could the nomination be wrapped up in south carolina? >> we have been the eventual predictor of the republican nominee since 1980. i think this will be decided in south carolina once again. >> given your governor's endorsement of mitt romney and her current approval ratings, what has been the effect of that endorsement? >> mitt romney had the biggest turnout that he has had when governor niki haley went with him. based on the response he has already, it will be a big thing. >> let's turn the questioning over to jeff of the new york times. >> the contests in iowa has already happened. the primary in new hampshire will has happened. do you believe the race, once it arrives there, will ratify decision from -- the decision from iowa and new hampshire? >> we are looking forward to having you down to south carolina and we are looking over to seeing you at the motor beach debate. i have been surprised at how people have been slow to tune in. i was with my family and my wife's family and was amazed at how many people are still up in the air. par

south carolina. that is the john mccain vote. mccain got 33 in south carolina in 2008. and the issue is, and it's not complicated, it happened in '08, the socially conservative vote split allowing mccain to shoot the gap. do gingrich and santorum and perry do the same thing? >> romney seals it in south carolina even before florida? i think that romney will have to defend against an air attack. we have to see how that plays out before you can make predictions. >> whether he has a glass jaw. >> that is right. >> up next, the romney campaign with romney adviser kevin madden and now are democrats going to counter the republican's message in south carolina. this is "andrea mitchell reports" live in new hampshire. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if you took the top down on a crossover? if there were buttons for this? wouldn't it be cool if your car could handle the kids... ♪ ...and the nurburgring? or what if you built a car in tennessee that could change the world? yeah, that would be cool. nissan.

this is the 2008 south carolina primary. john mccain down here along the coast, the low country especially places like this, orrey county, where myrtle beach is, 5% of the state's population, more moderate, important to john mccain four years ago. this was mick huckabee, greenvil greenville, spartanburg, a lot of evangelical and tea party voters critical tonight. >> the state a little more diverse than people know. we go over to anderson cooper to help us preern some of tappreci early numbers. >> we're here with our analysts, republican strategists, democratic strategists, james carville what are you expecting tonight? >> i expect uncertain, that's generally what it is and if one is to believe the final polls taken last night, speaker gingrich is in good shape. we were in the green room talking about ever this and this has been a roller coaster ride unlike any other and i suspect it will provide us -- >> you're thrilled by that fact. >> if the last polls are correct, if last night's polls are correct, yeah, i think yes, i wo

a big day in south carolina.n the polls close at 7:00. >> do you have your ear plugs? it's going to get really cloud loud when newt gingrich exits. you won't be able to hear me. ron mott, thanks for that in greenville. let's look at the voters in south carolina and what they're saying as they head to the polls for today's crucial primary. nbc's craig melvin is joining me from columbia, south carolina. voter turnout, how large is that so far today? >> reporter: you know what, alex witt, it is at this point remarkably low. in fact, i just talked to one of our campaign embeds. she spent some time at a precinct here in columbia that is one of the largest precincts in the area when it comes to republican primaries. 35 voters in two hours, if that gives you any idea what we're look at how. upstate south carolina -- this is crucial, going to be particularly crucial for newt gingrich -- spartanburg county, greenville county, 40% of all the primary voters generally tend to come frt upstate, the upstate is also where you s

this is getting very, very interesting in south carolina. bill: news is breaking in south carolina.arlier news is breaking to iowa. want to get back to carl cameron right now. we can now confirm what perry will say in about an hour and 19 minutes, carl, what's happening? what do you have? >> reporter: he will confirm it and say he is out of the race. in a move that is sure to fully roil the south carolina campaign trail texas governor rick perry will with draw from the race and endorse newt gingrich. this is development. the support newt gingrich gotten in south carolina in wake of the myrtle beach fox news debate. endorsement by rick perry, a southern governor who cast himself as outsider, railed against washington will decide the former speaker newt gingrich is best suited to be the republican party nominee to go up against barack obama. gingrich has been closing in the polls behind mitt romney in last few days. he did pick up some momentum after the last debate. it has shown at events. the romney campaign where we are now at his headquarters in suburban charleston has been taking

