sure that we get america back on track. >> stand by for much more of my interview with mitt and ann romney records and ann romney explains why she had to convince her husband to run for president again. much more of the interview coming up here on "the situation room." what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a w flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c'mon, it's not that... gahh, oh yeah that's gotta go... priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model-year newer... with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance

in the next hour, we'll speak with mitt romney and his wife, ann romney.s of political news coming up, but there's other important news happening elsewhere around the world. the streets of north korea's capital were lined with wailing mourners today as the hard line regime put on an elaborately produced funeral for its late dictator. a ceremony which also marked the transfer of power to his young son. cnn's paula hancocks brings us a little bit closer. >> reporter: walking alongside his father's coffin, the message could not be more clear. kim jong-un, the supreme leader, leading the funeral procession. political leaders surround him, showing publicly at least kim jong-il's wish for a smooth succession has been granted. the coffin proceeded by a giant portrait of a smiling kim jong-il was then driven through the snow layden streets of pyonyang. tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of mourners line d th streets. men and women alike wailed and beat their chests at the coffin past them by. at one point, rushing forward to get closer to the procession. a well

>> john, interesting hearing ann romney giving the personal side of mitt romney.re in new york city today for mitt romney. i can tell you i talked to one at his lunch, which was held at the waldorf astoria hotel, 200 people, standing-room only and $500,000 raises for mitt romney at lunch alone. he's going to a dinner now. bottom line on that. and then we're going to talk to senator kent conrad from north dakota. you know we've been talking about a decent proposal to get this payroll tax done and have it paid for. tonight a big compromise by democrats, huge, they're not going to force that millionaire surtax through. so how will it get paid for? will we get a deal snp kent conrad, his point of view and talk about pipeline which republicans want. he's a democrat. may want that as well. we'll talk to him about that, all of that coming up at the top of the hour. back to you, john. >> looking forward to that. complicated chess on capitol hill. senator conrad, we'll see how that goes. see you in a few minutes. >>> toheene here in iowa, mike mu huckabee hosting a screeni

and later, ann romney, republican presidential candidate mitt romney's wife at a coffeehouse discussionaptions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> i think people understand that i'm a man of steadiness. >> reporter: and in ann romney's account onign trail of how her husband has helped her live with multiple sclerosis and the depression that came with it. >> he doesn't give up. he sticks with you. he -- you can trust him. >> reporter: the point is clear. they aren't them. >> ka list is a and i. >> reporter: calista gingrich is newt jigingrich's third wife. >> as you probably know, my husband newt is a republican candidate for president of the united states. >> reporter: friends like to say they're a great couple who had a nontraditional start. and there is no doubt that she is his full partner, as she showed in a recent interview with the christian broadcasting network. >> we are a team. and we spend a lot of time together. and this was a joint decision that he would run for the presidency. and i'm glad we made that decision. we believe deeply that this country has a lot of challenges ahead of it and we fear for the future of our country and we're going to give it our best shot. >> does she make him more friendly and warm and p

today, she plays a different role. >> ann romney is there to show people that mitt romney is a human ing. and someone whose hair gets messed up sometimes. >> reporter: ann began dating romney in high school, converted to mormonism and married him at age 20. today, she often talks about the couple's unblemished 42 years of marriage and the way he stood by her during her fight with multiple sclerosis. >> that's the kind of guy he is. he doesn't give up. he sticks with you. you can trust him. >> reporter: stories that draw sharp contrast to what pun diments say is newt gingrich's gratest vulnerability, his marital history. at saturday's debate, he was asked about that as his third wife, calista, looked on. >> i made mistakes at times. i had to go to god for forgiveness. >> reporter: he does not hide her in the background. he credits her for reviving his campaign. regularly bringing her up in speeches. >> calista and i. >> reporter: she's a french horn player who sings in the choir of her church. gingrich has since converted to catholicism. the couple's modern marriage is said to be model

