he lost 21 points in this new time cnn poll in south carolina going forward.ms to be losing momentum, not gaining momentum. >> well i think the ads out of iowa were very damaging that newt gingrich. i think we are just getting started. >> was it a mistake for him to sort of play nice and get savaged by the by wrath of romney supouuper pac ads? >> no, i think this is the type of poll success newt gingrich rejected so far. we will move forward to defining mitt romney and mitt romney has not been challenged up to this point and he will be challenged in south carolina. >> in super pac terms, defining your opponent means going hard, going negative. >> well depends on negative. that is a very positive thing. if you like to try to raise taxes, that's a positive thing. if you like it appoint pro choice judges, that's a positive thing. well point out the record. >> is it hypocritical for newt gingrich, who's opponent say he was quote, whining about the romney super pac and saying it was unfair, to have you come in and run a super pac -- >> well, giving romney's adds fo

it is the latest cnn/orc poll.h carolina's republican party, you have been a rick perry supporter but you switched to mitt romney. why? >> zoraida, first, let me tell you that i know all of these candidates. i've known them for several years. i think there are great qualities about all of them. i think when the bain attack started, particularly coming from the gingrich campaign and perry campaign, i felt like it sounded like obama stump speech than belong in the republican primary in this day. so i just felt like it was a big mistake. i don't think class envy is going to work in south carolina. i don't think neither of these candidates believe what they're saying which means they have no understanding of free market capitalism or they don't believe what they're saying which means it's just a desperate ploy to get votes through class envy. i just don't think class envy belongs in a republican primary. >> rick perry has stopped mentioning bain in his speeches. so why not support him now when you clearly agree with hi

a new cnn poll shows that the general election was held president obama would mitty -- narrowly lost to romney and narrowly bet ron paul. >> this was the first of two to saturday'srior primary in decisive south carolina. >> in the former massachusetts hugh though i know president obama is going to come --er me defensive on the the debate. he was called on to release his tax returns while newt gingrich apologize for a flurry recent attacks. >> we need to satisfy the country that whoever we record that can stand up to barack obama and a very effective way. >> the people want to have someone who understands how the works, i am the guy that best post up against barack obama. >> of the entire field went president and the foreign policy positions. >> we have been dealing liberals for ourselves. >> our president has a foreign makes our allies nervous and it emboldens our enemy. >> president obama has dealt ash it about as badly possible. downngrich refused to back calling in the food stamp president. >> romney said he would consider releasing his tax returns in april. >> one candidate who w

. >> i think the cnn poll is behind the santorum surge.i talked to a lot of campaigns and pollsters outside who saw him trickling up, crowds gathering, but after the cnn poll all of a sudden it spiked up dramatically. part of it i wonder is it psychosomatic. >> is that, mary, part of it, is that he's the last guy that hasn't bennet front-runner and hasn't had the attack ads against him? he's the last guy standing? >> yes, charlie cook, who's by all equations the best of the handicappers says he's the remainder man. people on the campaign say the surge has stopped. so -- and he has -- he had problems coming in and those problems will come out. so, the typical -- nothing's typical this year but the late surge here, the fluidity typically goes to the late surger. but he's really not surging, according to people on the ground anymore. so, it's -- it's -- you know, $ç we're still going down to the wire. >> donna, if you were mitt romney you don't mind santorum it keeps conservative field divided. >> that's absolutely right. rick santorum has be

that's an all-time low for the cnn poll which previously hit a record low of 14% last august at the end of that bitter debate on the debt ceiling. >>> mitt romney is holding on to his lead in decision 2012 this morning. a new "washington post"/abc poll surveyed republicans across the country. 35% of respondents favor the former massachusetts governor in their state's presidential primary or caucus. newt gingrich finished second with 17%, followed by ron paul with 16%. rick santorum was in fourth place with 13%. >>> this week the republican candidates are focusing their campaigns on south carolina. in a fox news debate there last night, romney's rivals teamed up against him. he's coming off back-to-back wins in iowa and new hampshire and is the favorite to win this saturday's primary in south carolina. romney was pressed to release his tax returns and said he'd be willing to do so but not immediately. >> mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people this country can see how you made your money. [ applause ] >> i anticipate that most likely i'm going to get asked to do th

