gary tuchman. >>> david gergen is back along with gloria borger and david webb, any founder of tea party 365 and hosts the david webb show. >> gloria, who do you think voters want to see at this point? which newt gingrich, the aggressive newt gingrich or kinder gentler don't speak badly of others? >> i think they want a little bit of each. what republicans want is somebody who can take it to barack obama and somebody who can win. what happened to newt gingrich in iowa is he got bombarded. what he said then piece gary did, he couldn't win. i think there has to be a bit of nuance in a campaign and what we don't have from him. he went out of his way to say i'm going to be the positive person now he's turning negative. it's a bit of re-branding that takes a bit of adjustment. in fact, voters want somebody who can fight for himself. >> david webb, tomorrow night, no one is really asking if mitt romney will win new hampshire. that's considered guaranteed. the question is how much does he have to win by in order to blunt any momentum by other candidates heading to south carolina? what do you th

david gergen we wish you the best. calling and the best to your wife. >> you better hope that ball is going to drop. >> and i have one wish, david gergen, and maybe two. >> no sh, no, don't ask. david, have a happy new year's and thanks for calling in. let's check in with gary tuchman who is live in -- >> i'm in my underwear, you pervert. >> put your clothes on, because his daughter is with him. gary and his daughter, samantha is with you, and you are going to participate in the midnight run and what is going to go on? >> well, we are dropping, too in the jogging clothes, too, because the runner s as are goio run the 33rd annual central park run, and this is who i run with, my daughter samantha and she started when she was 11, and we won't win the race, but we hope to finish it. and would you rather hang out with your friends on new year's? >> no, ki always be with my friends, but we have a tradition. >> that is right. we have a great tradition, and all of the people here dressed in costumes and hear to party, but a di

i want to bring in cnn senior political analyst david gergen. david, the polls say mitt romney has the best chance to beat president obama in the republican field. do conservatives still reluctant to get behind romney feel he lacks what it takes to turn the economy around or is it something else all together? >> he is actually doing well when people asked is your most important issue the economy in iowa. he won a healthy plurality of those voters who thought the economy was number one. he's having some trouble connecting with voters emotionally. they seem stiff, reserved, can't quite understand him, santorum in the case of iowa struck people as i think a little more connected. having said that, i do think it's worth pointing out that if you look at the overall iowa survey, the entrance polls, what you find is ron paul did very well among voters who thought the economy and economic related issues were important. some 42% of voters said the economy was the number one issue and romney won a plurality. another 34% said that the deficits, budget was t

dana, as well, david gergen. stick around. we'll talk to you later. >>> why newt gingrich is changing tactics going on the attack. hear what the candidates have say about that and the 30-minute spot attacking mitt romney. and how romney's mormon faith is playing in south carolina. cost romney a lot of votes in 2008 and this time, will it matter as much? we went to a mega church. we're on facebook, google plus, you can follow us. i'll be tweeting tonight and already begun. >> anderson, the most important development so far in the murder mystery, authorities have identified the person found dead on the queen's estate. they know who she was but how did she die? that and much more when "360" continues. ♪ ♪ baby, baby, come along ♪ baby, baby, come along with me ♪ [ air horn blows ] ♪ i love you and i need you ♪ just to hug and squeeze you ♪ baby, why can't you see? [ female announcer ] the space of a small suv. the fuel efficiency of a prius. ♪ well, baby, can't you see the all-new prius v from toyota. ♪ come along with me can you

david gergen, you served for four presidents, what do you think? what kind of grade would you give the president for this state of the union address? >> it was a politically shrewd speech, wolf, in the sense i think it will help mobilize the democrats, it will win over some independents. he successfully reframed the conversation after the republican debates. he had a very different take, a very different agenda has been suggested. far more government intervention to solve problems, far more spending. he moved away from talking about deficits that occupied our time so much. republicans are going to have, as john king said, there's a huge sharp contrast. i did think that, as on many occasions, if the speech had been 30% shorter, it would have been 30% more powerful. but bill clinton gave long state of the union addresses. they were very, very popular. we'll have to see. i may be wrong. >> we'll see. we're waiting the republican response from mitch daniels of indiana. you helped write several state of the union addresses. did this president need an ed

