host: let's get a reaction from bob cusack. guest: the payroll tax holiday, the right does not like it, and a fair amount of liberals also do not want to take money out of social security. eventually, they believe it will be used as a reform to cut back on social security. they said it was going to be only a one-year thing, but it is going to be renewed. will it be renewed at the end of 2012? there are people in congress who are nervous this is taking money out of an entitlement program. once again, we have to make some painful decisions, and they think this is one thing where congress is giving money to people but we cannot afford it. host: the caller talked about economic philosophies and ideas. is that something that plays out? guest: i am not sure members of congress are aware of complex economic debates. the optics and politics are incredibly complicated. the republicans do not like raising taxes and not let the politics of raising taxes. but you have members of congress that say that the only way out of this -- publicly o

this morning, bob cusack sharing his insights. >> you report that leadership had split with newt gingrich a month before the coup over the issue of how to deal with it. were there also policies debates? >> yes, there was. that was the problem, most of the problem was policy oriented. that kind of -- in a similar way with republicans now in congress, they're frustrated that they have had to compromise so much with president obama, they were frustrated that the republican congress had to find common ground with bill clinton, so there were -- the small bills that started to show that gingrich's hold on leadership was starting to crack and it started in the spring with the legislative branch bill that funded the government that's when the rank and file members bolted and took that bill down and later an emergency disaster relief bill that's where gingrich and his lieutenants split and that was really just a precursor to the high profile effort to get rid of him. gingrich eventually found out about this coup attempt. it didn't work. in retrospective, people are saying it wasn't well thought of

host: bob cusack is here. wanted to talk to you about what's happening in congress. they come back quite soon. bob, let's start with you. what's on the to do list? guest: the house is in this week, the senate is not. only going to be in a couple of days that this week. one of the things on the agenda is raising the debt ceiling. this is a vote that happened, was going to be several votes on these raising the debt limit. basically congress has agreed to raise the debt limit reached last summer. this is kind of a political vote of disapproving of the president's authority. the last time a partisan vote, mostly democrats voted, republicans voted against it. not really, there will always be a vote in the senate on this. but it's kind of academic, it's not going to lead to anything because the president has the power to veto it. so this is not going anywhere. but that's the main thing that will be happening on the house this week. host: jake sherman, we'll see him make his speech next week. what kind of a milestone or marker is that. what do you think the big debates will

bob cusack, editor of "the hill." good morning, to you, robert. >> good morning, bill. bill: who has the most to lose in new hampshire? >> i think there are three people. mitt romney, jon huntsman and ron paul. i mean romney is expected to win. not only has to win he has got to win big. jon huntsman pit all his eggs in new hampshire. he has to have a very strong showing, trying to get more moderate votes away from romney. ron paul had somewhat of a disappointing performance in iowa based upon the expectations. so he has got to do well in new hampshire. it is all expectations game at this point because it is all about romney. bill: ron paul would argue his performance this year as opposed to four years ago was enormous compared to 2008. >> that's right. bill: what does rick santorum need to do to get a spring to the next contest which is south carolina? >> i think the expectations for him are fairly low in new hampshire. he's been there not as many times he was in iowa. he has been there 30 times. he has to get no double digits. if he does that shows significant momentum

. >>> 7:27 a.m., up next republican presidential hopefuls move on the new hampshire today, bob cusackpaign trail we will talk to bob after the break. >> as we head to the break a live lookout side, getting daylight out there, the latest weather and traffic coming up tony and jew leaf next 7:27 a.m.   -- julie next 7:27 a.m.  it's my coffee when i want it. you press a button, you have great dunkin' coffee. i got my coffee for the morning, i got my dunkin' k-cup packs for the rest of the day. only available at dunkin' donuts restaurants. america runs on dunkin' coffee. thanks, mom. who are you calling "mom"? dunkin' sausage pancake bites, delicious like mom's, only easier to carry -- get three for $1.59. >>> i don't know how big of a soccer fan you are watch carefully here an maizing goal, that is former u.s. team goalie, tim howard scoring a goal entire length of the field. english premier league look at his reaction. just another day. fantastic, it was very windy apparently, and misjudged by the other goal keeper. >> unbelievable. >> went

bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill." what is the significance of these numbers, bob? >> i think it is pretty significant. mitt romney is starting to gain. the newt is starting to slip. the big question is this the beginning of mitt romney's come back or is this the beginning of the end for mitt romney? you can't overestimate or over state how important florida is. in 2008 john mccain won florida and that was nomination. he went on to win fairly easily. so florida is just so important. jon: well, if newt gingrich were to win florida, and you know, anything, the numbers seem to indicate it could be possible, the nationwide match-up numbers between newt and the president versus mitt romney and the president, not as good. >> yeah. and that's what gingrich has to convince republicans. there are a lot of republicans who are panicking in washington, who served with newt gingrich, not fans of newt gingrich but newt gingrich has to make the case that he can beat president obama. not only outdebate him but beat him in the general election that is his handicap now. romney has hi

bob cusack, managing he had are to of "the hill." good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: is florida that different from south carolina? >> that is. it is a huge media market. that helps mitt romney because he has a huge money advantage. demographics are different. lot of retirees. snowbirds from the new york, new jersey area. the polls, newt gingrich is surging in the state. bill: we have, now, two clips, i want to play for you. one is from cbs on sunday morning, which shows newt gingrich's line of attack on mitt romney in one sense. and then i want to play a clip from from late on saturday night which shows a very different line of attack from gingrich also. roll the first one of the we'll get to both of them right now. >> governor romney may be running for ceo. i'm running for president. president of the united states has to understand the government of the united states. barack obama clearly didn't and candidly i doubt if governor romney would. we don't have the kind of money that at least one of the candidates has but we do have ideas, and we do have people and

