david gergen you're in maine yourself. this is tailor made certainly for mitt romney who is from massachusetts, but it certainly is tailor made for ron paul as well. >> it is, although it seems a more natural state for mitt romney, he did win the caucuses there with 52% four years ago, and ron paul came in with only 18%. so i think it's historically been more of a romney type state, but a time and attention that ron paul has paid to maine, donna made this point about rick santorum, going in and visiting often makes a difference here and one of the things interesting so far, we have heard the turnout seems to be up in the caucuses. that's a sign that ron paul may be doing better than expected. >> when we're talking about turnout, david, it's not a huge, hundreds of thousands of folks showing up, there will be several thousand but not a whole lot more than that. >> right, and just remember it's thousands of people who are at cpac voted, too, a big crowd. here is the danger when i think of what is ahead for roll fee, if he ha

david gergen is joining us, who won, who did well? >> this was a showdown between mitt romney and rick santorum. a very significant debate. and mitt romney was the winner by a significant margin. he came in better prepared. he remained on offense, he knew his brief, he was able to go on attack against santorum very, very well. he was a dominant figure in a hall that seemed to be dominated by pro-romney supporters. rick santorum, who has had terrific debates leading up to this, seemed nervous tonight coming out of the gate, and he couldn't quite get into the groove on the economic issues, and in particular, it was interesting how romney and then ron paul managed to make santorum defend himself as a legislator and put himself smack in the middle of congress. i don't think that served him well. and one last question, anderson, i think it did help romney in michigan. it will help him on super tuesday, but did it help him looking toward november? that's a tougher question. there are a lot of women on twitter who believe the candidates real

. >> david gergen talked about the national polls, you see him going down, down, down.you ask the question can the candidate connect with -- understand the problems of america, president obama polls at like 55% and mitt romney polling at the end of january around 39%. how big a problem is that? >> first of all, it's no shock his numbers will be going down. as you get deeper into a primary, his negatives go up, because you have the attacks going back and forth. you have the ads, newt gingrich slinging arrows, rick santorum in his speech tonight condemning of course the health care plan in massachusetts. so people begin to hear more about you. he is going to have an issue when it comes to connecting with voters. i go back to -- when he goes into ohio and pennsylvania and he goes into michigan, what is he going to say to those voters? how is he going to say, oh, before when i say it, look, let the market take over when it comes to foreclosures, but you're under water. what did i say? let gm go into bankruptcy. he has to deal with that. those are real blue collar workers. >

glory bore engineer and david gergen joins me right now. we knew he was way ahead in the polls and most likely would win and the percentage was what we looked for. what's the big take-away nen? >> it's a significant night. mitt romney has won three out of five altogether. he's got the last two. he has two big battle ground states in a row, and in looking toward the fall, republicans up want a nominee who can compete very, very well in a battleground state. there are about a dozen of them. there are a couple more coming up. there's a good chance mitt romney will win both of those. it will put them in a more commanding position. the question is still out there, though. is the turnout down significantly tonight? what should we read into that? we'll learn that as the night goes on. >> there's early indications that in rural areas it's down 20%, xhswhich is a huge number. >> his unfavorables have gone up national nationally. he's locked with obama head to head. there's things changing that he has to pay a lot of attention to. if he can win and w

. >> wolf, for analysis we go to david gergen and gloria borger.e state of nevada. four years ago 40% of the people who were polling at the caucuses were very conservative. that number's gone up by 8% in just four years. what do you think of this? >> if you look back to four years ago, unemployment was at 5.5% and guess what there was not in the state of nevada? there was not a tea party. was tea party had not been invented at that particular point. so what we have an electorate that is more conservative, they have the highest unemployment and foreclosures in this country. we'll have to see what the turnout is but it is is a more determined republican electorate here because they're very upset. i think the question we have to answer is whether they're now rallying or when accept mitt romney as a tea party standard barer, which we have not seen before this or whether romney's just going to win so big that maybe a rising tide lifts all up. >> sort of the opposite results as we saw in the case of south carolina. it looks from entrants polls maybe that

he spoke with david gergen. this is just over an hour. >> good afternoon, everybody and welcome to the john f. kennedy jr. forum. i'm the director of the institute of politics. we're excited to have you all here this afternoon in a paked packed house. we are going to be moderated by david gergen. co-sponsoring this event with the institute of politics. please join me in welcoming david gergen. [applause] >> good afternoon and welcome to the forum. we're delighted and honored that you're here. on behalf of your guests, we had a request that he and i have joined in. we would like to begin to ask everyone to stand for a moment of silence in memory of those egyptians who have died in the last three days. thank you. i must tell you, it is a heart wrenching experience for our guest to be here today. his heart calls for him to be in egypt. he had made a commitment to be in the united states. know how difficult this is for him to be here and how eager he is to not be seen as the leader of the revelation. but as someone