there's ann romney. >> i think more and more people are figuring out that mitt is the one that knows talking about. >> reporter: she and mitt romney have been married 42 years, happily. and in ann romney's account on the campaign trail of how her husband has help her live with multiple sclerosis. >> that's the kind of guy he is. he doesn't give up. he sticks with you. you can trust him. >> reporter: the point is clear. they aren't them. >> callista and i -- >> reporter: callista gingrich, newt gingrich's third wife. they fell in love when he was married to someone else. >> as you probably know, my husband, newt, is a republican candidate for president of the united states. we are a team. we spend a lot of time together. this was a joint decision, that he would run for the presidency. and i'm glad we made that decision. >> does she remind them that this is not his first wife? and their relationship started in a somewhat unsavory way? my view is everybody has a right

contrasting romney with gingrich who has had a much more complicated personal life. >> putting ann romney there to highly the couple's 42-year marriage and children and romney as a family man as opposed to newt gingrich right now on his third marriage. >> not only married three times but he's committed adultery, asked god for forgiveness, converted to catholicism, the faith of his wife callista. she's on the campaign trail but not heard as much. >> newt and are i determined to run a positive solution-based campaign. >> republican political veteran mary matlin says some voters might want to know more about the gingrich personal story. but for many it's news that's a decade old. >> people have discounted, they knew about newt's marriage history and discarded that as a concern about him. >> for her part ann romney is not trying to compare and contrast her husband's personal life with newt gingrich. campaign insiders have said they think the former leaders past personal life is one of his liabilities. joe johns, cnn, washington. >>> a pro football player facing federal charges. now his tenure

having ann romney making the case that this is a guy who is say family man. he is someone you can relate to and has strong character. both serves to take a subtle jab and to build romney up as someone they can trust and relate to. >> that is one of the debate points, character in the coming days. a shift away from the other themes that we have been hearing? >> that's likely especially as we approach the christmas holidays and the holiday season. there is a danger with the blatantly negative attacks and that's the other reason why this is good. a soft attack and it's not direct. he will be driving the conversation the way he wants it to go. gingrich and the others. how important will they be going forward. in the campaign in iowa and new hampshire. mitt romney used ann romney. they say that people have trouble relating to him. he a wife and his religion is part of that. he used her smartly at this point and we also see anita perry as well. it ties back into family and the fact that these are family men and people who are like folks in that iowa. >> crystal ball

and what you see the romney campaign doing is not just depending on that anne romney ad, they're tryingt him as not a fair dealer. i think the marriage is just a piece of that. >> that he's been dishonest, for example maybe on freddie mac claims and that he's been not told the full truth on a number of different categories. okay, you work -- you run the yahoo office, you co-sponsor a debate where newt gingrich was asked about fidelity and whether it matters. >> i said up front openly, i have made mistakes at times, i have had to go to god for forgiveness but i'm also a 65-year-old grandfather. >> when he answered that, what a beautiful answer, asked and answered and he did away with the question, his poll numbers were high then, now they have fallen. so a quick answer from both of you if you could, could he still win iowa david? >> i think he could win iowa. he's not the front-runner there now, if he doesn't win iowa, it's not because of the three marriages. >> when newt gingrich's campaign imploded, one of the differences with his campaign staff said we have to get out in front of this

who's had a much more complicated personal life. >> the romney campaign is almost certainly putting ann romneyo highlight the couple's 42-year marriage and her children and romney as a family man as oppose to newt gingrich who is right now on his third marriage. >> reporter: not only married three times but gingrich admitted adultery. asked god for forgiveness and converted to could all thatholi faith of his wife. >> newt and i are determined to run a positive issue-oriented and solutions based campaign. >> reporter: republican political veteran mary madeleine says some values voters might want to know more about the gingrich personal story, but for many, it's news that's a decade old. >> people have discounted, already knew about newt's marriage history and they've, they discarded that as a concern about him. >> reporter: for her part, ann romney says she's not trying to compare and contrast her husband's personal life with newt gingrich, but campaign insiders have said they think the former speaker's past personal life is one of his liabilities. joe johns, cnn, washington. >>> anything can h

