. >>> let's bring in the nbc political team for insight, chuck todd and andrea mitchell and david gregory. david, we heard that it's a very conservative electorate in south carolina. it was a group of evangelical leaders who got together to figure out a plan to stop romney from running the table. any signs that that may have worked? >> well, it may have strengthened rick santorum. actually something we'll be looking at as the night progresses, did it actually help newt gingrich? or was he helped more by debate performances and by rick perry getting out of the race which may have gotten him some strong evangelical support. i'd keep my eye on electability. strong debate performances, a forcefulness about gingrich is what i think he's been trying to build on and i think that's what's created most of the momentum this week. >> chuck, win or lose, what's the take away from romney. his experience in south carolina and what it means as he marches toward florida? >> well, you know, the concern for the romney campaign has always been their first conservative test, this south carolina is a conserva

us further get our arms around all the things that happened today, as you see, andrea mitchell, david gregory and chuck todd. andrea, we'll start with you specifically on newt gingrich. two sets of judgments going on. the individual voters in places like south carolina and the party structure, as well. >> exactly. that's the difference. newt gingrich has all the momentum in south carolina, assuming a good debate performance going into the final day. party leaders tell me tonight that even if he were to win south carolina, that mitt romney is more than a 90% lock to win florida and has the organizational strength and money going forward. they also say there are concerns among national party leaders, not necessarily in romney's camp, but people who feel newt gingrich does not have executive skills or discipline to be the nominee because he has too much baggage going down the road. today mike huckabee issued a statement saying that he does not agree with a web ad, a newt gingrich web ad which cites huckabee endorsing him from 2008. he says he has not endorsed, does not intend to endorse, and hal

a while before he formally gets a delegate but he will be the de facto nominee. >> chuck todd, david gregory on what happened last night and what it means going forward. gentlemen, thank you very much. the final debate before the vote in new hampshire will be on this nbc station. it's the nbc news facebook debate. it will be on "meet the press" this sunday morning at 9:00 eastern time. >>> president obama was on the road himself today in shaker heights, ohio, outside cleveland where he announced he's appointing that state's former attorney general to head the new consumer financial protection agency. this is what's known as a recess appointment. the president went around congress. he gave richard cordray the job over the objection of senate republicans who have been blocking the nomination. they argue the appointment is illegal because the senate isn't technically in recess. the white house calls the senate session under way now a sham meant only to keep the president from filling jobs during the break. the courts will probably have the last word in this. >>> the american cancer society's an

we want to go back to "meet the press" moderator david gregory. david, this is kind of a reset tonight. where do things go from here? >> reporter: it is a reset. we're going to be watching through the night. we know who won, it's gingrich. whael what's the margin here? this was set up as a test for romney from conservative voters in the south, in a prime state. it appears newt gingrich had a significant night. we know he's won, so it does matter in terms of where the romney campaign goes from here. going on now to florida, another debate where gingrich has been so strong. how does the romney campaign change direction now to make an argument that there is still a front runner? can they make that argument before the voters of florida and beyond? >> lots to watch here. thank you, david. that is ""nbc nightly news"" for this saturday. i'm lester holt reporting from the primary. we'll have more on this station tonight at nbc and nbcpolitics.com on line. i'll pick this up tomorrow on the "today" show and tomorrow night as well. keep it on nbc news. for n

primary, but even if they lose there, by the florida primary at the end of the month, brian. >> david gregory, a question to you about santorum. the risk, of course, in iowa is what happens in iowa can stay in iowa. after all, huckabee won it there last time. how does santorum convert and what's he up against? >> he's got a big hill to climb here. good news/bad news. he's got ron paul, rick perry still and newt gingrich attacking frontrunner mitt romney. he'd like to be alone. the only social conservative needs to get the energy behind him. as andrea noted as well, he's going to make a play on electability. he had an effective message on the economy as well. it was about restoring the manufacturing base in this country as working class voter appeal here. it's a good contrast the santorum folks think they will have against mitt romney. >> i used the expression "welcome to the nfl." it gets start starting right about now. this calendar becomes gruelling. >> it does. you have to move quickly. we are already six days from the new hampshire primary. for rick santorum to prove he can go the distanc

