plus, who does charles krauthammer think will be on the republican ticket in 2012?are going to tell you. you heard about bans on texting and driving. well, now, california wants to punish people from eating and driving. what? we'll tell you about that and much more. you know it. "the five" starts right now. ♪ ♪ >> kimberly: our top story, the horse race in iowa. those of you who like to bet, it might be interesting. mitt romney is on top of the poll at 24%. ron paul is just two points behind in second. it's real tight. the real surprise has been rick santorum. he is in third place with 15% of the vote, three points ahead of newt gingrich. but the race is still up for grabs because 41% of those polled said they could still be persuaded to support another candidate other than their first choice. it's very exciting. a day out. everything seems to be very much in a fluid and in motion. you have surging, rick santorum. what do you make of the numbers? >> dana: in a way, it's the day we've been waiting for if you follow it closely. >> kimberly: literally. >> dana: in some

charles krauthammer. welcome back. >> pleasure to be here. >> sean: we have come a long way from 100,000 or so people chanting "yes, we can!" and soaring rhetoric, haven't we? >> he said he would heal the earth and make the waters recede. the last person who did that was moses and he had help. [chuckles] >> look. this is really testimony to the fact that obama, when it comes to -- to ideas, is spent. he's really out of ideas. look, we have heard the announcement today that the growth of the economy for this year was really anemic 1.7, 1.8%, historically low for a bounce-back from a recession. look what he tried. he did the usual liberal attempts, the biggest kensian stimulus since the earth cooled and the fed has been pumping mon neat zero interest rates unrelentingly and announced they doll it right through 2014. so have you tried everything in your liberal arsenal. the economy is stagnant and unemployment is high. so if you want to win re-election, have you to give the appearance of motion. as i was say

joining us from washington charles krauthammer. ter all my bloviating, charles, did i make any mistakes? >> i think astonishing not. [ laughter ] gingrich obviously won the night. he won big. ron paul lost really big. romney came out sort of so-so. nicked slightly. he played defense. he is sitting on a lead. he played prevent defense. he will add a couple of field goals. how could he not have been prepared for a question on his tax returns? and how key not have prepared a nice short succinct humane answer about what he did at bain, private capital really helps the economy and helps individual workers in the end. he didn't really have that he kind of stumbled around. i thought santorum did well. but, remember, because he is in competition with gingrich, the fact that gingrich did so well means that santorum actually i think lost ground. >> bill: he overshadowed him. gingrich, we have juan williams on tomorrow night. one thing i noticed that very few people picked up is that juan williams' question about gingrich's statements on poor

joining us from washington fox news political analyst charles krauthammer.ht, charles, take it away. was that fair? >> no, it wasn't exactly true. when newt gingrich resigned at the end of the '98 elections because of the defeat the republicans had suffered, and the fact that he lost the confidence of the republics in the house, the disgrace that romney was talking about was what had happened two years earlier when, in january 1997, gingrich was reprimanded by the house and had to pay a fine for some ethics violation. if he had resigned in disgrace, he would have resigned then. he did not. he was reelected house speaker. he stayed on for the two years. what happened when he did resign is that his party, and the members of his party, in the house, had decided after the election results where the republicans had suffered a defeat, they lost five seats. the opposition always almost always historically gains seats in off year elections. he lost the confidence of his conference and they voted. they would have, they were prepared to vote him out. three days after

joining system charles krauthammer.s will be in south carolina, where custer's last stand for santorum, newt gingrich, ron paul. because we do expect, i want your opinion on this, mitt romney to do well tomorrow in new hampshire. >> he will do well in new hampshire, but i think it's not just going to be a custer last stand in south carolina. i think for romney it will be a rubicon. this will be the one place where he is going to get everything hurled at him. he you got a hint of it in yesterday morning's debate. all the candidates and this is remarkable for republican candidates who were non-romney attacked him for bain capital story. this is kind of attack you know obama and the democrats are preparing to launch. >> bill: footnote on that, next segment with stuart varney so bain and whether the accusation against romney is true. but the sufficient okay university poll is true, romney comes in 35 and wins fairly comfortably. they say in south carolina he is ahead. he has the machine, he has got the governor and republic

why, after languishing for months, is a rick santorum catching on at the last moment, charles krauthammer? >> a lot of reasons. eight years ago on the democratic side, gephardt and howard dean were in the front. they attacked each other viciously in ads. at the last moment, kerry anne edwards slipped in and of course were on the ticket. -- kerry and edwards said in an aura of course were on the ticket. all of those with their heads above the edges have gotten a lot of artillery it at them as a result, except santorum. the only one who has not been touched is santorum. he is now the one who is getting his moment, but the timing is perfect, because he is at the end and there will be any time. there was one attack on him a day or two ago, but it is not going to work. he will now, if he emerges, probably top three, be the non- romney did ron paul is not a possible presidential candidate in the end. i think he will get in coming, and we will see how he stands up to it. every other candidate who has had his moment in the sun has come down. >> is more than just not being attacked, though. he has