let's check in with david gergen who is in the hall. what did you make of the debate? >> anderson, fascinating debate. very exciting. a lot of people are pleased about it. i don't think there was a clear winner tonight. if anything, the surprise may have been how well rick santorum did. he was unusually strong. second straight debate for him, but here is the point. i think that if the momentum has shifted as the polls suggest, and it seems to be true, then you have to say that newt gingrich needed a knockout punch tonight. he needed to reverse the momentum. he did not get that. i believe that for mitt romney's end, this was a good night. a night he can come out of here and say, i held my own against him. we went mano a mano. i did well tonight. different from south carolina. the romney people should be happy tonight coming out of this. they may be close to securing florida, and if they secure florida, they're much closer to the nomination. >> i'm joined by wolf blitzer. you did an excellent job, as always. what did you make of the debate? what stood out to you? >> they

david gergen, you served for four presidents, what would you give the president for the sdraesz? >> it was a politically shrewd speech. it will mobilize democrats, win over some independents, he refrained the conversation. after the republican debates, he had a different take, a different agenda. far more government intervention to solve problems. far more spending. he moved away from talking about deficits that occupied our time so much. republicans are going to have, as john king said, a huge contrast. on many occasions, if the speech had been 30% shorter, it would have been 30% more powerful. but bill clinton gave long state of the union addresses, they were very powerful. we'll have to see, i may be wrong. >> we're awaiting the republican response from mitch daniels, the governor from indiana. paul begala, you helped write several of the state of the union addresses. did this president need an editor to cut it down? >> i'm weird this way, i love it, and particularly this conclusion. that was worth staying for. that was really powerful. the whole tone was much more populous th

joining me, david gergen and gloria borger. it's harkable, the history of dirty politics. >> it's always been a contact sport in south carolina. we're see aglot of it this year, but overall, i have to tell you, i think we're seeing lisz this year. there's not as much race being ejected into the campaign as we have in the past. often, candidates have been attacked because they're too close to blacks or they're in a marriage or have a child. we're not seeing that. we're seeing a barrage of negative advertising. >> what do you make of the surge of newt gingrich? >> i'm struck not only is he surging here, but gallup came out with a national tracking poll, and over the course of the week, mitt romney's lead over gingrich has gone from 23 point to 10 point, and they said the lead is collapsing. that is strikingering me, meani there's something bigger going on. >> to see the e-mail circulating to realize there are these dark tricks that are still out there. >> they are still out there. it's not the way it used to be. lee atwater was s

joining me, david gergen and gloria borger. it's harkable, the history of dirty politics. >> it's always been a contact sport in south carolina. we're see aglot of it this year, but overall, i have to tell you, i think we're seeing lisz this year. there's not as much race being ejected into the campaign as we have in the past. often, candidates have been attacked because they're too close to blacks or they're in a marriage or have a child. we're not seeing that. we're seeing a barrage of negative advertising. >> what do you make of the surge of newt gingrich? >> i'm struck not only is he surging here, but gallup came out with a national tracking poll, and over the course of the week, mitt romney's lead over gingrich has gone from 23 point to 10 point, and they said the lead is collapsing. that is striking, meaning there's something bigger going on. >> to see the e-mail circulating to realize there are these dark tricks that are still out there. >> they are still out there. it's not the way it used to be. lee atwater was sort of

let's bring in gloria borger and david gergen.ingrich's performance last night played into the narrative that's affected him most of his career. when he's good, he's very, very good. and when he's not, he's not. >> absolutely. it's one of the great mysteries of last night, anderson. and cnn pollsters have been doing some polling and one of the things he did yesterday was he held three events and romney held one and rested and prepared for the debate. from all appearances, newt gingrich walked in unprepared, thinking he could wing it. and romney's team did a much better preparation job. and gingrich called around, a number of people told him to cool it, don't be so hot. all of that played into the newt gingrich in south carolina who disappeared in florida and lost both debates in effect in the public's mind and contributed to an overwhelming sense now that it's romney's to lose on tuesday in florida. and it's a hugely consequential primary. >> gloria, i heard gingrich -- i read that he said he was sort of quieter last night because