the message is this will be a long, rough, tough campaign. >> chuck todd, david gregory, andrea mitchell, all part of our team covering our lead story tonight. thanks to all. >>> now to italy where divers are back at work searching that giant wreck of the cruise ship costa concordia, for the 21 souls still missing. we are learning more about some of them. nbc's michelle kosinski has the latest from the scene. >> reporter: crews approach the concordia from above lowering search and equipment to what it is now, a vast waterlog maid holding its victims and tons of fuel. all at risk as the ship conti e continues to slide. delivers with explosives were able to return today, feeling their way through areas where they expect to find more victims, where passengers gathered for rescue. >> very difficult scuba diving. today it is 25 meter under the star. >> reporter: each day more families arrive. suzy whose 5-year-old daughter dina is missing along with the child's father, both last seen slipping into the sea. family of american retirees also in italy. last night back home in minnesota, a prayer

david gregory will be part of our viewing gathering here in our washington bureau tonight. david, thanks. and a reminder, nbc news coverage of the state of the union address begins right here 9:00 eastern, 6:00 pacific time on this nbc station. >>> in other news tonight, an update on the january tornado outbreak in jefferson county, alabama, as we showed you here last evening. there's still so much damage. the death toll stands at two with two dozen people hospitalized tonight, 200 homes destroyed in all and another 200 damaged. the twisters also destroyed an elementary school and some folks are worried about qualifying for the money they need to rebuild the school because that county filed for bankruptcy protection back in november. if you live in the northern u.s. or canada, you're in for what could be a heck of a light show tonight if you can stand the cold temperatures outside. expected to hts ar be visible as far south as montana, maine, upstate new york, perhaps the edges of pennsylvania. the lights will be one by-product of a massive solar flare that has triggered the

also not far from you is the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. david, let's continue this talking about mitt romney. number one, a lot of former candidates have made mistakes of assumptions coming into new hampshire. number two, this word electability is starting to dog him. >> let me start with that. electability is a factor if you look at the rest of the party. he's the 25% guy so far. he wants to try to reverse that up here in new hampshire. what's important for him is that it was a big factor. it was in iowa. second is if you're a strong enough conservative. it's a big deal up here as well. brian, i think that's why he goes to south carolina, campaigns in two states at once. he's trying to argue that he is the inevitable nominee. he's not letting anything go to chance here. remember barack obama four years ago lost in new hampshire to hillary clinton though he was up big here. a supporter of romney says he'll grind it out here, not just sit back and hold big rallies. >> all right. david gregory, we'll see you up there next week. but more impor

if he wins here, he goes down to south carolina, he is a big favorite to close it out. >> david gregory in new hampshire, thanks. >>> we want to show you what we discovered in the nbc news film archives today. to our knowledge this hasn't aired since it was recorded in 1967. what you're about to see is george romney, mitt romney's father, a former auto executive, governor of michigan and presidential candidate himself, defending his own wealth and status and success in a sidewalk encounter that gets heated in chicago. >> i've been poor. i worked from the time i was 12. my parents were driven out of old mexico when i was only 5. my people were revolutionary refugees. they had to be fed by the united states government and housed by the united states government. i know what poverty is. i've been up through it. >> it's an amazing moment we discovered we had in our archives. it mentioned a story we are debuting later tonight on "rock center," the romneys of mexico, the members of the extended mitt romney family who are mexican citizens, and how they are watching all of this going on in the g