>>Ñi there's a new poll showing thexd raceñr is tightening up. ñxd cnn poll.ago mitt romney had a huge lead. now he's at 36%. newt gingrich is up at 32% now. so -- actually 34% and that's up since last time around. interestingly, it shows voters are still undecided. 64% say now they definitely know who they're going to support come tuesday. so watch out on tuesday. it may be a late night in florida. >> at least that's keeping it interesting. >>> all right. let's talk about our ravens. looks like the ravens are looking for a new defense coordinator. chuck pagano was hired by the indianapolis colts to be their head coach. >> going to indy. >> of all places. >> i thought chuck was a good gie. hey, i'm jamie cost tell low. work local mall show up for work and find a safe gone. why police believe this was an inside job. >>> today maryland teachers got graded. how a new report says our teachers are doing. let me give you a hint. they will be asking for conferences. now here's a preview of what's ahead on world news at 36 theft -- 6:30. >> that rescue and who is read

made that clear by the attacks they've already launched on him. >> we should point out that that cnn polltaken before the iowa results were in. so we could see a shift in that, we'll be looking at our nbc news maris poll coming out tomorrow afternoon and we'll figure out if there has been some shift. when you look back at john mccain, you remember the days of the straight talk express. how ouk ward was it to see him be the wing man for mitt romney knowing how deep the rivalry goes. >> the distaste was so intense years ago. i remember being with mccain in 2006 when his 2008 campaign was just going through and he was at boston college and luke russert was there, a student today. the romney campaign was so upset that he came to show up in the backyard, the romney team was calling administration, when do i get to come talk at boston college? they just don't like each other. the other thing that was very clear yesterday, senator mccain is recycling the same jokes from four years ago, eight years ago, didn't appear to his best advantage and he's showing in a way the fact that this is not his fi

a new poll by cnn out this morning shows that only 11% of americans approve of how congress is handling its job. 86% disapprove. that's an all-time low for the cnn poll which previously hit a record low of 14% last august at the end of the bitter debt ceiling debate. >>> this morning there are now environmental concerns about that cruise ship disaster off of the coast of italy. italian officials say rough seas could cause some 500,000 gallons of fuel on board to leak and affect protected sea life. meanwhile, divers continue their search for bodies. the "costa concordia" hit a reef and ran aground on friday. 29 people are still listed as missing including an american couple from minnesota. a florida family who made it back to miami described what it was like during the evacuation. >> it got so chaotic, so crazy that people were shoving each other into the boats. the boats were overloaded. basically the people that were actually manning the boats were the cooks and the waitresses. and they had no idea how to lower them boats. >> costa cruise lines has blamed the captain for the wreck sayi

. >> a cnn poll shows romney and president obama all tied up in a general election. if congressman ron paul were the republican nominee, he would also be in a statistical dead heat with mr. obama. >> oh the numbers. sharon chin, thank you very much. checking bay area headlines, a sniper shot him while he was at a railroad crossing. he told police that the shock came from a rooftop and went through both his legs early this morning. a train operator found the man at 3:00 a.m. police search the area, but didn't find anything. >>> san francisco's mayor says the sheriff will stay in office for now. ed lee said he has no immediate plans to suspend the sheriff. he is scheduled to be arraigned thursday. >>> 70 volunteers began painting the safe passage mural in san francisco's tenderloin today. a day of service to honor martin luther king, jr. children can follow the miniyellow brick road to schools and community centers. two of the 11 blocks of that mural were completed today and organizers are looking for more volunteers to help finish it. san francisco mayor heads to wash