. >>> dig deeper with chief political correspondent candy crowley, david gergen, who is sensibly somewherehere's been a lot of talk about how these attack ads have hurt newt gingrich. he did not have the money to respond, right? >> he didn't. i mean, also, you know, what you do is you have a campaign debit, you try to turn it into an asset. he didn't have enough money to respond pound for pound to what he was getting hit with because this was an outside group as well as ron paul was also doing negative ads. he couldn't respond pound for pound. he wasn't until recently even responding on the campaign trail. he tried to turn it into a positive. boy, don't we all hate those negative ads? if you hate negative ads, you better go to the caucuses and vote for me. so, it was a combination of things. i mean, it became a campaign strategy but it was a campaign necessity. he didn't have the money to do it. >> david, as much as one hopes campaign ads don't work, clearly they do, at least in this case. >> they sure did. i don't think he saw it coming. anderson, he told me back in december, he fully exp

i'm here with gloria, david gergen and john avolon joining us from romney headquarters.'s talk about where the race goes now in terms of mitt romney. >> i think mitt romney learned as one of his folks said, you know, he's got to start playing offense, not defense. and i think what you're going to see, particularly given those numbers that erin just showed about housing in florida, they're going to play up newt gingrich as a lobbyist for freddie mac and they're going to say, you know what? he's really somebody who has worked in washington, lived in washington, governed in washington. he's not an outsider. and by the way, he was kind of part of the elite when he was speaker of the house. instead of just hearing this from surrogates, and also about newt gingrich's lack of discipline, they call him unreliable, you're going to hear it from mitt romney himself. -ô wasangarerit n't before. watchers-endorsed.ght try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. what's he looking for? i think he's looking for savings. ♪ i can't watch this anymore. stop! there's an easier way! we comp

let's bring in gloria borger and david gergen.ingrich's performance last night played into the narrative that's affected him most of his career. when he's good, he's very, very good. and when he's not, he's not. >> absolutely. it's one of the great mysteries of last night, anderson. and cnn pollsters have been doing some polling and one of the things he did yesterday was he held three events and romney held one and rested and prepared for the debate. from all appearances, newt gingrich walked in unprepared, thinking he could wing it. and romney's team did a much better preparation job. and gingrich called around, a number of people told him to cool it, don't be so hot. all of that played into the newt gingrich in south carolina who disappeared in florida and lost both debates in effect in the public's mind and contributed to an overwhelming sense now that it's romney's to lose on tuesday in florida. and it's a hugely consequential primary. >> gloria, i heard gingrich -- i read that he said he was sort of quieter last night because

cnn senior political analyst david gergen joins us from jacksonville. david, mitt romney is not only focused on president obama, he's got newt gingrich to deal with as well. florida was one of the states that was hardest hit by the housing crisis. its unemployment rate remains above the national average. so is tuesday's primary going to end up as a referendum on whether voters who are focused on the economy can get behind mitt romney as the man to best fix it? >> reporter: probably so, ali, but i must tell you this has become such a personalized race. they've gone -- romney and gingrich have gone mano a mano in the several debates and we've had sort of a boxing match between the two of them that i think is more dominating the way people are thinking about this and whether mitt romney has a better plan than newt gingrich does to fix the economy, it's gotten so personal. having said that, i do believe that the debates have now put romney in a commanding position heading into tuesday. he's very likely now to win the florida primary and trade after the debat

david gergen, gloria borger standing by. what has happened to newt gingrich?hat does he need to accomplish tonight? is anywhere in the top four, does that give him new life? >> it helps. what we saw tonight was a smoldering newt gingrich. he's very angry. he's run a positive campaign. >> he called romney today a liar. >> by the way, that's an old taboo in politics, to go after someone in your own party. that really breaks a taboo. >> bob dole did that, stop lying about my record. didn't work out so well. >> didn't work out so well. i think he has to finish in the top four. there's a fairly good chance he will. he's clearly going to go to new hampshire. the question becomes, is he going to go after mitt romney in the way he went after him today? this is going to be a very, very tough campaign. >> does he have the money to run counter ads? about half the ads run in iowa were aimed in gingrich and clearly took a toll. >> i would argue that's one of the reasons he went positive. he made virtue out of necessity. he didn't have the money and said okay, i'm going to