. >>> let's check in with the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. david, you know the story as well as anybody, can mitt romney hang on? how strong a showing in this wild race so far? >> you said it. he sets the tone tonight as he's done throughout the campaign. if mitt romney wins here tonight, he exceeds expectations, he sets the tone for what could be a march toward inevitability. he's favored in new hampshire. he could somehow become a stronger front-runner. up until now he's been a weaker front-runner. if he doesn't do as well, shows up in the top three lower percentage, it wouldn't be a terrible blow, but there would be some blood in the water. maybe it's the moment that there is a viable alternative to romney. maybe it's santorum. regardless of whether he wins or doesn't, the super bowl for social conservatives is still going to be south carolina. we have a ways to go. this is just the start of something, brian. >> yeah, and on from here to new hampshire, south carolina, south florida. seven media markets there. a lot ahead of us. david gregor

for more perspective on all this we turn to david gregory, the moderator of nbc's "meet the press" whose program will be coming from iowa tomorrow morning. good evening, david. >> hi, kate. >> so no candidate as kelly just said seems to have this nailed down. why not? >> well, i think that some of the voters that she spoke to actually addressed this. there is a lack of intensity for any particular candidate in iowa that we've seen in all the polling over the past many weeks. there's certainly intensity in the republican party to beat president obama, and i think it's interesting. one of the candidates who's doing pretty well right now, rick santorum in the final stretch, pennsylvania senator, former senator, is actually on the air with an advertisement saying, hey, i can beat barack obama. i think as governor romney does better, even in this state, it's because folks are looking at him and saying, can he beat barack obama? he may not be the conservative we necessarily like or that we can get excited about, but he may have the best shot to win. i still think that that's animating a lot of

we want to go back out to des moines, the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. david, what do you make of this, winning iowa can mean different things to different people? >> reporter: no question about it, and i still think it's governor romney who's setting the tone for the night. if he wins here, he could really build something here, he has the prospect of going to new hampshire where he's favored and doing something a republican nominee has not done, winning with a wash winning new hampshire. it could create a march toward inevitability that could happen fast. if he falls short of that, if there's any blood in the water, we already know tonight the evangelical christian caucus goers, that number is high like it was four years ago. that could be good for both ron paul and rick santorum. these are important factors. what about ron paul? very interesting, mike huckabee, the one here four years ago, brian, said he can't win the republican nomination, it would simply confuse the race. here we go, this is just the beginning of something. >> david gregory, part of o

let's ask david gregory. he's had some of these debates to moderate. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. [ male announcer ] a simple gesture can spark romance anytime. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment's right, even if it's not every day. [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical

to david gregory now, moderator of "meet the press" and the moderator of this morning's contentious debate. the way the rest of the field is going after romney, they didn't seem to be buying into the notion that he's going to run away with all of this. >> there was a recognition that they had to do something to slow him down. and as you look at the field, huntsman had an opportunity today and i think he probably came out pretty well in both going after governor romney and giving his campaign up here some new life. he staked his campaign up here. that was really it. the way the debate began really was sort of a last opportunity for them to make the case of why romney can't be the nominee. that's the argument they're trying to make to voters at this point. he's won iowa. he's ahead in new hampshire. he's ahead in south carolina. there is a view in the party he's cruising to the nomination unless somebody can stop him. and talking to people throughout the day, folks thought, yeah, did romney have a target on his back, yeah, but he probably came out at the end still pretty well intact. i think

in his studio in washington as moderator of "meet the press" david gregory. and david, while there have been state of the union addresses with greater interest going in, it's still a fraught period of time and it's still one heck of a big platform for the president. it's a huge platform. i talked to a senior campaign adviser who said look, you don't pass up this opportunity to lay out what is effectively a philosophical campaign blueprint for a huge audience tonight. he's going to use that. so yeah, the stage is set. but i talk to republicans today who say they're not expecting very much. they're pretty cynical about it. there's no shared sense of what america's national purpose should be right now. that's the reality this president confronts. he's going to go out there and make a populist pitch, as chuck said. you're going to hear a lot about fairness, new rules of the road that benefit everybody. this is the answer to what you're hearing. all the tea party energy and anger on the republican side in this campaign, the president wants to offer that competing v