later, ann romney, wife of mitt romney, at a coffee house discussion at 1:15 p.m. eastern.ollowed by rick santorum at 6:00 p.m. eastern. both of those ee -- events are in iowa. watch love coverage here on c-span. coming up next -- our c-span series "the contenders." on people who have run for president and lost but changed political history. tonight, the campaign of george wallace. our road to the white house coverage in iowa continues with republican presidential candidate rick santorum at a town hall meeting in marshall town. later mitt romney at a campaign rally for supporters at a local grocery store in des moines. >> and now i look at the life of george wallace. >> good evening, and welcome to "the contenders." we come to you live from the governor's mansion in montgomery, alabama, as we look at the life and times of the presidential political candidate george wallace. elected governor of alabama four times, george wallace lived here for 20% of his life. before we begin our conversation on george wallace and his legacy and introduce you to our guest, here is a look at

so, ann romney coming up shortly.s morning on "washington journal," we ask what you thought were some of the most important stories and the events of 2011. here is some of that. host: we are going to look back at the top stories of 2011. what was your top story and why? here are the numbers to call about what you think is the top news story of 2011. it could be here, in washington, around the country, or the world. of the many list out there, we found this in "the hill." they do it with cartoons, you can see in the top left, president obama -- mission accomplished again, talking about iraq, obviously. moving across, you see a cartoon of harry reid and mitch mcconnell bickering about something on the hill. herman cain here, with his 9-9-9 plan. in general, the republican party for president, and also one of the top stories, a cartoon of a smiling gabrielle giffords after her dramatic comeback. a shot of the capital that says "out of order." osama bin laden is on the front page. there is a shot of john boehner, the spea

we have seen a lot of ann romney. those two are like a couple of teenagers joking around with each other. so i think one reason she's there, just to support her husband, mitt romney. in a larger sense, yes, we're seeing more of ann romney, both campaigning with her husband and then campaigning by herself, often in iowa. so in iowa she can talk about their long marriage, their five children, their 16 grandchildren and that's a state where voters look to the values of the candidate. so, you know, it presents an interesting comparison to newt gingrich. >> yeah, we saw pictures of newt and calista, at her book signing yesterday, she authored a children's book. how does she, i guess, paint a different picture of the people, of who people think of when they think of newt gingrich. >> well, you know, newt gingrich said he has learned from his mistakes and turned his life around. he converted to catholicism, calista's religion. i think he's called her his rock. they seem very close and obviously he would like to present that i

i noticed an interview with anne romney, mitt's wife, she claimed that he held the same positions all his life. that is not factually correct. if you want to play the tape. let's go to the videotape as they say. i think newt gingrich's approach is much better. when he is talking about the commercial he made with nancy pelosi, that the stupidest thing i ever do. but to deny that you had a position on gay rights, on the individual mandate, a lot of other things that republicans are concerned about, is just not correct. >> he brings up the name of newt gingrich. there was controversy involving gingrich when a "washington post" blogger put it on a cattle call, send us the information or dirt on newt? >> share in the fun, as well. look social media has lifted a lid a flag stone off a lot of stuff that has been going on for a long time. >> jon: anything wrong with that? >> look. first thing you do, in the old days you ask people and google it. it's another way of searching. >> it was interesting a request to go through sarah palin e-mails and then people are looking for dirt seem to be repu

my sweetheart of 42 years, ann romney. [applause] >> good morning. he looks great. i want to look that good at 93. i want to be around at 93. thank you for coming, this is early and it is christmas. it is great you are willing to come out and beat us and say hello. we appreciate that. -- come here meet us. we appreciate that. wherever the bus goes, i go. it is great to be here. the fact i have known mitt this long. we were high school sweethearts and we fell in love when we were young. i have seen him in all situations, and that has really given me the best plans for all of you to understand something you might not see in debates or anything else. that is the character of the man. i appreciate the fact that he has been a wonderful husband and family -- wonderful husband and father to my children. we have had great blessings of having 16 grandchildren. if you could skip having kids and just a grand kids, i would recommend it. i do not know if that is possible, but it is great. some of the stories i would like to tell but i will not in detail is how he stood by me in