noting their dad is gaining ground in south carolina, according to a recent cnn poll and the primary there is just two days away. the full brian ross interview with newt gingrich's second ex-wife marianne is scheduled to air tonight on "nightline" at heaven:35, right after -- at 11:35, right after abc7 news at 11. >>> mitt romney declared victory a couple weeks ago, the final vote count now shows that rick santorum finished ahead but he's not being declared the winner either. final tally shows santorum wound up with a 34 vote advantage over romney. republican officials are calling it a split discussion some votes from eight precincts are missing and weren't certified by yesterday's deadline. the state declared romney the unofficial vick for by eight votes. >>> president obama stopped by the -- happeniest place on earth this morning to push for tourism. one of his opponents wasted no time taking a dig at him. the president announced it easier for tour -- newt gingrich who just saw a minute ago immediately went on the attack. >> >> the president: we want people visiting not just epcot

the latest cnn poll shows romney leading the pack in new hampshire with an overwhelming 47% support among likely republican voters. ron paul comes in a distant second, 30 points behind romney at 17%. then a cluster there of jon huntsman, he's dedicated all his campaign resources to that state, and third within the margin of error. rick santorum up to 10%, and newt gingrich who is polling in the single digits in new hampshire at 9%. when the same group is asked which republican candidate has the best chance of beating president obama, look at that number. mitt romney, 65%. second on the list, newt gingrich with 9%. from 65% to 9%. santorum and huntsman round out the top five with 5%. saying they're confident in their chances of beating president obama. romney is hoping to pad those numbers further with a new endorsement from senator john mccain, despite their rivalry during the 2008 republican nomination fight, mccain joined romney yesterday to make the announcement public. >> with some nostalgia i return to this place that i love so well, but i'm really here for one reason and one reason

noting their dad is gaining ground in south carolina, according to a recent cnn poll and the primary there is just two days away. the full brian ross interview with newt gingrich's second ex-wife marianne is scheduled to air tonight on "nightline" at heaven:35, right after -- at 11:35, right after abc7 news at 11. >>> mitt romney declared victory a couple weeks ago, the final vote count now shows that rick santorum finished ahead but he's not being declared the winner either. final tally shows santorum wound up with a 34 vote advantage over romney. republican officials are calling it a split discussion some votes from eight precincts are missing and weren't certified by yesterday's deadline. the state declared romney the unofficial vick for by eight votes. >>> president obama stopped by the -- happeniest place on earth this morning to push for tourism. one of his opponents wasted no time taking a dig at him. the president announced it easier for tour -- newt gingrich who just saw a minute ago immediately went on the attack. >> >> the president: we want people visiting not just epcot

. >> honestly, the cnn poll is behind the santorum surge. i talked to a lot of campaigns and pollsters who say they saw crowds growing at his events but after the cnn poll it spiked up dramatically and other campaigns and their tracking polls didn't see it spiking until after the poll. part of it is psychosomatic. people see the last guy not to implode suddenly seems viable. >> is that part of it, that he's the last guy who hasn't been a front-runner and hasn't had the attack ads against him? >> you ask charlie cook who is, by all equations, the best of the handicappers, says that he's the remainder man. people on the ground here in the campaign say the surge has stopped. and he has -- he had problems coming in and those problems will come out. so the typical -- nothing's typical this year, but the late surge or the fluidity typically goes to the late surger, but he's really not surging, according to people on the ground, any more. so it's, you know, we're still going down to the wire. >> donna, if you were mitt romney, you don't mind santor

cnn debate in jacksonville. let's look at the latest polls here. orc/cnn/"time" poll 36% romney.aul steinhauser is live in jacksonville with a preview. i hope you are as excited as you are earlier because we have a lot of folks that say they can still change their minds. >> 25% of the people could change their minds. one other number, take a look at this zoaraida. we broke down the poll number you just gave. look at this, sunday's numbers. sunday was the day after gingrich's big win in the south carolina primaries double-digit victory. he is ahead of romney among people likely to vote in the primary. look at the monday and tuesday numbers and maybe gingrich's momentum has started to slow down. so, so much on the line tonight. remember, 50 del gs here in florida and winner take all. three things i'm looking for tonight. mitt romney was very much playing offense. will he continue to do that tonight but still look president snl a second thing, newt gingrich seemed to be asleep on monday night's debate. more forceful in defending himself and going on the attack against mitt romney. r

