mr. romney's ads end like this. mr. romney hand in hand with his lovely wife. mr. romney also featuring his wife in a softball interview with "parade" magazine this week playing up his family values bonefides. he was asked by "parade," how do you like to spend your sundays when not campaigning? quote, in the afternoon we'll watch a football game, tell stories, wrestle. wrestle? mr. romney goes on to explain how at their mansion in new hampshire they like to spend time playing on their private manmade beach. it's hard for mitt romney to seem like a regular joe, but at least they are finally trying, right? at least they paired him up with his wife and family and trying to show him as a human being who one might conceivably relate to. the campaign also unveiling a grab a bite with mitt promotion online today. donate $5 and win a chance to join mitt for a meal. the campaign throwing in the folksy sounding, if it's up to mitt, it will probably be pizza. which unfortunately calls to mind the revelation of the latest politico e-book about the campaign that mr. romney does

mr. romney, no, you didn't. here's the problem. it would be one thing if you were like mitt paul ryan, romney. you doing p-90x all the time, if you had been in cahoots, standing with him, been with paul ryan along the way. mr. romney, you're the one guy that did not jump in with paul ryan on the republican side. newt gingrich has been more with him than you have. it's true, because we covered this for weeks. the republican party and conservative establishment are insisting all of their presidential candidates pledge that they, too, want to kill medicare. tim pawlenty, officially announcing. mitt romney expected to announce. both have been trying desperately to avoid getting pinned down on the question of whether they, too, would vote to kill medicare. the only candidates to avoid taking a position on this so far are tim pawlenty and mitt romney, trying to sprint as far away from the issue as possible. a spokesperson for mr. romney told us mr. romney is on the same page as paul ryan in terms of reducing the budget. but the spokespers

mr. romney or mr. gingrich. we have divided the lines regionally. 202-737-ooo 1, eastern and central time zones. and 202-737-0002. if you had to make choice today between mitt romney and newt gingrich, who would you choose. if you want to send us a tweet this morning, you can reach out to us at twitter.com -- if you had to choose between mitt romney or newt gingrich, update you on a story you probably have seen concerning the former senator george mcgovern. he took a fall last night as part of preparing for our series on him, contenders series. he was supposed to appear last night. he took a fall crossing the street to his home. we want to give you an update. george mcgovern was injured during a fall friday evening in mitchell as he was preparing to appear on c-span. he was transported by ambulance, later taken by hospital to mckenyon hospital in sioux falls. a nurse described his condition as not critical, but it is something that we need to keep an eye on. late friday, mcgovern was in quote guarded condition an

mr. romney in it's ron paul. and ron paul's campaign is taking a turn as well. since mr. gingrich started surging, ron paul has been running a series of pretty blistering anti-newt gngrich ads. but this week ron paul also started running ads for himself as an f-150 truck. here's the ford f-150 truck ad. you have probably seen this before. >> okay. odds are if you're one of the people in america with a pickup truck it ain't a luxury, it's a way of life. and chances are you're not making your money pushing a pencil or hand modeling. you're actually working for every dollar and need your truck. >> that's the f-150 ad. that's just for compare's sake. now here's the ron paul ad. >> what's up with these sorry politicians? lots of bark. when it's showtime, whimpering like little shih tzus. you want big cuts? ron paul's been screaming it for years. budget crisis? no problem. cut a trillion bucks year one. that's trillion with a t. department of education, gone. interior, energy, hud, commerce, gone. later, bureaucrats. that's how ron paul rolls. >> what are you, some kind of hand

mr. romney says, there is never any consistency to his position. even when it comes to gulf.said a year ago. >> i think the country's probably better off when he's listening to his advice from his caddie, rather than from his economic advisers. so then the president should be playing golf, but now he shouldn't. say whatever you like about mitt romney, he is always shamelessly inconsistent. but getting back to his latest attack, and mr. romney was in full flight, so to speak, and he couldn't resist driving home his spectacular allegory with some artful representation. >> i just think it's time to have a president whose idea of being hands-on does not mean getting a better grip on the golf club. >> there it is again, beautifully delivered. he states his case, he repeats his case, and all within a perfectly timed sound bite. and when you hear it, you quickly realize why so many republicans can't stand the guy. >>> thanks so much for watching. dylan ratigan is here to take us forward from a bunker in burbank, california. dylan? >> first of all, first of all, it's not a bunker. >>

mr. romney now literally has locked up support from 10% of the billionaires in this country. but against mr. romney, who would have thought that jon huntsman's role in this campaign would have been not really to attract any support from basically any voters anywhere, but rather to be the guy in the race who runs the most effective ads against mitt romney? >> he is very conflicted. he is drawn in two different directions. very powerfully, if he's with an audience, he wants to identify with and satisfy that audience and will say what he thinks they want to hear. look, i was an independent during the time of reagan/bush. the right course is the one championed by ronald reagan 30 years ago and by john mccain and sarah palin today. >> that has turned out to be jon hundredthsman's role in this race. not to win it, or really even contest it, but to devastate mitt romney. in ads like this. that has been the huntsman surprise this we're. similarly, there's ron paul. his role in the campaign this year has not been to galvanize the youth vote, at least so far, or to popularize the gold