david gregory, we'll be watching tomorrow morning.omney supporter john mccain and obama campaign senior strategist david axelrod are david's guests tomorrow morning on "meet the press." >>> overseas tonight, the crisis in syria has taken a dramatic turn for the worst. today the arab league which had been -- had observers inside syria monitoring the situation decided to withdraw those observers saying it was too dangerous to stay. government forces have killed at least 74 people since thursday. reportedly including women and children making the past 72 hours among the bloodiest in syria's ten-month uprising. nbc's ayman mohyeldin is just back from syria where he gained rare access and witnessed the agony firsthand. >> reporter: they were once idyllic towns in the snow-capped mountains and now they're scarred by war. this woman shows us her home. for days she says that syrian army was entrenched here, laying siege to towns nearby. when they left, this is what they left behind. she cursed at syria's president bashar al assad. and his arm

. >> the debate will be moderated on "meet the press" by david gregory. >> a 24-year-old airman has died in afghanistan. in afghanistan an explosive killed airman 1st class matthew r. seidler. two other people were also killed in the explosion. >> a man was found shot in the back. no word on his condition or suspects. >> police say a 29-year-old man was injured friday night. medics transported him to the hospital where at last check he's in stable condition. no arrests have been made. >> four men are in custody today after the death of an -- a man. john d. robey, 52, and his two sons, jonathan l. robey, 20, and thomas j. robey, 22, were charged with second degree murder along with michael "hank" grimes, 48. craig e. myers was assault in to a bar and later died of his years. >> a woman was determined to have been stabbed to death before her home burned down. >> firefighters went to homes educating residents about fire safety. they used to concentrate on only the neighborhood where there had been a fire, but now they are expanding the efforts across the city. >> we feel if there is a death

now for a look at what's coming up on "meet the press," here's david gregory. >>> thanks, chris. good morning, angie and chris. coming up, showdown in south carolina. can mitt romney's march to the nomination be stopped? newt gingrich is trying. he'll join me live this morning from charleston. plus, perspective on what's driving the gop primary vote in the palmetto state from two prominent republicans down there, south carolina senator lindsey graham and tea party congressman scott. and then an exclusive with senate majority leader harry reid over the bitter fight in washington. after the paralysis of the year that's passed, can anything d l actually get done? that's coming up on "meet the press." and stay tuned after the program for my "press pass" conversation with personal finance guru, cnbc's suze orman, only here on nbc 4. >>> thank you, david. disturbing police dash cam video out this morning shows an officer beating an older man, supposedly with dementia. the police officer was responding to a fight in central florida. soon after, he's seen kicking 66-ye

yesterday during our nbc news "meet the press" facebook debate yesterday morning moderated by david gregory, who is also part of our team in new hampshire tonight. i guess this becomes the question. is mitt romney stoppable or unstoppable coming out of new hampshire? >> the rival campaigns see an opening tonight, brian. it's not a huge opening, but since the debate and on the campaign trail today, romney's rivals see an opportunity to touch a chord with conservative voters who already are not entirely sold on the idea of romney as a conservative. to now make the argument that he's vulnerable in a general election. he is not electable because of his experience at bayne capital, because he may be gap-prone. they say take a second look, new hampshire, and take a look at him again in south carolina. a veteran republican from south carolina told me tonight, brian, he actually sees evidence of consolidation around romney in his favor. his rivals don't have a lot of time left. >> was interesting this weekend, you have two debates, what, 10, 11 hours apart. it was clear the candidates waited for th