gloria, ann romney, parade magazine, when millions pick up the newspaper, david gergen did an interview with mitt romney and ann romney is in there. he has silly side. he loves to roll on the floor with our grandkids. >> you're not seeing the warm and fuzzy grandfather type. look, i think what i got from the focus group, correct me if i'm wrong in lots of ways he has their respect but he done have their affection. there's not a warm feeling about mitt romney, and there's also a little bit of a sense he could betray them at some point because they do see him as a flip-flopper. >> first, you want a personal connection with voters. you say he didn't have it. if you don't have that, you want them to think this is my guy, he's going to fight for me an all of my issues. do you trust mitt romney as a republican? >> like someone like newt gingrich, you know exactly what he thinks and all all the time. i don't know. >> yeah. >> i think it's a personality thing. >> i think that he has strong morals but he would cave in easily, that's what was necessary to get the public's interest. >> he's what?

much more complica complicated personal life. >> the romney campaign is almost certainly putting ann romneyo highlight the couple's 42-year marriage and her children and romney is a family man as opposed to gingrich, who is right now on his third marriage. >> not only married three times, but gingrich has admitted adultery, converted to kai thol schism. >> newt and i are are determined to run a positive, issue oriented and solutions-based campaign. >> republican political veteran mary matalin says some values voters might want to know more about the gingrich personal story, but for many, it's news that's a decade old. >> people have discounted. they knew about newt's marriage history and they've discarded that as a concern about him. >> for her part, ann romney says she is not trying to compare and contrast her husband's personal life with newt gingrich, but campaign insiders have said they think the former speaker's past life is a liability to him and it looks like they're working it, wolf. >> they are. we'll see how the voters, caucusgoers in iowa and voters elsewhere respond to this. tha

ann romney. [applause] >> thank you, tim. thank you all for coming. look at these faces and they could be other places this morning doing other things. christmas is just around the corner and mitt and i appreciate the fact that you're here. so thank you. when tim was talking about his upbringing and his family, i think all of us can have our own stories. i have my own story, too. my father grew up in wales, my grandfather was a welsh coal miner and there was very little bread on the table at times in my father's life and they struggled. my grandfather had a terrible coal mining accident, and ended up coming to america, like so many of your ancestors did, for opportunity. i feel so many times as though i have one foot still in wales, and so close to those lives and the sacrifices and the difficulties of people's lives and how close we all are in so many ways and share so many things. we're worried about america right now. i think all of us recognize that america is heading in the wrong direction. and that the sacrifices that our ancestors made and we'r

but we have seen this come out on the campaign trail and we know ann romney has been talking a lot herw rick santorum ad out today. i don't know if we have it. let's play that. it's hip insofar as it has a lot of pop-ups. here it is. >> lawrence o'donnell, i hope you were able to see that ad in los angeles. >> yeah. >> rick santorum's dog was not home-schooled in case you were wondering. what do you make of that ad? >> well, you know, it is like rick perry's ad empty of actual content, so it's but it does mike a really big mistake, which is you actually have to watch the ad. now, television advertising, good television advertising does not require you to watch it. you can be standing in the kitchen with your back to the tv and you can hear the pitch for whatever thing they're selling. this thing, sorry, you got to pay a little too much attention to it. more attention than anyone wants to pay to a political ad. >> look at what they're running on the screen or what he's saying. one quick point is that all of these ads are talking about marriage, wives, ann romney on the trail. why do we