mr. romney got 25% when he came in second in iowa four years ago. so he's pretty much starting the 2012 cycle right where he wrapped up in second place in the 08 cycle. and truthfully, for months, regardless of who the front runner has been, whether bachman, then perry or cain, then newt and perhaps now paul, we have known and history has always shown that at the end in iowa, it comes down to a very close race as the vast number of undecides make up their mind, the polls tighten. we're looking at a statistical tie. in that poll, romney has an edge. but there is another one today that shows ron paul is ahead, but still within the margin of error. what may be far more important and more significant in this final few days is the other aspect of iowa caucus history that seems to be playing out this time as well. a dark horse come from behind surge from a candidate who had otherwise been ignored for most of the year. pennsylvania ex-senator rick santorum seems to be having his moment. in fact, we sort of identified santorum as a dark horse that people ha

or number want to head of mr romney we pretend that each of these people in turn is likely to be the next president even though many of them would have a hard time winning a municipal dog catcher election it's been a giant distraction and tough times people like distractions so in the great depression the radio and the movies became huge and to some extent this forty eight debates of mostly non electable candidates on the republican side looks to be the kind of freak show circus distraction of the moment i think it's two thousand and twelve progresses in the near future we're going to see people start to care about the big issues that americans care about who and how are we going to get this economy back on track who and how it's going to be better at leading us toward an economic vibrant environment with job creation and who and how it's going to help us negotiate the really serious set of obstacles that we have in front of us here with the european debt crisis with the looming debate about the but budget in the united states about budget cuts at the federal state and local levels a

mr. romney ended up losing by 17 points. ecomes the republican nominee for president this year, i think you will probably hear that story from indiana and others like it again. as he travels around the country making the argument he's uniquely qualified for the presidency on the basis of his private sector experience, i think he can expect democrats to point out mitt romney's private sector success may have been very good for mitt romney but it really wasn't all that good for the regular people he threw out of work, whose americans jobs he shipped overseas. real people in real places like marion, indiana. mitt romney is not yet the nominee. he contends with newt gingrich to get the republican nomination, you're already seeing a variation of the 1994 indiana critique of mr. romney, except this time it's using 21st century language. this ad just started airing in iowa from the liberal group, moveon.org. incidentally, i have to say, i'd be surprised if lefty groups like moveon.org start running ads right now against newt gingric

mr. romney is proposing. omney responded. >> it's astonishing to have the vice president trying to describe how good things are. you have 25 million americans that are out of work or stopped looking for work or only find par t time work. >> reporter: a poll shows republicans think mitt romney best represents personal quality the president should have. voters were asked who is most likely to win the gop nomination. as romney showed, he is ready to fight back. >> they are going to fight to hang on to power. i think the right thing for them to do is recognize they failed. >> reporter: that's probably not going to happen. if you look at the latest, hypothetical matchup tween president obama and mitt romney, what you are going to see is obama edges out romney 52% to 45%. with the gain in the poll, doesn't mean the negative ad attacks are going to come in the near future. >> one guy who has talked about as a possible running mate is chris christie. he left the door open to possibly joining the romney ticket. what ca

mr. romney's most generous donors, and even research on what tv viewers like and dislike most about mr. romney himself. a key point, they say, yet neither mr. romney nor his staff has had to lift a finger or spend a dollar to make it happen. in contrast, in stark illustration of how last year's landmark supreme court ruling on campaign finance has created powerful new channels for outside money to influence elections, the negative onslaught is the work of a group called restore our future. that's a story in the "new york times." it's actually their lead today. i should point out that newt gingrich, or supporters of newt gingrich, are going to put out quite an ad, a 30-minute special, actually. "the times" pointing out that his campaign is short on cash, unable to buy much ad time of its own. his well financed allies are coming to his rescue in iowa, with large chunks of air time across the state. there is a conservative magazine and website putting out a 30-minute specialen mr. gingrich through the weekend. here is a small clip from that 30-minute ad. >> in 1978, gingrich won his first e

mr. willard romney, calling somebody else wealthy. but mr. romney today hit back at newt romney for attacking him on bain capital, all of a sudden bain capital became the response of newt the other day. today he responded. >> in my enterprise, we had the occasion to build tens and thousands of jobs and he doesn't understand the economy if he doesn't understand that sometimes businesses succeed and sometimes fail. to suggest that there's something unamerican, something wrong about investing in enterprise that ultimately doesn't succeed has an enormous lack of understanding of how america works. >> the two leading candidates on the republican side is, in my opinion, going to do both of them. >> the good news is, after a little period of time, it does become a problem. they ate themselves alive. and he wants president obama to be re-elected and you're going to enjoy the next three or four months and it's going to go on and on and on. and the point you made, reverend, is the right point. it's not whether you have money or not. it's what you want t