here is what brit hume and charles krauthammer on the factor. >> who is going to win.y, bill, you won't expect me to go where talking points won't go, i don't see a scenario, an outcome here which would really disturb mitt romney's position in the race as the man to be. >> win, place and show, everybody knows. romney, santorum and ron paul. the real issue is newt and perry, do they finish 4th or 5th and do they finish near the top three or not? because that will determine iowa never anoints, but it winnows and this will be a winnowing process. >> that's a great verb, winnow that we talked about before. greg, one of the things we didn't talk about in the first block was the rise of santorum. rick santorum, the former senator from pennsylvania who spent almost entirely the entire campaign in iowa has kind of peaked just at the right time and could come in first, second or third according to most predictors? >> yeah, his secret weapon of course is the sweater vest. sweater vests make every man look like a dentist on his day off and i think people like that and i think-- >

with us with take on iran and iowa vote tomorrow is charles krauthammer. s iran saber rattling at this time, charles? >> well, perhaps it rewanted to remind us there is a world outside iowa. the reason it is doing it now is because of a bill that passed the house and the senate, the president signed on new year's eve that compels the president to impose really harsh sanctions on iran. that's what they are worried about. that's why they did the saber rattling. that's why they threatened to close the strait of hormuz. now, it shows you how much of a bluff it was that on the day the president signed it, a big leader in iran announced well we are not really going to shut the strait of hormuz we wanted to know we would defend our ips. the sanctions are we will sanction the central bank of iran. anybody who does business with iran cannot do any with the u.s. which means that it can't export any oil. the europeans will join news a boycott of iranian oil the economy would collapse the mullahs are not going to change their nuclear program but they would be in big tr

with us with take on iran and iowa vote tomorrow is charles krauthammer. is iran saber rattling at this time, charles? >> well, perhaps it rewanted to remind us there is a world outside iowa. the reason it is doing it now is because of a bill that passed the house and the senate, the president signed on new year's eve that compels the president to impose really harsh sanctions on iran. that's what they are worried about. that's why they did the saber rattling. that's why they threatened to close the strait of hormuz. now, it shows you how much of a bluff it was that on the day the president signed it, a big leader in iran announced well we are not really going to shut the strait of hormuz we wanted to know we would defend our ips. the sanctions are we will sanction the central bank of iran. anybody who does business with iran cannot do any with the u.s. which means that it can't export any oil. the europeans will join news a boycott of iranian oil the economy would collapse the mullahs are not going to change their nuclear program but they would be in big

sindcated columnist charles krauthammer.u reaction to the debate and the fall-out from it? >> i thought the debate was over after three minutes. the gingrich answer. it was so interesting because it was a venue i think determined how it turned out. if youd a done last night's debate without an audience, it would have been different and probably the verdict would have been santorum had come out ahead on points. he scored heavily against gingrich and romney presenting himself as a guy reliable, implying that, actually saying gingrich erratic, romney is unreliable. what you have is semily a studio audience it has a -- essentially a studio audience has a huge effect. gingrich won the room by the end of the first round. after that, he had sort of psycholog call advantage. all the way through. >> bret: there is a sense on the ground when you talk to people in south carolina that this is shifting newt gingrich's way. do you buy that? >> absolutely. i think it's entirely possible he wins in south carolina. someone won in new hampshi

charles krauthammer. welcome back. >> happy to be here. >> sean: we've got the rasmussen report and public policy poll, 29-24 romney, two-point margin for governor romney and what do you make of the polls and what is the state of it? >> he is much higher than he was a week ago. it tells you negative advertising works and he is getting it from all sides. he could be the only guy in history who is going accused of being a right ring corporate raider who introduced socialized medicine in massachusetts. the real question for me is this. does he have a good answer for the bain question? it is obvious it was going to come from obama. they are going to use tens of millions of dollars of ads and person after person, worker after worker who lost their job and they are going to hit him. it came early unexpectedly. i was surprised how unprepared he has been. he gives a general answer, this is an attack on capitalism but that is not effective enough. he has to get in there and explain what he did, i don't mean in det

. >> charles krauthammer or? >> obama mckenney his political strength after a bad economy and the sllacking in the last election. the speech he gave in tucson, where he pivoted of the tragedy and made himself a sort of thehe father of the nation for night and the end of the year, where he completely out m maneuvered republicans on the deal with the payroll tax that. he stayed a lot higher than he should be in popularity. >> now, a little pressure. the republican ticket, 2012. >> romney-rurubio. >> same. >> souounds good to me. >> i'll tell you -- romney and rob portman of ohio. tune in again next week. appens every year: fall turns to winter and brings in the cold. because of our economy, millions more will feel that chill than ever before. they're the forgotten ones. the big boys have abused the system to enrich only themselves, while workers are still hurting. it could be a layoff after 22 years of working for the same company. or choosing between food and heat for a sick chk d. or after working your whole life

still ahead, syndicated columnist charles krauthammer offers his thoughts ahead of the voting tonightnd after the break, the other side. what president obama will be doing on caucus night. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. >> well, this is home base, right in the middle of capitol rotunda in the middle of the capitol, the stop for a big, big night. the epicenter of the political world is here in iowa tonight and president obama is back in washington after a ten day vacation in hawaii and chief white house correspondent ed henry reports the president will make an appearance of could sorts in the hawk eye state. four years ago tonight, then senator barack obama stunned the po

syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. start with the reagan back and forth. >> try to clear out the underbrush. nancy reagan is right that the torch was passed from reagan to newt. but that speaks to what newt did in the '90s, not what he did in the '80s. on the other hand, an attack on newt he criticized reagan to which i say so what? reagan wasn't a saint, he wasn't the pope. he unit un-ering. he made mick tas and admitted arms for hostages was a mission take everybody at some point attacked reagan on different issues. so that is irrelevant. what is relevant is gingrich repeated the claim i worked with reagan in the '80s do "x," "y," "z" including bring down the communist empire. that is preposterous. foreign policy is presidential. congress has almost no say. if it has any, it's the senate. not the house. gingrich was a member of the minority party in the house through the reagan years. has nothing to say about almost anything. he wasn't even in the leadership. he had no role whatsoever in the destruction of the soviet

joining us from washington, charles krauthammer.ve seen so far. >> it's amazing how the top three are really in a dead heat, absolute numbers between them. it's a spread of about 60 votes total. if this were presidential election, would it matter as the florida result did in 2000, but this is the opening contest when almost no delegates at stake. it's really the impression. i think it is a dead heat. of course, we will proclaim whoever runs up ahead as the winner and make a big speech. essentially i don't think there will be any real difference between them. that means for romney and paul it's something of a setback. when poll when you show the number of late decideders, he wasn't on the board. it implies he has fixed constituency that is not going to expand. with romney, he has been in a flat line. he can't go over the 23%, 25% which shows he is not expanding either. so it's a strategic defeat for him. however, tactically i think it is a good night. perry, gingrich obviously santorum will be in the race. he'll have new hampshire al

syndicated columnnist charles krauthammer. charles, winner and loser?e big winner i think obviously was newt. this is not one of the debates that was muddy. there was a clear one, gingrich. started out wobbly as we saw at bain stuff and the ads. as soon as he pivoted away, he won the night, obviously. not only when he answered the question about food stamps and the poor, and hand outs but he got lucky when he was the one who who was given the question afterron paul had answered your question about bin laden raid. that was the lowest in the paul campaign and lowest moment of the evening. ron paul gave an answer sub contradictory, meandering, incoherent and in the end quite weird. the worst answer since the perry oops moment. anybody could have got it out of park after. that but he started saying that usama bin laden is no chinese dissident, you could have ended the fight and said it's tko. >> bret: you have been complimentary of congressman paul in recent days. i am tough on newt but when he is good he is really good. last night he was really good. romne

krauthammer, i can fix this. not only can be strong myself, but -- >> but look at what haas doing every night. what do you think charles was thinking? what do you think erick erikson was thinking? what do you think george will was thinking? why do you think the "wall street journal" editorial page was thinking last night as they saw mitt romney fumble yet again. a basic question about releasing tax returns. >> slow motion disaster. >> we know that every eventual nominee in both parties faces like their moment of truth. and mitt romney didn't face it until the last seven days or so. right now he's not rising to the occasion. he still has a chance to and he could next week, but we'll see. this is it for him. this is where, you know, where his medal is being tested for the first time in this race. and i'd be very concerned about what i've seen in the last seven days. but he'll have another week, another month -- >> what a difference a week can make. remember new hampshire's victory speech. >> you've said this many times, you can't play four corners in politics. had e looks like he's waiting for the clock to run out and ne

and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. thoughts on the prebultal and what we know -- prebuttal and what we know. >> it's clear that the president is going to continue the theme he developed in the speech from teddy roosevelt, which is going to be the basis of his re-election campaign. this is all about re-election. it's not "state of the union." it's the state of the presidency. that is what happens in the last year of any term, so it's not unusual at all. he can't run on his stewar stewardship. added that much to the debt. high unemployment. can't run on ideology. obamacare. and stimulus are highly unpopular. and you would expect therefore that his speech would be about what he wants to do, major initiatives in the second term. major overhaul of the tax code. perhaps he will do that. but it looks like the main theme is going to be i will protect the middle class. i will protect those who are oppressed. and again, protectors of the democrats. the republicans in congress and the ones who are looking to run can't worry about

brit hume, amy stodard and charles krauthammer. charms? >> i was struck by two aspects of the speech. first it was less partisan than i would have expected. the speech in kansas city last april. he tried to be bipartisan. there were a couple of illusions to republican obstruction. but i think he struck the right tone for the state of the union address and didn't open up to attacks. other thing i thought was interesting in how the narrowness of the vision he presented compared to what it was four years ago. when he was candidate of hope and change. he was a man that would heal the earth and prevent the oceans from rising. he was a man after his inauguration where he wanted to change american education, energy and health care. here he is in a speech that was instance of a tweak in tax code here, a program here. a new department or committee here that had a lot of aspect of the late clinton administration. the one area where he spoke forcibly fli and dramatically was on raising the taxes on the rich. that was sort of the only aspect of the sp