. >>> david gergen calls last night one of the most explosive moment mis s in debate history. caved jo david joins us after a quick break. and makes tooth enamel two times stronger. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse. building whiter, stronger teeth. ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays] have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber. >>> let's talk about the fireworks at last night's southern republican presidential debate. it was hot from the get-go. take a listen. >> yourest wi ex-wife gave an interview and she says that you came to her in 1999 at a time when you were having an affair, she says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take time to respond to that? >> no. but i will. i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. and i'm appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic

obama's strategy might play out between now and then i spoke tonight with cnn's political analysts david gergenria borger. >> david, you've been talking to democratic heavyweights. is this exactly what they wanted to happen so far? >> absolutely. yeah, their fear was that mitt romney would come storming into iowa, win big and then go into new hampshire and basically shut it down. and from that he would not only gain strength but have this glow of the winner. >> right. >> and for him to come out of iowa eking out a win, it is exactly what they want because it's probably going to be protractive now. and they've got time to just, you know, raise money, hone their message, and go after the republican front-runner. >> gloria, there are two schools of thought, though, on how the primary impacts president obama. some say a long battle will leave the eventual nominee bruised, vulnerable. others say the nominee's going to emerge stronger than ever but become a better candidate. where do you see it? >> i think back to 2008. and we were all saying that about the hillary clinton-barack obama race and how i

david gergen says, over the last few presidencies, the balance has swung heavily towards more campaigning, especially in the fourth year of a first term. balance that is what the president has done, he has shifted his attention away from governing day-to-day ad to campaigning. so far, the american people are giving him a pass. >>reporter: republicans have not. they have criticized these dual purpose trips as taxpayer funded campaign. he did his post state of the union tour is being viewed with skepticism by john better. >> if the president was not campaigning, why next week after his address is he traveling to five battleground states? >>reporter: when reporters pressed the white house spokesperson, he pushed back. >> it do you guys get your totally obsessed with campaign politics? look at what the president does on any given week, including this week aired many weeks going backwards. he spends a relatively small amount of time, at this stage, on campaign events. >>darya: move over beer, it seems we are having a love affair with wine. we will show you how much white americans are sitting.

plus ari flasher, david gergen, gloria borger, the whole gang. >> and i'll be back as well.nteresting to see hopefully a lot of housing conversation tonight. >> i hope so. >> critical in this state. move on to nevada big issue. >>> the pentagon is getting specific now about how it plans to cut a half trillion dollars in spending. coming up we'll tell you what is not on the chopping block. and if you want to see the super bowl in person, i'd like to see it, there are still tickets but are going to cost you. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car, and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life, or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life, so get the

candy crowley, senior political analyst, david gergen, john king, political analyst, knloer yeah burger, paul begala, and ari fleischer. any surprises tonight? >> i think it was a solid speech. book ending it with two foreign policy achievements, the end of the war in iraq and the death of osama bin laden made it a very sort of solid speak and a reminder to voters, hey, by the way, remember, here are the two things i did. as i mentioned before, here is a president who gets tire marks for his foreign policy than domestic. >> were a lot of the things he was suggesting, that states require that students stay in school until 18 -- >> a nice call, but no, much of this will not happen. this was far more designed to be an agenda for his second term too, take it into the debates in november. i think it was politically deft from his standpoint. he showed democrats that he's willing to fight. that he's got some fresh ideas. he was deft in the way he shifted the emphasize away from deficits, away from jobs, onto things like energy and skills and manufacturing. he's trying to shake it up and keep t