. >> does anyone tell you that you look like david gergen. i keep looking at you and saying you remind me of someone. >> i agree, we are talking about kind of different things. first of all, with respect to legal issues, after he got elected president obama had a security review and the largest portion of that is a pen dix a which is a thick document going through all the legal barriers that need to be reviewed. essentially what we have is a whole bunch of laws that were written for an analog world and we are digital now. we need to work out the technology under brush. some of those are regulatory and could be offered as incentives to get away from burdens. some of them, for example, are duplicates, they are auditing requirements. and we are okay with that but there should be one. there are multiple, local, state, different agencies that are involved in this. so organizations are spending time and money doing redundant things. we should strip away a whole bunch of those sorts of things. and the last thing on where to start, i suggest that con

david gergen, gloria borger have been listening in as well.make of his tone, his words. >> strange. let's get past the point there were no grace notes. there was no congratulations to mitt romney, which is normal for this. both romney and santorum have been very gracious. but he's such a changeable figure. if this is the newt gingrich who had shown up two weeks ago, the newt gingrich who had shown up in the debates, he might have done much, much better in florida. coming after this massive loss in florida now, to have a speech that sort of doesn't -- it's like he's in a different reality, maybe he's right. maybe he's seeing something we don't see, you have to say, look, he's come back from the dead twice, you have to give him that. it just seemed like, this was a speech he should have given maybe two weeks ago. the contract with america idea is a very very interesting idea but it's very late in the game. >> i thought it was very odd and graceless not to congratulate mitt romney, number one, who won overwhelmingly. number two, he spent the enti

david gergen, gloria borger have been listening in as well.make of his tone, his words. >> strange. let's get past the point there were no grace notes. there was no congratulations to mitt romney, which is normal for this. both romney and santorum have been very gracious. but he's such a changeable figure. if this is the newt gingrich who had shown up two weeks ago, the newt gingrich who had shown up in the debates, he might have done much, much better in florida. coming after this massive loss in florida now, to have a speech that sort of doesn't -- it's like he's in a different reality, maybe he's right. maybe he's seeing something we don't see, you have to say, look, he's come back from the dead twice, you have to give him that. it just seemed like, this was a speech he should have given maybe two weeks ago. the contract with america idea is a very very interesting idea but it's very late in the game. >> i thought it was very odd and graceless not to congratulate mitt romney, number one, who won overwhelmingly. number two, he spent the enti

we have gloria borger and david gergen with us tonight. is it all about the race for number two? >> well, it really is about whether mitt romney can really start consolidating the conservative base? even though we had that big win in florida, he was still losing among people stronly identified with the tea party, strongly said they were very conservative, what i call the base of the base. and we'll have to see tonight whether those people are starting to rally 5r7bd mitt romney. you heard newt gingrich telling the voters, you know what, he's not a conservative. mitt romney doesn't even understand what the conservative economic message is. he said, we're all about the trampoline. not about the safety net, which is, of course, some conservative's way of thinking i'm the conservative alternative. >> he also said that he's trying to stay relevant through the month of february because to some degree he's conceded the race. >> you've been in the news. you've been driving the conversation. >> not me, sir. just my interviews. >> so i think the question transcend who owns the month of feb

i mean goodness gracious -- david gergen wrote about this -- myra kraft said, who passed away, the wife the patriots are going to be out there fighting. let me show you, guys. there we go right there. there it is. >> you should have been revealing that the whole time, they know we'd have equal time for the pats and the giants. >> no, i've got to be discreet about it. >> and i've got a little blue for both, you know. i'm indifferent. how's that? >> well, you're supposed to be. you're the anchor. >> i'm cheering for both teams. thanks so much. and i'm always cheering for you all. avery, richard, thanks so much. always good to see you. take care. >> oh, richard has more to say. what? you talking smack? >> forget about it. forget about it. >> giants big tomorrow, fred. giants big. come on. >> all right, thanks so much, guys. >> i heard haley barbour pardoned l.t., so we're ready. >> all right, thanks so much, richard, avery, appreciate that. >>> now an update on one of the cases that richard and avery have been talking about the last couple of weeks. remember the case involving a woman who