mr. romney feels that it is. i didn't expect the ants that i got.t he would be a little more diplomatic in his answer, but i did ask him for a yes or no question, and i've got to respect that he did give me a yes or no answer. >> when we talk about you were there with your husband bob having your breakfast, did you expect to go in there knowing that mitt romney was going to be there and you wanted to have a conversation with him, because you're potential interested in voting for him as a gop nominee? imgts i go to breakfast there every single morning. i knew that mitt romney was going to be there. however many politicians have stopped there during the political fury we have in new hampshire. i didn't expect to have -- i was getting frustrated that he was avoiding me. at least i felt he was. he seemed to be following the cameras, and i felt like standing up saying, hello, here i am. i was the last person he spoke with. he vacated my booth rather quickly. what i didn't expect from mr. romney is how confrontational he was and argumentative. i wasn't th

mr. romney that he's already getting that question. on the other hand, that question was the thing that allowed mitt romney's son, matt, to reveal himself as the possible heir to the birther movement today? >> he has not said he will not do it. he also has not said he will. i think it's a matter of time until that issue comes up because i think everybody has to get a chance to do that. he's certainly not afraid of anything, not hiding anything, but, you know, i heard someone suggest the other day that as soon as president obama releases his grades and birth certificate and sort of a long list of things, then maybe he would. that was just -- >> that was just a suggestion from someone else. shortly after causing a minimedia firestorm by outing himself as a birther, matt romney tweeted an apology, saying, or tweeting, "i repeated a dumb joke. my bad." for their part, barack obama's campaign team responded to the controversy by tweeting this. "mitt romney's son thinks president obama should release his birth certificate. guess he doesn't ha

mr. romney that he's already getting that question. on the other hand, that question was the thing that allowed mitt romney's son, matt, to reveal himself as the possible heir to the birther movement today? >> he has not said he will not do it. he also has not said he will. i think it's a matter of time until that issue comes up because i think everybody has to get a chance to do that. he's certainly not afraid of anything, not hiding anything, but, you know, i heard someone suggest the other day that as soon as president obama releases his grades and birth certificate and sort of a long list of things then maybe he would. that was just -- >> shortly after causing a mine knee media firestorm by outing himself as a birther, matt romney tweeted an apology, saying, or tweeting, "i repeated a dumb joke. my bad." for their part, barack obama's campaign team responded to the controversy by tweeting this. "mitt romney's son thinks president obama should release his birth certificate. guess he doesn't have one of our mugs?" what followed was a

mr. romney's pension, which is $13 million a year. there's some dissonance there. >> let me show you this, randi. he says a couple of months ago -- willard was calling the president's payroll tax cut plan that would save millions of americans $1,000 a year a band-aid. look at this. >> if the payroll tax cut is not extended, that would mean a tax increase for all americans. what would be the consequences of that? >> what it takes to create jobs is more than just a temporary shift in a tax stimulus. >> you would be okay with seeing the payroll tax cut -- >> i don't like temporary little band-aids. >> but if you think that's a band-aid, $1,000 is a band-aid, how much would your tax plan get us, willard? well, he answered that. let me show you what his capital gains taxes -- whether it's more than he called the band-aid. >> well, first of all, $167 is not zero. i recognize it's not a huge tax cut. it is a tax reduction and it allows middle income folks to participate in making a brighter future for themselves and for saving. >> randi, $1,

mr. romney's overall performance? >> he just doesn't do a chuckle very well. this is most uncomfortable man trying not to jump up and wrap his arms around brett's neck. it so interesting he is thrown off stride by something that is going to be such an obvious line of attack. >> they are all think they are invincible at some level. i think brett had the right to challenge him. 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

mr. romney before or after he was questioned on television." unanswered an twitter, "the last word" staff dug into our video archives and came up with the best romney answers they could find. democratic party communications director brad woodhouse asked, is the location of your pacific ocean mansion pronounced la jolla or lajola? >> well, before i could make a decision of that nature, i'd have to have a very thorough top secret briefing by our military to understand what our option are. >> oliver griswold offered this question mitt likes. how rad was joseph smith? >> good man, but a very different person than i am based on our life experiences. >> democratic party press secretary melanie dnc asks, parlez-vous francais? >> bonjour. [ speaking foreign language ] >> scott cooper wants to know mitt's favorite ice cream. vanilla or french vanilla? and here's a question mitt really likes from don drennon. who has greater experience at getting divorced? you or newt gingrich? >> speaker gingrich. >> mark abanto tweets, a new raz poll reveals voters wan

mr. romney spoke to them no. >> yes. >> when did he say? >> it went over very well. i paid for that particular constituency who was very supportive of israel. he said that would be the first country he would visit. he is being very supportive of israel. this is a very important issue for the american jewish community. went well since three see obama as being less in supportive of israel. >> did he say he would continue to support the national interests of the united states house it in israel? >> absolutely. >> and that went over well? a lot to romney? >> no, absolutely. why not? we to have national interests in my judgment, in terms of our alliance with israel. >> also support for his campaign? >> oh, no-no. when you say -- what do you mean support? >> you think he's paying for his entire presidential campaign? >> who, romney? >> yes. >> of course. >> no, donations -- >> oh, sure. >> they're all looking for contributers, john. there's no mystery in that. i don't know of any one of them that -- particularly from that constituency. >> yes! >> so is gingrich some of is