joined by bob cusack, editor of "the hill."u pull these things out it takes you back to those days of that fierce fight between hillary clinton and barack obama. you see that rnc ad that says debbie wasserman schultz schultz refused to back barack obama until a couple days later until he turned out to be the nominee. this happens in elections, right? >> that's right. martha, democrats think mitt romney will win the nomination. this is all about that. the rnc going after debbie wasserman schultz. we know what the dnc is going to do shut mitt romney win the nomination. they will recycle what his competitors, his rivals said during the primary. there is lot of material there. newt gingrich calling mitt romney a liar. there are more of this out there. the rnc will be using later this year. this is just the beginning. martha: you bring up such a great point, bob. they are preparing themselves perhaps, for what they know is to come. mitt romney ran once before. he has got several years of people who will now be supporting him pointin

host: bob cusack of "the hill," take us back to 1997.st: there was a lot of frustration building. it was after the government shutdown of 1995 and 1996, where newt gingrich went toe to toe with then president clinton and basically came out on the short end of the stick. a lot of the rank-and-file republicans at the time, including joe scarborough, they were frustrated. they started to meet about their frustration. there was also some exasperation with newt gingrich about his record and how he was running the house. congressman peter king has been very critical of gingrich, saying that his leadership style is all about him and that he was self centered. this was kind of boiling over until basically some rank-and- file members started to meet and started to talk about toppling gingrich. initially, that made it up the chain. leadership members of the newt gingrich's team started to embrace the idea. the plot was hatched to topple newt gingrich. host: you report that leadership had split with gingrich in the month before the coup over how to

bob cusack managing editor of the hill.com.to see you. >> good morning tony. >> man, saturday night was a shocker even if you thought newt could pull it out the margin was bigger than most thought could possibly happen how much does this hurt romney. >> it hurts a fair amount now the inevidentability of him winning and also his electability he has been so awkward recently debate, bad answers on his tax returns makes me think a lot of republicans thing can he beat president obama maybe we could have someone like newt gingrich and maybe not beat obama but possibly beat him in a debate. >> here is the interesting thing you say maybe not beat obama but that is the goal the objective of republicans so, we are way out from the big election, but can newt gingrich, beat president obama, a lot of people thing there is too much baggage. >> if you talk to an analyst, and tell minute gingrich would do a lot in the south, if the economy sours and unemployment goes to 9, 9 president 5% all bets are -- 9.5% all bets are off. can gingrich win

bob cusack watching it all is the managing editor of "the hill." the good morning to you. >> good morning, martha. martha: is the fact that chris christie in new hampshire is a sign that romney folks are at all concerned about how strong their lead might be or whether or not it is diminishing to some extent? >> chris christie is a very valuable surrogate for mitt romney. the other candidates don't have the amount of surrogates that romney has. i think chris christie is very effective. clearly mitt romney in the new hampshire polls he has been slipping a bit. overall the news is very good. he narrowly won in iowa. he is winning in new hampshire. he is winning in south and florida. the questions continue to linger and mitt romney and whether the base will ever warm to him. martha: if he does win new hampshire, and he has got iowa under his belt, looking to possibly be the lead in south carolina. florida looks a little bit trickier for him, it would be very tough, wouldn't it, to deny this candidate that leadership role if he takes the first three? >>

bob cusack is managing editor for the hill. thanks for joining us.ake sherman is a staff writer at "politico." >> in at the moments, jon huntsman withdrawn from the president of canada's. and then a couple of presidential candidates and their wives campaigning. the group clifford rossi hosting riparian and rick santorum. on "washington journal" we will talk about presidential politics and the south carolina primary with bill kristol, the founder and the editor of the "weekly standard." laura murphy of the aclu will talk about voter id laws. and we will talk with the financial professor clifford rossi. "washington journal" live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> rick perry is hosting a town hall meeting on the coast just south of myrtle beach. that is on c-span3 at 9:30 a.m. eastern. here on c-span, we will be live at 1:30 p.m. eastern with a town hall meeting hosted by newt gingrich, the former speaker of the house. >> a quick reminder -- the deadline cent for our studentcam. we are asking middle and high school student what part of the

host: bob cusack, thanks so much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> house coming back in about five minutes for a vote on the rule that would repeal part of the health care law. the house earlier today came back into session, senate's back in session today, too. and the congressional budget office today released its updated budget and economic forecast. we spoke to a capitol hill reporter about how that might shape the congressional agenda ahead. >> house lawmakers returning to the capitol today. what are they saying about the latest economic outlook by the congressional budget office? >> it's hardly a surprise. c.b.o. came out with their latest debt and deficit and job projection numbers. over $1 trillion in federal deficits projected for this next year. it's a fourth year in a row that we've seen deficits over $1 trillion. nobody around here is surprised by that. everybody's pretty well aware of the deficit situation. that's been playi

host: bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill." guest: thank you so much. >> the florida g.o.p. primary with coverage from tampa with mitt romney's speech there and newt gingrich and his campaign in orlando. all of that tonight at 8:00 eastern. the house is coming in at 2:00 eastern for legislative work. until then more about florida and the 2012 race from this morning's "washington journal." want to get your take on what is going to happen when the numbers come in from florida and specifically what you think that means moving forward to nevada and beyond. guest: well, good morning, john. i think it's nice to be here. we will see a pretty big win for mitt romney. the surveys, most reliable polls that we see coming out of the field have romney leading somewhere between 12 and 20 points. it's likely his margin will be closer to the 20 points than the 12 points because it feels like the race is breaking a little late. newt gingrich had really tried hard to compete here, but coming off a south carolina wave it looked like he might have a chance to win the state. florida is important