"the atlantic's" molly ball wrote that "romney made it sound as if it were a disease." nina what happens if grameen loses michig? >> it is it late for the entire republican primary structure to fall apart, bubut if he loses michigan, he is in such dire trouble i don't know whahe does, but there are not many alternatives. santorum is therhe cannoget on the ballot in most places. it is too late. the republican party has an interest in having him when. he doesn't, and they are stuck bebetwee santorum, paul, and gingrich. >> if romneycare loses in michigan, then what? i if romney loses in michigan chles, t then what? >> well, he's not leaving the race. it will be a blow. people said that the primaries and causes last week, missouri colorado,nd minnota did not count because there were no delegates. it did down because it sh how we romney is -- it did count because it showed how weak romney is. showed that santorum w the alternative fothe remning alternative. it will continue, it will be a tight race like reagan and ford and hillary and obama. >> colby? >> it depes on how he

molly ball. thank you. >> thank you so much. >>> looking ahead, arizona and michigan are holding their primaries on the 28th. then you look ahead to next month, march is a busy month. the washington state republican caucuses, followed by super tuesday. after that it's the kansas republican caucuses and the alabama and mississippi primaries and hawaii's gop caucuses. later in the month, missouri will have its say. >>> other other big story this morning, the funeral service for singer superstar whitney houston. a long list of familiar faces will attend today's private funeral at newark's new hope baptist church, where houston's singing career began. 1,500 guests are expected. nbc's cregg melvin is there for us live. what's happening there today? but i guess what's happening right now? do you see the setup? what's going on? >> no, we don see arrivals at this point. they have been setting up for several days now. police have cordoned off a six-block radius around the church. new hope baptist church,

"the atlantic's" molly ball wrote that romney and "made it sound like it was a disease." nina, what happens if romney loses michigan? >> if he loses michigan, he is in such dire trouble i don't know what he does. there really are not that many alternatives. you cannot even get on the ballot most places anymore. it is too late. the republican party really has an interest in having him win. if he doesn't, they are stuck between santorum, paul, and gingrich. >> if romney loses in michigan, charles, then what? >> well, he is not going to lose the race. he will accumulate delegates. it will be a blow. and let people said that the primaries and caucuses last week, missouri, minnesota, a cala colorado did not count because there were no delegates. it out because it gave momentum and showed how weak romney is and took santorum -- he ran unopposed, essentially, against romney because gingrich's not on the ballot. it showed he was the remaining alternateive. it will be like reagan and ford and hillary and obama. >> colby? >> it depends on how he loses in michigan, if he loses at al

"the atlantic's" molly ball wrote that romney "made it sound like a disease." nina, what happens if romney loses michigan? >> if he loses michigan, he is in such dire trouble that i don't know what he dies. there are not really many alternatives. santorum is there. he cannot get on the ballot in most places anymore. it is too late. the republican party really has an interest in having him a win in. if he does not, they are stuck between santorum, paul, and gingrich. >> if romney loses at michigan, charles, then what? >> he is not going to leave the race. it will be a blow. a lot of people said that the primaries and caucuses last week, in missouri, minnesota, colorado, didn't count because there were no delegates. well, it didn't count because it showed how weak romney -- it did count because it showed how weak romney is. santorum ran unopposed i essentially against romney because gingrich was not on the ballot. it showed he was the remaining alternative. it will continue, it will be a tight race, like reagan and ford, hillary and,. -- hillary and obama. >> col

. >> joining me for more on this is molly ball, a national political report with the atlantic and john harwood. good morning. >> good morning. >> ladies first. molly, the latest polls would show mitt romney well ahead in nevada. do the gingrich insiders say anything different to these numbers? gingrich spectacular. expectations at this point really second considering how little romn romney's organization but ron paul's organization. have that. that? he will keep trying. newt gingrich has a lot of pride and belief in his own ability and has essentially run his own campaign which is a big part of the campaign unless you have a big apparatus behind you and in terms of infrastructure you can't compete over the long-term for a nomination. what he does have is impressive rhetorical skill and ability to frame arguments and accident to attack the other side and better attacking when he is behind. one of the things to watch the next month is, a, how does he get oxygen, media attention without a bunch of debates which have fueled his campaign in the past, and how does he go after mitt romney, to

and my colleague molly ball wrote a story whether or not romney has been predestroyed almost at this democrat effort to find him which has been picked up, very vigorously by his republican opponents. i have seen things that were written on tpm one day and were turned into a gingrich anti-romney add the next day i mean, it's just kind of amazing to watch to watch the democratic and gingrich message is being picked up by hess republican opponents at this point. >> you haven't talked about the anti-obama message and this is all sort of pregame. i think the real thing in the general election is going to be amazing, i think. i think negative. >> i read somewhere that the president has 50 opposition researchers working for him in chicago and i'm guessing it's not because those 50 people are going to be going door to door. okay. we're going to do some questions now. we have 10 or 15 minutes so i'll start in the back, yes, sir, in the black. yes, sir. please wait for the microphone and identify yourself. >> jim snyder a former political science congressional fellow in communications policy a