headed to south carolina. i think all of us will be headed to south carolina soon. an exciting race. can't wait. >> yeah, i mean, can jon huntsman compete in south carolina? he's very low in the early polling there. >> i don't see that he has much of a constituency there. you saw in the focus group, there didn't seem to be a person for huntsman. he can use some money there, but i just see that the fight is going to be among the other -- the conservatives in the party, the santorums and perryperrys to fight there. >> it's interesting that his dad was there. and he could have a pack that could hunt him, but huntsman play has to be like a carom shot. he has to allow newt to spend all his money. >> what kind? >> carom. >> a pool shark. all right. >> if newt spends all of his money and brings romney down, then it's possible that huntsman and the chaos in the dust could arise as the alternative. >> he wasn't able to catch fire in new hampshire where he devoted a significant aplount of time. >> people are so sick of negative -- i think what happens is there's too much nois

i think is going to work well in south carolina. at the end of the day, i think people will be very surprised about new hampshire. i think we will send a strong message to the country. he is the right one for the job. >> thank you for letting c-span invade your home. we will have a real air of some of the weekend debates and ardent coverage from the course of the day, all available at the website. a full day tomorrow and then our coverage on tuesday evening with a simulcast of the abc affiliate, one of our partners in new hampshire. speeches by the winners and losers. and at new hampshire. all the available on our website. >> more details on the new hampshire primaries tomorrow morning. we will hear from kentucky senator rand poll about his father's campaign strategy. and judd gregg will share his insights into the mitt romney campaign. that is "washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. on c-span. >> it really want to see the candidate, the road to the white house political coverage takes you on the campaign trail. >> i am pleased with the c

carolina. the real issue in that state, and i've been talking to a number of people down there, is what kind of a jihad they're going to have in the republican primary? will it begin a process of self-immolation, and that's what terrifies a lot of people, including a lot of conservatives. but tonight mitt romney does have great momentum to going into south carolina. could be a much tougher state for him. it's quite striking to me, after i've been at this for a long time, as you know, that two out of the three leading candidates in new hampshire tonight were mormons. and the other one, ron paul, was a libertarian. that was not so surprising. so politics has changed profoundly in this country. and south carolina, here we come. >> in terms of looking ahead to that south carolina contest, tom, when you look at the dynamics within the republican party and sort of, i guess, the feeling among other republicans, as mitt romney moves forward from strength to strength, from iowa to new hampshire, is the

for south carolina?by michael smerconish. iowa conservative radio host. plus democratic strategist jimmy williams a native of south carolina. and it's been a wild week to say the least. and let us not forget romney's problems answering questions about his money and what he pays in taxes. but i ask you this, who had the worst week of them all? i'm going to tell you how to cast your vote in a special news nation text poll. ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. yeah, so last week

now he's in south carolina. he's ahead in some polls, all the polls in south carolina.ome of them are close but he can afford even to lose south carolina beck's got this momentum, organization, money, he's headed for florida where he's way ahead, and no one heals the ability to go the distance. one final point. all the people who might beat him have been wounded or cut or bleeding or damaged in one way or another. >> the bigger polls have a wider margin for romney being ahead of the next in line. >> yeah, but you've got gingrich and perry attacking romney. they've backed off a little because the party elders and the talk show showmen in the party have basically leaned on them not to wound romney any further, but you've got them with all this negative advertising there that's likely to damage romney somewhat, but it also damages the perpetrators, gingrich and perry. so there's an opening here for santorum, rick san tore rum, and there are a lot of evangelicals in south carolina. social issues are big. they seem to be resistant to the charges about beg capital, but they a

campaigning in south carolina? >> they have barbecue in south carolina. >> greta: are you say they have better food? >> i don't know. >> our family has been able to experience nothing like new hampshire. saying they have to shake his hand several times whether they decide whether they'll vote for you. it's true. we have people who have gotten their vote. but it means something. we realize that. >> we're really excited. >> we realize it's a great primary because all of the people get to meet the families and shake their hands. most don't get the opportunity to do that. we're lucky to have the primary like new hampshire. >> so if we do well tonight i think going into south carolina. >> so this allows the candidate to meet the people and to go into the system. and it does make a difference for them. i don't mean to tell you that the system is not perfect in the sense of giving up everything. >> if we leave here with momentum, people will get behind your message and excited about it. and in 24 hours more are coming in.