. >> cnn's poll shows romney leading with gingrich 10 points behind but gaining support and romney is slipping. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> he considered a run for president in south carolina but steven colbert has decided to throw his support by a former candidate. he is scheduled to hold a rally in charleston with former presidential candidate herman kachblt he wants his folks to vote for cain. unfortunately for colbert he missed the deadline to get his name on the ballot and write-ins are not allowed. >> maybe colbert 2016. we'll see. good news to report in a story we brought you on wednesday right here. an east san jose softball league dealing with a string of copper thefts will be able to start their season on time. great news. thieves recently ripped off equipment in the copper wire needed for the field lights. this morning the president of the league tells nbc bay area donations, they have been pouring in since the report went out to help fix this field. the copper wiring yes, has been in place and the season right back on schedule. >> good morning to you. 4:38. let'

a new times cnn poll has him leading santorum by 18 points. santorum is criss-crossing new hampshire, stopping today at a gun store in jaffrey as he tries to build on that iowa momentum. with the attention comes scrutiny. today santorum pushed back on a washington post report that he parlayed senate access to make a fortune from his so-called k street lobbying connections. >> i didn't profit off of k street. i wasn't involved in any work at all on k street. i referred clients to folks and that was pretty much the extent of what i did. >> reporter: at times this week, santorum's campaign has seemed overwhelmed. >> do we have a problem? >> reporter: like today when a fire marshal interrupted an event. and last night when he was booed off stage by college students after he compared gay marriage to polygamy. [ boos, applause ] >> reporter: still, santorum may benefit from efforts by key social conservatives who believe they need to rally around a single anti-romney candidate. >> there is concern that romney will win without having to face one conc

. >>> a just-released cnn poll finds that if the general election were held today, president obama would be in a statistical tie with two republican candidates. 48% of the registered voters say they would vote for mitt romney if he were the gop candidate. 47% for the president. the president would beat ron paul, 48% to 46%. and mr. obama would defeat rick santorum, 51% to 45%. >>> the house returns from its winter break today, extending the payroll tax cut and payroll at the top of the agenda. demonstrators are unhappy with how lawmakers are working and they plan to occupy congress in rallies there. >>> well, the online encyclopedia wikipedia plans to protest, in fact, one of its own, black out its english version tomorrow. wikipedia is protesting the stop online piracy act under consideration in congress. wikipedia says it would harm the free internet and bring about tools of sensorship in the u.s. >>> in wisconsin they plan to present signatures. walker pushed through a law last year that stripped most collective bargaining rights for public workers. now, even if democrats are successf

if you look at all of our cnn polls and the polls of other news organizations, mitt romney beats the other candidates on the question of who is best able to beat barack obama. and in talking to voters in this state and in other early states, it's very clear that what goes on before you cast your vote in a primary is that sort of gut check moment. does it matter to me so much that this candidate agrees with me on everything or shares my values? or does matter to me more that this is a candidate who can beat barack obama? that's why the debates have been important to mitt romney, because people have seen him as presidential, if you will, somebody who could go toe to toe, also for newt gingrich, because newt gingrich has performed very well in these debates. i would argue they're the single thing that has catapulted his candidacy up to the top tier. and that's what destroyed rick perry. so, these debates have, in effect, become the first primary. and i talked to somebody in the perry campaign who said to me today, the very moment that rick perry said, oops, in that debate, his campaign

he said -- they said release it now if he has nothing to hide. >>> a cnn poll out shows president obama will be -- would in a tight race against presidential candidates if the race were held today. romney, 48%. obama, 47%. that's within the statistical error. and a review by the associated press shows million of dollars spent on all of those political campaign ads are swaying voters. >>> former tennis star matt velander is in the hospital. he fell. he's being treated for a laceration to one of his kidneys. he fell right on the eve of the australian open at his apartment. according to the spokesman for his company, internal bleeding stopped but he will be out of commission for a while. >>> 8:19. a man stranded for three days on washington's mt. rain near is back with his -- mount rainer is back with his family. he slid down a sleep slope. he radioed the group and told them he would meet them farther down the trail. when the group returned to the parking lot without kim, park rangers began a search and they found him alive yesterday. >> what i call -- they are just tears everywhere in the