, where we learned, among other things, that it was ann romney who wanted mitt romney to run this secondnd. >> ann was convinced that i had to run again. she said, no one else can beat president obama. no one has the background to get the economy going, understand the economy in a very fundamental way. and she said, you've got to run again. and she pushed that for a long time. and i was open to her thoughts. but very much undecided. and then after several months, came to the same conclusion. i had to look at the other people who were running, think about their prospects of beating the president, looked at their backgrounds and felt that there really wasn't someone that had the private sector experience that i had to get the economy going again. >> and that's the lens i looked when i was making my decision. it's like, yeah, there's this whole other thing over here that's running. and then there's this whole other thing over here that's actually being president. and i knew that mitt being president would be a very good thing. >> is it nastier this time around? >> i don't know that i can co

anne romney is on the trail to humanize her husband to try to make him seem more appealing but her appearancesare bids for value voters, like women voters. >> and that he has strong family values and that's where his world is. >> reporter: contrasting romney with gingrich, who's had a much more complicated personal life. >> the romney campaign is highlighting the couple's 42- year marriage and her children and romney as a family man as opposed to newt gingrich, who is right now on his third marriage. >> reporter: not only married three times but gingrich as admitted adultery, asked god for forgiveness and converted to catholicism. his wife is seen on the campaign trail but not heard nearly as much. >> newt and i are determined to run a positive, issue-oriented, and solutions-based campaign. >> reporter: republican political veteran mary madeleine says some values voters might want to know more about the gingrich personal story, but for many, it's news that's a decade old. >> people have discounted, they already knew about newt's marriage history and they'vdiscarded that as a concern about him.

who doesn't like ann romney. she's a very, she's a very, big asset for him.ou look at it and we don't, we don't know how, would the christian conservative voters so her as the other woman? would they see her, then there's the whole, i think she does, the basilica. and i hear she's sings well. but is the tiffany's thing, i think could turn out to be a huge issue. >> i think why romney is you know, never sort of broke through that pattern and the numbers and why gingrich is surging, look, we've all noticed, it's because the republican base wants to see somebody take a right hook. you know, and romney's got to show that passion. you know nobody is sitting there saying he didn't do a good job in the olympics, he's a failure as a governor. they want him to stand up and say, i'm going to take a punch. >> lower the drawbridge and show us your red blood cells? >> okay. >> when we come back, bo biden is fighting for homeowners. after the break on "now." daddy, come in the water! somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the

i think ann romney -- >> you think the spouses make a big difference? >> i do. >> i look at kerry's wife. >> i'm sorry, i don't find this woman, newt gingrich, terribly appealing and the fact that she's a mistress is not helpful. >> speaking of michelle obama, her president -- her husband and our president is now receiving the joint forces flag at andrews air force base marking the end of the iraq war. >> i would like to report the safe return of the colors to the united states war in iraq, directly place the united states of america. >> present. >> present. >> halt. >> present. ♪ ♪ >> please be seated. >> that was president obama receiving the flag from the u.s. joint forces base in baghdad, officially concluding the war in iraq. it is -- >> the end of war? >> well, ceremoniaceremonially, how you end it. it is a good reminder of what is at stake here and the heights and the depths of holding the office of president and talk about who may occupy 1600 pennsylvania avenue next in 2012. we were talking earlier before that about republicans who were vying f

ann romney, governor mitt romney's wife. she'll be watching closely tonight.lso watching closely, our political director and our senior washington editor. amy walter and rick klein. sort of an insider's guide, i'm curious. what will you be watching most closely? >> i'm going to be watching body language. and specifically, i'm going to be watching newt gingrich's body language. he's the man in the middle, literally and figuratively. his opponents are likely to come after him. how he responds will be very important to watch. in fact, if you could give me just one camera, i would put it right on newt gingrich and watch every single move that he makes. the facial expressions, the body language. >> incoming fire expected. for gingrich tonight. rick, what will you be watching? >> there's a new front runner in town. i'm going to be looking at the old front-runner. mitt romney. this is a critical debate for him. does he do something to try to change the dynamics of a campaign that is tipping away from him right now? does he throw a punch? back up some of the things hi