. >> david gergen?though there were no surprises, mitt romney rolled up a significant victory tonight. he's much closer to the nomination, but there are knives waiting for him. >> from newt gingrich, who is not going away. my question is whether he's going to have the money to continue this crusade against mitt romney. >> and now we know why newt gingrich didn't make a phone call congratulating mitt romney tonight for his win. once again, he's really angry at mitt romney. i'm looking forward to the next debate in this context february 22 in arizona. the four candidate also be there. we assume. and that will be exciting. >> and i think ultimately game on. as much as we thought this might be something that is wrapping up, it sounds like santorum is in, gingrich is in. >> the february map is advantage romney. sometimes you get a sense of buyer'

let's bring in gloria borger and david gergen to assess what's going on. rick santorum could have an upset tonight. that could set back mitt romney's air of inevitability. >> he really needs a win, wolf. he's trying to prove this race that he's the conservative alternative to mitt romney, not newt gingrich. so if he has a win or two wins, both of which are possible, then he gets the bragging rights. and he can continue on and perhaps raise enough money and get enough juice to go on and compete in super tuesday and make the case about his conservatism. >> a lot of people thought only a few days ago that romney was going to coast in colorado -- three states made for him. >> i think a lot of us are wondering why are we going to atlanta to talk about this tonight. here we are. it's a night of real drama. there's real possibility especially if rick santorum were to win two out of the three but if santorum won one and ron paul wins the other, that could very much upset the dynamic of this just before super tuesday. it would be the last big major political event

david gergen, gloria borger.t's interesting to hear their perspectives and saying no matter what, they want somebody who can win against president obama. >> we have seen that time and time again in all of the primaries. the undecided gentleman who said i want someone who can win. and mitt romney, the central premises of his campaign has been that he is the electable candidate. and that's what he's gone about proving this evening, by winning the state of michigan. i would argue that he still has problems with his base, but what he has to do heading into super tuesday is continue to prove the premise that he's electable by winning somewhere in the midwest, which would of course be the state of ohio that you folks were talking about. but i would also argue that he can't write off the south. and that there are a burch of southern primaries coming up. i was corresponding with a republican strategist who said haley barbour is probably on speed dial, very powerful in the south, mitt romney could use him. and as much as

let's bring in david gergen. hi, david. >> hello, jessica. >> good to see you again.action, are they satisfied with the field of candidates they have, their satisfaction has fallen 11 points since october. is that a bad sign for the general election? sure as heck not a good one. it's been consistent, and what i think you're seeing in the party is a real ain't. >> some say this all turns around once this is a one on one matchup. >> they can't count on that. i think there's been damage done to all the candidates by this long negativity in the campaign. >> interesting. >> there's another startling number in the poll, if we can put up the gender breakdown. rick santorum and mitt romney, very different numbers among men and women. santorum is not doing well. santorum scores 37% approval with plen, with you 29% among women. then you see romney's numbers, the flip. how much of a problem is this? does he have a woman problem? >> i don't think we know enough yesterday among republicans, women and men are -- you may not have a gender -- he did have aend gap. the other party of

. >> in our history, david gergen actually made this point last night.history we've had 44 presidents, only have come directly out of united states senate. as a rule, we don't make senators president. yes, barack obama is the president and john f. kennedy. >> but he wasn't a senator for very long. >> for about five minutes. had he stayed, he would have diminished hi chances. we tend to makes governors, civil wash generals as presidents. he's a terribly smart guy, rick santorum. i think he knows romney-care better than romney does, but last night he got caught in the weeds of nomenclature of washington. >> that's true. if it had been about obamacare, this may have been turned out very differently, but the fact of the matter is, because romney ruled the day with his tax plan, obama was talking about taxes on the same day. the issues just pivoted to the wrong thing for santorum at the wrong moment. >> terry, quickly give me one piece of advice for santorum. what does he need to do? >> boy, god, if i was doing that, i would already be president myself. i thi

senior political analyst, david gergen.ou. >> good to see zblu it will come down to whether voters believe they're better off under president obama, if after four years they feel like they're not. is it that simple? >> it is certainly going to be a major dominant question to campaign. campaigns for re-election are often referendum on the past four years. in this case, suzanne, as you know, the white house is trying to cast this forward. they're going to ask the question are you going to be better four years from now under barack obama or mitt romney, if he is the republican nominee. and the democrats think they have a better chance of winning the second argument than the first argument. >> we heard three years ago in nbc interview, the president says if the economy didn't improve significantly, he wouldn't get a second term. listen to what he said. >> i am at the start of my administration. one nice thing about the situation i find myself in is that i will be held accountable. you know, i've got four years. >> you'll know q