wins by a lot or a little he'll have the most momentum going into south carolina where the "time"/cnn poll last week shows he's ahead. >> what's the most likely outcome for south carolina? you hear a lot of the candidates talking about south carolina voters. whether it's rick santorum or newt gingrich. if romney wins big here as we expect, what's the most likely outcome in south carolina? it's probably tighter than the 20 points but he's opening up a lead at stops further down along the road. >> if he plays strong there, it will be hard to have any other argument against him. south carolina should be very tough. you have the big swath of religious conservatives they turned out not to be as big a problem in iowa as everybody expected. that's why the campaign has this new hope about south carolina. huntsman surge here, huntsman bump would be hard to carry in there. a santorum one would have a chance. he accidentally said something very honest in the spin room yesterday after the nbc facebook debate. he said that south carolina is much more promising for him than he came to new hampshire just

the same poll found americans' view of congress has reached a low for a cnn poll.t 11% of people approve how congress is handling its job. this comes out after the fierce fights of payroll tax extension and raising the debt ceiling. number five. it's been 164 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating, which happened after a fight in congress over the debt ceiling. what are we doing to get it back? tonight, the showdown between the u.s. and iran may be reaching a boiling point. crucial for our country's military and this election. the war of words is escalating on many fronts. iran says it has proof the cia is directly involved in the murder of a nuclear scientist and rounded up several suspects. then there's iran's threat to cut off the strait of hormuz. 40% of the world's traded oil passes through it. you saw the video last week of the iranian speedboats approaching u.s. naval ships. today, tehran said it received a rhetter from the u.s. u.s. has two fleets in the region and warned that closing the strait would be a red line that should not be crossed. many s

this is from the cnn poll. this is the cnn poll. look at the top line.port, born again versus not born again. evangelical support. if you look at that, the born again category you have romney at 26, gingrich at 23, santorum at 20. splitting that vote. some people would say it's a surprising number for mitt romney considering, i think, a lot of people felt like he hasn't really done a lot to reach out to evangelicals. i know we're putting our mic on you now. you look like you're up and ready to go. why don't you assess that number for me. is it a surprise how that has broken down, sir? welcome. have some coffee. >> good morning. >> i feel like i'm at home. there's grits on the table. >> yeah. we'll send them your way. >> okay. >> i think it's still very fluid. we see up and down, you look at the florida polls. you've got kind of the mixup there between santorum and gingrich. i think saturday may be another surprise as you see revelations -- >> a surprise in what way? >> i think the vote is still extremely fluid. i think what the polls are showing right no

right now as cnn poll shows mitt romney, 47%. ron paul, 17. jon huntsman, 13. rick santorum at 10. it is likely the senator will not prosper in new hampshire because that primary is open to all the voters and the conservative republican crew is not as influential in new hampshire as it is in iowa. this mr. santorum must concentrate on south carolina. as for ron paul, we say again that he's little chance to be nominated as he admitted last night on abc news. newt gingrich hanging in there, hoping a strong debate performance over the weekend can elevate him in new hampshire. rick perry pretty much done. and michelle bachmann pulled out of the campaign today. on a personal note, i think congresswoman bachman waged a noble campaign, true to herself, she was honest and her presence greatly helped the political process and the country. as for governor perry, he gave it a good try and he will participate in the debates this coming weekend. with the new hampshire vote six days away, the governor polling there at 2%. all in all, mitt romney the front runner, i believe president obama fears