>> okay, and david gregory, we get the results tonight. we'll all learn about them at the same time in this room. it is everything going forward. and as chuck says, moving on to south carolina. >> and as we've talked about, mitt romney, if he really does well here tonight as expected, he's still going to be on the defensive. there's still a big field coming after him hard. but as i talk to republicans, brian, the word i hear is consolidati consolidation. if eh he goes 2-0, it's going to be a big lane to get this nomination. twisty, curvy canyon pass for the other candidates who still have a find a different route to victory. >> and attacks from these republicans who sound more like democrats. it's been fraught for the front-runner. goes without saying, we're going to be back on the air throughout the evening with the results from here in new hampshire and of course, msnbc will have wall-to-wall coverage throughout the evening. and don't forget our dedicated website to all of this, nbcpolitics.com. the place to go for information. >>> up ne

david gregory is preparing to moderate the "meet the press" debate on facebook. good morning. >> good morning, lester. >> it looked like a battle for second place in the debate last night? >> you have a number of candidates fighting for second in new hampshire, fighting to keep their campaign as live. to try and create a firewall in south carolina. no question, governor romney a bit cautious last night. didn't want to lash out at other candidates, up in the polls here in new hampshire, and i think the reality of this debate following within ten hours is another opportunity and really another test for all of them to make the case here to try to slow romney down. >> trying to slow romney down. rick santorum came the closest in iowa with his results there, and he has a lot of momentum. did he do anything to change that position last night? >> i don't know that he did. the reality is that governor romney understand that new hampshire can do some pretty tough things to front-runners. he narrowly won iowa. very good result for him. up big in new hampshire, but in order

let's go to david gregory, moderator of "meet the press" who moderated today's debate. i have to say, let me be the first. it was an electric debate. it was highly charged. and your moderating skills played a major role in activating them to be their best. i give you that for sunday morning greatness. you've done it again, david. >> thank you, thank you. >> what do you think you learned as a newsman? >> well, i do think the taupe was a big role. thing it was clear from the start where i was trying to lead the candidates but where they picked up the ball and ran with it, they were trying to slow romney down. if you were not romney, you had to do something to slow him down. as you referred to the debate for running for politics for quite a long time, being a career politician, that back and forth. i have to say there was more heat and that light. he still has some bullet points about what he sees as a moderate record and i don't know that they sort of line up point to point on what the record was as to governor romney. it was very clear whether it was just processed, just

we've got some amazing clips to show you from david gregory's debate yesterday here up in new hampshire. over the last few days, mitt romney has been strongly attacked by the rest of the republican field on the exact things seen as his big selling points. let's face it. his business background, his ability to create jobs and his outside washington persona. his political innocence. he was hit hard yesterday at the "meet the press" debate. it started early. let's watch what romney said about his career and then watch newt gingrich cut into it. >> this, for me, politics, is not a career. for me, my career was being in business and starting a business and making it successful. my life's passion has been my family, my faith and my country. >> can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney? the fact you ran in '94 and lost. that's why you weren't serving the senate with rick santorum. you've been running consistently for years and years and years. so this idea that suddenly citizenship showed up in your mind, just level with the american people. you've been running at least since the 1990s. >>

he came back and said, he was talking to david gregory the moderator.s divided david because of attitudes like that. the audience which is very partisan. they're picked for that reason. tremendous round of reaction for that. even among parties or republicans who are here as activists. they want to hear the tone of unity. how does president obama at the same time he has to bring down a hard charging opponent, a challenger, who is going to come out hammering tongue, how will he do that and unite the country and come back into office as a second termer with a country not of political wreckage? how does he do it? >> mitt romney is doing it for him. the other thing that's telling, he talked about his father's advice. you should never run for office if you really need the job to pay your mortgage. that means only wealthy people should run for office? he was glad that ted kennedy had to take a second mortgage out on his house, that was his accomplishment for running against him. corporations or people in we shouldn't do anything to help people stay in their ho

thank you for coming on sir. >> thank you for having me. >>> let's go to david gregory. moderator of meet the press. let me be the first. it was an electric debate. this was highly charged and you're moderating skills, i think, played a major role in activating the candidates to be their best. i give you that for sunday morning greatness. >> thank you. >> what do you think you learned as a newsman? >> well, i do think the tone was a big role. i think that i the start both by where trying to lead theandidates but certainly where they picked up the ball and ran with it. that they were trying to slow romney down. i mean, they recognize if you were not romney, you had to do something to try to slow him down. as you referred to, the debate about running for politics, for quite a long time, being a career politician, that back and forth. i have to say, there may have been more heat than light. even newt gingrich, who says that romney is unelectable still has some bullet points about what he sees as a moderate record and i don't know that they sort of line up point to point abo