this is so typical of south carolina, as you know.carolina and it was open warfare on john mccain for the following week. at that point, george bush had the support of the south carolina governor. and they went to the mattresses over the state. what is so interesting to me having spent time down there is the social conservative issues have not resonated in the same way. i just like to roll a part of an interview i did with ernie siegers, county administrator in the middle part of the state. it is the buckle of the bible belt. here's what he had to say about the impact of all of that on this race. how much are the religious social issues important to the voters on a saturday? >> i think very important. i grew up here, i go to church here. it's a strong moral issues are certainly important. but i still think the folks that i see and talk to, jobs are the key issue right now. and i think when the economy is better and things are improved and certainly those items are important and from what i see, the jobs and the economy are the major i

he had been a major jon huntsman supporter in south carolina and was previously mike huckabee south carolina chairman in 2008, but as of today, he is for newt. shortly after that endorsement, mr. gingrich got word that 100 tea party leaders, what is a tea party leader anyway? 100 tea party leaders, whatever that means, from 25 different states are reportedly about to come forward to also endorse newt gingrich. the group will reportedly form a coalition called "tea partiers with newt":. all he had to do was google news search the name mitt romney today and he'd feel even better about how his day is going. there are still a few hours left in the day, so his fortunes could turn around, but mitt romney is about to wrap up what has been a horrific day for him in this race. after creating 48 straight hours of news coverage for himself by acknowledging he is one of the really, really rich people in this country that only pays a 15% mini tax rate and suggesting the $375,000 he made in speaking in a year wasn't enough money, after all that, here was the headline that mitt romney woke up to today, "ro

what it sounds like is the people from gaffney, south carolina or georgetown, south carolina who lost their jobs. the fact is you can create jobs without destroying a company. and that's what i'm talking about is i think americans are really tired of these wall streeters that take advantage of americans. >> an interesting ten days ahead in south carolina. governor rick perry of texas, appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you, john. so long. >>> governor perry isn't the only one complaining republican establishments pressuring candidates to tone down the attacks on governor romney. in a few minutes we'll ask the party's chairman if it's true and if he's eager for things to be settled quickly. but next check this out. a veteran pilot will explain to us why landing in a cross wind may look scary but he insists it really isn't so bad. n i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe y

i believe you're still in south carolina, correct? >> i believe i'm still in south carolina.rting to lose track. >> unless florida is the next south carolina. that would be the next big story. i really want to get my geography very accurate. i really enjoyed talking to you today, patricia. thank you so much for your analysis. >> thanks, gary. >>> coming up in about 23 minutes, the top of the hour on "state of the union with candy crowley," newt gingrich and rick santorum. candy will get gingrich and santorum's reaction to south carolina. looking next to the next south carolina -- just kidding, florida. >>> is there a two-man race between newt gingrich and mitt romney? that coming up at 9:00 eastern time. >>> i want to show you one of our exit polls from last night's south carolina primary. it's so interesting. these are voters who said that the religious beliefs of the candidates matter a great deal. you can see that the two men battling for the christian conservative vote came out as the favorites among those voters. not so much for mitt romney. he surely wants that vote, bu

here we go to south carolina!. >> what we did when i was speaker in the 1990s in creating millions of new jobs can be done again. this campaign is going to go on to south carolina. [applause] >> we have an opportunity to be the true conservative, the true conservative who can go out and do what's necessary, not just to win this race and we can win this race. okay? [applause] bill: so now the entire field moves south. steve brown is back in manchester this morning. good morning, to you, steve. in politics you're only as good as your last election. romney has won his last two. huy significant was this? >> reporter: i don't know if there was a poll done in new hampshire where he was anything other than the leader. so this was a state that slanted heavily in his favor as governor of a neighboring state and southern portion and most populous sections of the state were influenced by boston media market and he was on every day in the state. he has a home here. the thing romney appears to be doing he wants to look like he

be in south carolina. john huntsman third this is an important win. that number could go up. >> could go up a bit. mitt romney is doing well. let's echo candy's point. this was an impressive win for mitt romney. he was polling in the last few days. he's going to get at least 38%. he can claim a victory. why is this important? 70% of the people in new hampshire live here. they call it the gold triangle. 70% of the population here. close to the boston media market. romney is winning them all. if you check in on some of the places, he's winning most of these more than state-wide. this is his margin of victory, close to masdz mass. as you note, also an impressive note, as he throws in the map for ron paul. orange. all the other candidates say he's not a main stream republican. he continues to prove he's a factor in the race. at the moment, the buffer between mitt romney and everyone else. huntsman began this thinking he would stumble in iowa, falter in new hampshire, but 17% wasn't what they were looking for.

