chief economic adviser to mitt romney, glen hubbard and economist diane swonk. plus -- >> scurrilous accusations are profoundly hurtful. >> how did mammograms become a political football. that and the rest of the week's politics and super bowl predictions from our powerhouse roundtable, george will, matthew dowd, arianna huffington and dana loesch. >> it's "your voice, your vote" reporting from abc election headquarter, george stephanopoulos. >> good morning, everyone. this year's race for the white house came into clear focus this week as president obama got his best economic news in months and mitt romney secured his claim to the nomination with back-to-back landslides. that big win in florida tuesday and yesterday in nevada with about 70% of the caucus vote counted so far, romney's at 48%. newt gingrich has 23% and right on his heel, texas congressman ron paul and he joins us now. congressman paul, thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> you know you're in third place right now fighting for second in nevada but you did come i

i think the answer for most economists is yes. >> let me bring another question to diane swonk. you know, there are a lot of other x factors out there that could upend this recovery. a lot of focus on europe and whether or not they're going to continue to make progress on their debt problem, also concerns about a potential conflict with iran. that certainly was ratcheted up this week, concern that perhaps israel would attack iran, and the international monetary fund has said that oil could rise $20 to $30 a barrel if iran stops exporting its oil. that could push gas prices up to $5 a gallon. how serious is that concern? >> those are very serious concerns, and i would add to that list, i mean, not only having high oil prices when we have weak global demand, let's face it, that's not -- that is inconsistent. the other side of it is the political uncertainty in the united states and you see it being played out between larry and glenn. i like both larry and glenn. i know them both but the political debate is not helping the situation on the economy. uncertainty in the political aren

will cain and diane swonk. it happens to be my tie he's wearing. >>> americans want this economy fixed and they are ready to hit the ballot box. is your vote going to make any difference and what's going to make you vote one way or the other when we come back. this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... t

will cain and diane swonk. it happens to be my tie he's wearing. >>> americans want this economy fixed and they are ready to hit the ballot box to do something about it. is your vote going to make any difference and what's going to make you vote one way or the other when we come back. vacations are always wasn'ta good ideaa ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money how's it going? good afternoon. don't feed that meter. this meter's on me. with all the hundreds i've saved at progressive, this meter's on me. thank you. de nada. with all the hundreds i've saved on car insurance this year, this meter's on me. there's a catch? there's no catch. nothing but savings. thank you very much. have a great day. you, too. you're sexy. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] red lobster's four course seafood feast is back.

. >> diane swonk, chief economist at mesereau financial. the u.s. lost 8.7 million jobs as a result of the recession and with the jobs recovery picking up steam we've gained 3.1 million jobs since the low point, but we've got a long way to go, 5.5 million americans have been out of work for six months or longer. and this persistently high unemployment is a threat to the american way of life and that goes from everyone from high school dropouts to college graduates. this problem, what's the connection between our jobs, our manufacturing, our recovery, and this issue of china. >> mohammed makes important points of china being a big country but poor country, even as they become the size of the united states in economic output they'll still have one-fifth per capita income and that's important because we've not had that sort of duality. what we're degree in the u.s. is -- seeing in the u.s. is a major shift related to what peter talked to. the wages don't matter as much. many companies i'm seeing come back into the united states now and a lot of compani

. >> diane swonk. the chairman of the federal reserve.continues. >> holding more press conferences and releasing interest rate forecasts for the first time in its history. while these policy tools are good for the financial markets and wall street firms, they are off limited use use to the general public. would you consider relisting guidance for households and small businesses at the open market committee meetings and what changes to monetary policy means to them? >> well, that's an interesting idea. we have, of course, many speeches and i'm here giving a report to congress about monetary policy. i'm -- i'd like to think about what that would look like. but obviously, we are trying to communicate to the broad public. i've been on some tv programs and the like and in fact, later this spring, i'll be giving lectures at george washington university, which will be available to anybody online, about the fed and the financial crisis. so we are working to improve our communications and your suggestions are more than welcome. >> thank you. >> th

. >> many thanks to bob bruca, diane swonk, steve liesman and rick santelli and mark zandi.est host mug. move over a little. >> he's going to say bad things about us after we're done. >> come up thest reaction to the unemployment report. >>> still to come on "squawk box" why a giants super bowl victory could mean big losses for las vegas. courtney reagan will join us live. >> this isn't the real sea zoor's palace is it? >> what do you mean? >> uhm -- did caesar live here? zero-to-sixty in less time than a porsche panamera s. the 429 horsepower genesis r-spec. from hyundai. >>> welcome back to "squawk box." the futures right now have responded accordingly to that great number, up 120 now. the u.s. economy adding 240,000 non-farm jobs in january, well above analyst forecasts. job addition fos are december and november were also revised higher, and you're not going to let the unemployment rate rise. oh, no, no, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%, that is the -- did i not tell you it was going to drop? >> yes. >> there's no way, that's the low nest almost two years. >> conspi