we're joined by cnn senior political analyst, david gergen and we're honored to have you right here inerson. so, david, the president has had some success lately with his jobs' numbers but at the same time he's had a rocky road. he reversed his positions on super pacs which means he's taking money not directly through the campaign. >> surprise. >> and he has now not kept his promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. >> bigger surprise. >> and he had this tough go with contraception last week. so none of this is really penetrating at the moment but do you think it will hurt his brand generally? >> i think it will come back to haunt him, some of it, especially on the deficits. i think one of the things about washington in the recent years there used to be a time when i was first here a president got up on the radar screen and was being presidential and numbers went up. in recent years if you get up on the radar screen too much your numbers go down because you do things, you have to make hard decisions and some people don't like them and obama, i think, has been hel

gloria borger, donna brazile, ari fleischer, also david gergen in the hall, john king is there, erictalked to, ari fleischer, let's talk to you, who do you think did particularly well tonight? >> well, anderson, i thought it was a good night for both newt gingrich and mitt romney. they had the best debating points. he was like the old newt in the debate. he came out and was affable, thoughtful, deep, and i thought romney was regular, solid, steady. hits doubles, mitt romney. rick santorum missed his chance tonight. he had a real opening and i think he missed it. >> donna brazile, what did you see on the stage tonight? >> you know, the city of mesa is famous for spring training, and i have to say i don't think rick santorum was ready for the big lees. the spotlight was on him because he's one of the front runners. romney had a terrific night, but gingrich is still the statesman in the party, and who knows what is going to happen next week. but ron paul had his funny thing, and he tried to make the best of a bad situation as well. >> gloria borger standing by with senator rick santorum

. >> did anyone ever tell you that you look like david gergen? >> i am pretty flattered. i hear david is upset. [laughter] we hear about different things, first of all, with respect to the legal issues. after he got elected, president obama appointed us to do a 60- day review of its cyber security with the council staff. the largest document in that is appendix "a" going through all of the legal barriers. that is a place to start print essentially, we have a bunch of laws that are written for an analog world, and we are now in a digital world. we still have laws on the books about how to manage your videotapes. i have not had a videotape in quite awhile. there's a lot that can be worked out to modernize things. we have suggested that some of those things are regulatory and could be offered as incentives. you know, to get away from some of these burdens. some of them are duplicative auditing requirements. we are all for auditing, but it should be a cyber security audit. you passed that audit and you do not have to do the rest. there are multiple state, local, federal, diffe

gloria borger and david gergen are working their sources ahead along with the best political team, here, along with wolf blitzer, identically dressed as i am. >> you came from new york, i came from washington but great minds think alike. >> it's as if we were up thinking together last night. >> jim acosta at mitt romney headquarters. joe johns is covering newt gingrich in columbus. let's go back to jim right now. it's an important night because this era of inevitably was so important for the mitt romney folks. if rick santorum or ron paul for that matter surprises him tonight that could set it back a bit. >> reporter: mitt romney has not spent a lot of time talking about his gop rival this is week, ever since he left the state of nevada with that big victory in caucuses, he's focused on president obama and the record on economy. that's what he did earlier this morning at an event here in denver. here's what he had to say. >> this has been a really failed presidency. he was on tv on the "today sh" w just yesterday morning saying he deserves a second term. no i don't think so. as a matter

. >> did anyone ever tell you that you look like david gergen? >> i am pretty flattered. i hear david is upset. [laughter] we hear about different things, first of all, with respect to the legal issues. after he got elected, president obama appointed us to do a 60- day review of its cyber security with the song -- with the council staff. the largest document in that is appendix "a" going through all of the legal barriers. that is a place to start print essentially, we have a bunch of laws that are written for an analog world, and we are now in a digital world. we still have laws on the books about how to manage your videotapes. i have not had a videotape in quite awhile. there's a lot that can be worked out to modernize things. we have suggested that some of those things are regulatory and could be offered as incentives. you know, to get away from some of these burdens. some of them are duplicative auditing requirements. we are all for auditing, but it should be a cyber security audit. you passed that audit and you do not have to do the rest. there are multiple state, loca