up asking for the 12 years, like mitt's dad did. >> and then here on nbc, how does mitt romney use this debate when we know this is the life

blood for newt gingrich? >> defang newt gingrich on the tax return, and by the way, he lease it on state of the union day? you will not be able to cover that up. and release your ethics report and try to turn the tables a little bit, but romney four years ago when he went on the attack was not good at it. >> that's the question. mike, is he in fighting shape to do this? >> he's in a corner with a broken bottle and somebody coming at him. he will learn to fight or he will lose. >> is there a movement for gingrich to get him out of the race? >> they have to push santorum to get out of the race. you know, that's what gingrich needs. >> the santorum bet -- the big conservative vote that he has. >> and some of the evangelical

leaders last night said they have to line up behind rick santorum. newt is not sustainable. nobody that has known him since '95 thinks he is sustainable. it was not about newt, and it was the south carolina voters against the republican establishment. >> it's who the media lead is. >> and one good piece of news, in florida, snow birds are there, and the reason they moved to florida is they are rich, and they are romney republicans, and he starts off with small advantages like that. >> and there are probably 150 to 100,000 absentee votes in, and that's a one or two or maybe three-point advantage. >> and romney doesn't do well in the debates when he is trying to fight, it doesn't come naturally to him. and the super pac ads against

gingrich were effective. >> well, they know they have to destroy gingrich. >> our conversation is still going to go on, but i wish it were on television. we're out of time. you can watch a conversation on our flog, and i spoke with michael nutter and vincent gray, and that's on our press pass at nbc.com. and then you can watch the debate right here on nbc, that's at 9:00 p.m. eastern. that's all for today. we will be back next week, two days before the florida primary. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price.

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