does this mean we are about to see even more of ann romney? d probably other candidates' wives as well. >> possibly so, don. i think what you are seeing from the romney campaign is a last-ditch effort before the process really gets started in terms of the caucuses and primaries. we all see that gingrich has now the front-runner. he's been really rising in the polls and this is mitt romney's attempt to really get at him and to really get i think at the heart of what is very important to a lot of conservative voters and especially conservative women which is the trust issue and the trust issue when it comes to gingrich is a very serious one. the three marriages he's had, the hypocrisy, afierce thai affs had i think are issues all conservative women have an issue with. i think ann romney is going to do everything she can. >> is this always going to help him? can it actually hurt romney with some female voters? >> i think it can hurt romney with female voters because it's becoming really -- every time romney gets on the debate stage he says i've be

romney and his wife, ann. the crowd had been growing. friday's event was originally planned for indoors but relocated to accommodate more people. at the same time, mitt romney tops the polls rivals are trying to slow him. as you can imagine. this story says he is now under direct attack on the airwaves for the first time in the primary as a superpack supporting john huntsman's underdog campaign launches tv ads in new hampshire searing romney as a political chameleon. they have chameleon in quotes here from the ad. host: before we get to calls, i want to remind that you we're following several candidates today. mitt romney is actually not in iowa for the day. he's in new hampshire and coming back later. we're covering ann romney later today and rick santorum. but rick perry is our first live event today. is an event at a gourmet coffee and gift shop. rick perry will be there at 11:30 eastern time it should go about an hour. this event will be held in fort dodge, iowa, today. so you can watch live coverage on this network, c-span. in the me

ann romney, anita perry. also watching closely, our political director and washington insider. what will you be watching most closely? >> i'm going to be watching body language. newt gingrich's body language. he's the man in the middle, literally and figuratively. how he responds will be important to watch. if you could give me just one camera, i would put it right on him and watch every single move that he makes. the facial expressions, the body language. >> incoming fire expected. what will you be watching? >> there's a new front runner town. i'm going to be looking at the old front-runner. mitt romney, does he do something to change the dynamics? does he throw a punch? back up some of the things his supporters are saying about newt gingrich? does he say those things about newt right to his face? >> does he use those words? mitt and newt next to each other determined by the polling? >> that's right. >> i'll see you in the spin room. one other thing to show you at home. the time kcues that the candidates will see. if you don't think there will be fireworks tonight, stay tuned

--mitt and ann romney day in district no. 1.applause] there are those of us to serve this northern district, i could not start to introduce everybody. i will introduce united states senator kelly ayotte. good morning senators. [applause] >> it is always a tough act to follow, but it is wonderful to be here this morning with all of you. i am really honored to be here to support mitt and ann romney. i want to tell you why i am here and why i feel strongly about this. this is such an important election for our country in 2012. i do not think i need to tell anyone in this room that we are at a juncture in the history of our country. we can go down two paths. we can go down a path that we see happening in europe with a debt and economic stagnation and bankruptcy. or we can go down a path that this country is founded on. that is opportunity and prosperity and freedom and fiscal responsibility. mitt romney is somebody that has the experience in the private sector, and turning it around the olympics, as a governor, he knows we need to c

. >> the romney campaign is most certainly putting ann romney out there to highlight the 42-year marriagey as a family man as opposed to newt gingrich who is right now on his third marriage. >> reporter: not only married three times but gingrich that admitted adultery, asked god for forgiveness and converted to catholicism, the faith of his wife. she, too, is on the campaign trail but not heard as much. >> newt and i are determined to run a positive, solution-based campaign. >> reporter: some values voters might want to know more about the gingrich personal story. but for many it's news that's a decade old. >> people have discounted it. they already knew about newt's marriage history and they have discarded that as a concern about him. >> for her part ann romney is not trying to compare and contrast her husband's personal life. insiders say they think his past personal life is one of his liabilities. cnn, washington. >>> all right. 17 minutes past the hour. you need to stick around after the break. two of our contributors are going to duke it out. every week we ask our financial analyst t