hello, south carolina. >> that's jon huntsman tonight, vowing to take his campaign to south carolina. that primary on january 21st could pretty well change the shape of the republican field. two conservatives, ron reagan, head of the reagan nation, and son of ronald reagan. and andrew breitbart. andrew breitbart, let me start with you. who are you endorsing right now? >> nobody. the interesting thing about what's happening right now is that a lot of the momentum that was built up in the conservative movement over the last three years by the tea party has been utterly destroyed. there's not a candidate out there that is the tea party's first, second, third, or fourth choice. what you have here is a fait accompli. the republican establishment has taken control of the republican party, and you have the predictability of mitt romney running just perfectly. david axelrod has helped create an organized left and occupy movement that is perfectly situated to attack mitt romney's record with bain capital. the only person who can beat barack obama at this point is barack obama himself. >> you s

a true south carolina native.e and only and nbc's craig vin, who is in columbia, south carolina stop laughing. it's all true. we have the advantage of your experti expertise. this has become a very close fight, hasn't it? >> it has. here's the thing, martin. i talked to a voter yesterday in charleston who probably summed it up best. right now it's a matter between the heart hean the head. he was viewed by most voters as the most electable candidate. then you had newt gingrich who was probably more in line with the mentality of the typical south carolina gop primary voter. but they didn't think that he was necessarily electable. at some point all of that changed here. i've talked to a number of gop political operatives. not a question of whether he wins this thing by 5% or 10%. that could be very significant moving the forward. # # 75,000 primary voters. that was the record here in south carolina. four years ago about 460,000. that's despite tornado watches in a good chunk of the center part of the state. low turno

>> on to south carolina, diane, with a great big target on him on to south carolina. thanks to diane and george. >>> want to turn, now, to abc news anchor, david muir. he's live at romney headquarters in the campaign. he bought a house in new hampshire. he was running there in 2008. he ran there this year. and finally tonight, victory. it must be awful sweet for him. >> reporter: so sweet, terry. make no mistake about it. this was a huge night for the romney campaign. they needed this night. they had that win in iowa. the sliver-thin victory of eight votes. and they were ahead in the polls. you mentioned he was the governor of massachusetts. this is his backyard in new hampshire. they have a summer home here, where they helped to raise the five boys you saw on the stage there, with governor romney and his wife, ann. there was huge expectation that he would do well here. you saw what happened in the last 24 hours. the campaign telling me, it was the, quote, frenzy of being the front-runner. but he had ill-chosen words. you saw him mention it there. when he said, i like

, taylor, south carolina, in particular and they have multiple sources in south carolina who say that gingrich's camp has reached out to santorum. santorum's camp, they say if it can't be me, newt, i want it to be rick santorum. >> i just don't think he would do that just yet. i mean, south carolina hasn't happened. >> they're not going to pull the plug before south carolina. >> if you're an aide to newt gingrich and south carolina hasn't happened yet, would you reach out to the rick santorum camp have a chance of this happening, what we're talking about right now. i don't know. it seems a little premature. he might support them if he does horribly in south carolina. i don't see this being the truth right now. >> i don't know. multiple sources. how many times have we heard if mitt romney wins in new hampshire and iowa and south carolina, it could be all done unless there is some coalescing around somebody and maybe that's newt's way of saying into the santorum vote. >> just my opinion. rest of your headlines, fox news alert. we have to start with an iranian nuclear scientist murdered

i'll be back with updates on the south carolina primary. all of us at cbs news all around the world, i'm scott pelley, see you again soon. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

carolina in florida. now romney still has a lot of advantages. it's an expensive state. momentum matters a lot in presidential primary contests. it is like bill lards. each shot changes each subsequent shot. if gingrich wins here his shot looks more attractive. >> gingrich has not won a race. if he does well and clinches south carolina or comes in a strong second, does this offer assurances that this primary season will be elongated a bit. some thought after florida the nomination would be clinched by january 31st. >> first of all, you often say watch what they do not what they say. the fact that mitt romney confirmed two debates for next week indicates that he's not confident about the results tonight. early they are week they thought they might be able to deliver a knock out blow in florida and basically at that point say we're turning our attention to president obama. i think if gingrich doesn't win in south carolina, it is difficult to mount a full scale campaign. he would argue even if he doesn't win