the cnn poll yesterday showed romney sort of taking a little bit of a led there in tampa going south. so i think the challenge for gingrich is going to be appealing to those voters on the i-4 corridor, while republicans, still more moderate than your upstate republicans, doing better these days. >> let's talk about your race when it comes to scott and mccollum where. did scott overperform that put him over the top and where -- where is it -- same exact places that newt needs to overperform. >> first off in florida to know where voters are going, tough know where they are from, a transient state, lots of transplants, retirees, southwest voters more from the midwest, upper midwest, ohio, michigan, india indiana, that's where rick scott did well. southeast voters more from the east coast, retirees from the east coast. that's where bill mccollum did well. i think mitt romney, like jrnlgs will do well in southeast florida. romney has the ceo demean her rick scott had should work well in southwest florida. mitt overperformed in jacksonville in the 2008 race so did rick scott t is a very con

take another look at our brand new cnn time orc poll.romney's support in the southern primary has shot up to 37% from 20% last month. rick santorum is in second place with 19%, climbing his way out of single digits. newt gingrich is a close third but way, way down from the big lead he held in december. david mattingly is joining us from south carolina. set the scene there for us, because right after new hampshire, new hampshire is on tuesday, all eyes will certainly be on south carolina. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. what a defensive a month makes, forever i was standing here the first week of december, we would have been talking how great newt gingrich was doing, what a commanding lead he had in the republican pack at that time. it shows you how quickly things are changing after iowa and soon after new hampshire. mitt romney now at the top, doing well among conservatives here. this is a huge conservative test for the entire field. mitt romney with these poll results showing he's appealing to conservatives as well as to born again chr

a new poll out today from cnn shows a dead heat between him and newt gingrich. the format speaker is up 16 points in one week. >> i am prepared to run this as a paycheck candidate. we know that president obama is the best food stamp president in american history. >> the state of our union will always be strong. >> mitt romney is also focusing on president obama. he blasted the president pulls the state of the union speech as class warfare and the same old partisan politics. >> instead of leadership, you are always blaming and accusing and pointing fingers. >> with rick santorum and ron paul still very much in the race, neither has talked about dropping out. the new cnn poll of likely primary voters in florida shows romney with 36% while gingrich has 34%. rick santorum with 11%. ron paul is two points behind him. 7% of florida voters are still undecided. nobody knows what is going to happen this weekend on saturday but a lot of people say it will be in mitt romney or newt gingrich. reporting live in the newsroom, jummy olabanji abc 7. >> a with abc 7, your electi

heading into saturday's primary the cnn poll has rick perry and last place with 6 percent of voters with a 10 point margin between mitt romney and newt gingrich this percentage could dramatically change the race political opponents are calling on mitt romney to release his tax returns he said he will release them in april by then he hopes to wrap up the republican nomination details about his charitable giving could reveal more about his total net worth he gave the mormon church according to records substantial equity in at bain capital ... his campaign confirmed that he made unspecified donations >>nightline plans to air an interview with newt gingrich ex- wife marianne ... the former wife of new gingrich will have explosive revelations that are poised to rock the campaign trail ... the daughters of newt gingrich said the woman is trying to rehash the past to derail his campaign ... >>rick santorum won the iowa caucus ... that's according to state republican officials who say he was ahead by 34 votes at the final accounting ... the results of eight precincts are still missing so they wi

this is the new cnn/orc poll. caucus watchers. people who watched iowa closely in new hampshire. how have they changed? take a look at this. in late december, 47% were for romney. 47% still for romney in new hampshire. ron paul 17% late december. 17% still. same for huntsman hasn't changed. 13%. then 13%. now. santorum has doubled from 5% to 10% in new hampshire. gingrich has lost a little bit. 12% to 9%. but romney's got a huge lead in new hampshire. >> if you look at the top three there, you would say, and as a new englander, i can say this, stubborn yankee pride saying we're not going to be influenced from what happens in iowa. you see the evidence of a santorum bounce. this is a poll of people who are watching the iowa caucus coverage tonight. not a poll of all republicans in new hampshire. if you poll all republicans in new hampshire, our most recent poll i believe had governor romney at about 40% in a healthy lead. this is a higher number among the more active republicans watching the coverage. see a bounce for santorum. one week, it's a lot of time to go from 10% to 47%. h