thank you, david gregory. it could be a great night. tonight at 9:00 eastern.romoting it because if you don't watch this, you're missing a big part of the republican side of the fight to see who fights obama. this is a warm-up for what's going to come in november. up next, if you listen to republicans, you might think president obama is some kind of socialist. some saying he has european thinking. we're going to debunk some of that enduring myths about the president when we come back. it's going to be interesting. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focus

>>> i'm david gregory, and this is "press pass." this week the first votes of the 2012 election get under way we look back at the primary season with highlights from our meet the candidates series and my one on one in-depth interviews with the candidates. we start with newt gingrich. he was the first to appear on our meet the candidates series in may. it was an appearance that sets back his campaign after he raised the ire of conservatives by atatalking about ryan. >> it's depleted by 2024, five years earlier than predicted. do you think republicans ought to buck the public opposition and move forward to completely change medicare, turn it into a voucher program where you give seniors some premium support so they can go out and buy private insurance? >> i don't think right wing social engineering is any more desirable than left wing social engineering. i don't think imposing radical change from the right or left is a good way for a he free society to operate. >> not what paul ryan is suggesting? >> i think that is too big a jump. >>

let's bring in now david gregory, moderator of "meet the press" and matt bai, chief correspondent for "the new york times." let's toalk about the gingrich situation. there's an interview by "the washington post" where marianne gingrich, the second of the wives of newt gingrich, the wife he had when he was speaker. asked, how could he ask me for a divorce on monday and within 48 hours give a speech on family values and talk about how people treat people. there is more on that. let's take a look at a clip from the abc interview and newt gingrich following on "today" this morning rebutting it. >> i said to him, newt, we've been married a long time, and he said, yes, but you want me all to yourself. callista doesn't care what i do. >> what was he say to you, do you think? >> he was asking to have an open marriage. and i refused. >> i'm not going to say anything negative about marianne. my two daughters, kathy and jackie, have sent a letter to the president of abc news saying from a family perspective, they think this is totally wrong. they think abc should not air anything like this. and

david gregory's going to join us in just a minute.o, by the way, at barnes & noble this weekend in manchester this sunday. they'll have a signing ceremony for me -- actually, it's a book signing, not a signing ceremony -- for my book "jack kennedy: elusive hero," on top of "the new york times" best seller list for nine weeks now. we'll be right back. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. and during the four course feast, there's so much to choose from. [ male announcer ] the four course seafood feast is back at red lobster. still just $15. get soup, salad, unlimited cheddar bay biscuits, dessert, and your choice of 7 entrées, like new honey bbq shrimp skewers or shrimp and scallops alfredo. all four courses, just $15. [ jody ] it's really good value. all my guests love it. i'm jody gonzalez, red lobster general manager. and i sea fo

david gregory is with us from des moines. david?hese entrance policy think one of the things that is striking to me is what rachel and the panel are talking about a couple minutes ago. the number of social conservatives, self-identified evangelical voters, that number is going to be pretty high tonight. as it was four years ago, the feeling was there would be far fewer, would be significant but fewer. that's not the case. it's matching about where it was four years ago. that would be good news for rick santorum who no doubt has been making that pitch to iowa voters. you had been talking about it which is, you know, don't settle. don't go for a moderate candidate. vote with your heart. be bold he said in an event i saw him at yesterday. and faith is such a big part of his campaign and his campaign appeal. and ron paul, look, you heard mike huckabee who won on the republican side four years ago say that if ron paul were to win tonight it would confuse the campaign, that it would in many ways be a bad sign because he said in no uncerta