significant in south carolina.hroughout the night. mark stanford is a former governor and a fox news contractor. governor, your reaction to this result? well, fairly stunning given the fact that you know. (no audio) >> okay. the satellite went out there. it is rain showers in south carolina. when we get him back we'll bring him back to get his assessment and inside knowledge of south carolina. >> it was a rude welcome. >> how are you, and see you later. >>> and we'll go back to the governor soon. we'll also go to sarah palin and mike huckabee. >>> and plus, live from the candidate's headquarters as all of the results are n newt gingrich is the big winner in south carolina. there is a fight for third place between rick santorum and ron paul. this is fox news channel. america's election headquarters. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipito

>> mitt romney did reasonably well four years ago in south carolina and we shouldn't think south carolina is just a socially conservative state, a rick santorum kind of state, it has got a pretty strong establishment main street republican wing, again, don't let the candidates look to the electorate, they are just a lot more main street republicans than there are social conservatives or libertarians and that is true in just state after state and so as long as he doesn't make a mistake and he is not the sort of person that makes mistakes, he made that one line i like to fire people lines which is a semimistake that was over exploited but he doesn't tend to make mistakes and there are a lot of people just like him in the electorate so you have to think he is sitting pretty. >> mark, he made a couple of other mistakes, he talked about how he had once feared getting a pink slip, i wonder how much of that added to make him more vulnerable, i suppose? >> well, i think the romney people will tell you privately, he does have a tin ear, when he walked into a group of jobless people at a meeting, c

and newt in south carolina. and as we go forward in the states to come it is a even playing field. >> senator, folks who say, in order to beat mitt romney, you have to consolidate at some point. conservatives have to get together at some point if they want to stop mitt romney who arguably has a lott of support in the so-called tabement as people say. what do you say to those folks? >> wait a minute. mitt romney lost two out of three races. the only race he won was in his own back yard. look at the ceiling, 25%. i mean, this is the idea that romney is the obstacle here is that -- that narrative is not working anymore and not true. i don't know if it was ever true. the idea now, is that we have a strong principle conservative who was a leader in congress and moderate massachusetts depov gov and moderate who was an erratic conservative when he was inned wellership. they have to look and decide who they want to go up against barack obama in the fall. he won heavly democratic districts and appeal to the reagan. and o

unemployment in south carolina almost at 10%.we have to refocus a little bit. that goes to the heart of why people in south carolina are so displeased to a large degree with the candidate or this field of candidates. they just don't like the slate that is before them and that is they are fed up at this point. >> jimmy, prediction about the primary and life after south carolina. >> listen, two days ago i thought gingrich would come in second. i think he win tomorrow by four to five points. if he does, gives him a fundraising boost to go in florida. it's an expensive state, four major media markets, a hell of a lot of money, i don't know he will have the money, will make romney suffer. >> steve benen, your call, tomorrow and life after south carolina. >> gingrich by six points. the point about florida is expensive is important. i think gingrich will be competitive. >> goldie? >> gingrich tomorrow and gingrich by four or five, but after florida, you've got mississippi and alabama and all those other red states, you have georgia wher

so i want to say he's not particularly pretty in south carolina, south carolina to be different than the campaign hall tonight. >> no question. unfortunate thing and thing i worry about is how this affects republicans as a whole. i don't think this is very healthy for the republican party. i think this sends a mixed message. almost siding -- going on the other side of the aisle. the last thing we want to do is divide this country anymore that. is what president obama has done. so here, i see governor romney coming in and trying to unify us, trying to bring this country back together. that is what he needs to do. that is what we need. >> greta: what is good for the goose and good for the gander. there are speakers nor speaker gingrich. it took its toll on speaker gingrich. it's harder for him. governor romney is sort of talks about being big, you know? and having everyone join together. he can fight. >> there is no question. i have no problems with -- i have broad shoulders and i know the governor does but this is now a different ideology. we're going to. >> greta: he's winning now. >